Help Desk Concepts Final (7&8)

Front 1

True or False? The employee selection process for a help desk position can be described as an attempt to find applicants with the knowledge, skills, and abilities that most closely match the position's requirements.

Back 1

True

Front 2

True or False? Unlike a question in a knowledge and skills test, there is only one correct answer to a scenario question in a job interview.

Back 2

False

Front 3

A primary purpose of help desk performance statistics is to:

a. respond to computer auditors' information requirements

b. justify the value and expense of help desk services

c. report to company stockholders

d. respond to complaints from angry users

Back 3

b. justify the value and expense of help desk services

Front 4

True or False? Organizations that treat user support as a profit center may have difficulty justifying the cost of support services.

Back 4

False

Front 5

Which of the following aspects of help desk operation would you least expect to be covered in a help desk mission statement?

a. operational efficiency of users

b. help desk fees for services

c. customer satisfaction

d. effectiveness of help desk services

Back 5

b. help desk fees for services

Front 6

A(n) ______________ is a process to evaluate a help desk or support worker according to established criteria.

Back 6

performance appraisal

Front 7

A measure of the number of support calls that can be processed in a given time period, often used to determine staffing levels in a help desk operation is:

a. a statistical unit

b. wait time

c. an MOS

d. an Erlang

Back 7

d. an Erlang

Front 8

True or False? Support managers often use recordings of monitored support calls to help workers identify areas where performance improvement is needed.

Back 8

True

Front 9

True or False? A cost center is a help desk operation that has an expense budget, but no offsetting income budget.

Back 9

True

Front 10

True or False? Help desk industry certification is now essentially a requirement for any user support position.

Back 10

False

Front 11

Which of the following testing methods is commonly used in industry certification exams?

a. computer adaptive test

b. scenario test

c. traditional fixed-length test

d. ITIL best practices test

Back 11

a. computer adaptive test

Front 12

Which kind of interview question gives the applicant an opportunity to describe what he or she did in a specific job situation?

a. knowledge and skills question

b. behavioral question

c. scenario question

d. illegal question

Back 12

b. behavioral question

Front 13

A(n) _________________ is a set of behavior guidelines that a professional organization expects its members to follow.

Back 13

code of ethical conduct

Front 14

"Tell me about your educational background." is an example of:

a. an illegal interview question

b. a stress tolerance question

c. a directed question

d. a non-directed question

Back 14

d. a non-directed question

Front 15

Briefly list three examples of interview situations that could be used to test a job applicant's stress tolerance.

Back 15

noisy interview environment; interruptions; multiple interviewers; overly technical questions

Front 16

In the next decade, the U.S. labor market demand for user support workers is expected to:

a. decrease due to outsourcing

b. remain about the same

c. decrease

d. increase

Back 16

d. increase

Front 17

A(n) _______________ is a plan prepared by a help desk manager to describe the costs to provide support services.

Back 17

budget

Front 18

A questionnaire designed to measure the effectiveness of services among a sample of users is called:

a. a user satisfaction survey

b. a statistical analysis

c. a performance appraisal

d. an Erlang assessment

Back 18

a. a user satisfaction survey

Front 19

The percentage of calls in which a user hangs up before support staff respond is called:

a. wait time

b. frustration index

c. stress statistic

d. abandonment rate

Back 19

d. abandonment rate

Front 20

A(n) ________________ is a formal organization that represents the interests of a group of help desk professionals.

Back 20

professional association

Front 21

A conflict that involves a decision between satisfying one's employer and the goals satisfying a client is probably a(n):

a. ethical dilemma

b. acceptable behavior

c. illegal activity

d. unethical activity

Back 21

a. ethical dilemma

Front 22

True or False? By the early 1980s, hardware and software for PCs were standardized in most organizations.

Back 22

False

Front 23

True or False? The larger the number of incompatible software packages an organization owns, the greater the cost to train and re-train workers.

Back 23

True

Front 24

_____________ are an attempt to strike a reasonable balance between "select only this product" and " buy anything you want."

Back 24

product standards

Front 25

True or False? In order to avoid bias and favoritism, product evaluation and selection decisions are usually made by user support staff working alone, independent of other workers.

Back 25

False

Front 26

_______________ adopted by organizations often describe how users are permitted to use technology, what users are not allowed to do, and the consequences or penalties for unauthorized or illegal use.

Back 26

acceptable use policies

Front 27

________________ copies of new software applications may have limited features or operate for a finite trial-period, and are used to evaluate products.

Back 27

trial; evaluation; demonstration

Front 28

True or False? Industry-standard technology products are those selected by a panel of industry experts for use in most organizations.

Back 28

False

Front 29

True or False? As a general rule, dominance in the software industry does not change over time; the best-selling products in the early 1980s are still the best-selling products today.

Back 29

False

Front 30

A(n) _______________ is an objective test or measurement used to evaluate the speed, capacity, capabilities, or productivity of competing technology products.

Back 30

benchmark

Front 31

Which of the following product evaluation methods uses several criteria of predefined importance to arrive at a numerical summary score for each competing product?

a. industry-standard method

b. benchmark method

c. subjective criteria method

d. weighted-point method

Back 31

d. weighted-point method

Front 32

A(n) _________________ is a purchasing procedure that invites competing vendors of products and services to submit proposals and prices for technology that meets specified requirements.

Back 32

request for proposal (RFP)

Front 33

When support staff select office productivity software such as word processors or spreadsheets, they often use which decision strategy?

a. weighted-point evaluations

b. industry-standard products

c. request for proposals

d. benchmarks

Back 33

b. industry-standard products

Front 34

Which of the following letter sequences represents the order of steps in the request for proposal process? (A) send RFP to vendors (B) develop product specification (C) evaluate RFP responses against criteria (D) define selection criteria

a. A-B-C-D

b. B-D-A-C

c. D-A-C-B

d. A-D-B-C

Back 34

b. B-D-A-C

Front 35

______________ are selection criteria that are neither measurable nor repeatable in an evaluation of competing technology products and services.

Back 35

subjective criteria

Front 36

True or False? A benchmark test of competing products is designed to use objective evaluation criteria instead of an evaluator's personal opinions.

Back 36

True

Front 37

Technology product standards are often defined by:

a. an organization's computer culture

b. early adopters of technology

c. a product standards committee

d. any of these

Back 37

d. any of these

Front 38

A(n) _________________ is a factor that an evaluator tries to eliminate from a side-by-side test of competing products because it could bias the test results.

Back 38

extraneous variable

Front 39

Which of these is not an objective evaluation method for selecting a technology product?

a. benchmark

b. request for proposal

c. user preferences

d.weighted-point evaluation method

Back 39

c. user preferences

Front 40

List three resources a product evaluator might use to locate information about competing products.

Back 40

vendor literature; market info., websites and user manuals; demonstration and evaluation products; product review articles; industry expert opinion; colleague opinion

Front 41

True or False? Technology product standards originally emerged in order to reduce the cost to provide support for end users.

Back 41

True

Front 42

In a company's acceptable use guideline, accessing confidential employee information would likely be described as:

a. acceptable use

b. unethical

c. unprofessional

d. illegal

Back 42

d. illegal