Summary

The IT Service Management (ITSM) internship is designed to provide exposure to a variety of ITSM tasks and responsibilities that one should expect an entry-level IT Services Technician to be familiar with and perform. These include developing the internal knowledge base, maintaining the external website and customer portal, collecting and analyzing reports across the ITSM infrastructure, and working with an ITSM solution to improve troubleshooting workflows and the overall customer service experience. In addition, each semester an intern will be required to complete one special ITSM focused project that will serve as a more detailed look into a specific ITSM duty. This project will be adjusted based on the needs of the University matched with the candidate’s skillset, goals, and interests. 

Duties and Responsibilities

• Create, edit, and clean-up internal knowledge base documentation
• Run, monitor, evaluate, and improve ITSM reports
• Analyze reporting data to identify trends, then present analysis to the ITSM management team for in-depth discussion and review
• Website maintenance to update data for a constantly changing environment, resolve problem reports, and analyze traffic patterns to improve access to relevant data
• ITSM application dashboard creation/improvement and ticket portal upkeep
• Internship ITSM project (will vary by semester and candidate’s skillset)
• Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications

• Entry into a qualified undergraduate or graduate degree. Qualified degrees are as follows:
  • B.S. Computer Science
  • B.S. Information Systems
  • B.S. Information Technology
• Junior or Senior level class standing
• General computer literacy
• Microsoft Office Suite product experience (Excel, Word, etc.)
• Introductory knowledge of IT Service Management concepts including:
  • Incident & Problem Management processes
  • Service Portal design
  • Knowledge Base documentation
  • Webpage maintenance
• Excellent communication skills (written & verbal)
• Preferred:
  • Interest in statistics and experience with statistical analysis
  • Introductory understanding of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and how it aligns with our working ITSM
• Signed confidentiality & FERPA agreements

Timeframe

• One semester internship (approximately 16 weeks).
• Credit Hours: Flexible based on student academic need; minimum 3 credits (20/hrs per week).
• Hours will be scheduled Monday-Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., based on the successful applicant’s availability.

Work Environment: Office location on GVSU’s Allendale campus, near Director of IT Services

Technology Provided: PC (Desktop or Laptop)

Supervision: Receives strategic and administrative direction from the Director of IT Services and IT Services Management team.

Compensation: $15-$20 per hour

Learning Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes

1. Knowledge Base Development
   1. GOAL: The intern will learn what it takes to create, improve, and continually maintain instructional documentation for both internal and external use.
   2. OBJECTIVE: Review existing documentation on a recurring basis or as specific processes change. Create or update workflow and troubleshooting documentation to provide IT Services Technicians and end-users with the information they need to resolve issues effectively and efficiently. Identify problematic and underutilized documentation to determine if it is still relevant.
      • If the intern has a specific interest in knowledge base development, there are numerous projects involving mapping out, testing, and documenting workflows, then associating them with relevant categories in the ITSM solution and customer portal.
   3. OUTCOME: The intern will understand the scope of information that IT Service Management teams and their customers utilize on a regular basis. They will also gain practical experience producing professional, effective, and efficient how-to documentation.
2. ITSM Reporting & Analysis
   1. GOAL: The intern will gather and analyze data from reports across the IT Service Management team to identify areas of success and failure with the overall goal of presenting meaningful reports to the ITSM director and management team with the opportunity to assist in determining ways to improve overall services, as necessary.
   2. OBJECTIVE: Run and monitor existing reports while testing and analyzing new, novel reports to identify areas of success and improvement. Work with the ITSM management team to determine causes and impacts of reporting trends and provide feedback on how to improve services across the ITSM infrastructure. Review customer satisfaction surveys to improve response rates and collection of relevant data.
      • If the intern has a specific interest in reporting and analysis, a project could be undertaken to identify a specific need, determine how best to gather the necessary data and statistically analyze it, with the goal of developing and implementing changes that would improve the department’s customer service offerings.
   3. OUTCOME: By the end of the internship, the intern will understand the importance of data analysis and how to use that information to provide better service in an IT Service Management environment.
3. IT Website Maintenance
   1. GOAL: The intern will gain experience maintaining and continually improving a customer-facing web environment with a focus on ease of use when searching for relevant information from the perspective of an end-user.
   2. OBJECTIVE: Updating or removing outdated information across the IT website. Maintaining the IT Services “A to Z” portfolio of available resources and services. Tracking website traffic to improve and simplify the process a visitor would follow to find the information they are seeking. Resolve visitor reported problems including broken links, typographical errors, missing information, etc.
      • If the intern has a specific interest in website maintenance, a special project could include working with a focus group of end-users to improve and simplify the way our webpages are structured so visitors can track down the information they are seeking quickly and easily.
   3. OUTCOME: The intern will have experience maintaining and improving a service-focused website while working with end-users to gain a better understanding of what makes such a site easy to use and effective.
4. ITSM Application & Ticket Portal Management
   1. GOAL: The intern will experience a professional ITSM solution at work, including what goes into using and maintaining that system while finding ways to improve processes and diminish or eliminate shortcomings, both from an internal and external perspective.
   2. OBJECTIVE: Maintain ongoing ITSM solution category reviews to identify missing ticket classifications and introduce new ones while eliminating obsolete or duplicate categories that could clutter and confuse the system. Evaluate internal dashboards and the online ticket portal to improve workflows required to find relevant information. Work to identify and eliminate the need for duplication of information on the IT website and IT knowledge base to eliminate confusion.
      • If the intern has a specific interest in ITSM management and API configuration, there are numerous projects that could be undertaken to automate the intake of useful information, simplify and expedite end-user request workflows, interface between various IT systems, etc.
   3. OUTCOME: The intern will gain an in-depth understanding of how an ITSM solution works on a daily basis, including how the categories are structured in a logical way, how to maintain that system, and improve customer-facing web portals for ease of use.