Say Hello to the New Virtual Enterprise Service Desk

  • Published
  • 23d Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  (Editor's note: This story has been localized by the 23d Wing Public Affairs Office. The original story can be found here: http://www.24af.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123421160)

Moody Airmen will no longer have to wait on the phone to report a basic computer bug -- now computer glitches can be reported and potentially solved through a self-service application right on their desktops.

The Virtual Enterprise Service Desk, or vESD, is a client-based application that allows the user to solve common issues and self-initiate trouble tickets for e-mail, desktop, laptop, mobile devices and will eventually include network, software, hardware and other user account capabilities. The application allows for status checks of any current incident requests, feedback submission and provides further contact information for more help.

"This program is definitely revolutionary in how it responds to user information technology issues," said U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Dustin Heideman, 23d Communications Squadrons operations flight commander. "The days of long calls to the ESD to fix simple issues are slowly going away as this program becomes increasingly robust in helping users promptly remedy major issues and returning to their mission as soon as possible.

"This also gives communication technicians significantly more time to deal with issues vESD cannot address such as reimaging a computer and opening ports," he added.

The system began rolling out in August across the Air Force with the goal of saving users valuable time. Users in the past could wait up to 30 minutes when trying to open up a ticket with the ESD technician. This is largely due to a large volume of traffic coming through with limited personnel. This often created a week turnaround time for issues and significant network service downtime for our Airmen.

After Dec. 8th, users will notice the vESD icon on their desktop. The vESD will allow users to troubleshoot and solve common issues with a few clicks. If it can't resolve the problem, the vESD will automatically initiate a trouble ticket and route the complaint immediately to the 23d Communications Squadron.

"The program is still quite young and as time progresses it will provides users with more and more utility," said Heideman. "Currently users will be able to view tutorials on mobile phones, attempt to fix Outlook problems, help users create .pst files, know when their yearly information awareness training is due, and also leave feedback, which is a critical factor in making the program a great product."

The 23d CS will continue to play an important role however. Requests are aligned with specific mission areas to ensure that the technicians are working towards solutions for high priority requests. An incident is high priority if it causes a full work stoppage.

This software is not a 100% solution, but will provide the user a 70% solution in most cases. Not only does this help the customer, it also assists technicians by freeing them up more to focus on critical tasks in taking care of our network.