JIRA Service Desk Helps Simplify Operations

Operating a banking system is complex. Particularly with the demands of consumers for online self-service tools.

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) has development and operations teams dedicated to ensuring that their members have the best tools available—with stringent security protocols— and that the operation runssmoothly and efficiently. Considering the vast number of projects and issues they’re handling at any given time, it’s not surprising that MSUFCU was looking fora comprehensive system that could help them better manage, monitor, and reporton all of their projects.

GOALS

• Improve operational efficiencies
• Better reporting capabilities
• Enhancement project management
• Integration with other Atlassian products

SOLUTION: Atlassian's JIRA Service Desk implementation

Understanding the Challenges
Starting with the MSUFCU IT support and operations teams—which serve asfirst-level support for all employees—E7 began by understanding the roles and responsibilities of the teams, and then collected their requirements and desires. With this in-depth understanding, E7 implemented a comprehensive JIRA Service Desk (JSD) solution, customized with 10 Atlassian Marketplace apps to fit MSUFCU’s unique needs and work processes.

“We started by identifying that we should transition from a waterfall project management methodology to Agile. With this decision, we also recognized that Atlassian tools were the best option to help us implement this new way of working. This led us to Atlassian partner E7as the firm to help us realize our goals,” said Ben Maxim, MSUFCU.

The Solution
The JSD solution for MSUFCU is designed to make it possible for agents to quickly deliver prepared responses for standard questions and requests from users, such as resetting a password or ordering new equipment. The system automatically pulls relevant user information from the active directory so that agents already have it on their screen, rather than having to search for it. One of the favorite new features is an automation to quickly onboard new employees with proper account set-up, equipment requests, and more. The new JSD-based system decreases the time spent on a ticket or request and ultimately provides a better (internal) customer experience.

While building out JSD for the IT team, the E7 team met with software development groups to evaluate their workflows and project management methodologies, and then demonstrated how JIRA best practices could be directly applied to MSUFCU’s development projects.

“This was a lot of change, but once people started using the Agile methodology and JIRA tools, they realized how much this improves their day-to-day activities. Additionally, with the Atlassian tools we have one system that everything funnels through, so we can provide data and reports that properly inform the executive team and lead to better decision-making for the entire organization on things like project priorities, budgets, and resource allocation,” said Maxim.

The results included streamlining and simplifying workflows, and paring down from six ticket types to just two. The reduced complexity of project and ticket management has made the teams more efficient, and is providing a consistency that makes it easier for staffers to move from team to team.

“The financial world is very competitive, and customer expectations are high. MSUFCU is competing right alongside big banks with huge teams and lots of resources at their disposal,” said Edmond Delude, E7's CEO. “It was exciting to be able to work with them to create workflows and systems that help them operate more efficiently, act quickly in response to client demands, provide critical data to managementacross the organization, and ultimately to strengthen their competitive advantages.”

Contact E7 today to see how we can support your ITSM challenges with Jira Service Desk.