Service Desk Analyst

University of Illinois System; Urbana (IL); On-site; USD 42,000 - 66,000; Full time

Job summary

Experience Champaign Urbana is seeking an IT Technical Associate to provide direct customer support, monitor systems, and document solutions for a knowledge base. The role emphasizes clear communication, hands-on troubleshooting, and collaboration with campus IT teams.

The position requires strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and a commitment to professional development while contributing to service desk improvements and knowledge sharing.

Qualifications

• Experience Champaign Urbana IT knowledge and customer focus.
• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting abilities.
• Ability to document steps clearly for knowledge base.
• Good communication with users and internal teams.
• Willingness to learn and adapt to new tools and processes.
• Attention to detail in incident handling and ticketing.

Responsibilities

• Provide 1st and 2nd line customer support via phone, email, and other channels.
• Monitor batch processing and system performance, respond to alerts.
• Maintain and update incident logs and the knowledge base.
• Create concise knowledge articles to aid internal staff and customers.
• Contribute to service desk improvements and tool evaluations.
• Communicate status of issues and changes to users and teams.
• Share information across shifts to ensure smooth process handoffs.
• Pursue professional development and stay current with technology.
• Perform other duties as IT Technical Associate as needed.

Job description

• 1.Customer support (20%): Provide direct customer support via phone, email, and other support channels. Efficiently troubleshoots to understand and isolate the customer's root issue; utilizes the KnowledgeBase as primary resource for finding solutions; thinks creatively to troubleshoot and solve unfamiliar issues; able to make connections between tickets to find common problems; watches for trends that indicate potential problems; directs issues to higher support tiers and collaborates with external teams to resolve issues when needed. Must think of the customer as the most important part of the job; promotes a professional Service Desk image and sells the value of the Service Desk.
• 2.Production requests and batch monitoring (20%): Provide technical front-line and second tier support related to open systems batch processing (e.g., batch requests, migrations, parameter modification, etc.). Search for and analyze potential operating and batch problems and initiate corrective measures within limits of authority. At times, this will require the candidate to seek out assistance and work with IT professionals both within and outside the administrative IT organization, and the candidate will need to demonstrate flexibility and perform duties as each situation dictates.
• 3.System and application monitoring (20%): Monitor system activity/performance for a large complex of servers, network interfaces, and peripheral devices, taking corrective action in a timely manner. Ensures all monitoring alerts are acknowledged, resolved, and cleared from view. Pages on-call staff and posts to the university status page to communicate urgent and high priority incidents in a timely manner.
• 4.Incident and problem documentation (10%): Logs all calls and email requests into ticketing system; documents solutions in KnowledgeBase in a clean, presentable style that is simple for all customers to understand and follow; includes in support tickets all pertinent facts on the customer and troubleshooting steps that have been attempted to solve issues, particularly for tickets that need to be transferred to higher support tiers; works to eliminate recurring problems.
• 5.Knowledge management (10%): Daily and routine management of knowledge articles to ensure accuracy and freshness. Create new knowledge articles and update content in existing articles when needed. Maintain content in the knowledge repository so that it is an effective tool for internal support staff and for customers alike.
• 6.Service and process improvement (5%): Assist in developing and achieving unit goals to help improve Service Desk service, productivity, and efficiency. Participate on project teams to test and implement new products and services, facilitate sharing of information within and across AITS groups, and assist in evaluating software tools to enhance monitoring capabilities. Participate in customer service/process improvement initiatives. Participate in and encourage a knowledge-sharing environment; develop and deliver cross-training activities to Service Desk staff. Establish and nurture working relationships with clients and AITS departmental staff.
• 7.Communication (5%): Keeps peers and end users informed of trends, significant problems, unexpected delays, and anything new in the environment that will impact customers; keeps customers informed of wide-reaching problems, scheduled downtime, etc.; keeps customer informed of progress on problems that cannot be resolved on first call. Communicate and coordinate all software, hardware, system, and operational problems that arise during shift. Possess a clear understanding of critical events when they happen (e.g., system interruptions, server crashes, failed backups, production job aborts) what to do, and with whom to make contact. Proactively share information with Service Desk employees on all shifts to ensure smooth transition of process ownership and provide workflow direction on specific activities which will require attention beyond shift turnover. Report atypical assistance requests and their resolution to all Service Desk staff.
• 8.Professional Development (5%): Establish and achieve personal career goals. Maintain and develop technical knowledge, analytical skills, leadership skills, and communication skills. Stay abreast of current technology. Attend training and conferences to stay abreast of current technology and to build and maintain a professional network.
• 9.Perform other duties and responsibilities appropriate for an IT Technical Associate. (5%)