What is the TDM Help Desk

What is the TDM Help Desk?

The Clearinghouse’s TRANSP-TDM listserv archives contain a wealth of information that the Clearinghouse is now making more accessible via an online Help Desk. It provides the enhanced communications and continual feedback loops that are central to understanding and addressing the needs of the TDM community.

In 2004, the Clearinghouse unveiled a customer relationship management software solution using RightNow^tm, a customer relationship management tool used by over 1,000 businesses today. The purpose of initiating the Clearinghouse Help Desk is to reduce the inquiry burden on Clearinghouse staff by providing intelligent self-service options. This approach provides a means to reduce the total number of basic inquiries or repeat requests that require personal attention. The Clearinghouse’s objective is to be more cost-effective as we seek to handle more interactions by providing lower cost transactions with the Clearinghouse Help Desk's self-service feature. At the Clearinghouse’s end, the tool has substantial tracking and reporting mechanisms that will help the Clearinghouse identify which topics are receiving the most questions. This information can help the TDM community prioritize products and services as well as identify research needs.

The Clearinghouse Help Desk knowledge base has been built with over 400 questions and answers received by the listserv or by the Clearinghouse. For many of the responses to those questions, the Clearinghouse has combined the answers contributed by the members of the listserv (with appropriate attribution to the source(s) of those answers).

The Clearinghouse Help Desk provides multiple views in this self-service and targeted technical assistance support site. It has extensive search and browse capabilities that offer different views of the same information in the "knowledge base" to accommodate the different comfort levels Clearinghouse customers may have with technology.

The following lists the major features of the Help Desk:

SEARCH: You can quickly drill down and pinpoint specific information by typing a question in the search box.

BROWSE: The browse option presents you with a tree structure of all the answers posted to date.

RELATED RESPONSES: Questions are clustered and suggested solutions matched, increasing your ability to effectively find information. ASK A QUESTION: If you have a new issue or unique question, you can easily escalate to ask the questions via email. These interactions are captured in the knowledge base for future inquiries, ensuring it remains customer-driven and up-to-date.

NOTIFY OF CHANGES TO ANSWERS: You can request to receive an email notifying you of any changes to a particular response. For example, you could ask to be notified immediately of any changes in commuter benefit policies and procedures.

ROUTE QUESTIONS TO APPROPRIATE STAFF: The integrated request-tracking system also manages the email flow. This system uses sophisticated procedures for managing incoming technical assistance requests from Clearinghouse visitors by automatically assigning inquiries to the appropriate Clearinghouse staff based on type of request (e.g., TMA, vanpool, funding, etc.) so the right person handles the inquiry from the beginning.

SUBMIT FEEDBACK: Submit a suggestion, complaint, or other feedback about the Help Desk.

The Clearinghouse is confident that this Help Desk approach will provide more information and detail a higher degree of information about the usage and needs of the TDM community than ever before.

National Center for Transit Research's National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse is located at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida