← Selected Work

Operations

Desk Check

Log a desk audit finding once, get a ServiceNow-ready ticket

Desk Check interface
4 min → <1
Admin per finding, because nothing is written down twice
100s of hrs
Projected technician hours saved a year across NAMER offices
10–30
Tickets a day worked alongside it, for Okta employees around the world

The problem

Every quarter, IT technicians audit the desks in each office. Each finding was logged in a spreadsheet, then re-entered by hand as a ServiceNow ticket: about four minutes of admin per finding, most of it typing the same thing a second time, repeated across NAMER offices.

What I did

  1. 01

    Mapped the audit as it actually ran, from the desk to the spreadsheet to ServiceNow, and found the cost was in the re-entry rather than the inspection

  2. 02

    Designed Desk Check to capture each finding once, at the desk, with everything a ticket needs

  3. 03

    Had it emit a ServiceNow-ready ticket from that finding, so nothing is typed a second time

  4. 04

    Scoped it as phase one of a tiered automation roadmap, so the first version could ship without waiting on deeper integration

How it works, illustrated

  • Two rows of steps comparing the old desk audit, about four minutes per finding with ServiceNow re-typing, against Desk Check at under one minute, where the ticket is generated from the finding
    Where the four minutes went: every finding was written down twice.
  • A desk audit screen for Desk 4-112 with a pass-or-flag checklist; the dock is flagged with No display out, a note, an asset tag and a photo
    Capturing a finding at the desk: pass or flag, and detail only where something is wrong.
  • A ticket queue beside a generated ServiceNow incident with short description, category, subcategory, location, configuration item, assignment group and description filled in
    The ServiceNow incident, generated from the finding and checked for required fields.
  • A floor walk overview showing 86 of 120 desks checked, 14 findings, a grid of desks marked clear or flagged, and findings grouped by type
    The floor walk at a glance: desks checked, findings by type, and tickets still to file.

Outcome

  • Per-finding admin cut from about four minutes to under one

  • A projected several hundred technician hours a year across NAMER offices

  • Designed while working a daily queue of 10 to 30 tickets for Okta employees around the world

Built with

  • ServiceNow
  • Process mapping
  • Workflow automation