Best Practices

I’d like to hear from the TOPdesk community about your experiences with generating knowledge items using AI.In our experience, the AI often makes the resulting content too short. Even when we provide a detailed solution summary with multiple steps, it tends to generate either:A very brief summary or short explanation; or A numbered 1–2–3–4–5 step plan containing only headlines, without enough detail or context.This means we often need to expand and rewrite the generated knowledge items manually.Have you experienced the same issue? If so, have you found any effective prompts, settings, instructions, or other tricks to make the AI generate more complete and detailed knowledge items?I’d be particularly interested in tips for ensuring that the AI:Includes all relevant solution steps; Provides sufficient explanation for each step; Maintains the desired level of detail; Produces a consistent knowledge item structure; and Avoids oversimplifying the source information.Any experiences or recomm

New since January and easy to miss: dedicated Knowledge Management reports are live in the Reporting Hub.What they show you:Which knowledge items are being updated — and which are being neglected  Which items collect the most positive or negative user feedback  An overview of creation and change dates across your active KIsNo OData exports. No spreadsheets. Right there in TOPdesk. Read the full product update here.Tried it yet? Let us know what you find. 

Knowledge management isn't a one-off project, it's a habit. At most service desks, the knowledge base just kind of happens: someone writes an answer, a colleague writes a slightly different one, and before you know it ten people are working from ten versions of the same answer. That costs time — operators rewrite answers that already exist — and it costs consistency, since the same question gets a different answer depending on who picks it up. New colleagues also take weeks longer to become productive. And now that AI reads along and helps decide more and more, that problem only gets bigger: a messy knowledge base doesn't just slow your team down, it makes AI useless.Getting the basics right starts with one simple question: what do you do when a new ticket comes in? The answer should always be the same. First, search the knowledge system — not as a second step, but as the starting point. Found it? Use the knowledge item and link it to the ticket. Didn't find it? Solve the ticket, and a

KM advice is everywhere. Review your knowledge base regularly. Set an owner for every article. Archive what is out of date.All reasonable. Mostly aspirational.So here is the honest question: what is the one knowledge management habit your team actually sticks to? Not the one you aim for, the one that genuinely happens, every time.Drop it below. The more specific, the better.

The new SSP is live, and some of you have already switched. Time to put those portals to good use.We're big believers in learning from each other and nothing beats seeing a real portal from a real organization over a polished demo. So, this is your space to show what you've built, share what worked, and give others something concrete to learn from.Drop a screenshot of your new SSP and tell us:What your homepage looks like, tile layout, banner, the works One thing you carried over from your old setup One thing you changed or had to rethink How your end users are responding, especially to the search bar and the new layoutNot everything has to be perfect. In fact, the honest setups, the ones where you figured something out the hard way, are often the most useful to the people still deciding whether to switch.A few of you have already shared your experiences in the launch thread ​@Andrew Crawford, ​@Sanne Haller would love for you to bring your setup over here and give us the full picture.

Every knowledge base has one. The article from years ago that nobody has updated, nobody has archived, and nobody dares to delete.What is yours about? And more importantly — why is it still there?Maybe it is because:Nobody is sure if it is still accurate, but removing it feels too risky  It was written for a product version from years ago but still gets views  The person who wrote it left, and nobody owns it anymore  It keeps getting applied to incidents, so it must be useful... right?Share your most legendary outdated knowledge item in the comments. And if you have actually cracked how to keep your KB fresh we want to hear that too.

Voor het versturen van incidenten e-mails binnen onze organisatie gebruiken wij de TOPdesk mailserver. Ook hebben we vaste templates die ondertussen binnen de organisatie bekend zijn.Nu willen wij soms ook e-mail versturen die niet direct aan een incident gekoppeld zijn of soms ook wel als we bijv. een major melding naar een andere afdeling moeten doorzetten maar wij nog wel steeds verantwoordelijk zijn voor de informatievoorziening naar de rest van de collega's. Hiervoor koppelen we alle medewerkers aan de melding en gebruiken in het adresveld Personen gekoppeld aan meldingHebben jullie een manier om zonder al te veel gedoe via TOPdesk een e-mail naar de gehele organisatie te sturen?

Wij zijn op zoek naar een best-in-class organisatie waar TOPdesk wordt ingezet binnen een professioneel ingerichte serviceorganisatie. Belangrijk daarbij is dat rollen, verantwoordelijkheden en eigenaarschap helder zijn belegd, zodat de continuïteit niet afhankelijk is van één kartrekker of sleutelpersoon.Specifiek zijn we op zoek naar inzicht in hoe governance, beheer en eigenaarschap structureel zijn ingericht binnen een toekomstbestendig organisatiemodel.Wij zijn zelf een zorgorganisatie, zijn er (zorg) organisaties die dit structureel ingericht hebben? 

The new SSP looks and feels different from the classic portal. For most end users, that's a good thing but "different" without any context creates confusion and unnecessary support tickets. A little preparation goes a long way.If you're planning to switch, or are already considering it, here's a step-by-step approach to make the transition smooth for the people who matter most: your employees. Before you switchExplore it yourself firstDon't switch before you've spent meaningful time in the new SSP yourself. Navigate it, test it, and note what's changed, especially where the search bar sits, how the tile layout looks, and which pages still temporarily redirect to the classic SSP (like reservations management or certain forms). The Update Guide is your starting point. It tells you exactly what's ready, what isn't, and what to prepare before you go live. Read it before you do anything else.Test it in your test environment firstGot a test environment? Use it before you make the switch. Ena

Since the launch of the new SSP, a number of you have run into the same visual issues: a logo that looks smaller than expected, blurry tile images, or a banner that doesn't display the way you set it up. You're not imagining it, and you're not doing anything wrong.Before diving in: if you haven't seen it yet, the Update Guide is your first stop. It covers exactly what to prepare before switching, including image formats, sizing guidelines, and what to expect. A lot of the issues reported after launch could have been avoided with it. Worth bookmarking!Now, here's what's going on with the most common visual issues and what you can do about them today.Logo appears smaller than in the old SSPThe new SSP handles logo sizing differently from the classic portal. Uploading a larger image won't fix it, this is a current limitation of the new interface, not your configuration. It's on our list and will be addressed as part of the broader SSP Designer work.Tile images look blurry or don't fit pro

How is your IT team setup in terms of support services?I’m intrigued to know how others have their IT support setup and who they are supporting. This will give me (and hopefully other members) an idea of the options available to us.Currently, our setup is to provide internal support to 1110 users with the following under my role as Service & Support Manager:L1 Service Desk: Service Desk Manager, 2 x Senior Technicians, 4 x techniciansL2 Systems/App support: Systems Manager, 2 x senior technicians, 4 x techniciansService Delivery: SD Manager, 1 x technician Who looks after your Microsoft licensing and other vendor licensing? Who does the research & development to see what end user devices we should bring in to the device lifecycle? Who makes sure devices are still in support by the manufacture (BIOS, Samsung, Android UI etc)? Who is managing the PSTN switch over (UK)? Do you outsource any of your support services? Really interesting to know how our support model and resourcing c

We've all been there. A tricky incident comes in. Your team investigates, digs around, eventually finds the fix. The customer is happy, the ticket gets closed. Job done.Three months later, the same incident comes in. Different technician. Same investigation from scratch. Same fix, eventually.The knowledge existed. It just didn't survive the ticket closure.This is one of the most common patterns we see in service organisations, and it's easy to dismiss as a technical problem. Unstable system. Flaky integration. Vendor issue. But more often than not, it's a knowledge problem. The solution was found once, it just wasn't captured in a way that made it findable the next time.Every repeated incident is a signal. It's your service desk telling you: something worth knowing didn't make it into the knowledge base.The impact is bigger than it looks. Repeated incidents mean duplicated effort, longer resolution times, unnecessary escalations to senior staff, and customers waiting for answers that t

Hi all, We are looking for an easier way to get overviews of SSP forms that are linked to a change template (and which template) and vice versa.Our current practice is using "SSP” in the titles of change templates so we can sort on this. In the notes section of the template we write down the name of the linked SSP form. However, this is error prone as one might forget, or updates on one or the other aren't processed and cause confusion. Does anybody have a more stable solution that doesn't depend on human perfection?As far as I know there is currently no option for an “automated” overview or export for linked templates and forms in TOPdesk. But if this is present, I gladly find out!Thanks for your input!

Is there a way how I can get information about the first-time resolution rate by creating a filter etc. without creating a new report?The goal is to get an overview about how many tickets could be solved by the first Person who started working on the ticket and was able to change it to status “completed” without forwarding it to another person. So what I want to see the rate of : a ticket is received - Supporter 1 is starting working on it and Supporter 1 can solve the ticket and changes it to completed.

When your best service desk colleague hands in their notice — what actually walks out the door with them?We've all seen it happen. There's that one person on the team who just knows things. Which workaround fixes the issue with client X. Why the system behaves oddly on Friday afternoons. What actually happened during that major incident two years ago that nobody documented.They're not just good at their job. They are the institutional memory of your service desk.And when they leave? That knowledge leaves too.This is something we talk about a lot in the world of ITSM: knowledge drain. It's one of those problems that's easy to ignore until it bites you. Suddenly resolution times creep up. Escalations increase. New colleagues take months longer to get up to speed than they should. And nobody can quite put their finger on why because the reason retired along with the person who left.The uncomfortable truth is that most service organisations are more dependent on individual knowledge than t

Beste TOPdesk community,Binnen de gemeente willen wij het change management proces optimaliseren. Dit willen wij onder andere doen door de vragen die wij op dit moment stellen aan systeem- en/of applicatiebeheerders scherper en beknopter te formuleren. Dit zijn vragen over bijvoorbeeld het testplan, implementatieplan, risico's en impact van de wijziging die doorgevoerd wordt.Graag zou ik in contact komen met mensen van organisaties waar dit proces goed en gebruiksvriendelijk staat ingericht en ons verder op weg kunnen helpen. Alle hulp is van harte welkom.Met vriendelijke groet,Suzanne ENGLISH:Our organisation is looking to improve our change management process. As part of this effort, we want to streamline the questions we ask system and application administrators when a change is submitted — making them more focused and easier to work with. These questions typically cover areas such as the test plan, implementation plan, potential risks, and the overall impact of the change.We would

We currently advertise our HR shared inbox email address with external suppliers (e.g. recruiters) which allows them to create tickets on TOPdesk for action by our HR team. We need to create a separate email template that simply acknowledges receipt of the email without including a link to the ticket (which we do for internal emails). Is there a way to create an event that is triggered based on domain?

Hi Community...seeking advice on some good practice for adopting when using the Operations Module. I’m understanding the basic model BUT I’m keen to capture ad hoc activities but I can’t see how I can add them against a series - they are one off. Can anyone share their own practices for setting up and scheduling. Thanks

Empathy is often labeled a “soft skill”, but its impact in customer service is anything but soft. In the session Customer‑Centric Service: Practicing Empathy in Every Interaction, empathy is presented as an essential skill that shapes how customers experience your service, build trust, and stay connected to your organization.Being truly customer‑centric means looking at every conversation from the customer’s point of view. Behind each question is a person with expectations, emotions, and the simple desire to feel understood. Empathy helps service professionals acknowledge those emotions and respond in a way that makes customers feel heard and valued, not just helped.It Starts with ListeningA key theme in the session is the power of active listening. Yes, solving the issue matters but understanding the customer comes first. Customers want recognition before they care about the solution.Active listening means giving your full attention, asking clear and thoughtful questions, and checking

A consequence of the changing file maintenance settings is that you might use a file maintenance configuration that doesn’t fit the new settings structure anymore. Therefore, in some cases, we had to disable certain settings.For this reason, we recommend everyone to check your file maintenance settings. This way, you ensure that your keep on managing data in your environment responsibly and without any data risks. 

Tired of manually closing tickets? With KI 11138, you can set incidents to close automatically once they reach the Resolved status—complete with an update to the requester.✅ Cuts out repetitive work✅ Keeps your overview clean✅ Ensures consistent handlingWho’s already using this automation?Share your experience in the comments:How much time does it save you? Any tips or pitfalls you’ve discovered? Would you recommend it to others?Please keep examples anonymized and avoid sharing confidential data.Just in case the link does not work properly: https://my.topdesk.com/tas/public/ssp/content/detail/knowledgeitem?unid=faefd358-510d-4a77-930f-80e470587da2