Best practices for handling admin requests


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I’m gearing up to launch Gainsight for our CSMs and I want to have a system in place for them to ask for assistance, request changes, and submit ideas. Some things about the team:

-I’m the only Gainsight Admin and I sit on the CS team

-We’re a smallish team (30ish)

-We’re all remote (even outside of COVID-19)

-We have a ticketing system that they are used to using

-We have a Gainsight Slack channel

-They are relatively new to the tool and might have difficulty deciding whether their request is actually tech support, a preference, or an idea that needs to be evaluated

I’ve decided against using the ticketing system since it implies a quick resolution when something might be an idea we don’t want to implement. However, I still want to capture their ideas and monitor the next steps we took. I’ve decided that I’d like them to submit their request via a form that captures their responses in a spreadsheet. I can then take the spreadsheet and evaluate requests with my governance committee and then track progress toward fulfilling the requests in a task management tool (we use Workboard, I’ve also used Asana).

My question for y’all: Do you have a similar system? How do you manage incoming requests? What have been the major pitfalls in using a system like this? Is there anything you did in rolling out the system that ensured it worked the way you intended?

I know how quickly requests and changes can get out of hand, and I want to have a strong system in place to get ahead of any request overload. At the same time, I want them to be engaged. In my ideal scenario, they’d throw basic questions in the Slack channel for anyone to answer and save true tech support requests or ideas for this form, but it doesn’t always go that way :) Curious to hear your thoughts!


7 replies

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I’m in a similar situation, and would love to brainstorm ideas! So far we’ve been adding & prioritizing projects in Smartsheet. It’s working well so far. They have card view functionality similar to Trello, but you can also create forms or spreadsheets. We’re just using the spreadsheet function now.

I’d be interested in learning what techniques others are using as well

 

Userlevel 3
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I think you both are approaching working with your team to collect feedback and prioritize updates/configurations for Gainsight in the right way.  I would recommend  the following items too

  1. Establish an SLA on how quickly you will review support asks, and workflow requests
  2. Communicate your cadence with Gainsight COM and CSM to your team (appropriately set expectations)
  3. Communicate updates to the team on support asks or workflow requests
  4. Create an “Office Hrs” session (bi-weekly 1hr) to review updates
  5. Time Management (Gainsight is robust) 

When it comes to collecting and prioritizing updates/ requests I think a slack channel is a great start, but I would also recommend using the following Gainsight features to capture feedback

  1. Internal Survey 
  2. CTA Feedback workflow
    1. Create Reports & dashboard to track progress on updates/request 
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Thanks, Elliot! These are great suggestions. Would you be able to share some examples of the surveys, CTAs, & reports you set up in Gainsight? Even if it’s just screenshots of each that would help tremendously.

 

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Following up on my own thread because I found this Pulse session super helpful!

 

 

Userlevel 6
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Hi @jgalvan and @Kate,

I’ve worked with multiple companies to set up similar processes. We have found that Slack or a similar app works great for people to help each out and talk about ideas. Some companies setup a few channels for Gainsight Help and Gainsight Ideas just to keep the conversations a bit separate. 

What I have found however is that these feeds can make it bit difficult to find something that was talked about a while ago. It can be incredibly challenging to find details about a conversation that happened months prior. 

Once a conversation in Slack happens, it can be much easier to move any admin requests to another tool like Smartsheets, Asana, Trello, Jira, Monday.com, or any type of ticketing system. I’ve mostly seen Jira used in larger enterprises and some of the others used in smaller organizations.

What is great about these tools is you can track the full details of the request (business requirements, technical requirements, release details, test scripts, change management activities, etc). End users can also add comments or additional feedback on tickets. And most important, you can schedule the tickets in sprints or an a release schedule to share with your CS team.

When you prioritize your tickets, of course prioritize based on business value but also on the complexity of the enhancement. And then align in with a release schedule. I have found that many companies are able to release minor updates in Gainsight on a weekly basis. But for major enhancements, its better to reduce the frequency and only release bi-weekly at the earliest or ideally monthly. For major enhancements, this will allow you enough time to build the feature, properly test it, and train CSMs on how to use the new feature. The key is to get on a cycle so CSMs and admins can plan your worlds a lot better.

Hope this sheds a bit more colour on how to setup your config pipeline for Gainsight.

Jean

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

@elliot_hullverson I love that idea! 

I think you both are approaching working with your team to collect feedback and prioritize updates/configurations for Gainsight in the right way.  I would recommend  the following items too

  1. Establish an SLA on how quickly you will review support asks, and workflow requests
  2. Communicate your cadence with Gainsight COM and CSM to your team (appropriately set expectations)
  3. Communicate updates to the team on support asks or workflow requests
  4. Create an “Office Hrs” session (bi-weekly 1hr) to review updates
  5. Time Management (Gainsight is robust) 

When it comes to collecting and prioritizing updates/ requests I think a slack channel is a great start, but I would also recommend using the following Gainsight features to capture feedback

  1. Internal Survey 
  2. CTA Feedback workflow
    1. Create Reports & dashboard to track progress on updates/request 

 

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Hi friend @jgalvan :) I recently launched Gainsight for our small (but growing) CS team and created both a dedicated slack channel and asana intake form / project board. Happy to do a show and tell with you on a call (or in person) if you’d like. Hope you’re doing well! 

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