UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law Deploys FootPrints to Manage its Internal Service Operations for Thousands of Faculty and Students (email this article)

EDISON, NJ (October 21, 2003) – UniPress Software (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), Inc., a leading provider of web-based service desk automation software, today announced that UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, one of the top law schools in the nation, is using FootPrints® to centrally track and manage its internal help desk operations and deliver online self-service to more than 1,400 faculty and staff. Since Boalt Hall’s Information Systems and Technology (IST) Department deployed FootPrints, the college has increased the capacity to handle service requests by 30 percent, and improved the overall speed and responsiveness of resolving technical issues.

A 100% web-based service desk system, FootPrints centrally tracks, manages, and controls all types of customer issues and support requests. The software includes a range of comprehensive features such as self-service online, two-way email management, knowledge management, and powerful reporting. Widely used by more than 1600 organizations worldwide, FootPrints offers a cost-effective tool to automate internal and external support operations, as well as other “request-oriented” processes.

Boalt Hall School of Law’s IST Department is using FootPrints to provide support for technical problems submitted by faculty and students, ranging from printer problems to lost passwords.  Prior to selecting FootPrints, the school relied on a chain of loosely connected email threads to track technical requests which were captured via email and telephone. FootPrints now provides the IST Department with an easy-to-use, web-based service desk to track their technical requests and automate routine support tasks. From the onset, the system was easily customized and required minimal training for both agents and faculty/staff to use. The school is also using the FootPrints Dynamic Address Book Link module, enabling them to integrate the web-based service desk with an existing LDAP-based address book, eliminating the need to manage multiple address book databases.

“We needed a powerful web-based tool with the functionality and flexibility to automate our processes and create a central repository of information that can be shared by our desktop support group as well as be extended to our faculty and staff – all within a reasonable budget,” explained John Weber, Programmer/Analyst for Boalt Hall’s IST Department. “Another essential feature that played a major role in our decision making process was integration with both our LDAP-based directory and our UNIX backend.”


With FootPrints, Boalt Hall’s 10-agent help desk receives trouble tickets via phone, which are then logged into FootPrints, and via email, which automatically are logged in to the web-based system. By centralizing all service requests into one system for all agents to access via a web browser, FootPrints enables the school to improve the overall quality of service. It also enables agents to better track issues and analyze trends. As a result, call volumes have been significantly reduced, freeing agents to troubleshoot and resolve more complex issues at a faster rate.  FootPrints also provides the capability for faculty and staff to resolve specific problems by searching through its online knowledge base.

FootPrints’ two-way email management streamlines the processing of service requests. When a user submits a request via e-mail, FootPrints automatically gets the appropriate information from the LDAP-based address book and creates a ticket. This information is then automatically routed to an available agent to address and resolve the issue. Boalt Hall is also using the system’s auto-escalation functionality to eliminate issues from falling through the cracks. FootPrints’ auto-escalation provides the capability to ensure service levels based on any number of business rules and criteria.

In addition to the internal help desk, Boalt Hall has extended its use of FootPrints to support various projects within the school, including a student help desk, a library computing support project to track requests from the school’s library, a Web development project to manage Web site content for the school’s web developer, and a telecommunications support project, to track and manage technical inquiries associated with the school’s phone and voicemail system. The school is also creating a project to improve the workflow of the maintenance department. Faculty and staff can email a request to the maintenance department and requests will get logged into FootPrints. This ensures service requests are addressed in a timely manner and enabling the maintenance department to better track their workload.

About UniPress Software, Inc.
Headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, UniPress Software, Inc. is a developer of web-based service desk automation software targeting mid-market companies, departments within large enterprise organizations, and small businesses. The company’s FootPrints® product line, launched in 1996, provides a comprehensive range of workflow, communication, and knowledge management capabilities to significantly improve help desk and customer support operations. FootPrints products are widely used by more than 1,600 corporate organizations, government offices, and educational institutions worldwide, including Prudential Financial, BHP Petroleum, IBM, Kampgrounds of America, Charles Schwab, the IRS, WebMedx, Time Warner Cable, and the University of Pennsylvania. For more information, contact UniPress at 732-287-2100, or via the web at www.unipress.com.