ITS is giving the Help.unc.edu portal a facelift. On December 3, ITS will release a new Service Catalog.
What’s happening
- ITS created a public Service Catalog. You will no longer need to log in to see the services available within help.unc.edu.
- ITS updated the service category labels based on user feedback and testing.
- Service information lives in two separate locations, Service Catalog on the ITS website and help.unc.edu. ITS has migrated all ITS-related services to Help.unc.edu and will decommission the catalog information on the ITS website.
Why ITS is making this change
- ITS learned from pre-ServiceNow focus groups and interviews that users relied on Google (or comparable search engines) to search for IT-related assistance, said Kim Vassiliadis, Manager of Digital Services & User Experience for ITS Digital Services. Users typically simply tacked “unc” to the end of their search. When ITS moved to ServiceNow, you needed to log in to view the available services. Search engines could not index most of the content on help.unc.edu, making most of ITS content invisible to users. By creating a public-facing catalog, ITS services will be indexable by search engines and enable greater visibility, Vassiliadis said.
- By consolidating the information into one location, ITS can better manage the accuracy of this content and provide a single canonical source.
How it works
- Each service will have its own public-facing information page listing pertinent information about the service. ITS organized these new information pages using the new categories.
- While the service information will be public and indexable by search engines, you will need to log in to submit a request. ITS has not changed the request process.
What about my Popular Items?
If you frequently request the same catalog items, those services will appear on the new Service Catalog page when you authenticate.
How ITS got here
ITS worked with various campus groups to inform its decisions and solicited user feedback throughout the process. ITS completed usability testing to solidify new category names and used wireframes to present a proof-of-concept, Vassiliadis said.
What’s next?
ITS recognizes that it hasn’t perfected the Service Catalog. ITS will continue to iterate on these changes in future releases, Vassiliadis said. ITS’ mantra is progress, not perfection.