What is the best way to organize and prioritize tasks for a small (2 people) IT department? Currently we comb through emails and take phone calls and write priority items on a whiteboard. We're mulling the idea of a ticketing system. Can anyone offer any input on what has worked for you or your business in a similar situation? Its a small business (under 300 people).
You really really need a ticketing system. Our company used RT (http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/) before we got a custom database built. It is essential to have a ticket system no matter how big or small the group is, as soon as one person needs to work on a ticket that the others were working on, you need the history all in one place.
Thanks for the advice festerovic. It's worth mentioning that the only reason we are functioning without a ticketing system is because our current IT staff is in close contact so we can keep track of problems verbally in addition to email / phone.
That's a whole lot of extra work considering everything could be in the ticket system. Less headaches, better service, happy customers = keeping your job!! If you are in the process of growing your dept, I would consider looking into ITIL foundation classes for your staff, it is fairly plug and play and gives some great ideas. - $.02
Quick, cheap, easy, and good enough for a two person IT Help/Service Desk:
- http://osticket.com/
You can build more complex systems around it if you have the time.
I doubt a two person team would benefit from that though, but it's the best starting point I can think of.
150 to 1 ratio is excellent, the support that you two provide would cover more than what most class as 'Level 1' support I'd imagine.