IT Support & Service Operations

Freshservice service operations, reporting, and runbooks

IT Director · National food brokerage

I selected and implemented Freshservice as the IT team's service-management platform, bringing requests, incidents, assets, changes, and knowledge in one place. The internal team supported 850 users across 51 offices within a national organization of more than 1,000 employees and 80+ locations.

Platform selection and implementation

I evaluated platforms for ITIL-aligned incident, problem, change, request, asset, and knowledge management; Freshservice combined those with a REST API for reporting and integrations. I configured the queues, categories, service-level policies, workflows, asset structure, and knowledge categories. The service catalog covered equipment, access, software, and employee lifecycle requests, and employee lifecycle automation connected approved submissions to account setup and licensing. Change requests captured approval, impact and risk, a rollback plan, maintenance timing, communication, and post-implementation review.

Asset and knowledge management

I moved inventory from spreadsheets into structured records for computers, servers, peripherals, network equipment, and office circuits, with assignment, location, purchasing, warranty, lifecycle, vendor, and hardware data supporting procurement, deployment, support, and acquisition planning. I authored much of the knowledge base, covering end-user guidance and internal procedures across infrastructure, Microsoft 365, devices, applications, and service operations, and mentored technicians as they became contributors.

Power BI reporting from the Freshservice API

I connected Power BI directly to the Freshservice REST API, shaped the records in Power Query, and published reports and semantic models on scheduled refresh, giving leadership current information without a separate warehouse or manual exports:

• Ticket volume and trends by category, region, and period.
• First response, resolution, and service-level performance.
• Changes in support demand to inform priorities.
• Asset warranties, refresh cycles, and regional fleet information.

The reporting moved from Power BI Pro onto Fabric F64 capacity on the same direct API architecture. The IT operations platform used its own Postgres records for technician investigation; executive reporting continued to refresh independently from Freshservice.

Runbooks and team handover

I wrote procedures for account changes, device deployment, macOS enrollment, server patching, backup and recovery, purchasing, asset assignment, troubleshooting, and escalation, each usable by another technician, including someone new to the environment. Tied to the service catalog and knowledge base, they supported training and delegation while keeping approvals, verification, and escalation paths consistent.

An extension of Freshservice to the CRM, application, mobile app, and data teams was in planning at my departure.

Service software and digital field workflows

IT Manager · Regional HVAC business

Service-management platform replacement

The business ran a Unix-based service-management system on SCO OpenServer for dispatch, customer and equipment records, maintenance agreements, inventory, job costing, and accounting. While evaluating its replacement, I administered it, learning provisioning, backups, terminal sessions, printing, and troubleshooting from vendor documentation and Unix manuals.

I evaluated and selected the replacement, coordinated the cutover around seasonal service demand, validated records, trained office and field staff, and decommissioned the legacy environment. The vendor performed the data conversion. My responsibility was the company's implementation, acceptance, and operation of the system, including its Windows hosting, DBF backup and recovery, upgrades, and user administration.

Digital field service

I deployed the service vendor's iPad application with mobile device management, cellular connectivity, application configuration, and in-field card processing. Technicians recorded work directly in the service platform and dispatchers gained a live view of field activity, ending the weekly cycle of paper work orders re-entered by office staff and calls to the office to charge a customer's card.

I also built companion reference and calculation tools for field and sales staff, automated directory and price-book publishing through SharePoint and Power Automate, and handled device provisioning, training, and in-field support.