Support Operations

## 1. Ticket Management (ticket)
**Impact:** CRITICAL
**Description:** Ticket prioritization, queue management, triage workflows, and assignment rules. The foundation of efficient support operations.

## 2. SLA Design (sla)
**Impact:** CRITICAL
**Description:** Service level agreement creation, compliance monitoring, business hours configuration, and breach prevention strategies.

## 3. Support Tier Structure (tier)
**Impact:** CRITICAL
**Description:** L1/L2/L3 tier design, skill-based routing, specialization paths, and escalation criteria between tiers.

## 4. Knowledge Base Strategy (knowledge)
**Impact:** HIGH
**Description:** Self-service optimization, article structure, deflection measurement, and knowledge maintenance workflows.

## 5. Support Metrics (metrics)
**Impact:** HIGH
**Description:** CSAT, FRT, TTR, FCR measurement, quality scoring, agent performance, and operational dashboards.

## 6. Escalation Procedures (escalation)
**Impact:** CRITICAL
**Description:** Severity definitions, escalation paths, incident management, on-call rotations, and war room protocols.

## 7. Support Tool Stack (tooling)
**Impact:** MEDIUM-HIGH
**Description:** Help desk configuration, integrations, automation rules, and multi-channel orchestration.

## 8. Support-to-CS Feedback Loops (feedback)
**Impact:** HIGH
**Description:** Voice of customer programs, product feedback channels, at-risk customer handoffs, and cross-functional insights sharing.

## 9. Quality Assurance (quality)
**Impact:** HIGH
**Description:** Ticket review processes, agent coaching, quality scoring rubrics, and continuous improvement programs.

## 10. Workforce Management (workforce)
**Impact:** MEDIUM-HIGH
**Description:** Capacity planning, scheduling, forecasting ticket volume, and optimizing agent utilization.


---
title: Agent Onboarding & Training Programs
impact: HIGH
tags: onboarding, training, development, certification, enablement
---

## Agent Onboarding & Training Programs

**Impact: HIGH**

Well-trained agents resolve issues faster, create better customer experiences, and stay longer. Poor onboarding creates knowledge gaps that persist for months. Invest in training early and continuously for long-term support excellence.

### The Agent Development Journey

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     ONBOARDING (Week 1-8)                        │
│  Company culture, product training, tools, shadowing, ramp      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     PROFICIENCY (Month 2-6)                      │
│  Independent work, specialty development, quality improvement   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     MASTERY (Month 6-18)                         │
│  L2 skills, mentoring, process improvement, specialization      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     LEADERSHIP (Year 2+)                         │
│  Team lead, trainer, specialist, or management track            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### Onboarding Program Structure

| Week | Focus | Activities | Success Measure |
|------|-------|------------|-----------------|
| 1 | Company & Culture | Orientation, values, meet teams | Quiz, culture buddy assigned |
| 2 | Product Deep Dive | Features, use cases, hands-on | Product certification |
| 3 | Tools & Systems | Help desk, CRM, integrations | Tool proficiency check |
| 4 | Shadowing | Observe senior agents, discuss | Shadow log completed |
| 5-6 | Supervised Tickets | Handle tickets with mentor review | QA score 70+ |
| 7-8 | Increasing Load | Full ticket queue, decreasing oversight | QA score 80+, FCR 60%+ |

### Day 1 Checklist

```
Pre-Arrival:
□ Workstation/laptop ready
□ System access provisioned
□ Email and Slack accounts created
□ Training schedule shared
□ Bud