Ice storms are a dangerous and often unpredictable weather phenomenon that can cause significant damage to power lines and other utility infrastructure. Ice storms are among the most common causes of power outages in the United States, with millions of people affected yearly. In this blog, we'll discuss how you can prepare for ice storms and prevent utility damage, including the role of underground utility locating services and the benefits of using BOSS811 for damage prevention. Understanding the Risks of Ice Storms Ice storms occur when falling precipitation freezes in contact with the ground or other surfaces, forming a layer of ice. This layer of ice can be incredibly dangerous, weighing down trees and power lines and causing them to break or snap. In addition, ice can cause damage to roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, making travel difficult or impossible. One of the most significant risks of ice storms is power outages. When power lines and other electrical infrastructure are damaged, they can fail, leaving people without power and heat. This can be especially dangerous during the winter months when temperatures can drop well below freezing. In addition to power outages, ice storms can also cause damage to gas and water pipelines. For example, frozen water can cause pipes to burst, leading to water damage and flooding. Gas pipelines can also be affected, with ice and snow buildup potentially causing blockages or leaks. Tips for Preventing Ice Storm Utility Damage You can do several things to prevent utility damage during ice storms, whether a homeowner or a professional. Here are some best practices to keep in mind: Clear trees and branches near power lines before an ice storm. One of the most significant risks during an ice storm is falling trees or branches that can damage power lines. By clearing trees and branches in advance, you can help prevent this type of damage from occurring. Prepare backup generators or alternative heating sources. A backup generator or alternative heating source is a good idea if you live in an area prone to power outages during ice storms. This can help keep you and your family safe and warm during a power outage. Follow recommended safety guidelines during power outages. If you experience a power outage during an ice storm, following recommended safety guidelines to prevent accidents and injuries is essential. This includes using flashlights instead of candles, never using a gas stove for heat, and avoiding downed power lines. Importance of Underground Utility Locating During Ice Storms One of the most important things you can do to prevent utility damage during an ice storm is to understand the location of underground utility infrastructure. This is where underground utility locating services come in. These services use specialized equipment and techniques to locate underground utility infrastructure, such as gas lines, water pipes, and electrical cables. By identifying the location of these assets, you can avoid accidentally damaging them during excavation or digging projects. During an ice storm, underground utility locating services can be essential. Ice and snow can make it challenging to see underground assets, making it easier to accidentally hit or damage them. By using underground utility locating services, you can ensure that you take the necessary precautions to prevent damage during an ice storm. The Role of BOSS811 in Ice Storm Preparedness Ice storms can wreak havoc on utility infrastructure, causing power outages, gas leaks, and other hazards. As a result, it is critical for municipalities, utilities, and private underground utility locating services to be prepared for these types of emergencies. BOSS811, a cloud-based, One Call Ticket Management Solution for the Damage Prevention Industry, and it's a powerful tool for ice storm preparedness. One of the key features of BOSS811 that makes it invaluable in ice storm preparedness is its ability to load map services directly from the GIS server. This eliminates the need for paper maps and allows the "dig box" to be accurately located on the screen. As communities prepare for and recover from ice storms, the volume of locate requests for digging or excavation projects can increase significantly. Managing the influx of tickets can be overwhelming for utility companies, leading to delays and potential damages to underground utility lines. BOSS811 can play a vital role in ice storm preparedness by streamlining the ticket management process. It helps utility companies efficiently handle the volume of tickets and prevent accidental damage to underground lines, ensuring that communities stay connected during and after an ice storm. Learn More >> Request a BOSS811 Demo Today! In conclusion, ice storms can cause significant damage to utility infrastructure, resulting in widespread power outages and other hazards. Homeowners, businesses, and utility companies must prioritize ice storm preparedness and take steps to prevent damage before a storm hits. Key takeaways from this blog include: Knowing your risk Developing an emergency plan Ensuring your trees and structures are properly maintained Using tools like BOSS811 to streamline locate requests during ice storms By understanding the risks associated with ice storms and taking proactive measures to prevent damage, you can minimize the impact of these storms and protect properties and communities. At BOSS811, we are committed to helping you prepare for ice storms and other emergencies. Our One Call Locate Ticket Management software is an affordable, flexible solution that can help you streamline utility requests, increase productivity, reduce risks, and expedite processes during ice storms and times of crisis. We encourage you to take action today and prioritize ice storm preparedness. Be proactive in your approach and use tools like BOSS811, an essential tool for ice storm preparedness and the damage prevention industry.

As more and more businesses rely on technology to operate, helpdesks have become increasingly important for providing technical support to customers and employees. A good help desk can make all the difference in ensuring a business runs smoothly, but several common problems can arise during daily operations. Looking to improve your help desk's customer service and operational efficiency? Look no further than BOSSDesk. This article will delve into the top five challenges helpdesks face and explore how BOSSDesk can help solve them. ➡️1. Long Wait Times One of the most common problems experienced by users is the long wait times for resolutions. When customers have to wait on hold for an extended period, they can quickly become frustrated and lose faith in the support team. Long wait times can also lead to a backlog of calls, causing them to become overwhelmed and potentially miss essential requests. How BOSSDesk Can Help: BOSSDesk provides several features that can help reduce wait times and improve response times. With a self-service portal, customers can quickly find answers to common questions without calling the helpdesk. Additionally, BOSSDesk's ticket management system prioritizes requests based on urgency and allows multiple team members to work on tickets simultaneously, reducing response times and preventing backlogs. ➡️2. Lack of Communication Another common problem for helpdesks is a need for more communication between team members, leading to missed requests or duplication of effort. Team members can easily collaborate on specific details and handle each ticket rapidly. How BOSSDesk Can Help: BOSSDesk's alerts, notes, and knowledgebase make it easy for team members to work together on requests. Notes can be added to tickets to provide context, and team members can communicate with each other directly within the ticketing system. This ensures everyone has access to the most up-to-date information and prevents miscommunications. ➡️3. Inefficient Processes Helpdesk operations can only become efficient if processes are streamlined. Manual processes or reliance on outdated technology can lead to delays and errors that frustrate customers and support team members. How BOSSDesk Can Help: BOSSDesk provides automation tools such as workflows, service catalogs that can help streamline helpdesk processes. For example, frequently asked questions can be added to the self-service portal, reducing the number of calls to the help desk. Additionally, users can create automated workflows and ensure that requests are routed to the correct team members and that crucial details are provided. ➡️4. Limited Reporting and Analytics With good reporting and analytics, it can be easier to identify areas where the help desk can improve. Team members need to be able to track the status of requests or measure the success of the help desk to identify trends or implement changes to improve operations. How BOSSDesk Can Help: BOSSDesk provides detailed reporting and analytics tools that allow team members to track response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction scores. Imagine using this information to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions that improve the efficiency of the help desk. ➡️5. Inconsistent Customer Service Inconsistent customer service is a significant problem for many organizations. When different team members provide varying levels of support, it can lead to user dissatisfaction. Additionally, inconsistent customer service can damage a company's reputation and lead to lost business. How BOSSDesk Can Help: BOSSDesk's ticketing system ensures that all requests are handled consistently and efficiently. With standard workflows, automated processes, and escalations, customers can be assured that their requests are handled promptly and professionally. The Importance of Solving These Problems Solving these common problems is crucial for improving customer service and ensuring businesses run smoothly. With long wait times, customers may become frustrated and seek alternative solutions or competitors. This can lead to a loss of business and negative reviews. The inability to effectively manage and prioritize tickets can result in lower productivity and increased response times, negatively impacting employee morale and customer satisfaction. Additionally, with proper documentation and reporting, teams can identify and address recurring issues, leading to efficient processes and eliminating wasted time. By addressing these challenges, businesses can improve the customer experience, increase productivity, and reduce the risk of losing customers to competitors. In conclusion, helpdesks are essential to any business, but choosing the right one is very crucial in providing efficient and effective service. BOSSDesk features include time tracking, incident management, problem management, mobile access and a very powerful service catalog that enables organizations to deliver services efficiently and ensure customer satisfaction. Overall, BOSSDesk is designed to balance being easily used and highly customizable. Its features help to save time, money, and effort by automating tasks, streamlining user experiences, and providing customizable options. With the right tools, like BOSSDesk, that offer ease of use and highly customizable features, teams can solve the top 5 problems they face, including managing ticket volumes, reducing response times, improving self-service options, tracking performance metrics, and ensuring staff productivity. BOSSDesk offers automation features that can significantly enhance operations and customer satisfaction, making it an ideal solution for businesses of all sizes. If you're ready to streamline your operations and provide excellent customer service, we encourage you to sign up for a BOSSDesk demo today. Experience the benefits of automation in operations and solve the top 5 problems faced by helpdesks to improve your customer service today.

When it comes to safety, there is no room for error. Companies and organizations engaged in excavations and other ground-related projects must ensure that they file and address all 811 locate requests correctly and within the time limits imposed by the law. Failure to do so can result in fines, penalties, and other serious consequences. In this blog post, we will discuss the time-sensitiveness of 811 locate requests, the potential effects of letting your ticket expire, and how to ensure that your request is handled correctly. With just a few simple steps and a little preparation, you can ensure that your requests are completed on time and that your safety and those around you are never compromised. So, what exactly is an 811 Locate Request? Simply put, you make a call or online request to have underground utility lines marked before digging. This lets you know exactly where these lines are so you can work around them safely. It's an important step that helps prevent damage to gas, water, and other vital utility lines and minimize the risk of injury or other accidents. Here's the catch: these requests are time-sensitive! In most cases, you must make the request a few days before you start digging; the actual marking process can take some time. This means that it's crucial to plan and make the 811 locate request as early as possible to avoid delays or complications. Submitting a locate request on time is crucial for many reasons. First and foremost, it helps ensure that your digging project is completed safely. By contacting 811, you can have the underground utilities in your area marked, so you can avoid hitting any underground pipelines or electrical wires that could cause harm to yourself, your crew, and your property. In addition to safety, submitting your locate request promptly is also important from a legal perspective. According to the Common Ground Alliance, waiting too long to submit your locate request could result in fines and penalties. On top of that, it can also cause delays in your digging project, which may result in missed deadlines and increased costs. Furthermore, submitting your locate request on time shows that you take your responsibility as a professional contractor or property owner seriously. By contacting 811 before you start digging, you demonstrate to your clients, neighbors, and community that you are aware of the dangers of digging near underground utilities and that you are taking steps to ensure the safety of everyone involved. The 811 locate request process should begin with mapping out where the work is to be done. This includes surveying the area to determine the project's scope and identify any underground utilities and structures that may pose a risk. Once the survey is complete, the contractor will submit an 811 request to their local One Call center. The request should include the information gathered during the survey, the planned work, and the proposed completion date. Submitting an 811 Locate Request is a straightforward process, but it's important to understand the steps involved so that you can be sure your request is handled promptly. Here's a step-by-step guide to submitting an 811 Locate Request: Plan Your Excavation: Before digging, you must clearly understand where underground utility lines are located. The 811 Locate Request system makes it easy to identify these lines, so you can avoid damaging them during your excavation. Call 811: Contact the 811 hotlines and provide the necessary information about your excavation site, including the location and type of work you plan to do. This information will be passed on to the appropriate utility companies, who will then send a locator equipped with the right tools to mark the location of the underground lines. Please wait for a Response: After you've submitted your 811 Locate Request, it's essential to wait for a response before starting any excavation work. The utility companies will need time to locate and mark the underground lines, so it's necessary to be patient and wait for their response. Respect the Markings: Once the utility companies have marked the location of the underground lines, it's important to respect these markings and avoid digging in the marked areas. This will help ensure the safety of yourself and the underground utilities and help prevent costly repairs or fines. By following these simple steps, you can be sure that your 811 Locate Request is handled quickly and effectively and that your excavation project is completed safely and efficiently. Factors that can Delay the Processing of an 811 Locate Request The first factor that can cause a delay in processing an 811 locate request is the availability of personnel. Some areas may not have enough personnel to process the request quickly. This can mean that the request has to be put on hold until the staff is available, thus causing a delay in the process. The second factor that can delay 811 locate requests is the complexity of the request itself. Depending on its complexity, some requests may take longer to process than others. Thankfully, there are some best practices you can use to help avoid delays in your 811 locate requests. To ensure your locate request is processed as quickly as possible, provide adequate information to 811. This includes the location of the job site, the type of work to be performed, and the estimated excavation start and end dates. This way, 811 can pass this information to the utility companies, who can ensure they send out locators as soon as possible. Call 811 call centers reduce the risk of potential damage to underground utilities. By providing up-to-date information on the location of these utilities, the 811 call center helps to ensure that excavation projects are carried out safely with the utmost care and consideration. This not only protects the infrastructure of the utility companies but also reduces the likelihood of costly repairs and downtime for those involved in the project. Working with the 811 call center and utilizing tools such as BOSS811 can greatly benefit excavation projects by streamlining the request process, reducing delays, and promoting safety. Thanks to tools like BOSS811, which helps the utilities manage and process locate requests promptly, contractors and excavators can dig safely and prevent damages. BOSS811 comes with many locate ticket screening capabilities to help utilities handle tickets efficiently in a short time. It also automatically closes tickets based on various parameters and gives optimal driving directions for locators based on tickets assigned to them. Overall, the timely submission of 811 Locate requests is critical for the project's success and the safety of the underground assets and the public. BOSS811 is a powerful tool that helps the utilities handle the locate requests efficiently to ensure safe digging. Preventing damages is a significant step toward public safety. Let us all play our part!

In today's fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape, companies are constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency and streamline processes. One area where automation has made a significant impact is in the help desk industry. Automation is transforming the way help desks operate, providing companies with the ability to offer faster and more efficient customer service, while also reducing costs. Help desks can streamline their processes, allowing them to handle a higher volume of inquiries more efficiently by implementing simple automation. Automated systems can handle simple tasks, such as routing customer inquiries to the appropriate support staff, freeing up human staff to focus on more complex issues. One of the most common forms of automation in help desks is the use of chatbots. These AI-powered tools can interact with customers in real time, providing answers to common questions and helping to resolve simple issues. This can help to reduce the workload of human staff and improve the overall customer experience. Automation can be helpful in the management of customer data. Help desks often receive a large volume of information from customers, and automated systems can help to organize and analyze this data, providing valuable insights that can be used to improve products and services. One of the most significant benefits of automation in the help desk industry is its ability to improve customer service. With automation, help desks are able to provide faster and more accurate responses to customer inquiries. Automated systems can handle a large volume of customer interactions at once, allowing agents to focus on more complex and time-sensitive issues. Additionally, automation can also help to reduce customer wait times by providing instant answers to frequently asked questions, leaving agents more time to assist with more complex issues. Another major benefit of automation in the help desk industry is its ability to improve agent productivity. Automated systems can handle repetitive tasks, such as data entry and ticket tracking, freeing up agents to focus on more complex issues. This increased productivity not only improves the overall quality of customer service but also allows companies to handle a larger volume of customer interactions with the same number of agents. In addition to improving customer service and agent productivity, automation can also help to reduce costs for companies. Automated systems can handle many tasks that would otherwise be done by human agents, which can help to lower labor costs. Additionally, automation can help to reduce errors and minimize the need for additional staff training, further reducing costs. Automation also allows for 24/7 customer service. With an automated system, customers can receive assistance at any time of the day, which helps improve customer satisfaction and increase brand loyalty. Furthermore, automation can also help to increase the effectiveness of a company's marketing efforts by providing more accurate and detailed customer data. Automated systems can track customer interactions and provide valuable information about customer preferences and behavior, which can be used to improve targeted marketing campaigns and increase sales. BOSSDesk ™ is a powerful help desk automation software that can greatly improve the efficiency and performance of your help desk operations. One of the key features of this system is its ability to automate ticket routing and prioritization. With BOSSDesk, you can set up pre-defined rules that automatically route tickets to the appropriate agent or department based on factors such as the type of issue or the customer's priority level. This ensures that the right person is handling each issue from the start, leading to faster resolution times and improved customer satisfaction. BOSSDesk also includes tools for prioritizing tickets based on urgency or importance, so your team can focus on the most critical issues first. BOSSDesk automation can help to create a more engaged and productive workforce. Help desk agents are often bogged down with repetitive tasks, leading to burnout and high turnover rates. BOSSDesk automation can take on many of these tasks, freeing up agents to focus on more complex issues and providing them with more opportunities for professional growth and development. All in all, the role of automation in modern help desks is essential to meet the demands of customers and to improve overall business performance. It increases efficiency, enhances customer satisfaction, provides valuable insights, and gives more opportunities for workforce engagement and development. BOSSDesk ™ can help you streamline your operations and provide top-notch customer service. With BOSSDesk, you'll see firsthand how automation can improve your help desk's performance and take your business to the next level. If you're interested in seeing how automation can improve your help desk operations, sign up for a demo today and discover how BOSSDesk can help you improve your customer service and drive your business forward!

BOSS Solutions Suite has received another win, ranked as an outstanding performer by Gartner! GetApp, a Gartner company, recently compiled a list of 10 affordable Help Desk software options, based on user reviews and affordability. Gartner Digital Markets comprises the three leading B2B software search websites — Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice. They are the top destination for software buyers to discover, research and connect with the best software for their needs. BOSSDesk has been an outstanding performer on GetApp as it has been recognized for offering customizable service catalog forms to fit the needs of different teams such as HR, facilities management, purchase requests, and employee onboarding. BOSSDesk also comes with a knowledge base, allowing end-users to get instant answers to their questions. Its active directory feature imports all user information and makes it accessible to customer support teams. Click here to view full article: Top 10 Affordable Help Desk Software on GetApp

A good Service Desk bridges the gap between technician and end-user A better Service Desk does the same while staying completely out of the way. So what makes a great Service Desk? One that saves you time and money? Now I know what you’re thinking, It’s a cliché, one done to death for as long as anyone can remember; neither a new idea nor very unique. But in the rush to deliver services and coordinate support responses it’s easy to forget that everything we do, consumes both. By the same token anything automated becomes one less thing to worry about, to think about, and to eat away at these very real resources. Everyone with skin in the Service Desk game guarantees to save you time, money or both. But different products deliver, differently, on this promise (if at all) and in my experience those that rise to the top lean on practical needs, intuitive processes, and common-sense logic to tie everything together. So how does BOSSDesk fare? I’m glad you asked. Here are five features of BOSSDesk that have saved me time, money, and a whole lot of work. ➡️1. WORKFLOWS One of BOSSDesk’s strongest features is its workflow system. Think of them as a series of rules which integrate into the BOSSDesk ticketing system, governing system actions, based on criteria you define. In a practical sense they allow you to build "if - then" traps, based on a large number of triggers, then offer an even larger number of actions to be taken by the system itself. Turnkey solutions tend to come with rule sets that are very limited, so while you won’t sacrifice much time upfront you won’t get any back in the long term either. Non-turnkey products suffer the opposite problem, being highly customizable but requiring a heavy investment of effort to configure, meaning that while they can save you over the long haul, your return on investment might be literally years away. BOSSDesk is unique in that it strikes a great balance between the two, resulting in a robust toolset that’s easy to use but non-restrictive you once you get the hang of it. Want to base actions around who submits a ticket, whether they’re agents or end-users, what keywords they used in the ticket subject, what form they filled out, what field values they selected, or even what time it is? You can. Want to modify a ticket’s priority, assign it to a specific team or technician, create special tasks to divide up across multiple techs, add other users as watchers, add comments, send emails to recipients, request approval from the requester’s manager, or close the ticket automatically? Again, you can! The irony is that the greatest difficulty in describing what makes BOSSDesk workflows so effective are the limitless ways you can apply them to your environment. There are too many approaches to cover them all, but perhaps I can dedicate a future post to workflows in much greater detail. ➡️2. CUSTOM FORMS No service desk would be complete without having a strong form engine. I used forms exhaustively, handling product support, maintenance requests, account change requests, Windows updates, feedback forms, employee onboarding and off-boarding and more. These forms use conditional logic, meaning that what you enter in one field can determine what other field(s) and options do or don’t appear later on. This allows you to streamline the user experience, allowing a form to grow and adapt in real time, as it's populated with data. This is immensely useful because the friendlier the experience for the end-user the more likely they’ll be willing to use it in lieu of emailing technicians directly. On top of that, the custom fields tie into the workflow engine mentioned above, allowing you to automate tasks based on what the user submits. Want an example? Let’s say a manager fills out an off-boarding request for terminated subordinate. One of the fields asks, "what to-do with the terminated user’s mailbox?" The Options Are: [A] Delete Mailbox [B] Temporarily Forward Emails To Designated User [C] Temporarily Give Designated User Full Access To Mailbox or [D] N/A (employee has no mailbox) In this case, if the user selects A or D, nothing more is asked. But if they select B or C, two additional fields appear. The first is asking for the name of a target employee and the second is asking for how long we should leave the changes intact. And, these additional fields are required. Being able to build customized forms is great, but BOSSDesk forms also tie into the workflow engine I mentioned above. This means that when options A, B, or C are selected above, a special task is created and assigned to me (as the email administrator) to go in and fulfill the email-related request; be it to delete the mailbox, give someone else access, or forward emails. This approach is repeated over and over again, with user data which may need archiving, user phone extensions which may need redirection, and user PCs which must be turned in, data preserved and repurposed for someone else. The best part of it all is that with custom forms married to workflows allows you to create a series of tasks assigned to the right people in the right order with the requester not having to know who is doing what. ➡️3. CUSTOM FIELDS Looking for a great example of something simple that saves me tons of time? Look no further than custom fields. BOSSDesk allows you to create custom fields for assets, tickets, contracts, and more, depending on what you want to track. This makes putting information at your fingertips extremely easy. For example, when a store in my environment opens a ticket, their ISP information is always included on the ticket itself. This is done automatically, without them having to enter it or me having to dig for it. So if they happen to be reporting internet issues, I can immediately determine who to call and what account information to provide. Even better, these custom fields can pull from Active Directory. This means that when a user submits a ticket, all of their contact information can be pulled in automatically, including their office, address, telephone numbers, etc. Since we keep the info up to date in AD it’s always up to date in BOSSDesk. In a practical sense the results are similar to the above example. If an employee at a distribution center submits a ticket but doesn’t bother telling us how to reach them, their phone number appears on the ticket itself as a custom value pulled from AD in real time. ➡️4. THE SCHEDULER Some tasks must be done daily or weekly. They’re easy to remember. Others only have to be done once a month or once a year. These can easily be forgotten. So how do you remember to tackle those infrequent tasks when they’re due? You don’t. You let BOSSDesk’s scheduler do it for you. The scheduler is exactly what it sounds like: a way to schedule automatic ticket creations based on a schedule you define. For me? I use it to remind me to set up next year’s call center holidays in our telephone system (every December), audit our anti-spam whitelists (every October), and audit our Exchange database growth rates (every month). You can also use them to send out reports and queries if you want to see all the tickets that haven’t been updated in XX days or the number of assets which are missing classifications. For handling those items which have a habit of falling off the radar, there’s nothing quite like the scheduler to make things easy. ➡️5. ANNOUNCEMENTS Picture this: You’re sitting in your cube sipping coffee when disaster strikes. Maybe the phone system goes down, or the company website, or the mail system. Whatever happens, you’re about to get clobbered from all sides and you know it. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to proactively let people know that you’re aware of the situation and keep them updated on it? With BOSSDesk announcements we can! Announcements allow you to post clickable alert titles at the top of your BOSSDesk service portal. When clicked, they expand into a description of the problem and can include whatever information you wish, usually an overview of the problem, who is affected, and an assurance that it’s being addressed. Then you can update the announcement as the situation progresses. In this way you can deter people from opening hundreds of tickets for something you’re already aware of. On top of that you, can schedule announcements ahead of time, allowing you to anticipate issues related to vendor maintenance. Would you rather post once and know that your users are being informed? Or juggle the tidal wave of requests as they come in? I know what I’d prefer! And there you have it: 5 features of BOSSDesk that have saved me time, money, and a whole lot of work! Bob Gruett Network Administrator

It's true, Fall is one of the best times of the year for tree planting, trenching and excavation work. Most people agree that adding trees and shrubs to your property is a necessary enhancement. While planning your fall planting and digging projects, it's important to remember to follow best practices which help to prevent potential hazards before they ruin your plans. Here's a Quick List of Best Practices for Fall Planting & Digging 👉Save this list for quick reference and to help you stay safe, prevent damage and comply with your specific state, municipal, or local regulations when planning your planting and digging fall projects. Know Where to Plant Knowing where to plant your trees and shrubs is important due to the underground and overhead facilities around your home and need to be planned in advance. 'Plan before you plant' is always a good rule of thumb. Whether you are planting a single plant or an entire landscape, plan first, then plant. Good planning is a worthwhile investment of time that will pay off in greater enjoyment of attractive and useful property grounds. It's much easier to move plants on paper then to dig them after planting in the wrong place. A good plan saves many fall planting and digging mistakes. Remember: Every Dig Requires a 📞CALL Before you dig, call 811 to prevent potential hazards and to follow all applicable excavation and trenching requirements in your state. State laws vary so you'll want to contact 811 at least 48 hours in advance of your digging project and many states allow you to preschedule your work up to 10 days in advance. Typically, utility companies have a few days to respond to your request. Once your request is received, they'll send out locators who will come to your dig site to mark the approximate location of buried utilities with paint or flags so that you can avoid them and prevent site damage. Understand Your Markers Take a look at this simple color chart below to familiarize yourself with each color code and what each code indicates. Having an understanding of this markings guide helps to prevent accidents, damage and service interruptions while working on or near underground facilities. Always Focus on Safety With more than thirty-one million home improvement digging projects estimated per year, it's important to focus on safety even when you think your project is fairly small. It's the law. Many utility lines are buried just a few inches right below the ground and can get hit with little effort while digging holes for shrubs, mailboxes and fences. Instead or risking unnecessary headaches down the road, keep yourself and your community safe by following these best practices. BOSS811™ helps to manage planting and digging, safely. To make sure your project and site are in compliance and that you're keeping the environment and everyone around safe, you’ll want to make sure that you avoid damaging underground utility lines when you dig. If you’re a homeowner working on a do-it-yourself project or if you're a professional, dial 811 before you start your project, for damage prevention. Ensure that you follow guidelines and legal requirements used, for everyone's safety. We have your safety needs covered, with an easy to use, modern, one-call ticketing solution. BOSS811 is an affordable, flexible One Call Locate Ticket Management software for damage prevention used by municipalities, utilities, water and sewer, cable, telco, fiber, gas and oil pipelines, and private underground utility locating services responsible for managing 811 dig and excavation requests. BOSS811 helps you streamline utility requests, increase productivity, reduce risks and prevent damages. About the Author: Nicole Benjamin is a Digital Marketing Coordinator with BOSS Solutions. Nicole has been in the marketing industry for over ten years. She is committed to sharing the message of safety and damage prevention to utilities and locators nationwide.

BOSSDesk — One Technician’s Discovery of Service Desk Success If you’ve worked in corporate America you’ve seen it, a workplace brimming with the needs of a multitude of departments, each with their own goals, communication channels, and expectations, not to mention their unique technology needs. And in the midst of it all? An IT department whose goal it is to keep the pistons of the company running. Simple in theory. Nearly impossible in practice. But why? Because companies — like human beings — are a diverse collection of competing perspectives and agendas, skills and utilities: a workforce often less a well-oiled machine than controlled combustion. For many IT departments the challenge of navigating such an environment can be more difficult than maintaining the technologies themselves. IT thrives on standards and security, but nearly every rule has its exception. Standards may require occasional bending, but only sparingly and only when essential. It is knowing where to the draw the line, and why, and for whom, that the middle ground of efficiency is found. This is nothing if not the very definition of a balancing act. This raises a practical question: How does a corporate IT group maintain professional standards across a diverse organization without sacrificing legitimate business needs? And how can this be done without impeding the very users they are trying to support? The answer is simpler than you may think: a SERVICE DESK. Too easy? Fair enough. How about this instead: a service desk which [1] caters to the needs of IT, [2] offers itself as a natural course of help to the end-user community, and [3] does so in a way that it becomes nearly invisible to everyone. I’m not suggesting the users must be unaware of it. On the contrary, but to be invisible is to become a part of an end-user’s routine, a liaison rather than a sentry; a service that operates between technician and end-user without hindering either. When a service desk can find the favor of both parties it becomes a part of the solution for everyone. I’ve faced this many times in my own career. Over the past twenty-five years I’ve crossed paths with a myriad of ticketing, inventory, licensing management, and content management systems, from enterprise-grade help desk applications requiring full-time administration to home-grown access databases…and worse. One would think that with so many options to choose from, and so many customers facing the same problems you face, that finding a solid solution that works and works well, would be a cinch. One would be wrong. Again I ask why? Well, in my experience it comes down to two factors. First, many products are built from a fixed perspective, one that may have made sense for one group at one time, but which has since fallen out of touch with what the majority of modern support teams require. Consequently those hoping to glean its benefits end up fighting it instead. Attempts to implement processes are frustrated by uncompromising designs which often make little logical sense in today’s workplace, leaving technicians to shoehorn workarounds into place in spite of the system they themselves are trying to leverage. This annoyance only grows when the issues are brought to the vendor, as they often result in a deer-in-the-headlights look, or a “Why would you need it to do that?” reply. Second, the products which *do* deliver on their promises and operate as one would expect tend to come a la carte. You might find a great ticketing system, but chances are it won’t offer much in terms of inventory. You’ll find a fantastic inventory system, but it doesn’t come with a knowledge base. And so on. This was precisely the boat in which I found myself adrift several years ago. Having recently moved on from a mainstream project management system, I had purchased what promised to be, a highly effective ticketing, inventory, knowledge base, project management, and change management system. Believe me when I say that I went in with expectations sky-high. Fast forward twelve months and all I had to show for my efforts was the ticketing subsystem. And even that was rudimentary at best. The number of issues I encountered along the way was excessive to the point of being comical, and eventually resulted in us becoming such a problem customer that the vendor would eventually approach us to discuss an early contract cancellation without penalty…something we were only too happy to do. And yes, I realize that not every product on the market fits everyone’s needs. I’ve used many over the years. But this experience was a revelation to me, not so much because the product didn’t quite fit, but due to its many shortcomings and unfathomable design choices that became a constant hindrance in all that it was supposed to do for us. But every cloud has a silver lining, and it did nothing if not set the bar for my next solution. One might (rightfully) claim I screwed up big time in selecting that system. I wasn’t about to do it twice. I sat down to think things over and began to make a list of what was most important to me. I needed a solution that would cater to the unique needs and technical skills of a diverse user community, from highly-technical software developers and technicians to plant operators, truck drivers, and the sixteen-year-old standing behind a cash register at one of our stores. With over a thousand employees spread across fifty locations, some office-bound and others operating exclusively in the field, I needed a solution that offered easy access to support teams, knowledge base articles, and ticketing from both browsers and mobile devices alike. Additionally, because some of our field employees were support agents and not end-users, I needed the technician's experiences to be the same whether accessing the system from a PC or a mobile phone. With a support staff of about twenty individuals spread across multiple teams I needed a solution that was intuitive, intelligent, flexible, and one that would allow for a high degree of automation. One team’s requirements wouldn’t necessarily match another team’s needs, and I didn’t want to sacrifice one group’s experience for the sake of another. I required ticketing, knowledge base, hardware and software inventory, vendor and contract management, and reporting and scheduling. The last thing I wanted was to piecemeal together a bunch of different products into an incoherent mess; so the more I could deliver from under a single hood, the better. Most of all I needed a solution that came with turnkey features for a fast implementation but also supported a high degree of customization for future growth. I had fought for over a year with my first system and barely even scratched the surface beyond ticketing. I couldn’t do that again. The search began. Most products were easy to dismiss. They simply didn’t deliver what I was seeking. Several came close. Two made it into the finals and BOSSDesk was the winner! But you already knew that. The question you really want answered is why. Instead of spelling it out, allow me to instead summarize what happened following our deployment. Within a week ticketing was up and running. That included setting up support teams, creating categories for ticket visibility, scanning AD for user accounts, promoting some users to agents for ticket processing, building electronic forms, designing email notifications and triggers, and configuring mailbox monitoring. The entire setup was a one-man show on my side, and all this was accomplished in just one week. Compare that to the full year required for my previous solution! Within two weeks we were scanning AD for computer accounts and performing WMI scans to build a hardware and software inventory. We also started building out our knowledge base and knowledge base security. And we began crafting rules to govern the automatic behavior of tickets. Since then the system has undergone tremendous improvement, with new features being added regularly. The developers listen to their customers, and more than once I’ve seen changes effected which originated with me reaching out with a feature request or a complaint. This fosters a relationship where you’re as much a partner as a customer and lends itself well to the future growth of the product overall. Internally there’s even more to be said. Numerous departments use the system to track issues from technical support to human resources, customer care to plant management, retail maintenance and even product quality assurance. We’ve posted hundreds of knowledge base articles, automated countless processes, tracked dozens of active contracts across a myriad of vendors, built a living inventory, and much more. I could write articles on each of these (maybe I will), but for the moment I will say only that BOSSDesk has absolutely changed the way we do our jobs, and for the better. No system is perfect. No environment is ideal. End users are as diverse in mindsets as they are in skillsets. But with an effective solution like BOSSDesk gluing it all together, you might just forget it’s even there. Bob Gruett Systems Administrator

The ratings are in and BOSSDesk™ is once again an elite Help Desk and ITSM industry leader! BOSS Solutions Suite has received several awards in the top Help Desk and Service Desk software categories recently announced by Gartner Digital Markets. These include FrontRunner® for Help Desk Software from Software Advice, Category Leader for Service Desk from Get App, and Top 20 for IT Help Desk Software from Capterra. Gartner Digital Markets comprises the three leading B2B software search websites — Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice. They are the top destination for software buyers to discover, research and connect with the best software for their needs. The recognition by Gartner Digital Markets is due to the high ranking from users, a wide range of features, and excellent customer support. The FrontRunner report for Help Desk Software is available here. The Top 20 IT Help Desk Software report is available here. The Category Leader report for Service Desk Software is available here.

So what is National 811 Day and why is it important? Once a year, utilities and excavators come together to promote safe digging on August 11th. Originally initiated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), each year 811 Day grows to reach more and more people encouraging them to call before you dig. History of 811 In the late ’60s, there was a major accident on the west coast that caused major gas leakages, fires, and power outages. The cause of the accident was due to improper digging practices. This incident spawned a movement for notifying utility owners and operators before excavation projects started. This meant that before ground could be broken, an excavator needed to call each utility company in the area for markings. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, the individual states created dedicated toll-free numbers which their residents and excavators could use to help consolidate the number of calls needing to be made. At first dialing, the number would help the call notify one or two utilities who opted to become members of each call center. This first step paved the way for more utilities with underground facilities to become members. At the same time that more utilities became members of their state one call centers, the laws started to reflect the value of protecting critical infrastructure and the lives of those on the job site. By the end of the 1990s, damage prevention became a staple of the excavation process with every state in the U.S. having a dig law and a way to call811. As time progressed, many states have updated their laws to include membership with the one call center mandatory. In 2005, 811 became the officially nationally recognized abbreviated number and was assigned by the FCC (United States Communications Commission) which would allow all homeowners and excavators to directly dial the one call center in their area quickly and efficiently. Importance of Contacting 811 Every 6 minutes, an underground facility is damaged by someone digging. In 2020 alone, 385,381 damages were reported to the Common Ground Alliance. 31.8% of those damages were due to not contacting 811 to get the facilities marked. Doing the calculations, that is 122,551 times that utility services were interrupted, 122,551 times the digger had to pay for repair costs, 122,551 times someone could have been hurt or killed, and it all could have been easily avoided by contacting 811. With the advancement of technology, submitting a request for utility markings is becoming easier, and most 811 centers offer multiple ways to make the locate request. You can call or submit the ticket online. As a homeowner, I have done both. By picking up the phone to dial 811, you will speak with a representative who can help you and answer questions you may have about the process. If you don’t want to talk with someone or if you are pressed for time, online entry is available. No matter what option you choose, it is extremely important to protect yourself, your property, and your community. You called, now what? After your request has been submitted, it is important to wait for the appropriate time for the utility locators to mark their underground lines. Depending on the state you are located in, this could be 2 or 3 business days. In many states, the point in time by which the facilities should be marked is called the “Proper Notice”. You can use the following link to review the laws in your state. Between the submission of the one call ticket and the proper notice, each utility will respond by sending out a locator to mark their public utilities within the requested dig site. These markings will be color coded by the facility type and will consist of one or any combination of paint, chalk, flags, stakes, brushes, or offsets. It is important to note what constitutes public utilities. This is the part of the facility lines owned and maintained by the utility up to the meter or point of sale. Anything beyond the meter or from one building to another is considered a private line. These lines are not the responsibility of the utility company and therefore would need to be located by a private locator. Private utilities also include wells, septic systems, invisible dog fences, and most irrigation systems. Once the proper notice arrives, use your ticket to confirm all of the utilities on the ticket have responded. Most states have a portal for you to view all of the responses in one location. Use this information along with a visual inspection of the dig site before the first grain of dirt is moved. Should there be any issues, you will want to contact your call center. After verifying that all of the utilities have responded and the markings are present, it is time to begin your project. However, you want to make sure that you respect the markings by digging around them and not on them. Most states have rules regarding the tolerance zones around the markings. Should the digging need to occur within the tolerance zone, there are ways to do so safely. There are two other things to keep in mind. Locate tickets are only valid for a certain amount of time and it varies from state to state. If your work will not be completed by the expiration date, it is important to renew your ticket. The other thing is the visibility of the markings. Should the markings become weathered, faint, or disturbed by the excavation process, stop digging and request a remarking of the lines. One day a year is not enough. It is great that each year we take the time to promote 811, but it's important to remember contacting 811 is not just for August 11th. We have to remember that 811 is available every day, anytime you want to disturb the surface of the ground. Whether you are removing the sod to install pavers, removing a stump, planting a tree or garden, or building an addition, take the time to call 811. The utilities are happy to mark their lines to protect the community and you. This is why they are members of your one call center and include information about contacting 811 on your utility bills. It is why 811 is listed on utility boxes, pedestals, marker posts, transformers, etc. Are you an old hand at 811? Spread the word. If you are someone who has seen and used 811 numerous times over the years you may be asking yourself why you are reading this. Here is a better question to ask yourself: What am I doing to help educate others in my community about 811? There are a number of ways to get involved. The easiest way is during conversations with friends and family. Anytime someone discusses an upcoming project, you can slip a reminder to contact 811 prior to starting. If they don’t know what 811 is, you have an opportunity to engage them in more detail. A second way to promote safe digging is to ensure any excavators, contractors, or those who will be doing work on your property are educated about 811. Make sure that all parties are in agreement on who will be responsible for making the locate request. To make a bigger impact in your area, you can always reach out to 811 in your state and the Common Ground Alliance. They will be able to provide more resources, information, and outreach opportunities to help reach others. Teamwork for Safety Only if we all work together can we prevent damage and save lives. So next time you think about planting a tree for Arbor Day, landscaping as a Mother’s Day present, redoing the patio for Father's Day, installing stakes to hold holiday yard decorations -- whether it's your first request or your thousandth: take the time to plan. More importantly, take time to contact 811. BOSS Solutions is a provider of industry-leading provider of ticket management software for the damage prevention industry. BOSS811 is a cloud-based One Call ticket management software for municipalities, utilities, and locator companies managing excavation requests. It comes with an award-winning UI and easy navigation. With facility map integration, it provides a visual component for effective management and tracking of dig requests. The powerful ticket screening capability makes it easy to close tickets automatically or alert appropriate locators. BOSS Solutions is a proud partner in damage prevention. About the Author: Kristin Reed is a Senior Support Engineer with BOSS Solutions. Kristin has been part of the damage prevention industry since 2010. She is committed to helping utilities and locators protect their facilities and keeping excavators safe at the dig site.

BOSS Solutions Suite has recently received several awards including FrontRunner® for IT Service Management from Software Advice, Category Leader for Help Desk and Ticketing from Get App, and Top 20 for IT Asset Management from Capterra. Software Advice, Capterra and Get App are all part of Gartner Digital Markets, a service designed to help small and medium-sized businesses evaluate which software products may be right for them. The recognition is due to the high ranking from users, a wide range of features, and excellent customer support. The FrontRunner report for IT Service Management is available here. The Top 20 IT Asset Management report is available here. The Category Leader report for Help Desk and Ticketing is available here.

What to Look for in a New Help Desk Tool Does your help desk software address today's needs? When it comes to deciding on a new IT service management solution for your organization, there are many products to choose from. While certain considerations such as size, budget, and specific organizational needs will be different from one company to the next, there are some criteria that will be common among most during the ITSM tool selection process. Here, we examine eight key elements that should be considered during the decision-making process. 1. Out-of-the-Box Readiness It’s obvious that choosing a tool that suits your needs straight out of the box will always be more convenient compared to a tool that requires lots of early-stage configuration. What is often less obvious during this stage of the selection process is checking to see if the product will require any additional software packages in order to operate as required and also deliver any specific requirements that the organization has. As well as this, considerations should be given and even tested as to the compatibility of specific platforms the new product will support such as Windows operating systems, browser editions, and mobile devices. 2. Customization and Flexibility Many tools allow the flexibility to easily customize components of the product such as forms, fields, reports, workflows, and permissions. The ability to customize these items is often a very important factor when choosing a new IT service management product. Not having the ability to customize such areas of the product prevents you from being able to tailor the product to your organization’s needs now and in the future. Even if the product does allow for customization, consideration should be given as to how easily these changes can be made. Will it require a third-party consultant or can the customizations be carried out by internal IT resources? Similarly, it’s important to check if future software updates will have any effect on both the customizations that have been made and on any third-party integrations that work with the product such as remote desktop platforms. 3. On-premise or in the Cloud For many organizations choosing a product that has a choice of being hosted on-premise or in the cloud makes sense. Typically a hosted product requires little or no maintenance, has no additional cost in terms of hardware, and can easily be accessed from anywhere using most web browsers. However, many organizations still prefer to keep such products hosted locally (on-prem) so that they can easily and securely access the information that’s contained in their databases. The other advantage of having the data readily available is in the scenario of having to migrate the information to a different product at a later stage. As the data is hosted in your environment, it’s often easier to extract and move to a new database than it would be if the data resides in the cloud. 4. Ongoing Technical Support and Maintenance When choosing any new software product for your organization, you want to rest assured that the vendor you are purchasing from is going to be able to provide you with the ongoing support and product maintenance quickly and efficiently. With this in mind, ask the vendor how they provide support, how many years the company has been in business, and if they have been through any recent acquisitions. This will be a good indication of whether they will still be operating in 5 years. Likewise, how does the vendor provide support for the product? Is it in-house technicians or is it outsourced to a third party who might have less knowledge of the product? 5. API Integrations Regardless of what tool is right for your environment, you will mostly likely have a need for third-party applications that work in conjunction with the chosen product. These might be applications for custom web forms, remote help desk software, or integrations to other databases. In order to make sure that the information is shared between these products, check if your newly chosen ITSM vendor provides access to the product's API for the purposes of integration. 6. Additional Costs When reviewing a product’s functionality, it is important to examine which features will not be included in the cost of the standard product platform. Many products offer features such as mobile applications, remote helpdesk tools, and modules for incident and change management. However, quite often these items are not included in the standard product offering and are considered add-ons that are charged separately. 7. Interface and Mobile Platform Capabilities When implementing new software tools, it can be difficult to get end users on board with using the new product. Choosing a tool with a user-friendly interface will assist in encouraging users to adopt the new product. Get a firm understanding during the evaluation stage of which browsers the product supports, if configurations and forms are easily customizable, and whether there is an easy-to-use self-service portal for users. 8. Total Cost of Ownership Determining the total cost of ownership of your new IT service management software should be calculated based on a minimum of a 5-year period. Often, a cloud or SaaS product will appear to be the more cost-effective option when compared to an on-premise hosted solution. However, when compared over a 5-year period, the cost can often be similar or sometimes less. With that said, even with an on-premise solution, there are additional overheads that need to be taken into consideration such as the hardware and software costs to host the product and how frequently these items will need to be upgraded. Other areas of additional cost that should be examined are the ongoing costs associated with training additional licensing and upgrades. BOSS Solutions is a U.S. company providing innovative software solutions for ticket management software. The company’s major product lines are BOSSDesk which provides IT service management both in the cloud and on-premise, and BOSS811, a One Call ticket management software for the damage prevention industry. About the Author: Kris Giroux is the Director of Product Support at BOSS Solutions. He is a product evangelist for BOSSDesk and has been helping customers implement best practices in IT service management for more than 15 years