How to Set Up an Internal IT Help Desk
A step-by-step plan to set up an internal IT help desk: categories, priorities, SLA targets, the employee portal, knowledge base articles and the launch announcement.
In many companies, IT support starts as one person who "knows computers" and answers messages all day. That works until the company has thirty or fifty employees. Then requests get lost, urgent problems wait behind simple questions and nobody can see how much work IT actually does. An internal IT help desk fixes this with a clear process and a simple tool.
This guide walks through the setup in eight steps. A small team can complete it in one or two weeks.
Step 1: Collect what IT already handles
Spend one week writing down every request IT receives, wherever it comes from. Record the date, the person, the channel and a one-line description. At the end of the week, group the list. A typical result looks like this:
| Group | Examples | Share of requests (your data) |
|---|---|---|
| Access and passwords | Password reset, new system access, MFA problems | |
| Hardware | Laptop slow, broken mouse, new monitor | |
| Software | Install an application, license request, errors | |
| Network and VPN | Wi-Fi drops, VPN disconnects | |
| E-mail and collaboration | Mailbox full, shared calendar, distribution lists | |
| Onboarding and offboarding | New hire setup, account removal | |
| Printing | Printer offline, toner |
Fill in the last column with your own numbers. They will guide where to invest first.
Step 2: Define categories
Turn the groups into five to eight categories. Fewer categories mean faster, more consistent classification. Separate incidents ("something is broken") from service requests ("I need something new"), because it makes reports much clearer. For example: Access request, Hardware problem, Software problem, New equipment, Network and VPN, Onboarding/offboarding, Other.
Step 3: Agree on priorities
Write a one-page definition of priorities with real examples from your company:
- Urgent: a service many people depend on is down (e-mail, ERP, internet in an office).
- High: one person cannot work and has no workaround.
- Normal: a problem with a workaround or a standard request.
- Low: questions and small improvements.
Share it with managers so they know that "urgent" has a meaning.
Step 4: Set SLA targets you can meet
Choose first-response and resolution targets for each priority, counting business hours. Be conservative at the start:
| Priority | First response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent | 30 minutes | 4 business hours |
| High | 2 business hours | 1 business day |
| Normal | 4 business hours | 3 business days |
| Low | 1 business day | 10 business days |
These are only a starting point. After a month, compare them with what actually happened and adjust. See What Is SLA in Customer Support? for more detail.
Step 5: Configure the help desk tool
In your help desk software, configure:
- An internal service desk for employees, separate from any customer support.
- The IT department, with the agents who handle requests.
- Categories that route to IT.
- Business hours for each weekday, in your time zone.
- SLA policies for the four priorities.
- Employee accounts as internal requesters, either by invitation or in bulk.
In Luradesk, the setup assistant creates the company, the service desks and the first departments, and the internal help desk page explains how departments and restricted tickets work. If HR will later use the same tool, mark its department as confidential from day one.
Step 6: Write the first knowledge base articles
Before launch, write articles for the five most frequent questions found in step 1. Typical candidates:
- How to reset your password
- How to connect to the VPN
- How to request new software
- How to set up e-mail on your phone
- What to do on your first day (for new hires)
Keep each article short: the answer first, then numbered steps, then screenshots if needed. Publish them in the employee portal. The article How to Build a Self-Service Knowledge Base has a template.
Step 7: Launch with a clear announcement
Send a short message to all employees:
From Monday, IT requests go through the help desk portal at [link]. You can follow your request and see answers there. For urgent problems that stop several people from working, open a ticket with Urgent priority and call [phone]. Common questions are already answered in the portal's articles.
During the first weeks, when someone sends a request by chat or in person, help them and register the ticket yourself. Gently remind them of the portal. Consistency matters more than strictness.
Step 8: Review after 30 days
After a month, look at:
- number of tickets by category;
- first response and resolution times by priority;
- SLA compliance;
- tickets reopened;
- questions that could become articles.
Use the review to adjust categories, targets and articles. Repeat monthly.
Common pitfalls
- Accepting requests outside the system indefinitely. The data stays incomplete and the team keeps working twice.
- Too many categories. People choose "Other" and routing fails.
- No time reserved for the help desk. If IT agents also run projects, block time for the queue every day.
- Ignoring recurring incidents. If the VPN drops every week, fixing the cause is worth more than answering faster.
Next steps
When IT is running smoothly, other departments such as HR, finance and facilities can join with their own queues in the same portal. To handle the daily flow of requests, continue with How to Manage IT Support Requests. You can try this setup on Luradesk's Free plan.