ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are typical metrics for a Service Desk?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse service desk metrics with incident management or change management metrics, mistakenly selecting MTTR or emergency change percentages because they seem related to service restoration or urgency.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) (option B) is a typical Service Desk metric because it directly measures user perception of the support experience after each interaction, making it a core indicator of service quality. First Contact Resolution (FCR) (option D) is also a standard Service Desk metric, as it tracks the percentage of incidents resolved during the initial contact without escalation or callback, reflecting the desk's efficiency and effectiveness. Option A (Number of known errors) is a problem management metric, not a Service Desk performance metric. Option C (Mean Time to Repair, MTTR) is typically associated with incident or technical resolution performance at a support tier or engineering level rather than the Service Desk itself. Option E (Percentage of changes that are emergency) is a change management metric, not a Service Desk metric.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Number of known errors
Why it's wrong here
Known errors are problems with documented root causes and workarounds, tracked in problem management to speed future incident resolution; they are not a Service Desk performance metric. It is tempting because the Service Desk may reference known errors when resolving incidents, and known error counts would be correct as a problem management metric.
- ✓
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
Why this is correct
CSAT directly measures users' perceived quality of each Service Desk interaction, satisfying the stem's requirement for typical Service Desk metrics. Unlike operational measures such as first-contact resolution, it captures the customer experience dimension that ITIL 4 identifies as central to service desk value, making it a standard reported indicator.
- ✗
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
Why it's wrong here
MTTR measures how quickly failed components are restored, so it belongs to technical or availability management, not the Service Desk. It tempts because Service Desk staff often log and chase incidents, but the metric tracking their performance is time to resolve or first-line fix rate.
- ✓
First Contact Resolution (FCR)
Why this is correct
First Contact Resolution measures incidents resolved during the initial interaction, without escalation or callback. It directly satisfies the stem's requirement for a typical Service Desk metric, since the Service Desk owns first-line incident handling. FCR therefore reflects Service Desk effectiveness at resolving issues at the point of first contact.
- ✗
Percentage of changes that are emergency
Why it's wrong here
Emergency change volume is a Change Enablement metric, tracking how often urgent changes bypass the normal change schedule. It tempts because emergency changes often originate from major incidents the Service Desk handles, yet the Service Desk's own metrics cover contact volume, resolution time and satisfaction.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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