Why call Helpdesk?
I ran into someone I’ve helped several times recently on campus. He was doing fine, but was experiencing a problem with his computer. He was reluctant to call me about a relatively minor issue, so hadn’t. I encouraged him to contact the Helpdesk (3-3375). He responded that they would just call me, so he hadn’t called. In this case they probably wouldn’t have called me, and his problem would probably be solved by now.
When you have a problem with your computer or a program / system on your computer, you should contact the helpdesk and open a work order. If you aren’t willing to wait on the phone, send an email. That’s the right way to get your problem fixed. Plus, your issue gets logged and tracked by multiple people.
There are lots of people on campus who have identified their “go-to” people in IT or their department to solve computer problems. I’ve heard all the gripes about calling the helpdesk, and these folks figure it’s just faster to call the person that they figure can solve their issue directly. In that situation, one person knows about your issue, and may not be able to respond or resolve it in a timely fashion. Of course, you just call back, or go around them to another person.
Suppose I did this: My son Benjamin might be applying to college soon. I’ll just identify someone in Admissions and insist that they let him in. I don’t need to wait for an application, or go through that faceless admissions process, do I? Maybe I’m going to need a travel advance soon. I’ll just email the controller’s office and ask them to send me a check – no problem, right? My office needs to be repainted – can’t I just contact a painter in Physical Plant and have them come right over? I know what you’re thinking – that’s ridiculous. The President of the College needs to approve repainting!
Yes, it’s true that the helpdesk is busy. They are responsible for front-line screening of issues. They try to understand and record what’s happening (or not), and then figure out how to get the issue solved. In many cases, they can take remote control of your system right there on the phone and work through the problem with you. If they can’t do that, they are responsible for assigning the issue to one of several groups of people that can help.
I’m in the Infrastructure Services group in Information Technology. Our group is responsible for the care and feeding of about 200 servers on campus. I’m responsible for the messaging servers (with the notable exception of student messaging [Edisto, Webmail, WebCT], which are Sue Dowd’s.) I’m also a Microsoft expert, having dedicated much of my 30+ year career to servicing technologies and systems running their products.
While I can solve many problems, so can other members of my team, and in some cases it’s really not my job to solve them. As an organization, IT is committed to resolving your issues, but we can’t do it well if you short-circuit the system. All of us are supporting multiple systems, working on projects, and helping multiple people on campus. We have far more work than we have people – a problem our managers are working to resolve. In particular, we’ve got this major systems heart-transplant called BATTERY that has to take gobs of time from all of us for the next two years to get done.
Part of me is gratified that you think highly enough of me to believe I can solve your problem. Hopefully, I will. And I hate a long list of workorders in my support queue from Helpdesk – sometimes it takes awhile to solve an issue and the list nags me. But I’ve also discovered that I don’t get recognition for doing things if they don’t get recorded in the departmental system. My mailbox and phone are effectively private, so they don’t know what I’m doing unless I make copies.
Sorry for the rant – everything I’ve written here applies to just about everyone in IT, and probably many other groups on campus. Thanks for listening!
Filed under: Technology