tmoon-mint Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 Hi all, I am working in a primary and I have a serious problem getting staff to log tickets on the helpdesk. Every member of staff has been provided with the details to do so and I have made it as easy as possible to log a ticket (either an online form or by emailing). If I go round school and ask staff directly (which I am trying to avoid due to COVID) there is plenty of work to be done but they just dont log a ticket. What more can I do? I have already stated that I must insist that they log a ticket and if someone just catches me in the corridor I say to them "please log a ticket" but it just doesnt happen. The problem is if I stand my ground and dont work on anything unless they log a ticket then no work gets done because they dont or I get fed up and log one on their behalf. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Anything you have implemented to ensure staff log tickets or something I could be doing differently to encourage tickets being logged.
robyholmes Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 I favourite thing to say is 'Log me a ticket, otherwise I'll forget to do it as someone else will grab me before I get chance to look at it'. If they don't log the ticket, it doesn't get done. A helpdesk is a MUST for IT support. If anyone complains, you have your helpdesk to fall back on. It either wasn't on there, or it was but you had 10 other things that were higher priority to deal with. It's evidence either way. 3
hardtailstar Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 If they are not logging it then you dont know about it, Simple as that. Speak to the head teacher and get them on board with it. 2
EssentialRug Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 Hi all, I am working in a primary and I have a serious problem getting staff to log tickets on the helpdesk. Every member of staff has been provided with the details to do so and I have made it as easy as possible to log a ticket (either an online form or by emailing). If I go round school and ask staff directly (which I am trying to avoid due to COVID) there is plenty of work to be done but they just dont log a ticket. What more can I do? I have already stated that I must insist that they log a ticket and if someone just catches me in the corridor I say to them "please log a ticket" but it just doesnt happen. The problem is if I stand my ground and dont work on anything unless they log a ticket then no work gets done because they dont or I get fed up and log one on their behalf. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Anything you have implemented to ensure staff log tickets or something I could be doing differently to encourage tickets being logged. We recently changed to a ticket based system for IT issues. Staff were seriously reluctant to begin with so I really had to get SLT on board with ticket logging. Heads of schools then made it a point to cover in their weekly staff meetings, and since then they have been flooding in. I still get the occasional staff member wandering into the office, or calling but I always direct them to log a ticket (or make it really clear that I am logging one on their behalf and this is the way to log issues going forward). I'm not really sure what else could be done if it is down to laziness on their part of putting up with issues rather than logging tickets. I'd stand my ground in this case and if ever I was questioned why I didn't do something, would explain there is a clear ticket logging system in place and I wasn't informed. 1
tmoon-mint Posted January 10, 2022 Author Posted January 10, 2022 We recently changed to a ticket based system for IT issues. Staff were seriously reluctant to begin with so I really had to get SLT on board with ticket logging. Heads of schools then made it a point to cover in their weekly staff meetings, and since then they have been flooding in. I still get the occasional staff member wandering into the office, or calling but I always direct them to log a ticket (or make it really clear that I am logging one on their behalf and this is the way to log issues going forward). I'm not really sure what else could be done if it is down to laziness on their part of putting up with issues rather than logging tickets. I'd stand my ground in this case and if ever I was questioned why I didn't do something, would explain there is a clear ticket logging system in place and I wasn't informed. Im not really sure what it is. I have put shortcuts on desktops to the online form, provided the ability to log a ticket via a specific email address for if they're on mobile, handed out and stuck up posters in the staff room etc with all the details on how to log a ticket. Spoken to SLT and they are on board with it so I guess I need them to really push and enforce it. What I could do is maybe run a report every week on tickets and send that to the head. That way if its looking very empty they know that tickets arent being logged.
Davit2005 Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) My first job in a school we did not have a helpdesk system, I literally got a A4 piece of paper (that was a lot of 12hour days), then when a few more of us turned up in the team we got Sysaid setup and the staff took to it very well. I used the same argument if you could log it on the helpdesk save me forgetting or I'm on the way to fix an issue if you could put it on the helpdesk that would be great, of course we prioritised stuff and if it was an incident and more priority we'd jump on it straight away. We still had teachers sitting in the staff room complaining to each other that something is not working but as usual it hadn't been logged and they soon backed down when asked if they'd logged it. The other issue is getting staff to respond to tickets either with more info or to say the issue is fixed. Edited January 10, 2022 by Davit2005
slugshead Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 Sadly this is a culture change kind of thing. My first question these days when someone asks me a question "Is it in *****Desk?" When they respond "No", I respond with "Can you put it in and i'll be able to take a look" It's been 4 years and I'm still repeating myself... It has become less since our facilities management team have onboarded the ticketing system too and it's turned into a one stop shop regardless of which dept the request is to go to. 1
slugshead Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 A4 piece of paper I implemented something like this in a bunch of schools before, there was a book in the staff room where any teachers would write down their IT problems, Secretary would collect the book on a Friday afternoon and ring them all through to our helpdesk. I would receive all the tickets (Via the ticketing) then would spend a morning or afternoon at each school working through all of the jobs. This was in primary schools and I worked for LEA team at the time though, being on site is different beast.
Tom_P Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 As what @EssentialRug said.. I would get SLT and heads of departments to push it. When we implemented a helpdesk the site team also took it on, which may have helped our case. But as soon as SLT and HoD's started using it so did everyone else. But you also need to be a tad brutal. 'If theres no ticket then theres no job'. If someone asks me to do something in passing and i remember once im back at the office, il check for a ticket, if theres not one then I send them an email saying that im working on it and ask them to log a ticket. Sometimes they do, sometimes they dont, but if it doesnt get done and theres no ticket, no one can blame you. 2
psydii Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 Speak with your line manager / the Head Teacher. Ask them how they feel its going, whether staff are happy and things are working... "I've noticed its awfully quiet on the helpdesk" Pick a thing you know is generally bad around the site **THAT YOU CAN FIX QUICKLY*** , and email staff about it, inviting them to log a ticket with the helpdesk. Then go fix that for those who logged it. Always fix stuff on the helpdesk first, and fast. Create an informal SLA and prioritise accordingly, but only if it is on the helpdesk. Make sure that you have some way of detecting properly urgent matters that are logged and drop what ever you need to to ensure they get done in 15 minutes of being logged. People's experiences build and word gets around about great service... and then its just a matter of sustaining it. Which unfortunately is a continuous process. If you can, log those corridor requests and follow up through the helpdesk only. "Hi Thanks for mentioning the issue in xxxxx. Just confirming I'v got these details right... before I come out to fix it..." Also report on abandoned tickets - ones where you logged it, followed up for more information but never heard back. The absence of follow up from a teacher, and the absence tickets about things they have complained about has proved massively helpful to us when we are asked to explain why something hasn't been done! 2
tmoon-mint Posted January 10, 2022 Author Posted January 10, 2022 Speak with your line manager / the Head Teacher. Ask them how they feel its going, whether staff are happy and things are working... "I've noticed its awfully quiet on the helpdesk" Pick a thing you know is generally bad around the site **THAT YOU CAN FIX QUICKLY*** , and email staff about it, inviting them to log a ticket with the helpdesk. Then go fix that for those who logged it. Always fix stuff on the helpdesk first, and fast. Create an informal SLA and prioritise accordingly, but only if it is on the helpdesk. Make sure that you have some way of detecting properly urgent matters that are logged and drop what ever you need to to ensure they get done in 15 minutes of being logged. People's experiences build and word gets around about great service... and then its just a matter of sustaining it. Which unfortunately is a continuous process. If you can, log those corridor requests and follow up through the helpdesk only. "Hi Thanks for mentioning the issue in xxxxx. Just confirming I'v got these details right... before I come out to fix it..." Also report on abandoned tickets - ones where you logged it, followed up for more information but never heard back. The absence of follow up from a teacher, and the absence tickets about things they have complained about has proved massively helpful to us when we are asked to explain why something hasn't been done! Thank you for this. Some really useful advice here that I will be taking on board going forward. Just a quick question on abandoned tickets. What would you say is best practice when dealing with them? At the moment I will chase it up 3 times and then close the ticket with an explanation that I am closing it due to inactivity however they can respond to the email to reopen the ticket again. Would you say this is acceptable or do you handle things a different way?
psydii Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 Three chases seems to work well for us. We have to be mindful that people might only work a couple of days a week, so we put tickets on hold and close them as abandoned if we haven't been able to get an update over a two week period. We get the occasional ticket re-opened this way.
DrBeaker Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) One thing is don't reward their bad behaviour for not logging tickets or podging the ticket queue. Had one today ask me whilst in the middle of a scheduled job, how to show them how to do something whilst I was working on a deadline. Nope sorry ask one of your colleagues (how to use a Smartboard, that's training, not technical) or log a ticket and we'll get to it. Hand-holding as well is a No-No. Edited January 10, 2022 by DrBeaker 1
FN-GM Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 Maybe explain to them why you want it to be done via the helpdesk and how it will benefit them (jobs not getting missed and tracked properly). If they understand why better many people will cooperate. 1
IrritableTech Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 It's been 4 years and I'm still repeating myself... It has become less since our facilities management team have onboarded the ticketing system too and it's turned into a one stop shop regardless of which dept the request is to go to. This is our experience too. Perhaps seven years in and we’re still asking a few people to raise a ticket - but we’ve just built a new helpdesk with a site staff queue as well. We hope our success will help them. Hope to get science, DT technicians, reprographics and admin on there in time. A one stop shop for support is a great thing for all staff. 1
Sonic007 Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 If you dont log a ticket, then I dont do the job. 1
dhicks Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 Hope to get science, DT technicians, reprographics and admin on there in time. Indeed. We're starting to find the next problem, after we've got everyone in the habbit of raising a ticket for a request, is that the IT department winds up getting involved in general maintainance / admin as we're the ones with a nice, well-organised ticketing system that can track tasks. We wind up being the ones coordinating between other sections of the school, which can be time-consuming as they're not also using the ticketing system. I'm starting to think the solution is going to be to get all admin staff on the same system so they can organise their work and coordinate with us better. Also, a good handy feature for any helpdesk is the ability, as a helpdesk operator, to be able to easily open a ticket for an end-user. Spiceworks does this quite nicely, you can simply assign any of your users as the owner of a ticket and they'll get emailed updates and so on. We found it helped getting people in to the idea of seeing updates come from the helpdesk - even if they hadn't opened a ticket themselves to begin with, they wound up with one assigned anyway.
Jamman960 Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 We've been fairly lucky with ours as enough people immediately started using it so we had enough work to do without taking extra non-helpdesk jobs on, once the other staff saw that jobs reported to the helpdesk were being actioned quickly they all fall into line. I used to find that I'd forget jobs that had been reported verbally then suddenly remember them in the middle of the night 2 weeks later, I now tell people I won't guarantee off-helpdesk jobs will be done and tell those that complain they should have put a ticket in, It takes a while not to feel guilty about it though but being in a position of having my workload on the helpdesk rather than partially in my head is so much more manageable. I often send out emails thanking staff for doing x and praising the high uptake even if the uptake isn't great, often they'll see that and start doing what you've asked as they had forgotten and now assume everyone else had already been doing it
paulkerton Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 I worked at one school where I could never get it done, and never get it in place. The reason was SLT didn't back it, and refused to when I pushed them to. They found it easy to call and pick up the phone, rather than track things properly. You need to get SLT backing to get it in place, you really do. 2
DrBeaker Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 Another reason is this - 1) I find if I ask for things from an IT improvement perspective, I don't get them e.g. DVD player for a classroom. 2) If that very same request comes from one or more teachers, I get what I asked for (see 1 above) i.e. the DVD player for the classroom. No logic to it and very contradictory but isn't that schools in a nutshell?
slim1986 Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 Ultimately for a Help Desk to work you need buy in from school leaders. Show them the benefits and tie this into an SLA document. Holds you to account as well as helping you prioritise workload. Unfortunately without leaders insisting teachers and support staff are to use the help desk you are fighting a losing battle. We have a saying No Ticket - No Job. Hope you manage to get this off the ground as it's vital to any IT team. 1
Oaktech Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 Site No.1 is 100% no ticket no work. Site No.2 ... is not. Honestly, I don't care either way, I'll take jobs from Email, Voice, Phone, Text, Voicemail, Teams, FB Messenger, Pigeon or smoke signal but Site No.1 is much tighter about accounting for time as they pay for me by the hour from Site No.2.
Jcx500 Posted January 12, 2022 Posted January 12, 2022 Im lucky at my schools as Staff mostly use the ticketing system. We still have the occasional one or two who shouts down the radio lol I think why staff use it so much is cause we really really push it and enforce it.
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