Helpdesk...

[Little-Miss]

Does anybody use a paper based helpdesk?! lol

 

I dont think the school is quite ready for me to put one on the network, that will come.

 

It's just ive been flicking through this primary FITS thing and they've got a couple of templates on there.

 

So in the meantime...how do you do it? Forms, folders and stuff?

[powdarrmonkey]

elsiegee and/or witch use a job book I think...

[rad]

We run an email system.

 

Every member of staff has an email address and we set up an IT Support@ email that people send their problems to. We also handle ICT roombookings through that too.

 

The problem arrises when people tell you about the issue in person, but you could always email yourself the issue.

[somabc]

Does anybody use a paper based helpdesk?! lol

 

I dont think the school is quite ready for me to put one on the network, that will come.

 

It's just ive been flicking through this primary FITS thing and they've got a couple of templates on there.

 

So in the meantime...how do you do it? Forms, folders and stuff?

 

If its only you providing support I wouldn't bother with paper forms it'll only slow you down. Just make sure you have your own log somewhere (word, excel, on paper whatever) and write down the date & time reported, issue they are having, room, teacher etc. Then prioritise the tasks and work through them.

 

But I would move for an electronic system ASAP it will be more efficent even if you are the one logging things at first.

[Reaper]

People phone, people email, people attack me in person. A lot of the time I add it as a task/appointment on my phone which is synced to Outlook and I get reminders that way.

[CHR1S]

People phone, people email, people attack me in person. A lot of the time I add it as a task/appointment on my phone which is synced to Outlook and I get reminders that way.

 

Same here, although I have a help desk in place, just no one wants to use it

[EduTech]

We have only just started getting staff to use an electronic helpdesk, and even now its only really half!

 

before that it used to be, sticky notes

[vikpaw]

We had a horrible freebie php helpdesk on the intranet for over a year and no-one used it apart from a couple of people in IT dept (teaching).

 

I modified it so that it had a list of our users and we could log calls on their behalf. It would trigger an email to be sent to both the IT team and also the user.

 

The email to the user had a link to the intranet so they could modify and update their jobs. Slowly it is becoming more popular as they learn that it's quicker to log calls online and also update too. Phoning only works if we pick up the phone!!

 

If they stop us in the corridor then we can say, log it online to remind me, otherwise i'll forget. Then they can log it or call or email, whatever, you have to strictly adhere to logging as many as you can, regardless of the form they came to you.

 

Now we have a bank of over 1000 jobs logged since September and that doesn't count the little petty password changes or any SIMS issues!

 

No, you can't log everything, but the more you log the better analysis you can get back from it, and then help yourself identify weaknesses, training areas, problem people / hardware.

 

If you can get staff to email you can use one of the systems that allow calls to be logged automatically.

 

Even if email is not an option, don't use paper, log the calls yourself using an online system. So that you are already working towards getting things online.

 

We are currently trialling MyLittleHelpDesk which so far is awesome, and very efficient. Also, cheap as chips. Guy called Oz (not sure of member name) will help you. I think there's a banner on the site. The website is www.mylittlehelpdesk.co.uk and you wont pay the price listed as it's cheaper for education.

 

It's really powerful, yet simple to use, has a little app that sits in your tray reminding you of jobs etc.

 

Best of all it's 99% FITS compliant with the final 1% on its way soon on a free update.

 

I would recommend you try that. It will take a bit of tweaking to set up, but then you can log all the calls on it, and its very expandable, so if you get more staff, or a volunteer / assistant, whatever they don't have to take over the paper system. You can share jobs etc.

 

Also, if you ever (hopefully not) have to justify your job, an online log with stats will really benefit you. It's also good to show them when asking for a pay rise.

Edited February 2, 2009 by vikpaw
addition

[bloxy]

I support 11 primary schools through the week and only one of them has an electronic helpdesk, the rest have books or folders that the staff write issues in, or don't usually, and then grab me on the way through the school and get me to fix stuff spontaniously. I find it works because that is what they are used to, an electronic helpdesk would be good but teachers would still have to remember to put stuff on it. I would still have "Oh, just the man, I haven't written it in the book but could you just...."

[SimpleSi]

@Litte-miss

I moved from little books to a little online help desk in September.

 

I wrote it myself (php/mysql) and host it on an external webserver so its available both within and outside of schools.

 

As others have said - you will still get door-stopped but you end up with a fairly reliable list of all the jobs you've been asked to do.

 

I just have a simple flag that I set if a job was given to me verbally so I can pass the info onto headteachers to prove the teachers don't tell me in advance

 

I give priority to anyone who uses the system and proclaim this in a loud voice in the staff room

 

Only 1 ICT co-ordinator has not seen the benefits of the system but then again they don't even come and get me to fix things even when I'm in the school - they wait till 3:30 to tell me they had a problem at 2pm

 

It is as simple as simple can be (name, where/what - press button ) and it emails me and if I'm passing the school in question -I'll pop in and fix simple things so they don't have to wait a week.

 

PM me if you'd like to see it in action and if you want a copy and you've got php/mysql facilities - I'd give you a copy of it/set it up for you

 

regards

 

Simon

[grumpy_git]

We didn't used to have any system so it was very haphazard. Some staff would write paper memos, the more technologically advanced would send email - but they would typically only send it to one person, instead of to the whole department. Most would report them in person or by phone.

 

Now we have an address for staff to send to which copies mail to the entire department, so for most jobs whoever reads it first does it. For the more complex or specialised it obviously still gets done by a particular person. Takeup is increasing however you still get stopped in the corridors, and even if then asked to mail a request too, nobody bothers!

[vikpaw]

We didn't used to have any system so it was very haphazard. Some staff would write paper memos, the more technologically advanced would send email - but they would typically only send it to one person, instead of to the whole department. Most would report them in person or by phone.

 

Now we have an address for staff to send to which copies mail to the entire department, so for most jobs whoever reads it first does it. For the more complex or specialised it obviously still gets done by a particular person. Takeup is increasing however you still get stopped in the corridors, and even if then asked to mail a request too, nobody bothers!

 

if they don't follow the rules, then don't fix it! they'll learn.

we have one email that forwards to many.

one thing i like about the system we are trialling is that there is a common pool of calls, that you can take ownership of for a while, contribute to and then release if need be.

we were finding that sometimes jobs were left untouched, or everybody changed the password and it was done 3 times!

[TechSupp]

I support 11 primary schools through the week and only one of them has an electronic helpdesk, the rest have books or folders that the staff write issues in, or don't usually, and then grab me on the way through the school and get me to fix stuff spontaniously. I find it works because that is what they are used to, an electronic helpdesk would be good but teachers would still have to remember to put stuff on it. I would still have "Oh, just the man, I haven't written it in the book but could you just...."

 

Thats just the same with me except I only cover 4 primary schools. Tried to initiate the idea of an online system when I first started but it fellk on deaf ears so I just went with the flow of one I know they will use, a job book or whiteboard. Trouble with an online one is that how do they report a problem of internet access when they need the internet to report it?

[vikpaw]

Thats just the same with me except I only cover 4 primary schools. Tried to initiate the idea of an online system when I first started but it fellk on deaf ears so I just went with the flow of one I know they will use, a job book or whiteboard. Trouble with an online one is that how do they report a problem of internet access when they need the internet to report it?

 

For me the issue isn't completely about getting them to do stuff online, it's about having the records, management, logs, tasks etc online.

 

It is hard to introduce such a system especially with primary schools. When working for a secondary school, but offering support to a local primary, yes, a log book was in place.

 

However, the log book was filled in by any staff, but to get me to go there and visit the school / read the book, the secretary was told to either phone or email!

 

For urgent jobs they would get the secretary to email me the exact issue so i'd have a heads up. No point turning up to find a drive failure is logged in a book, then have to go away and return later or another day with replacement.

 

It's a slow process, but as IT support we have to be the ones guiding the schools to use online systems, no matter how slowly at first. Even if just one teacher or the IT co-ordinator emails you at first: Success. Even if it's from home initially. Eventually the other teachers will know that they can get a quicker response by telling that person to email you.

 

At some point they will want to do it themselves. Get hold of their home emails (i'm sure many will have them), and send them viral emails so they get into the habbit of communicating with you by email.

 

I've had staff that outright refuse to use email as an official channel of communication yet spend all day sending jokes / chainmail to eachother. (which reminds me of a chainmail joke- must post it.)

 

Surely the long term goal is to get these staff offay with computers. Come on, they are supposed to be teaching the students. It's a battle of attrition, but one we have to keep fighting.

[witch]

elsiegee and/or witch use a job book I think...

 

You've got a good memory!

 

In both schools I have a pigeonhole with IT forms where they can note who, where what why etc. My IT coord is v good at throwing back any not filled in properly.

I also get things by email and corridor requests.

I write down every type of request in a day book - date, rough outline etc that has room for a 'date completed' and a tickbox. This way I don't forget stuff and if I have a minute left after the firefighting, I can look back to find a longer term issue that I can tackle.

I would love an electronic help desk, and one of my schools is very comfy with email so they are getting closer - but the other one...no where near yet.

[grumpy_git]

if they don't follow the rules, then don't fix it! they'll learn.

we have one email that forwards to many.

one thing i like about the system we are trialling is that there is a common pool of calls, that you can take ownership of for a while, contribute to and then release if need be.

we were finding that sometimes jobs were left untouched, or everybody changed the password and it was done 3 times!

 

Generally what I do is reply to the mail (saying "OK I've fixed it" or "Will sort it out next week when the room is free" or whatever) and copy it to the list, hence it goes to everyone else in the team and they know that it's being dealt with (and, equally, should they need to finish a job off for some reason they're kept up to date with it).

 

I've had staff that outright refuse to use email as an official channel of communication yet spend all day sending jokes / chainmail to eachother.

 

I remember last summer we had a spate of Year 7s sending chainmail around. A member of SMT announced in briefing that such mail was unacceptable and that staff should warn students not to do it. A few weeks later one of their SMT colleagues sent one to all staff!

 

We have seen an increase in email usage, but there are still those who refuse to touch it. My take on it now is that I'll email people, if they don't reply, then it's them who's losing out, and if that causes them hassle in the future - that's their problem.

[vikpaw]

I remember last summer we had a spate of Year 7s sending chainmail around. A member of SMT announced in briefing that such mail was unacceptable and that staff should warn students not to do it. A few weeks later one of their SMT colleagues sent one to all staff!

 

I see chain mail all the time. It starts with just one person sending it to the rest of the office, then it gets circulated to small groups of friends. And on. And on. And on. There is so much redundancy i wonder how the exchange server copes, especially with all those massive images. I tried to explain once about how 2MB in and 2MB sent out of email for all 250 staff was like 1GB extra to back up just because of 1 email, but i met deaf ears.

 

Anyway,

 

Like i said, i have used chain mail successfully to get people to start using email, and once they've jokingly or otherwise replied to you, they can't use the excuse that they don't know how to use email. Of course, i still did have to run courses for the truly challenged.

 

A well developed online system has to be the way to go. Another feature i'm really looking forward to is the ability for a user to search the knowledge base for similar calls. I think mylittlehelpdesk can also do it automatically, similar to when you start a thread on here and it lists all with similar names.

 

It's very powerful to be able to show a user their previous calls, as it hopefully prevents them from making the same lazy whining calls to you, but also empowers them to start troubleshooting their own issues. Would you believe we still get calls from the secondary ICT teacher saying "computer wont work" or "can't print"!!!

[yabbadabba]

I have trays with printed out forms on the door of my room.

 

Top tray is blank forms.

 

Second tray is forms that have been filled in with problem, location, name of the person reporting the problem.

 

Third tray is for me when I have sorted the problem I keep the slips for reference.

 

All members of staff can also email me, along with using a Helpdesk page on the Intranet, all work fine apart from one problem, no one hardly ever uses them

 

It drives me mad, the ex headmaster was excellent, he tried to push the use of all the methods but it seems people would rather stop me in the corridor and take 5-10 minutes of my time.

[vikpaw]

It drives me mad, the ex headmaster was excellent, he tried to push the use of all the methods but it seems people would rather stop me in the corridor and take 5-10 minutes of my time.

 

Always carry a screwdriver in your hand, your mobile phone and a CD. If you see anyone coming . .. RUN!

 

Second tray is forms that have been filled in with problem, location, name of the person reporting the problem.

 

I used to have forms too (attached), but as you say, they are just rarely used.

 

Don't expect the head to lead by example. The other day, the Head of Primary School, put an announcement out over the school wide loudspeaker asking me to go to his office as it was an emergency.

 

When i got there, he just wanted me to write the COUNTIF formula for him on some data he'd exported from SIMS. I can't even justify logging that because my remit ends at SIMS and the Intranet!!

 

To top it off, we run internal International Computer Driving Licence courses in Excel!!!!:censored:

Support Call Form - Example.doc

[grumpy_git]

I see chain mail all the time. It starts with just one person sending it to the rest of the office, then it gets circulated to small groups of friends. And on. And on. And on. There is so much redundancy i wonder how the exchange server copes, especially with all those massive images. I tried to explain once about how 2MB in and 2MB sent out of email for all 250 staff was like 1GB extra to back up just because of 1 email, but i met deaf ears.

 

We have another HoD who sends glitzy newsletters... in Word format... as an attatchment... to all 1500ish users. *grumble*

 

Always carry a screwdriver in your hand, your mobile phone and a CD. If you see anyone coming . .. RUN!

 

I have taken to carrying a patch lead, network cable tester and screwdriver with me when going to the loo. The route from our office to the staff loos takes me past two departments, the main office, the staffroom and an SMT members office. Being sick of being collared on the way I took to carrying said items so if anyone asks me I'm "busy on an important job" .