New Help Desk Operation Procedures

Hi, everybody.
Due to staffing changes and space constraints, we’re going to be making some changes to the concept of the “Help Desk” for CELS.
First up, we need to convert the existing location into a regular office. That’s happening this afternoon (September 17). With the loss of that location as a help desk, I’d like to take the opportunity to shift how we’re handling front line support. But let’s talk about what’s not changing.
As always, the first line of support is sending an e-mail to [email protected], nothing is changing there. Another process that’s not changing is phone support, so if you can’t e-mail or it’s urgent, you can continue to call us at 630-252-6813 during our regular support hours.
But that brings up the first in the list of the things that are changing, which are our regular support hours. Our new hire, Tim Livolsi, will be joining us on September 24th. He’ll be splitting his time between user support and systems administration. We’re excited to bring him on, and effective October 1, we’ll be going back to regular hours of 9AM-11:30, and 1PM-5PM for our staffed help phone hours.
The next change will be how you get in-person support. When you call or e-mail us, we’ll try to help remotely where we can. If it requires an in-person visit, we’ll set up a time with you to come visit and help (including right away). And in the cases where you need to visit us, we’ll set up a time we can work with you in our interaction area.
“What’s that?” I can hear you collectively asking yourselves. The Systems Interaction Area is that area with the black sofa and chairs just inside the main entrance to the building, across the atrium. We’ve converted the adjacent workspace into a more interactive spot we can sit with you and your computer to work on issues. But our goal is to move to a more virtualized than physical help desk so we can to better make use of our resources.
Of course, as always, if you need a walk-up spot for help, you can use the BIS Service Desk over by the west entrance of 240. If they can fix it for you, they will, and if they can’t, they’ll escalate to the CELS Systems team, where we’ll take care of you.
If you have questions about this, please let me know.
Thanks!
—
Craig