[834] in resnet
Help Desk survey results
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John Rocchio)
Thu Feb 14 18:37:36 2002
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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 15:21:22 -0800
Reply-To: Resnet Forum <RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu>
From: John Rocchio <johnroc@CATS.UCSC.EDU>
To: RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu
About a month ago I sent out the following survey:
>We are looking at the pros and cons of combined vs separated Help
>Desk functions for ResNet support and the rest of Housing
>operations. We'd like a few moments of your time to see how other
>folks are handling these issues. We'll post the results in a few
>weeks.
>
>1) name of institution
>2) population of ResNet-supported students
>3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
>4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
>5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
>6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
>7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
>8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
>years? If so, why?
>
>
I'll put my answers first, and then include everyone else's. Thanks
to everyone who answered.
Univ of Calif, Santa Cruz
~5,000 potential, ~4000 actual users
~300
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes, we switched the ResNet support model from distributed to
centralized to cut costs and (hopefully) offer a better level of
service. We did something similar for the Housing staff support.
===================================
From: "Smith, Sheila" <ssmith@montana.edu>
1) name of institution[ssmith] Montana State University
2) population of ResNet-supported students[ssmith] about 3000
3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services[ssmith] about
70
4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?[ssmith] Yes
5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?[ssmith] Yes
6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?[ssmith] Yes
7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?[ssmith] Yes
8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
years? If so, why?[ssmith] Yes, we used to only support the students but
we discovered 2 things: 1.5 FTE were not able to provide the support to the
Housing staff and it more fully employed our student staff to support the
staff as well as the students.
=====================================
From: "McRitchie, Karen" <McRitchi@Grinnell.EDU>
1) name of institution
Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
2) population of ResNet-supported students
currently 950, should be around 1000 next semester
3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
approximately 600
4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
No, but during the first two weeks of the semester, we
staff the helpdesk due to the increased number of resnet hook up
questions/problems
5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
Anyone with a computer is welcome to call our helpdesk for
assistance.
6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
Yes, the same students are trained for resnet and regular
support
7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
I manage the helpdesk as an ITS administrator
8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
years? If so, why?
Yes, our helpdesk used to only be for faculty and support staff.
We have such a large percentage of students with a computer in their
room, that they had no where to just call from their room. We changed
this past fall.
==========================================
From: "Andrews, Colleen" <candrews@UWSP.EDU>
1) name of institution University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
2) population of ResNet-supported students 1719 and counting!
3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services. We don't
have Housing IT services, we just have campus IT Services who run hall
computer labs, run ResNet, fix and/or install equipment and software,
maintain servers for our student information system, etc. We have a
central campus IT Help Desk for faculty/staff and students who cannot be
helped by Computer labs or our ResNet Help line.
4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet? Yes, staffed only by
students.
5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff? The campus IT Help
Desk as mentioned above
6) Do the same people answer both types of calls? No
7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks? No
8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
years? If so, why? No
=============================================
From: "Daxter Gulje" <dgulje@housing.ucsb.edu>
1) UCSB
2) 3517 currently registered students on the Ethernet network
3) Approximately 200
4) Yes
5) No
6) No
7) No
8) When I began working here in July, the model was strictly RCC-based,
room visits, with an occasional phone call being taken by a non-busy
staff member. I altered the model to require RCCs to work at least one
2-hour shift answering phones during the business week. The result is
that we always have an RCC from 10-12pm, and 1-5pm, Monday-Friday. The
number of in-room calls has seem to drop off quite a bit, due to our
ability to troubleshoot low-level problems on the telephone.
==============================================
From: Kathryn Engelhardt <engel@columbia.edu>
> 1) name of institution
Columbia University
> 2) population of ResNet-supported students
5500
> 3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
IT is separate from housing/URH
> 4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
not a separate helpdesk from our main helpdesk
> 5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
not sure what you mean by a helpdesk for housing staff. there is a
separate phone number that students can call for questions with housing,
but that is not related in any way to networking.
> 6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
n/a
> 7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
n/a
8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3 years?
we have had this model for at least 8 years, since before i worked here.
=================================================
From: klik <klik@geneseo.edu>
>
>1) name of institution
SUNY Geneseo
>2) population of ResNet-supported students
3000
>3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
20+
>4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
We have central desk for all computer related problems
>5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
Centralized Support
>6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
Yes
>7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
Yes
>8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
>years? If so, why?
We've been running combination of Centralized and Distributed support
for over 3 years now. The way it's run is all calls come into one
central location and from there are distributed to the appropriate
Technology Support Professional who is in charge of a "Cluster."
Academic departments are broken up into 3 different Clusters,
there're 2 professional staff for Administration, 1 for Library, 1
for Comp Sci, and 1 for ResNet and ResLife
=====================================================
From: "Wardius, Martin" <wardius@msoe.edu>
> 1) name of institution
Milwaukee School of Engineering
> 2) population of ResNet-supported students
approx. 875
> 3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
Officially, none
> 4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
Yes
> 5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
Not officially, however I do provide support on minor issues for 7 Housing
and 3 Food Service staff as part of my collateral duties. Major support
issues are handled by the University's Communication and Computer Services
Dept.
> 6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
No.
> 7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
No
> 8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
> years? If so, why?
No. Our model has been in place since the inception of our ResNet in 1997.
I would add that I'm a strong proponent of keeping the Main Campus and
ResNet Help Desks separate. Our staff (8 persons, working 10 hrs/wk each) is
made up entirely of resident students. What we hoped to accomplish was an
environment where the residents would regard the ResNet Techs as peers as
opposed to just another member of the University Staff. Our CCSD has to
provide service and support for approximately 400 Faculty/Staff and 2,500
students. It simply would not be practical or cost effective for them to
provide the level of service that we can provide.
=====================================================
From: Dean Chetkovich <dmchetkovich@CSUPOMONA.EDU>
1) name of institution
California Polytechnic University, Pomona
2) population of ResNet-supported students
1440
3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
31
4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
Yes
5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
Yes
6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
Yes
7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
Yes
8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
years? If so, why?
Yes. We implemented the Resident Help Desk to respond more directly to
increasing calls to our Housing office for Network connectivity support.
Our campus has an Enterprise Computing help desk for professional staff and
students utilizing Helpline Software, but we wanted to provide more direct
support for the issues unique to our resident population. The help phone
line also provides a more consistent contact method for our staff to
request technology support.
=======================================================
From: Mike Hamrick <mike.hamrick@UNH.EDU>
At this time we have a central Call Center that takes calls from faculty,
staff, admin, and students. The Call Center answers basic questions that
can be resolved in typically five minutes or less. If a call is expected to
exceed more than five minutes, they will enter some basic information into a
call tracking system, and queue if off to the next level of support. Hours
are 7:30am - 5:00pm
I am working on an after hours support model that would be staffed by ResNet
student consultants, and would handle calls after 5:00pm from students only.
If all goes well, we'll be ready for next fall.
1) name of institution
University of New Hampshire
2) population of ResNet-supported students
Prior to x-mas break, 5895 registered online
3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
Housing has it's own in house IT support
4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
We use the central Call Center at this time
5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
Call Center, and then queue to next level of support
6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
Call Center, and then queue to next level of support
7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
Call Center has a single manager, next level of support would be different
departments with different managers
8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
years? If so, why?
Yes, due to statistics kept buy the Call Center, the call times are required
to be kept to five minutes or less.
=======================================================
From: Marilee Collins <Marilee.Collins@NAU.EDU>
>1) name of institution
Northern Arizona University
>2) population of ResNet-supported students
4000 out of ~5200 possible connections
>3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
IT (Information Technology Services) is separate from Housing.
ResNet is supported by ITS.
>4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
We have a Help Desk for students, and a Help Desk for faculty and staff.
>5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
See above.
>6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
No.
>7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
No, but they both fall under Information Technology Services.
>8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
>years? If so, why?
No.
========================================================
From: Kathie Robinson <robinska@muohio.edu>
>1) name of institution
Miami University (of Oxford, Ohio)
>2) population of ResNet-supported students
Approx 8500
>3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
No housing it service; all computing provided by central it department
>4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
Only one helpdesk, provides support to resnet.
>5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
see above....
>6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
yes
>7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
yes
>8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
>years? If so, why?
no
============================================================
From: Pamela Lay <play@nd.edu>
>> 1) name of institution
University of Notre Dame
>> 2) population of ResNet-supported students
8,000 - 10,000 Students (We had 80% connectivity during the
academic year 2000-2001, one port per pillow)
>> 3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
3,000 - 4,000
>> 4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
Yes. In addition, we have student employees to live and work in
the Residence Halls to provide additional support to those using
ResNet.
>> 5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
Yes, The Help Desk provides support to all Notre Dame Faculty,
Staff, and Students.
>> 6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
Yes
>> 7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
Yes, We have one centrally managed Help Desk
>> 8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
>> years? If so, why?
No. However, our model for supporting ResNet may change in the
future to provide better service to our students. We will not
remove support from the central Help Desk but we may supplement
that support in another method.
==============================================================
From: Linda Barrows <barrowsl@PILOT.MSU.EDU>
>1) name of institution
Michigan State University http://www.msu..edu
>2) population of ResNet-supported students
18,927 Ethernet ports in 27 Residence halls (44,000 students
total) There are also 35,000 faculty and staff here.
http://sns.msu.edu (Student Network Service)
http://help.msu.edu (Computing Services Central)
Many Campus IT services are based out of the Computer Laboratory
http://cl.msu.edu
We have a student computer requirement which began in fall of 2001.
>3) number of staff supported by central Housing IT services
Housing IT Services does support for their own Housing and Food Services
offices and staff, but not the students.
This is also a very large operation.
>4) Do you provide a Help Desk for ResNet?
Yes, there are 5 help desks for Residence hall student support located in
or near Residence halls on campus.
>5) Do you provide a Help Desk for Housing staff?
Our help desks are geared to support the entire campus; student body,
faculty and staff.
>6) Do the same people answer both types of calls?
Student Employees are staffed at each help desk site. 3 managers and 2
full time help who provide back up when needed.
>7) Does the same person manage both Help Desks?
No, there are 3 managers (Two manage 2 help desks and one manages the 1
central based help desk in the Computer Laboratory bldg.)
>8) Have you changed to/from the current model within the last 3
>years? If so, why?
>
Yes, we had all Residence hall Ethernet support coming from 5 locations
with one manager and all other support (dial up networking, email, and all
other Computing Support) with one manager. We recently merged all Help
Desk services. The re-organization was intended to improve our
services to the MSU community.
=======================================
--
John Rocchio
ResNet Manager
resnet@cats.ucsc.edu
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