William Noyes Technology Services

One of the most critical functions of an IT/IS department is its helpdesk. When a department is small, it can afford to be informal, and just respond to users when they have issues. When the department is a little larger, they need a way to communicate with each other, and the users. In my department, I have two part-time Information Systems Technicians who handle much of the day-to-day issues. However frequently One of us will be called to a computer and be told “Oh, I had Chris work on my computer this morning, and now something doesn’t work” Of course, they don’t know what Chris did. It would be very helpful to me to know what he’d done as it may be a clue as to the current problem. Also, if one of them solves a problem, it is likely that other computers on the network could have the same problem, and a reference would help resolve issues faster, and more consistently. As a manager, I need some metrics to measure whether we are being effective, find trends in issues, and set staffing levels.
We have investigated several helpdesk solutions including:

• Track-it
• Help-Star
• Liberum Help Desk
• Ilient Helpdesk

Right now, we’re looking seriously at Ilient’s Helpdesk. It offers just about all of the features I was looking for, including automatic asset inventory, email notification of service calls, incoming calls via web/phone/email, and remote control. In addition it has an optional project management module which looks like it will be helpful. We’ve installed a trial version and have rolled it out to five or six computers, for the next two weeks, we’ll enter al service requests that come into the department, and track them through the system.

I’ll update this post as we test the software out.

Bill

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One of the ways I use the internet is researching solutions to computer related problems I encounter.  I frequent knowledge bases and forums dedicated to technology issues.  My hope is that this website can be a way of giving back to the internet community.  So I’m thinking of adding a knowledgebase to this website.  I figure if I add entries based on day-to-day problems, the knowledge base will become a resource for users.  My first thought was to just post the knowledgebase articles as regular posts,  but I think that they will quickly become unwieldy. So I’ve begun a search for the best way for me to maintain a knowledge base within this structure.  I use Wordpress to maintain this site, so I’m looking at WP plugins, but I’m also looking at Wikipedia type solutions. 

I’ll keep you updated on my search.  In the meantime,  if you have a suggestion for a solution, or ideas for eventual inclusion to the Knowledgebase,  please leave a comment.

Bill

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When I began thinking about this post, I thought it was going to be just a rant about an experience I had at lunch. I have mixed feelings about posting rants, it feels a little unprofessional, but sometimes it feels so good to rant and rave! However as I thought about it, I decided there was a lesson to be learned, that hopefully makes this a worthwhile post.

I frequently eat lunch at one particular sandwich shop, often eating there two or three times in a week. They have a frequent buyer card program, where after five sandwiches, you get 20% off, after ten sandwiches, you get $5 off (basically a free sandwich), after fifteen, its 40%, and after twenty, its $10 (two sandwiches). Several weeks ago, I’d reached the ten sandwich mark on my card, and redeemed it. The cashier gave me the discount, and gave me a new card. Later I was thinking that I should have gotten the old card back to work on the 40% discount. However, I’d been happy with the service and the food, so I let the issue go. Yesterday, I’d gotten to the 20% level on the new card (which should have been 40%), I gave the card to the cashier as I ordered, he ran up the order without the card, and calculated the discount on a hand held calculator, he then keyed in the $20 dollar bill I handed him and gave me my change, without entering the discount into the register! In my head I thought it’s only 20-30 cents, and decided not to make a scene during the busy lunch rush. Driving back to the office, it kept nagging at me, it wasn’t 20 cents, it was really 20% of $10.00, or $2.00, and it should have been 40%! So now I’ve been “cheated” twice within a month by this shop. I kept thinking, I should put this on my blog, and never eat there again. (more…)

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