We were joking at the AEA yesterday morning about using restroom walls to communicate important information; in all seriousness, these points and pieces of advice would make great reading ... in the reading room! And, there is the additional educational advantage of getting the message to your audience more than once!
It's good stuff, Tim and deserves to be spread! Thanks! ksa From: Buenz, Tim Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 12:16 PM To: 'info-tech@aea8.k12.ia.us' Subject: [info-tech] FW: Tech. Support Guidelines Hi, I thought this article was very good and wanted to share it with you. Have a good weekend! -------------------- When you encounter problems with your computer or with specific applications, it is often necessary to call the information technology help desk to resolve them. As dozens of jokes attest, it can often take a while for the help desk to accurately diagnose and correct the problem. To assist in the process as much as possible, following are five easy steps you can take to help them in the situation. Investigate. Before calling the IT help desk, do a little investigative work on your own. It is truly amazing how many errors disappear, never to be seen again, simply by rebooting the computer. If you are having trouble with basic hardware issues, like turning on the monitor or connecting to a network, take a few seconds to unplug the monitor or network cable and then plug it back in, ensuring that the cable is firmly pressed into the outlet or jack. Recreate. After you have tried basic solutions, try to recreate the problem. For example, run the same application again and try to perform the same task that originally caused the problem. If you cannot reliably cause the error message to show again, then the IT help desk will probably not be able to assist you. They will not doubt that you did have an error, but they cannot fix an error if they do not have the opportunity to identify the cause of it. Record. If you can recreate the error, then take a few minutes to write down as much information as you can about the situation. Write down the exact text shown in the error message, and be sure to include an error number if it is shown. Note which application is generating the error, as well as other applications that are also open. Do some quick testing to see if the same error is generated by other applications or only by the one you had open. All of this information will help the help desk workers more quickly identify the problem. Explain. When you do call the help desk, politely explain to them everything that you have already tried and also share all of the information that you have gathered about the problem. They will likely want to begin their examination by asking you to perform some simple tasks or check application settings. Follow all of their instructions exactly, even if the tasks repeat something that you have already tried or seem trivial or silly. They have specific reasons for each step they ask you to follow. Understand. Finally, always try to be patient with the help desk. In many businesses and schools, the IT help desk is understaffed and overworked. They have to deal daily with many people who are each convinced that their own problem should be top priority. Remember that the help desk workers are very much like you-regular people trying to make it through each day. Following these basic steps can ease the stress of technological problems, both for you and for the IT help desk employees. ----- Tim Buenz Director of Technology Jefferson-Scranton Comm. Schools 204 W. Madison Street Jefferson, IA 50129 (515)386-9256 Fax (515)386-3591 http://www.jscsd.org "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future" -John F. Kennedy Karen Appleton Instructional Media/Technology Consultant Zones 1-2-3 Prairie Lakes AEA 8 23 East Seventh Street Spencer, Iowa 51301 712.262.4704 or 866.540.3860 fax: 712.262.5114 "If we did all the things that we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." ~ Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
