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If there appears to be a desire for a campus-wide forum here, we are currently running forum software and I'd be happy to set one up and host it. Missy Koos Webmaster Student Affairs and Services 517.355.9510 -----Original Message----- From: John Resotko [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 10:54 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Help Desk Forum As a followup to a recent Roundtable discussion on technology help desk issues, CMU has decided to host a discussion forum online. I have their permission to pass this information on to the rest of the MSU community. If you do not have direct responsibility for technology support, or you know of anyone running a higher education technology help desk, please pass this information on. Thank you. The following message went out to the CMU Round Table Attendee list today. Shortly, a similar message will be sent out the help desk roundtable mailing list, <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] quote: _____ As a follow-up to the Round Table discussion at Central Michigan University, we have put together a web site to help coordinate future collaboration between University Help Desks and Avante. After that Round Table discussion, I had an opportunity to speak with representatives from several institutions. Everyone I spoke with expressed a desire to share information and collaborate on future projects. The site features a variety of message boards and a live chat room (with the intention of facilitating discussion on technical problems real time). In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges University Help Desks face is a lack of staff and resources, leaving Help Desk management and staff little time for anything but getting their day-to-day work accomplished. Large Help Desks in Industry have the resources to hire several subject matter experts, and then direct problems to a person with the proper expertise. In education our staff is small, so inevitably we're expected to be experts on everything. By combining the resources of several Universities, we essentially gain the resources of a single large Help Desk. I honestly believe that with a large amount of participation, and some time invested upfront, collaboration between Universities will inevitably lead to value added to all our institutions, without any additional costs. In my experience, providing technical support in an education environment is similar across the board, which means a large percentage of what we all do is probably duplicated effort. Imagine teams from several universities working together to create knowledge bases, internal training programs, and end-user self-help documentation. Imagine a resource where you can tap the combined knowledge of several (perhaps even hundreds some day) when researching more complicated technical issues. As a University Help Desk Manager myself, I understand how hectic things get, and I can certainly sympathize with how busy you must all be. I recognize that it will be difficult to get the ball rolling, but I encourage you all to make the time and start talking. At this point, I don't even think the subject matters (we could even start by venting our frustrations). What matters is that we start communicating. If we can do that, I believe that productive discussion will happen naturally. If you are in agreement, and think there is potential here for all our institutions to benefit through collaboration, the site is listed below. This is the first announcement for the site, so there hasn't been any discussion yet. I encourage everyone to ask a question, bring up an issue; basically just start communicating: <http://www.roundtable.cmich.edu/> http://www.roundtable.cmich.edu/ -Jeffrey McDowell, Central Michigan University John A. Resotko Head of Systems Administration MSU - Detroit College of Law 208 Law College Building East Lansing, MI 48824-1300 email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> Phone: 517-432-6836 Fax: 517-432-6861