I got a phone call Friday in response to the message I
posted here, informing me about the 11:45 time. We've made calls to
the number late at night before, but this is probably the first one after
midnight, which explains why I had never run into this before.
Those hours sound reasonable. And I was assured that off-campus and
campus-based calls get treated alike.
It sounds like ITS is willing to look into getting a better automated
message put on the DLS line so as to inform callers that this is really
the right number and that the people there really do intend to take your
support line calls.
In my case, after hanging up on the DLS line, I also filled out the
on-line contact form and sent a personal message to the service
provider. The problem was taken care of early enough in the morning
that none of our own people noticed the outage, or at least didn't
complain to me about it.
I also learned why the regular ITS support line has better quality
front-line support the past couple of years. There have been a
couple of cases where I was very impressed with the person. I remember
one student who understood a complicated problem without having to be
told anything twice, and who remembered all the details from one
conversation to the next during the same incident. That was better
than I could have done. I'm pretty sure I expressed my appreciation using
the online form for evaluating a call. That's not the kind of
service we used to get in olden times. Anyhow, I learned that
a year or two ago ITS increased the pay scale so as to attract better
people for the support line. Mission accomplished, I would
say.
When my calls was answered by the DLS automated message, I was afraid
things were going back in the wrong direction. But maybe it's all
OK, especially if better information could be put on the DLS automated
answering machine.
John Gorentz
At 03:42 PM 6/28/2013, Leo Sell wrote:
Thought I sent this to the list
this morning.
The IT Services Support line at 432-6200 is attended/answered by help
desk consultants from 7:00 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and until
7:45 p.m. on Friday-Saturday. After those times the line trunks over to
Distance Learning. DLS staff in many cases can help because it is a
simple matter such as a password reset. In other cases, the matter is
something that can wait for IT Services personnel to handle in the
morning, so an after-hours ticket is filed.
When a more serious outage occurs, a full-time HD staff member like me
may be called to triage the matter and where called for per service
protocols, contact Network Engineering or some other service owner to try
and get the matter resolved asap.
/L
--
Leo Sell
IT Services
Technology and Network Support (formerly ATS Help Desk)
help.msu.edu
tech.msu.edu
517-432-6200
On 6/28/13 6:34 AM, Aldrich, Dakharai wrote:
The ITS Helpdesk is only open
from 7am to 5pm every day. Distance Learning is the overflow.
They can assist with some issues, and will create tickets for other
issues so that the appropriate team gets your request and can call you
back.
Dak Aldrich
Information Technologist
Support Services
Infrastructure Planning and Facilities
Michigan State University
Phone: 517.432.0239
[log in to unmask] | ipf.msu.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: John Gorentz
[
mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 1:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MSUNAG] What happened to the help line?
About a half hour ago I tried calling the 517-432-6200 number to report
that one of our web sites had gone down. The phone was answered
by a machine identifying itself as "Distance Learning
Services." It is never a good sign what that entity answers
the phone. I don't expect the quickest response after midnight,
even from ITS, but after staying on the line for several minutes and
waiting for a human, I hung up.
Sometimes there is a plausible justification for Distance Learning
Services taking our calls, e.g. about library services, but it is never a
sign that we're going to have our problem dealt with quickly and
efficiently. I'm calling from the Battle Creek area, so I'm
wondering if I'm being treated specially. Is this what happens when
students on campus call late at night? The ITS web site says the
6200 number is attended 24 hours a day. What happens when people on
campus think they're calling the support line, and instead they get
"Distance Learning Services"? Or do they? Or did I miss a
memo?
I'm building up to go on a rant about this, but am trying to line up some
information first.
John Gorentz
Computer Services Manager
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Michigan State University
Hickory Corners MI 49060
--
Leo Sell
IT Services
Technology and Network Support (formerly ATS Help Desk)
help.msu.edu
tech.msu.edu
517-432-6200