When a Lab staff member contacts the ITSD Help Desk with a support question, the employee making the inquiry is also sent a survey about the service received. A number of questions have appeared frequently as of late – here are some of them, along with the answers from the Desktop Support Group.

Question: Why don't you fully support Outlook, Eudora and other mail clients?
Answer: It comes down to economics. With limited staff, we have to focus our attention on products the majority of the Lab can use. For example, some employees have very specific and detailed questions about Outlook. We cannot afford the time to research these problems and still provide an adequate level of service for the cross-platform mail client that is the Lab standard (Netscape 4.75 for the next year, accompanied by a transition to Mozilla 1.4). Also, Outlook is viewed as a cyber security risk, as it is a frequent target of hackers, so we strongly advise against using Outlook.

We know that Eudora is widely used on the UC Berkeley campus, and as a result we try our best to be somewhat familiar with it. The Mac/PC Support Group also has a customer base that uses Eudora (scientists who have dual appointments with UC Berkeley), so some "best effort" support can be arranged via Time and Materials basis if the Help Desk is unable to provide a solution.

Q: Why don't you support Macintosh computers?
A: We do. When we evaluated a replacement for the browser/email client, cross-platform considerations were important to us. We wanted something that we could economically support on Macintosh, UNIX/Linux, and Windows systems. Other examples of planned cross-platform compatibility include our calendaring application (Oracle calendar), antivirus protection (Norton), an SSH client (F-secure), and backup software (Veritas Netbackup client). In addition, each person at the Help Desk has both a Mac and Windows XP computer, with Nat Stoddard (one of the four Help Desk staff members) specializing in Mac software. The MPSG group provides hardware and system software support for Macs. Because Dave Busby of the MPSG group has taken the time to maintain his Apple certifications, we have the ability to buy parts from Apple and complete repairs without violating warranty agreements. Since Mac OS X is based on a variation of UNIX, some additional expertise becomes available through the UNIX group.

Q: I call the Help Desk at x4357, but now I am faced with a list of menu items. Why can't I just connect with someone on the support staff?
A: You can. When you call, you can immediately hit * to leave a voice mail, option 1 for new account requests, and option 2 to be queued to talk in person with the next available staff member. No need to listen to the choices if you already know what they are. The primary difference is the addition of option 3 which we will use to record information concerning ongoing projects, hours of operation or other more general information. In addition, customers who phone in can choose to stay on line until someone answers, rather than being forced to voicemail. We know that it is possible to do other work at your desk while waiting for a line to become available, and in some cases it may be the best way to get help.

Q: When I leave a voice mail, why isn't my call returned immediately?
A: We have four full-time staff members and a team lead. Vacations, sickness, training and participation in ITSD product rollouts sometimes reduce the number available for phone support. When we combine these events with days that have a spike in requests (for example, days in which the latest virus, worm, or system compromise is threatening Lab computers), response time can suffer. We do our best to answer each message as soon as we can.

Q: When I call the Help Desk and they cannot answer the question, why do I have to provide an account to get a solution?
A: When our first line of defense cannot answer a question, the only option may involve sending the request to one of two groups that are not funded out of Lab overhead. Both the Mac/PC Support group (MPSG) and the UNIX group are strictly recharge operations. Neither group gets any overhead funding so they can't work for free. It is the customer’s choice whether or not to pursue this option however. It should be noted the Help Desk is frequently provided training using a brownbag approach. Technical specialists in all areas of ITSD meet with Help Desk Staff (typically during lunch hours) to convey information and answer questions that will eventually benefit our customers.

Q: Why can't I just call the Help Desk staff members on their personal phone line?
A: The majority of customers at the Lab call x4357 when they need help. If the Help Desk staff person goes off line to answer a personal call, overall service levels are affected. Any call for help should go to the central number. If the person who answers the phone cannot answer the question (and they should be capable of resolving over 60 percent of the calls that come in), they have the ability to consult other Help Desk team members or subject matter experts in other groups. Secondly, when staff members are not at work, no one will check personal voice messages, so the customer will not be given a response in a time frame they might expect. It is our policy to strongly discourage this practice to benefit the Lab overall.