The comprehensive IT help desk: a single point-of-contact for the university community

ABSTRACT

The IT Help Desk at the University of West Florida provides services to a university community of over 9,000 students, 1,200 faculty and staff, and an undetermined number of alumni, prospective students, and the general public. Functioning as a single point-of-contact for IT information, questions, and requests, the Help Desk offers a comprehensive suite of services, and facilitates critical campus communication regarding IT issues. Services include: standard phone and desktop support, enterprise-wide system monitoring, campus IT alerts, eLearning support, classroom technology support, ResNet Help Desk, software purchases, and an IT event calendar.

Daily 8:00 AM briefings combined with work load "expeditors" and lead analysts in a highly team-oriented environment, allow Help Desk staff and student employees to move customer issues through a tiered support matrix. This matrix encompasses IT resources within the central IT department and throughout a distributed university support model. It also includes departments and offices that are not technical in nature. Customer surveys provide feedback and suggestions for continued improvement.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Management techniques (e.g., PERT/CPM)

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Staffing

General Terms:
Management, Measurement, Performance, Standardization

Keywords:
collaboration, help desk, processes and procedures, support, tools