WE NEED YOUR HELP! 3 steps will lead to faster fixes!
Anyone involved in ticket resolution is eager to fix your computer related problems. We've noticed that tickets with the right information lead to faster resolutions!
The goal of this article is to help you understand how our process works, and create tickets that lead to faster turn around times. We know that you're not an IT professional, and are not expecting you give that level of diagnostic. A few simple guidelines, however, could really help you and us.
Naming the ticket: Make the subject line of your ticket email is Yourself, Your room number, and your issue. Example (John Smith, 101, outlook won't load)
Naming the ticket "Help," "my computer," "computer problems," leaves us with all the tickets looking the same. Whatever the subject line is in your email is names the ticket. We get tickets from every school system when it reaches the district level. Sorting and scrolling through 30 tickets named "computer" leaves us spending a lot of time doing custom sorting and not a lot of time fixing your computer.
What to write: Symptoms and Anticipated questions.
Tell us your troubles. Give us the symptoms. What happens? When does it happen? Who does it happen to? (Is it only when your TA logs on to your computer?) If you give us the what, when, and who, we'll figure out the how and why.
Do you think we are going to want to know something? go ahead and tell us. Tell us anything you think might help. Does it feel worse on Tuesdays? Have you figured out a way to keep working despite? More info is great!
List what you tried.
A simple list of everything you tried goes a long way. Knowing you rebooted saves us a step. Knowing you got it to work once for a minute really helps us out.
There's only one DON'T: Don't give us the solution (and only the solution)
We don't know what's wrong until we fixed it. We don't trust our own solutions until they prove to work. Computers have a lot of pieces and nuance. Many tickets come with a repair command and no other information. "I need a new mouse," really doesn't give us a lot to go on to help you. We'll bring a new mouse with us, but it may have been something a simple reboot will fix, or it might be something wrong with the computer itself, or could be something that needs immediate elevation. Leaving us the above info will help us get the right person, the right part, and the right solution your way.
Help us help you!
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Sample unhelpful ticket:
My computer
My computer is weird. Please bring a new monitor.
Signed,
No one in particular....