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August 14, 2000
Q&A:
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You've just returned to campus after a well-deserved vacation. The first order of business is to log on to e-mail and check the pile of messages in your in-box. But when the ÒEnter PasswordÓ prompt appears on the monitor, your fingers sit motionless on the keyboard and you begin to panic. You've forgotten your password. It's happened to the best of us. Now what?
Mary Pierson, who manages Information Technology's Customer Assistance Group (CAG), says help is just a phone call away. Resolving password problems is just one of the services provided by CAG, located in College Hall, Room 317.
Pierson recently discussed how an expanding staff of Helpline assistants, technicians, lab assistants and academic technology media assistants have combined to improve service to the approximately 3,500 computers on campus as well as the off-campus computers that faculty and staff use at home. The Helpline, ext. 7971, is open Mon.-Fri, 8 a.m.-11 p.m., and Sat. and Sun., 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
INSIGHT: What is the CAG's main function?
Pierson: The CAG was created by Information Technology to foster community interaction
on campus while providing hardware setup and distribution, software licensing
management and installation, as well as technical and end-user support.
INSIGHT: What is the volume of calls you receive?
Pierson: Last year we answered 17,000 calls and this year we expect that number
to increase by 3,000. During the summer we receive, on average, 60 calls per
day, and during the regular school year, 150. Most calls are from people asking
the meaning of computer phrases and what they should do. That and password problems.
Everybody forgets a password at some point.
INSIGHT: How do you determine which calls get priority?
Pierson: We have five platformsÑ10 through 50. Platform 10 is top priority.
That's when an entire system or network that affects multiple users is down.
The second platformÑ20Ñis when an individual's computer simply dies. Platform
30 means the problem is serious but the computer can still function. Platform
40 is routine problems, for instance, someone's password or a printer needs
to be changed. Platform 50 is for long-term projects.
INSIGHT: What is the response time customers can expect after they
call the Helpline?
Pierson: Platform 10 gets immediate response. When a system or network is down
the first thing we do is send out a broadcast e-mail or voice mail informing
the campus community that we're aware of the problem and are attempting to correct
it. In terms of a level 20-40 call, if we can't help someone over the phone,
we will get to that person by the end of the day or early the next morning.
INSIGHT: What are the qualifications you look for in hiring student
technicians?
Pierson: We first observe candidates' personality traits. How personable are
they? Do they have a high degree of patience? How well do they answer questions?
How logically do they think when it comes to problem solving? That's so we can
get an idea of how a candidate will respond to a customer who calls the Helpline.
Computer skills aren't necessary. There are more humanities majors working at
the Helpline than there are computer majors. It's much easier to teach computer
skills than it is to teach patience, problem-solving skills and phone manners.
INSIGHT: What are your plans for the CAG?
Pierson: We'd like to inspire more confidence in the MSU community that we can
handle whatever problems they have with their computers. We need to convince
faculty and staff that we're improving and that we are open to suggestions.
Therefore, we want to keep improving on customer assistance. We want to get
hardware and software up and running so faculty, staff and students can work
with as little interruption as possible in labs, classrooms, offices and at
home. We also want to get more documentation and information up on the Web page
so faculty and staff can access information and self-help when we're not here.
I'd also like to establish some structure for computers and programs on campus
so we can offer maximum assistance.