Transforming support
Matthew R. Link · 2002
The Computing and Information Services (CIS) Helpdesk at Oklahoma State University (OSU) grew as an outgrowth of academic programming support and support for customers of CIS-developed applications. Like most centralized IT support teams, the Helpdesk expanded its scope primarily to cover the emergence of the desktop computer and the local area network. The rise in complexity of end-user computing environments is central to the development of such teams. Because of the increasing rate of users' collective movement to the margins of the network and the role of central support teams particular to the university environment, the role of the Helpdesk as a simple provider of solutions and contact point for PC repair should be re-evaluated.At OSU, as at many institutions, much desktop-level computer funding is largely decentralized, with departments or colleges able to purchase when and what they will, within the bounds of state purchasing rules. OSU is faced with a very highly distributed support structure, many support staff or systems administration personnel working for academic or administrative areas outside CIS. Departmental staff, as well as other A&M system campuses, need timely information provided to them regarding the availability and performance of core services. The Helpdesk is uniquely positioned to respond to these demands.The role of the Helpdesk, while recognizing its traditional role as a provider of first level support, should be positioned to assume a broader role as a manager of support communications for the central IT organization. Tools and processes should be made available to first responders and the role of emergency manager should be a built-in function of support managers or senior Helpdesk technicians. OSU has made some strong in-roads towards addressing these needs with an emergency operating procedure, daily "problem/change" meeting and associated "Grapevine", as well as teams addressing methods of network-based services monitoring, and outage notification.