Help Desk Policy

Purpose

The Help Desk provides computer and information systems support for all staff members. The purpose of this policy is to describe the basic level of service that will be guaranteed as well as the limits of the Help Desk's capabilities and what will not be supported.

Scope

"Help Desk support" is defined as any queries made by end users to the Help Desk regarding any failures, problems, issues, questions, and other matters relating to the operation and continuity of workstations, laptops, servers, web sites, software, peripherals, telephony, mobile devices, and other equipments or assets.

The range of support offered and guaranteed by the Help Desk will vary depending on the nature of the problem, the number of staff or resources available to resolve the problem, the criticality of the issue, and other factors regarding the nature of the support requested.

Policy

The following policy statements exclude the support of employees’ personal computing equipment, peripherals, software, and services.

Software Support

Support is provided for all core software packages and operating systems on workstations, servers, laptops and other computing equipment. Support is also provided for department-specific software applications.

Please note that personally installed or unlicensed software, including screensavers, games, applications whose publishers are no longer in business, etc., will not be supported. Installation of certain software may be illegal and in violation of policy.

Hardware Support

Support is provided for all core hardware and devices, including PC motherboards, peripherals, network interface cards, hard drives, storage devices, and so on. All cases of suspected hardware faults will be diagnosed accordingly. The Help Desk will attempt to fix hardware defects to the best of its ability, but may need to send equipment back to the vendor/manufacturer. Wherever possible, replacements will be found for the end user in such cases.

Please note that personally installed or unapproved hardware, including speakers, unauthorized monitors, personal cell phones, etc., will not be supported.

Processing time

The target turnaround time in processing tickets is 24 hours from the time the ticket is received. Given the high volume and complex nature of some of the inquiries received, some requests may take longer to process.

Priorities defined

Each ticket will be logged based on the below ranking criteria. In the event an emergency priority ticket or call arrives and conflicts with a high/normal ticket or call, the emergency priority ticketor call shall be given first response, even if work has begun on the high/normal ticket or call.

Emergency priority

  1. Users cannot work due to a partial or complete facility network outage.
  2. State surveyors are in the building and need access to the network.
  3. Computer virus

High Priority

  1. A workstation is not able to connect to the network.
  2. Network connectivity in the building is slow or unresponsive.

Normal Priority

  1. The computer is functioning but an application, file or peripheral is not.
  2. Account modifications.
  3. Printer configuration.

Calls to the Help Desk

In the event an end user contacts the Help Desk directly via email or telephone, the end user will be referred to their Facility System Administrator (FSA) to have a ticket submitted. In the event the primary and secondary FSA is not available, the user's information will be taken down and a ticket will be created by the Help Desk staff.

SA Responsibilities

Before submitting a ticket

  1. Write down any error messages.
  2. Take note of what Citrix server the user is/was logged into.
  3. If unable to log into Citrix take note of the following:
  • IP address of the computer
  • If IP starts with 169 or 127 where does the network cable plug into (switch or data jack)
  • If the computer plugs into a switch, are any other devices plugged into that switch? If so, do they have a valid IP?
  1. Determine what the user was doing when the error occurred:
  • What application was being used?
  • Were they able to accomplish this previously?
  • When was the last time this was accomplished successfully?
  • Are others having the same issue?