IT Support in the Library - Help Desk KhulisuJobe Sithole –

What are we going to do today? What is a Help Desk Why use a Help Desk What Happens to call Logged to the Help Desk 4 Major Possible Problems Examples of a Network Problems How To Create a Screen Dump Remote Desktop Assistance Why do password expire

What is a Help Desk? A dedicated internal organizational resource that provides technical or functional application problem-solving advice and follow- up to system users.

The Help Desk is a much more efficient way of logging calls compared to using a Phone or . if a problem is logged on the Help Desk, it becomes easy to prioritized them It is easy to refer back to the problem if it has been logged in the Help Desk correctly. Why use the Help Desk

All the calls logged to the Help Desk are assigned to technicians who in turn will attend to them. An will be sent to a user who has sent a Help Desk request to inform them that a call has been logged on their behalf. After the technician has attended to the problem, the call will be “Closed” What Happens to call Logged to the Help Desk

A confirmation phone call will be made to the user who has sent a Help Desk request to verify if a problem has been attended to and has been solved. If a problem was not solved the call will be re- opened otherwise, it will be closed. What Happens to call Logged to the Help Desk - continues…

1.Hardware “Monitor is not switching on” 2.Printing “Document failed to print” 3.Software “Word does not want to open my document” 4.Network “I cannot get into the internet” 4 Major Possible Problems

Example of a “Network Problem”

E-Resources problem “Network Problem” – Continues… Please give as much information as possible Please write down the search you did, the journal name giving the problem Give us a screen dump of the error you see on your monitor.

How to do a Screen Dump The reason for a Screen Dump is that it gives an exact graphical description of the problem On the keyboard there is a button that is labeled Print Screen/SysRq, hold down the Ctrl button and click the Print Screen. This will copy what ever you are viewing on to clipboard On Paint click on the Edit menu and click on Paste.

Remote Desktop Assistance It is a tool where the I.T department can connect to a P.C. remotely – Only with a users consent This means that sometimes a Technician does not need to go to the users P.C. to solve some problems. For example, A document that cannot open. This helps in time saving and provides quicker response to a problem.

Why do password expire  The major reason for a password to expire is security If one keeps the same password for too long the possibilities of it being know and cracked are high Sometimes the I.T department might ask you to give them your password for them to be able to solve a problem Remotely or for some other reasons (Only with your consent)

In closing I.T department provides a substantial amount of service to the Library. It helps in the investigation of new Technologies that can be of use to the Library. The I.T. Help Desk provides a link and it is a first place of contact for Library users

Questions? KhulisuJobe Sithole –