Hamilton College - Information Technology Services

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ITS At A Glance

Contact Information

315-859-4169
315-859-4185 (fax)

Help Desk Services

Team Mission, Services and Expectations

Mission Statement:

The Help Desk mission is to provide courteous, responsive technical support to the Hamilton College community via the phone or e-mail. Our objective is to resolve the problem on initial contact with the Help Desk. We support Hamilton College standard software and hardware, e-mail and network related problems on Windows and Macintosh platforms. We will take a proactive approach to identifying and solving problems to better assist Hamilton College in its use of computer technology.

Service Level Agreement - ITS Help Desk:

Service Hours:

The Help Desk technical support line (859-4181) will be answered by a member of the ITS administrative staff between the hours of 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM during the academic year, and between 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM during the summer. This includes coverage during the lunch hour.

During the academic year, student interns on the Help at Night phone also provide technical support. They can be reached at x4181, Sunday through Thursday between 4:00PM - Midnight.

If the Help Desk line (x4181) is busy, the Hamilton College voice mail system will take the call. Messages will be checked at the start of business (8:30 AM) and at least every hour thereafter until the close of business. The Help Desk will make every effort to return calls within an hour or less. Note that delays can sometimes occur during the beginning of the semester when call volume is typically much higher.

The Help Desk e-mail will be checked at least twice each morning and afternoon. Messages will be answered the same day or by the next business day if the message is left after the close of business.

Platforms Supported:

The caller should expect the Help Desk provider to be knowledgeable in networking, application software, and the operating systems for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Problems with a version of the operating system older than 1 major release (where the primary digit changes - 6.0 vs. 7.0) may take additional time to resolve since these versions are not readily available at the Help Desk provider's desk.

The Help Desk will have access to both a Macintosh and a Windows machine running copies of all standard software used on campus. When big differences exist between versions, both will be available to the provider until the majority of users have made the upgrade.

Help Desk providers will regularly attend classes to advance their understanding of the hardware and software used on campus.

Technical Support:

This is the primary service offered by the Help Desk. It is comprised of phone based problem determination and resolution for Apple and Windows hardware and software. This includes diagnosing e-mail and network related problems.

Standard Software and Hardware Problems:

Information Technology Services maintains a list of hardware and software that is considered "standard" on campus. Provided the caller's problem pertains to software or hardware found on this list, the ITS Help Desk will attempt to fully resolve the problem within 45 minutes of the start of the conversation. If the Help Desk provider is unable to resolve the caller's problem they will do one of the following:

Arrange to make a personal visit:

Research the problem and call the user back:

Arrange for another service area within ITS to contact the user.

Non-Standard Software and Hardware Problems:

Due to the ever-changing nature of technology, it is not possible for the Help Desk to be well versed in all of the potential software and hardware used on campus. The Help Desk will, however, make its best effort to guide the caller through normal troubleshooting techniques. The Help Desk will not be required to research the problem further except through special arrangement.

The Help Desk and its student organizations (Help at Night and SOS) cannot provide support for home computers beyond that which is normally provided for standard Hamilton software and hardware.

Online Training:

The Help Desk can provide very limited online training (or "how to") support. Because online training can result in very lengthy calls, this type of assistance must remain limited to the use of specific features found in our standard software. More comprehensive training sessions can be arranged through the ITS Training Coordinator, Maureen Scoones (ext: 4178 or mscoones@hamilton.edu)

Feedback:

The ITS Help Desk welcomes both positive and negative feedback from callers. We want to understand your needs better so that our service can constantly improve.

Other Forms of Technical Support:

The Help Desk will routinely publish articles which include tips and techniques that are designed to encourage the efficient use of computer technology at Hamilton. These may appear in paper form, on the web, or may be distributed through e-mail.

Other Expectations:

The Help Desk will record details of each call in the Help Desk database. These will be entered by the end of the business day. If a call cannot be resolved on the same day it is logged, then every attempt will be made to resolve it within one week. Any calls that remain "open" should be updated in the log at least every other day. During their shift, each Help Desk provider is expected to follow up on unresolved calls whether or not they opened the call originally.

Service Level Agreement - E-Mail:

Basic Service:

Electronic mail is provided on a Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) Alpha 1000 running a current version of Unix. It is available on campus 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, except on Monday mornings between 3:00 am and 5:00 am, when it is taken down for disk maintenance and a full backup.

Nightly backups are performed Mon. - Sat. (3am to 5am), but these are performed while mail is actively being sent and received. Friday's backup is overwritten on Saturday, and Sunday's backup overwrites Saturday's.

Tapes are stored off-site in a fire-protected vault. They are rotated according to the following schedule: Monday - Thursday tapes are rotated weekly. Sunday tapes are rotated monthly and the last Sunday of each month is set aside and rotated yearly.

Modem access is provided according to the same schedule as the server. If the modem pool experiences problems, it will be reset within one half hour during business hours. After hours and on weekends, modem pool problems should be reported to x4181. The student on duty will contact the appropriate personnel.

Client Software Supported:

The e-mail server provides service through Unix's Sendmail program and an add-on program called Popper (or POP3). Employees have the option of using a text based mail reader called Elm, or a graphical reader called Eudora. Other mail readers (such as Pine) may also be used by employees, but they are not fully supported by ITS or the Help Desk. Students may use Eudora or any of a number of other mail readers that are POP3 compatible (MS Outlook, Netscape mail, etc.). However, only Eudora is fully supported by the ITS Help Desk.

New Accounts:

New accounts will be automatically established for all incoming students by the start of each semester. Account details are sent to students via campus mail prior to their arrival on campus. Other student accounts may be requested by filling out the "E-mail Password and New Account" form located in the basement of Burke Library in room 002.

New employee accounts may be requested by the employee's manager, by personnel, or by the employee. They are issued within 48 hours of the request and the details are mailed to the employee via campus mail.

Password Changes:

Passwords can be changed by visiting the password change web page at: https://ruby.hamilton.edu/secure/ or by completing the "E-mail Password and Account Request" form located in the basement of Burke Library in room 002.

Forgotten password requests (web) are turned around in 2 hours, paper requests are turned around in 24 hours. If either request is received after normal business hours or on the weekend, it will be processed by the next business day.

Corrupt Mailboxes and Instantiation Problems:

Corrupt mailboxes include those that are too large to open, "From Lines" errors, or double sessions of Elm. They will be repaired within 1 hour (during normal business hours) or by the next business day, whichever comes first. Corrupt mailboxes are not repaired on weekends.

Note that mailboxes will not be opened for repair without the verbal approval of the user.

Bounced Mail:

Actual mail that bounces to the System Administrator will be forwarded to the intended recipient if their address can be determined. Otherwise, it will be returned to the sender if their address can be determined.

Error messages that cannot be delivered will be forwarded to the intended recipient unless their address cannot be determined.

System Aliases:

The System Administrator will maintain the list of system-wide aliases. Due to the text based nature of the alias file, it will be the requester's responsibility to keep the System Administrator informed of any changes. The requester is asked to provide alias information in the proper format. Failure to do so will result in a 1 day delay. If the list is very long and it is not properly formatted, the delay could be 2 days. Otherwise, alias requests can be fulfilled within 24 hours.

Forwarding Mail:

E-mail can be forwarded to any valid e-mail address. Users are encouraged to use the web form at: https://ruby.hamilton.edu/secure/ to forward and unforward their own mail.

In those instances when the form does not work from the user's home Internet provider, the System Administrator can forward mail manually. When mail is forwarded manually, the turn around is by the next business day. It is not possible to manually forward previously received mail. Manual discontinuation of mail forwarding is also turned around by the next business day.

Departing faculty and employees may request to have their mail forwarded, even though their account may actually be removed. Forwarding will cease six months from their departure date, regardless of when the request was made. The mail forwarding web form should not be used in this instance.

E-mail While You Are Away:

Student accounts will remain active while students are on summer break, studying abroad, or are on leave. While students are away from campus, however, they will not receive mass mailings.

Employee accounts will remain active, and will continue to receive mass mailings, unless a request to stop one or both has been directed to the System Administrator.

Students and employees are both allowed to activate a "vacation" message from: https://ruby.hamilton.edu/secure/ The vacation message program will send an auto-reply message to the sender of in-coming mail that announces the recipient's (e-mail account owner's) absence.

Account Removal:

Graduating seniors will have their accounts removed on graduation day unless they notify the System Administrator that they will be on campus for the summer or otherwise have the ability to check their e-mail regularly. At the start of the next semester, their account will be removed without additional notice.

Employees who leave Hamilton will have their accounts removed immediately but they may request mail forwarding. Forwarding will cease six months from their departure date, regardless of when forwarding was requested.

Retirees will have their accounts deleted unless a request is made to continue it. As long as retirees have the ability to maintain the account, they may keep it.

Accounts can also be removed as the result of an abuse of the e-mail system. The user will be notified and given an opportunity to meet with the department head to resolve the problem prior to removal of their account.

Service Outages During Business Hours:

If an unplanned outage occurs during business hours, our first step will be to attempt to bring the server back up. Should this fail, Digital Equipment Corp. and/or our mail server consultant will be called. They will respond according to the terms of our service contract.

The Network Information Line (x4050) will be updated hourly until the problem has been resolved.

Planned outages will be announced with as much notice as possible.

Service Outages After Business Hours:

Should the e-mail server go down in the evening or during the weekend, the caller should contact the ITS SA desk at x4888 or x4181. They will help to determine the extent of the outage and will contact the appropriate ITS personnel. Resolution time will vary depending on the severity of the problem.

ListServ Support:

ListServ is available during the same hours as the e-mail server. ListServ support is provided through the ITS Help Desk and through related documents on the ITS support web pages. ListServ list requests are turned around in 48 hours or less unless there is an intervening weekend.

Performance Measurement Tools:

Help Desk:

1.) The ITS Help Desk will send out a brief questionnaire to callers asking for their feedback on the service they received. This will be conducted on no less than a monthly basis.

2.) An annual survey will be sent to all users in which we solicit feedback on our services in general.

3.) We will use the statistics available in the Help Desk software to evaluate our call resolution and response rates. Where possible, we will compare our numbers to industry "best practice" standards. We will also try to compare our numbers to those at similar institutions.

4.) The ITS Help Desk will also solicit informal feedback from callers and community members.

E-Mail:

1.) There are no statistical measures of e-mail performance available on our system. However, it is our objective to provide uninterrupted service (except during the Monday morning backups and for scheduled maintenance).

2.) A section on e-mail will be included in the annual survey.

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Help Desk Services

Team Mission, Services and Expectations

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