How To Get Good Support

Congratulations! If you're reading this then you've already taken the first solid step on the path to getting better support from the Student Helpdesk team at ITEE!

This document was designed to help you understand a little more about the support process, how to use it to its fullest potential, and how you can maximise the usefulness of the facilities provided to assist you during your studies with the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. Reading this document will ensure that you are not left feeling frustrated and ignored when you have a problem with the facilities. We've written fairly informally so you can get the information you need in a no-nonsense kind of way, so if you have any questions about this document, let us know by emailing student-helpdesk@itee.uq.edu.au.

What We Do

Provide a large (> 30) number of labs, for both general computing and specific software and hardware purposes.
Maintain and repair the lab workstations as necessary.
Maintain and repair the printers, provide toner and paper as required, and monitor and maintain the print quota system, print kiosks, and associated systems.
Manage, update, and maintain some of the lab images (other groups such as the ETSG and various lab managers are responsible for a large number of lab images - as a general rule, if the lab is a general use computing lab, we're responsible for the software image). Note that this does NOT include installing new software in the images, or fielding requests from students for new software packages to be included in the image. These must go through your lecturer (in the case of software required for a course) or your supervisor (in the case of software required for completing your thesis.)
Administer and maintain user accounts, including some special purpose accounts (your lecturers will let you know which ones apply here). Note this does not include password problems for ITEE student accounts (see below).
Manage the Student VPN connection (from the UQconnect wireless network).
Manage the studentunix servers, student Print Servers, and some of the other special purpose servers (such as Oracle).
Develop and maintain the school's web servers on a technical level (ie, we generally don't look after the content for any but the studenthelp.itee.uq.edu.au website, but we do look after the server and associated template/style/technical aspects.) Note you're welcome to report any problems you see on any non-course webpage to us, and we'll pass the information along to the responsible area.

What We Do Not Do

Administer swipe access - This is done at the front desk (reception) on Level 2 at GP South (Bulding 78).
Reset student account passwords - This is now handled by UQConnect, which is located in the Student Union complex, downstairs near the Red Room.
Manage some of the lab images (mostly Axon or Hawken labs bar 50-C403 and 50-C404, though some of the special purpose labs in GP South are also not managed by us.) You are welcome to report problems to the Student Helpdesk in these labs, and we will pass the information on to those responsible.
Include new software packages in the labs at the request of students. The software in the lab images was requested by the lecturers/supervisors of your courses/theses at the start of the relevant semester. If you believe the software is missing, or if you need additional software, you MUST see your lecturers/tutors and they can investigate and make additional requests from us as required.
Manage your internet download quota or internet access - this is done centrally through ITS (again, see UQConnect in the Student Union complex.)
Manage the wireless network - this is also managed through ITS (again, see UQConnect in the Student Union complex.)
Develop and maintain the content on the school websites (with a few exceptions, most notably the studenthelp.itee.uq.edu.au website.) We definitely do not maintain course websites - problems on these sites should be reported to the lecturer for the course.
Provide support on your personal laptop for connection to the Student VPN.
Maintain the security systems or swipe readers (except for the security cameras) - this is done centrally through Security, though in most cases ITEE maintains the access lists automatically based on enrolments.
Maintain lighting, air conditioning, walls, toilets etc - this is done centrally through Properties and Facilities.
Help students with their assignments or coursework. This includes providing information on things which students can find out for themselves.
Act as "police" in situations where students could easily do so themselves (ie: asking other students to be quiet, removing food or drinks from the lab, asking students who are using computing facilities for non-study related work to vacate their seats etc). We can assist if other students are not complying with reasonable requests however.

These lists will probably be added to over time, so check back in regularly if you aren't sure about a particular point.

Things You Should Do When Emailing Student-Helpdesk

Read the studenthelp.itee.uq.edu.au website in its entirety. A very large number of the emails we receive at the Student Helpdesk are already answered on the studenthelp website. Most of the time we simply respond to these emails with a "Read the website" response. Whilst this does answer your question, it would have been faster for you to simply read the website first, and lets not forget this guide is here to help you get answers your problems faster. Note that we update this website constantly and if you have not read it lately, check it again as its quite likely we've answered your question in the meantime. The FAQ and Announcements sections are good places to start.
Consider googling the problem, reading associated help files, and asking a friend.
Clearly describe the problem you are having, or the question you want to ask.
Email from your student account. If you are unable to email from your student account for any reason, include your full name (as recorded by UQ), your student number, and your username. NEVER include your password - we will NEVER require this.
Use plain-text email ONLY when sending email to the student-helpdesk. There is no need to use HTML email messages to us, and if you do, this is all we see:
> [sXXXXXXX - Wed Aug 03 11:36:38 2005]:
> This transaction appears to have no content
As you can see, this isn't going to help us solve your problem.
Don't add anything else that does not describe the problem (eg: we understand that failures are frustrating and that there are always deadlines to work to, but this does not help us diagnose and fix the problem you are having. We respond to all problems as quickly as we possibly can - the only time you should mention time constraints is if the problem is NOT urgent.)
Describe what happened immediately prior to the problem occurring, steps you have already tried to diagnose the problem, and anything else you noticed when you were trying to solve the problem.
Try and find out which labs the problems are occurring in, to which PCs, or to which users.
Think about the problem and try and see if there isn't a better way to do what you're trying to do. You should also think about how any requests you make will impact on other students. The general rule here is: Be Reasonable.

Something to note when considering the above: we've had some students telling us that they are not responsible for helping us do our job or diagnosing problems for us. This is definitely true. We do not expect you to be qualified support technicians or require you to diagnose problems for us. This ~is~ our job. Once again though, this guide is here to help you solve your problems faster. If you've done at least a little basic troubleshooting first, probably 25% of the time you'll figure the problem out yourself without even having to involve the Student Helpdesk, and the remaining 75% of the time you'll significantly reduce the time we need to locate the problem and solve it.

Just a few extra bits of information and you'd be surprised how often we recognise a problem we've already seen and solved elsewhere. One other good reason for doing this basic troubleshooting is that without it, and bearing in mind that most problems are very specific to the user and the user's environment (software, hardware, specific task they are trying to perform), the first thing we will need is you to perform the basic troubleshooting yourself, or in our presence, and this can add delays of a day or more onto our lead time. As you can see, its definitely going to benefit you in the long run to give us a good head start.

Things You Should Not Do When Emailing Student-Helpdesk

Complain, threaten, demand, or harass. Nobody likes being abused, and 99% of the time we are, it's about a problem that we hadn't had reported to us previously, or about something we aren't responsible for. In these cases, you'll almost certainly not receive any faster support, or will be simply redirected to those who are responsible.
Use sarcasm, make references to past jobs when they are not relevant, or include any form of rant (which can be anything from an attack on the Student Helpdesk team itself, to a long narrative on Higher Education in general).
Make unreasonable requests. This includes requests for things which a reasonable person would consider outside our control, or only marginally beneficial for a disproportionate amount of work.
Fail to reply promptly to email correspondence (we're mostly trying to stop people here who email us, get a response 2 minutes later from us requesting more information, and then don't reply for two or more weeks - a day or so between responses is probably at the limit of what we'd consider prompt).
Use HTML-only, or dual HTML/plaintext email when emailing the student-helpdesk. There is no need to use HTML email messages to communicate with us, and if you do, this is all we see:
> [sXXXXXXX - Wed Aug 03 11:36:38 2005]:
> This transaction appears to have no content
As you can see, this isn't going to help us solve your problem.
Discuss your rights, tuition fees, or other non-support related issues. There are other forums for these sorts of grievances.
Reply to a previously resolved job with a new request, or adding additional requests to a job that has been resolved. Doing this means you either confuse existing issues, create request creep in your jobs, or end up having your email attached to a single support staff member instead of the whole group. In the first case, you will simply slow us down trying to figure out what's required. In the second case, you risk having your new issue dealt with by someone who may not be the most knowledgeable on the new topic - after all, they probably took your original job based on their speciality in that area, not the new one. In the final case, you may be emailing a staff member who is sick, on leave, or possibly even no longer employed. We do eventually spot these kinds of limbo jobs, but it can take days or even weeks, and this is not going to help you solve your problem any faster.

The only thing really to note here is that doing the above things will not cause us to deliberately delay service or refuse to assist you - this is after all our job. We do not "spit in your pizza" (as it were) if someone has been rude to us. Once again: this guide is all about getting faster and better service. If you're rude, discuss irrelevant issues, make unreasonable requests, or waste pages of text on unnecessary information then it's obviously going to slow us down in our ability to extract relevant information, focus on the issues at hand, and solve the problem; and in the case of unreasonable requests, you're going to get very frustrated when we tell you we can't do anything.

Final Notes

We genuinely want to help you get the most out of your experience here at the School of ITEE, and would love to have everything working perfectly for you all the time. If you do have a problem and have followed this guide we'll do our best to get everything working again for you as soon as possible. As always, we welcome your feedback and (constructive) criticism. If you have any questions, email the Student Helpdesk Team: student-helpdesk@itee.uq.edu.au.