Graduate Center Technology: Help Desk Getting Some Help of Its Own
As the semester winds to a close, the Information Technology department is poised to hire six new part-time professional technicians to man the Help Desk. Starting in May, interviews will be held to fill the new positions, which will be known as IT Professional Assistants (PAs). Considered to be “Level One” support, the new PAs will be the first line of tech support to those who contact the Help Desk.
Presently, there is one PA on call at the Help Desk, supported by student consultants. This is why one must open a work order ticket upon contacting the Help Desk.
Although IT will keep its student consultants at the Help Desk, the addition of up to three PAs on duty during the daytime is expected to greatly increase the efficiency and productivity of the Help Desk.
The PAs will have the rights to remote access computers in order to troubleshoot, according to Director of User Services Elaine Montilla, thus being able to solve more technical problems immediately. If the PAs are unable to resolve the issue at hand, then it will be sent to “Level Two” support, the fulltime technicians.
“The new hires will be an improvement,” said Assistant Vice President for Information Technology Bob Campbell, “because they are [certified] professionals. We’ll be able to vest certain authority into them.”
It is hoped that the hiring process will conclude by the end of the semester. “The idea is to allow [the new hires] to get their feet wet during the summer,” said Montilla.
Free Software
Students are entitled to free copies of the SAS and Mathematica software programs. Up until now they were required to bring blank CDs to the Help Desk; however, students no longer need to do this. As of April, students can go to the Help Desk and put their names down on a list to obtain free software for both SAS and Mathematica.
Student Task Forces Needed
IT is seeking student volunteers who are interested in joining one of two task forces, which will provide the department with valuable student input on a variety of in-depth IT issues. The first task force would be focused upon the PC desktops that are presently available for student use. One item that this first force would seek to discuss is whether Office 2007 should be installed in the near-future on student computers. According to Montilla, “we’re ready to move towards rolling out Office 2007, but we’re not sure if students are.”
Student feedback on this issue would be most helpful, she said. The second task force would focus upon student email issues.
Campbell noted that they are still unsure as to whether there will be one or two task forces as both of the issues at hand, student PCs and email, overlap; yet, they also each have their own specific characteristics. “What we seek to do,” he said, “is to come up with a comprehensive set of recommendations for what will serve the students best.”
The department hopes to have conclusions and recommendations in place by the end of the semester. Any student interested in giving input and feedback should contact the IT department ASAP at [email protected].
Wireless Update
Orders for purchasing the items and cabling necessary to install and implement the Graduate Center’s wireless internet plan are presently underway. By the end of June wireless internet capabilities will be installed in the first deployment areas: the library, the dining commons, and the 365 Café Express. IT hopes to move quickly thereafter into supporting program spaces.
Print Management Update
Print management software has been purchased and tested out by the IT department. As of press time, the software is ready to be rolled out over the next two months to computers throughout the Graduate Center.
According to Campbell, this first phase of the rollout will “provide all users with insights into how much printing they are doing.” It will also allow users to install printers on their own, no longer requiring administrative rights to do so.
IT Workshops
Did you know that the IT Department offers free workshops on many software programs for students, faculty, and staff? The offerings are updated monthly and as of press time, only the April schedule is set. For classes in May, please consult the IT website directly at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/informationresources/trainingservices/ workshop_schedule.htm.
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