Making It Easier to Get IT Help at WCU

August 1, 2017

Paul Gargiulo, Richard Jackson and Deke Kassabian

It’s probably fair to say that for most people at West Chester University, their most frequent interaction with the Information Services & Technology Division (IS&T) is with one of our IT Help Desks. In an effort to improve user experiences and user satisfaction, we undertook an effort over the past year to make sure that working with our Help Desks is a positive experience for users – often at the times in which those seeking help are experiencing frustrating problems with their IT. After bringing together relevant team members and studying the data, we recently restructured and enhanced IS&T help desk support in the following two major ways:

1. First, to simplify support for all users calls now come through a central phone number. We achieved this by updating our IS&T Help Desk call tree at 610-436-3350 (or x3350). The call tree filters callers by type (students dial 1, faculty and staff dial 2) to speak directly to an analyst who has been trained to support specialized needs of the call type. If the analyst needs to escalate the request, the caller will be redirected to the most appropriate help desk resource. For example, calls escalated to D2L support or Distance Ed support are handed off by the central Help Desk. It should not be the responsibility of individual users to memorize contact info beyond the central IS&T Help Desk.

2. Second, prior to the transition, the two largest help desks (Anderson Hall’s IT Helpdesk and Brandywine Hall’s ResNet Central) each provided a portion of student IT support, and two other support desks (D2L support and Distance Education support) each also provided services to students for questions in their areas. With this change, the IT Helpdesk now is primarily dedicated to provide technical support to faculty and staff, while ResNet Central will provide technical support to all students, as well as to Alumni and parents. The primary goals of this reorganization are to simplify and expedite support for all users and to allow each helpdesk to focus on their primary areas of support.

The initial rollout of these changes took place during the summer to allow us to work through challenges before the start of the fall semester. Early feedback has been very positive.

In an effort to make the early rollout positive for students, ResNet Central passed out technical check lists to students consisting of instructions such as how to connect to the campus wireless network. This proactive effort greatly reduced phone calls from students requesting assistance in comparison to last year. ResNet Central also established an Express Desk outside of its main office to provide quick help and answer general questions.

The timing of these changes lines up well with the upcoming Anderson Hall renovation in 2018, which requires that the IT Help Desk relocate for about a year. We anticipate minimal impact from this move to students, as they will have already been directed to Brandywine Hall for support as of the fall of 2017.

About the two helpdesk locations

ResNet student technology support is conveniently located on the ground floor of Brandywine Hall, placed strategically in the heart of the Residential Quad to serve on-campus residents, commuters, alumni and distance learners from a central location.

The IT Help Desk, located on the ground floor of Anderson Hall, now provides priority technical support services for office technology, classroom technology, and offers instructional resources to all Faculty and Staff.

To learn more, please visit the new IS&T Website at http://www.wcupa.edu/IST or call 610-436-3350 (please listen carefully as options have changed).