This morning when I walked in from the parking lot I began to ponder about the things I do on a daily basis.
Many people think we only deal with their department, which would be easy but inefficient. With Liberal Arts and Sciences having more than 30 Departments and Centers, having IT for each one would cost a lot of money annually. As main CLAS IT, we support all but 6 of those departments which means a ton of walking around. This is rain or shine, hot or cold. We cover a large portion of the Northeast corner of campus which is around 19-20 buildings housing those departments.
Tickets
Starting out most days we get into the office around 7:30 – 7:45 to start our day at 8AM. One of the first things we do is log into our ticket system to see what new and exciting things are waiting for us. With three techs and five admins, the type of request gets routed to each person or cue. The tickets that end up in our queue are then grabbed by whoever is able to complete the task. These tickets range from making sure someone can log in to figuring out why a computer will not start or continually crashes. The amount of tickets on an average day are anywhere from 15 to 30 depending on the week and time of year. There are, of course, slower times of year when we have fewer tickets. This is where we fit in our larger projects.
Projects
One of the projects we are continually working on is computer replacements of older machines. This is one of the projects that is time consuming but also one of the most gratifying. This has to be done on an individual basis to make sure that each person gets all of their Documents and programs installed and setup on the new computer. This can be stressful for many people since it is something new but we are there to reassure them and get them moving forward. The rewarding part about this is when they log on for the first time and are immediately grateful for how fast they are able to work.
Office Managers & Staff
Another thing I like to do is meet with the Office Managers and Office Staff in each Department to see how we are doing as a department and if there are any issues that may have missed a ticket. This is very beneficial because you may think it not worth a ticket but to us a problem is there to be solved. If something is not working we are here to fix it or at least get the information or person to be able to do so.
More Tickets
By the end of the day, working on tickets and running around the first thing I want to do is sit down for a few minutes to cool off before heading home for the day. Sometimes this is very difficult, as we will end up working right up until the time we are supposed to leave. At that time, most of us are exhausted but still happy that we are able to help so many people continue doing their research.
I am glad to call myself a CLAS IT tech and keeping Faculty and Staff able to work makes me a part of each of their respective lives and research.