In the fourth week, I was allocated my personal computer desk. This implied that I could personally access the computer system without relying on another machine or individual. Having demonstrated a lot of diligence, integrity and hard work over the previous week, my supervisor was evidently pleased with my work. The latter explained why he eventually trusted me to an extent of allocating a personal computer. I was now able to access the Computer Service Department (CSD) with ease. I indeed appreciate this level of trust after being an intern at the department only after a few weeks.
It is always important to be honest and trustworthy both at a personal and group level. I can confirm that the supervisor and the rest of the team at the CSD treat me as one of their colleagues and not just a temporary intern. As it stands now, I can directly coordinate my activities with both students and members of the faculty. In particular, I can assign a cal for them whenever they have specific problems that need to be tackled. Owing to the direct contact, it has also become quite easy to attend to the individual needs of students without necessarily consuming other faculty members’ time. Both students and faculty members contact me for a number of problems on daily basis. Some of these problems included:
- How to format laptops and Ipads,
- The due process of installing software for Mac and Dell laptops,
- Challenges of executing wireless connections,
- How to compose, send and read received e-mails and
- Hardware0 problems associated with their laptops and personal computers.
It is prudent to mention that the above problems are just a fraction of what I handle on a regular basis. Some computing challenges presented to me by the faculty and students may range from simple to complicated problems. While some of the problems can take less than 10 minutes to fix, there are those that demand a lot of time and equally overwhelming. However, I always appreciate a difficult challenge because it creates an excellent opportunity for me to gain additional knowledge and grow as a computer expert.
In a CSD system, students and members of the faculty contact me with their problems. In order to solve their respective problems, I follow a very brief and clear procedure. To begin with, I enter the details of their systems into my desktop computer. It is then followed by the personal information of the student or faculty member. Thereafter, a page known as a “call” is printed. The printout is stuck on the machine that needs to be diagnosed for problems.
The Computer Service Department (CSD) also performs a number of other vital roles to assist students and staff. For example, there is an online helpdesk system that can be used by individuals who do not necessarily need to pay a visit to my physical desk. The online help is designed to provide assistance for the daily
product tasks. Individuals who need help can view online help information for their items on the current product page. In addition, the online helpdesk system is also well established with a telephone contact information for technical assistance and customer services. The CA SDM web interface allows the user to navigate and access product functionality. Customers who make a call can do so either as incidental or request calls.
Incidental calls are usually made outside the normal working hours. Although clients should be attended to all the time, incidental calls largely disrupt the normal operational processes of an organisation. If a ticket is created as a copy of another ticket, the status field displays all status values. It is also important to note that depending on your role, you do not have access to all the functionality described in this section.
For instance, some predefined roles can edit records but cannot create new ones. All the reports made to the helpdesk are referred to as requests. The latter term is also used to describe all the activities or procedures performed on the reports at the helpdesk. I also have a telephone device on my desk that I can use to receive calls from students and faculty and consequently offer the necessary assistance to them. If there is a media problem, I assign a call for them and transfer it to another media service that they can refer to and eventually solve their problems. All of the above details are executed at the first level.
In the fifth week, I was working with both the first and second levels. From my experience, I noticed that the first level was a lot easier. However, the second level entailed complex activities such as constructing images for the Operating System. It was part of my role to work alongside with them to carry out the activity. I was supposed to change the computer name of a certain laptop, a challenge that was not easy at all. Hence, I was compelled to use another domain in order to change the name. Finally, I can confirm that I like the work environment owing to a very friendly team of supportive colleagues.