The IT Help Desk Survey Report
Fall 2013
Prepared by the Office of Data Analytics and Institutional Research
(DAIR)
Introduction:
The IT Help Desk Survey Report is designed to assess the quality of the Help Desk
assistance. The Office of Data Analytics and Institutional Research (DAIR) developed the survey in cooperation with the Office of Information Technology. The survey link was emailed to ALL AUC emailing list (Students, Faculty and Staff) on October 30th, 2013. A reminder was sent on December 5, 2013. From the total number of 10,415, 574 filled the survey, for a response rate of 5.5%.
Methodology and Organization of the Report:
It should be noted, as a technical comment, that we removed missing responses from the analysis sec,on and analyzed the en,re survey without missing data. We trust removing missing data will paint a clear picture of the respondents’ evalua/on that filled out the survey.
This report is divided into four sec$ons. In the first sec$on, demographic informa$on is specified. In the second sec,on, respondents’ communica0ons with the Help Desk services are indicated. In the third sec.on, respondents’ evalua"on of the Help Desk staff is presented. In this sec$on, the survey responses values were collapsed in one ques%on into three categories of “Combined Agree ” (Strongly Agree and Agree);
“Combined Disagree” (Strongly Disagree and Disagree); “Neutral” and in another
ques%on into “Combined sa%sfied” (Very sa%sfied and sa%sfied) and “Combined
dissa%sfied” (Very dissa%sfied and dissa%sfied) and “Neutral”. Addi$onally, responses to one ques(on (the overall level of sa,sfac,on) were cross-‐tabulated among the AUC
categories. General comments are given in the fourth sec3on.
Survey Results
Section I:
What is your status at AUC? Frequency Percent
Undergraduate Student 197 34.4% Graduate Student 63 11.0% Faculty 83 14.5% Staff 230 40.1% Total 573 100% Missing 1 0.2%
Gender: Frequency Percent
Male 242 42.8% Female 324 57.2% Total 566 100% Missing 8 1.4% 34.4% 11.0% 14.5% 40.1%
Undergraduate Student Graduate Student Faculty Staff AUC categories
42.8%
57.2%
Male Female
Section II:
Have you ever contacted the Help Desk? Frequency Percent
Yes 399 70.2% No 169 29.8% Total 568 100% Missing 6 1.0%
If "Yes", how did you contact the Help Desk? (Check
all that apply.) Percent Frequency
Phone 67.0% 195
Visit 42.3% 123
Email 39.2% 114
Total answered question 291
Missing 283 70.2% 29.8% Yes No
Have you ever contacted the Help Desk?
67.0%
42.3% 39.2%
Phone Visit Email
In general, how often do you contact the Help
Desk? Frequency Percent
Daily 7 2.4%
Weekly 35 12.0%
Monthly 39 13.4%
Occasionally throughout the year 210 72.2%
Total 291 100%
Missing 283 49.3%
What is the most common reason(s) for contacting
the Help Desk? (Check all that apply.) Percent Frequency
Banner Support 20.5% 59
Blackboard Support 20.1% 58
Email Support 44.8% 129
Mail Client Settings 6.6% 19
PC Software Issues 37.5% 108
PC Hardware Issues 20.5% 59
SAP Support 7.3% 21
Student Portal Support 6.6% 19
Virtual Private Network Settings 5.6% 16
Wireless Services 37.8% 109
Internet Services 53.1% 153
Other Software Support 16.7% 48
Total answered question 288
Missing 286 2.4% 12.0% 13.4% 72.2% Daily Weekly Monthly Occasionally throughout the year
Are you aware of the additional Help Desk within
the Library (Front Desk Plaza Level)? Frequency Percent
Yes 117 40.9% No 169 59.1% Total 286 100% Missing 288 50.2% 20.5% 20.1% 44.8% 6.6% 37.5% 20.5% 7.3% 6.6% 5.6% 37.8% 53.1% 16.7% Banner Support Blackboard Support Email Support Mail Client Se_ngs PC So`ware Issues PC Hardware Issues SAP Support Student Portal Support Virtual Private Network Se_ngs Wireless Services Internet Services Other So`ware Support
The most common reasons for contacWng the Help Desk
40.9%
59.1%
Yes No
Section III:
Does the Help Desk staff follow up on your
requests? Frequency Percent
Yes 224 79.4% No 58 20.6% Total 282 100% Missing 292 50.9%
Kindly indicate your level of agreement with the following statements related to your request to the Help Desk:
Combined
Agree Combined Disagree Neutral Total Missing
The person who took the call was cheerful.
180 12 78 270 304
66.7% 4.4% 28.9% 100% 53.0% The person who took the call
demonstrated a welcoming attitude.
187 14 69 270 304
69.3% 5.2% 25.6% 100% 53.0% The Help Desk staff member listened
carefully to my request and asked appropriate questions. 226 15 33 274 300 82.5% 5.5% 12.0% 100% 52.3% 79.4% 20.6% Yes No
Please indicate your level of
satisfaction with the following areas related to the Help Desk staff you’ve interacted with:
Combined
Satisfied Dissatisfied Combined Neutral Total Missing
Helpfulness 229 15 38 282 292 81.2% 5.3% 13.5% 100% 50.9% Politeness 245 3 33 281 293 87.2% 1.1% 11.7% 100% 51.0% Patience 219 13 49 281 293 77.9% 4.6% 17.4% 100% 51.0% Level of English 80.7% 226 1.8% 5 17.5% 49 100% 280 51.2% 294
Technical knowledge 212 21 48 281 293
75.4% 7.5% 17.1% 100% 0.0% The ability to answer questions 202 22 58 282 292
71.6% 7.8% 20.6% 100% 50.9%
The accuracy of answers 196 24 62 282 292
69.5% 8.5% 22.0% 100% 50.9% The ability to solve the problem 200 30 50 280 294
71.4% 10.7% 17.9% 100% 51.2% Persistence in solving the problem 169 32 77 278 296
60.8% 11.5% 27.7% 100% 51.6% Resolution within a reasonable time
frame
170 35 69 274 300
62.0% 12.8% 25.2% 100% 52.3% Convenient service hours (8:30am -‐
4:30pm)
183 42 52 277 297
66.1% 15.2% 18.8% 100% 51.7%
66.7% 69.3% 82.5%
4.4% 28.9% 5.2% 25.6% 5.5% 12.0% The person who took the call was
cheerful. demonstrated a welcoming a_tude. The person who took the call The Help Desk staff member listened carefully to my request and asked appropriate quesbons. Level of agreement to statements related to the Help Desk requests
Have you encountered any problems while dealing
with the Help Desk staff? Frequency Percent
Yes 37 13.4% No 239 86.6% Total 276 100% Missing 298 51.9% 81.2% 87.2% 77.9% 80.7% 75.4% 71.6% 69.5% 71.4% 60.8% 62.0% 66.1% 5.3% 1.1% 4.6% 1.8% 7.5% 7.8% 8.5% 10.7% 11.5% 12.8% 15.2% 13.5% 11.7% 17.4% 17.5% 17.1% 20.6% 22.0% 17.9% 27.7% 25.2% 18.8% Helpfulness Politeness Pabence Level of English Technical knowledge The ability to answer quesbons The accuracy of answers The ability to solve the problem Persistence in solving the problem Resolubon within a reasonable bme frame Convenient service hours (8:30am -‐ 4:30pm)
Level of saWsfacWon related to the Help Desk Staff
Combined Sabsfied Combined Dissabsfied Neutral
13.4%
86.6%
Yes No
Have you encountered any problems while dealing with the Help Desk staff?
Overall, how satisfied are you with the IT Help
Desk? Frequency Percent
Very Satisfied 87 31.1% Satisfied 163 58.2% Dissatisfied 29 10.4% Very Dissatisfied 1 0.4% Total 280 100% Missing 294 51.2%
Overall, how satisfied are
you with the IT Help Desk? Undergraduate Student Graduate Student Faculty Staff Total
Very Satisfied 22 12 20 33 87 36.1% 35.3% 47.6% 23.1% 31.1% Satisfied 35 16 17 95 163 57.4% 47.1% 40.5% 66.4% 58.2% Dissatisfied 4 5 5 15 29 6.6% 14.7% 11.9% 10.5% 10.4% Very Dissatisfied -‐ 1 -‐ -‐ 1 0.0% 2.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.4% Total 61 34 42 143 280 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Missing (N=294) 31.1% 58.2% 10.4% 0.4% Very Sabsfied Sabsfied Dissabsfied Very Dissabsfied
Section IV:
Have you encountered any problems while dealing with the Help Desk
staff?
Positive comments:
1. Good job!
2. "Only a few times I had to wait long before someone comes to the front desk. Otherwise, there is promptness and a polite and friendly attitude. Your technical staff is highly knowledgeable of potential problems and they know how to trouble shoot. I have also met wonderful persistence and patience. Thumbs up to the team spirit in that place too! Thanks for all your services".
3. "First, I'm talking about the help desk in the SSC. The one in the library is a lifesaver. After my admission to the AUC, I had no idea what to do...They helped me zero. In more simpler words, If you know nothing you will get nothing. You need to a have a background about everything before asking them...and they will simply assure your information or sometimes just grudge at your face if you request more information. This is not appreciated believe me. Let it be noted that this experience i had is common between me and my colleagues."
Negative comments:
1. They are extremely slow and inpatient to listen to my problem nor resolve it.. one of my problems took around 20 days to get solve.
2. When the help desk staff takes the call, they try to assist within their knowledge but in most cases the problem is not within their scope so they ask someone to follow up from the assigned person. The problem is that the follow-‐up is not made with an appointment. For instance, they tell us that someone will come over. That person does not call to know when we are available although i leave my mobile number so that they call me to know when i am at my desk. When they come and do not find me, they do not call back or find a way to
communicate an appointment. There are still some resolved issues pending for a year that i gave hope. I had a test account on the banner and it was removed. I was promised that i would be getting a new one. Up till today i don’t have one. This issue has been pending for a year."
3. I have requested services and was informed that someone would "be right over." This request was put in at 3 pm. At 3:50 I followed up with my inquiry when no one arrived. I was told that the people capable of helping me had already left for the day. This is despite the fact that I was told someone would be right over and despite the fact that the office is open until 4:30.
5. Problems include giving instructions over phone, which is not always effective, speaking in a manner assuming knowledge and not very clear.
6. "The help desk always bounces back the problem to the back-‐end which I don't know exactly who they are referring to, but the fact is the help desk agents need serious training and proper coaching and follow-‐up. At least 80% of the problems should be resolved at the help desk.
7. Our center director had a problem with her university issued blackberry. The IT help desk refused to help with the issue or point me in the right direction. In the end I had to fix the problem myself. Okay, ignore all of my other answers. I had to answer other questions just to type this. I didn't even know there was a help desk. I've been an MA student for two years and faculty for a semester. I've visited to get help for computer stuff probably a half dozen times. I've been to lots of various departments and desks. Always found people helpful, but despite having been to 10 or more desks, I still don't know if I've ever been to a “Help Desk” or where I would be able to locate it.
8. He confused me once before
9. Sometimes, I call but there is no answer. I don't get a call back always. 10.Sometimes they are late in responding.
11.I had a problem with my wireless connection on my newly installed ubuntu. The help desk operator did not even know what ubuntu was. Anyway, we couldn't properly communicate on the phone. So, I just carried my laptop all the way to the IT dept.(below de caf) and there the operator guided me to the IT person who was very cooperative and fixed my problem right away.
12."Sometimes
a. Slowness: it takes too long to solve a problem b. Follow up on the reported problem is not there" 13.Unwelcoming attitude at some incidents
14.They don’t answer calls before 9:00 AM
15.Printer on plaza always fails and does not accept to produce the printed papers. The self-‐printer that is very close to the window. Also, the mouse of many computers does not work, specifically in some of the reserved rooms. Moreover, Some of the software computers are stagnant and does not work and I do not know the reason mainly in the plaza level.
16.Takes long time to be solved
17."Firstly, WHAT IS THE HELP DESK? The email we received did not specify. I am answering this survey based on the 1200 number. Is that correct? If yes, my biggest problem is that on one occasion the person who answered the phone asked for my password to resolve the Internet problem. She was going to test it on her end. This is completely unacceptable to ask someone for his or her password. Secondly, it makes no sense to have an internal phone number (1200) to call when having Internet problems, when our phones don't work if the Internet is down! Is it possible to have a mobile # we can use?"
18.My problem was with the staff who answered my phone calls. 19.Sometimes the problem is not solved.
20.Some times don't answer me. 21.No answer
22.Passing problem from one to the other, not getting a satisfactory answer or resolution
23.One of the staff members was impatient and rude. She seemed uninterested to take my request. The problem was related to anti-‐virus 'Kaspersky' license renewal; the renewal action was not processed online as told by the helpdesk. Kaspersky expired and Internet could not work on my PC and i had to seek external help, since the problem was put in queue and it would have taken more than 24 hours to get it solved.
24.Sometimes they do not answer the phone. 25.Long delay while solving any problem 26.Very big delay
27.Completely Incompetent. Still waiting a resolution for a problem with my e-‐mail that started in SPRING 2013.
General:
1. "The problem is not with the help desk. It is with the system of the IT.
2. "I have recurrent problems with my wireless connections for my devices (laptop, tablet and smart phone) and I cannot access the It helpdesk to ask for help (access denied) although I sign in with my auc network credentials and I do not know how I am supposed to reach the helpdesk. UACT help is great -‐ It helpdesk -‐ how do I ask help in the first place?!!!"
3. Just a minor problem, always answering by we won't be able to fix this today, however, they end up resolving the problem
4. i don't like the way the monitors are set up. Like i want to be able to point at something and want the person on the other side to be able to see what exactly I’m pointing at!
5. Often times they are not in the library during the assigned times. They should be there till 4:30 but often leave at 4 to make the 4:15 bus. If this is the case, they need to change the hours.
Suggestions:
1. I suggest more accurate notification of time frames for services, adherence to the working hours of the office, and/or some sort of priority system based on whether the need for the service request will affect productivity or services. 2. The help-‐desk should be primarily technical personnel to some extent where
they should only escalate issues of higher level of complexity."
Kindly use the space below to provide any additional comments you think
could help to improve the quality of service:
Positive comments:
1. You're doing an outstanding job. Thank you for your help.
2. The service is just perfect; whenever I go to the help desk, i find a solution for my problem
3. Awesome Team, especially Dina ElRashid :) very helpful & cheerful. 4. Thank you very much for all your efforts! We couldn't do without you! 5. Their hard work is highly appreciated. I love you guys
6. I think they are wonderful and very helpful, yet are stretched too thin. It takes 24-‐48 hours for them to arrive, but once they do, it is worth it. Thank you 7. People have been very helpful and responsive to my requests.
8. I was originally a student from 2010-‐2012 and then became faculty after that. I think IT support has improved greatly since then. Getting help on IT matters seemed harder a few years ago, but I noticed towards the end of my MA and then as faculty that problems get fixed quite easily and quickly. Thank you for all the work!
9. As a whole, all the staff of the IT Help Desk are very helpful and professional. 10."I appreciate the support and knowledge of those who answer the 1200 line. 11.Thank you for your care.
12.I have been very happy with the ability of Help Desk staff to resolve problems. 13.Many thanks to all of them
Negative comments:
1. They weren’t very cooperative to help, plus they told me i could only come at 8am but i ended up waiting there for an hour
2. They are NOT customer oriented at all.
3. We suffered for almost 2 weeks during the add/drop period from not being able to access the Internet and therefore the Banner system. We were told that university has no budget to change "I am not sure what it is exactly” but this drove us crazy.
4. The wireless connection on campus isn't really great.
5. I still have a problem with the name attached to my email address
6. Not all calls get picked up. Sometimes, I need to call more than once to get an answer.
7. "They need to know about every thing. I am a Biotech master student. There's always some misunderstanding between them and me when it comes to campus directions/Banner problems/ software problems.
8. I send too much time trying to fix this background before i can get a valuable help.”
9. The only concern I have with the Help Desk is their unfriendly tone and lack of patience and when there is a university problem related to the Internet, they rarely answer their phone...
10.Sometimes there is no one available at the library help desk that i have to go to the UTI office to get the help I needed which was the case with me. Thanks
General:
1. I think SSB needs an overhaul because it's inconvenient and confusing. Also, I don't understand why previous semesters and other useless options are
available in the drop-‐down menus when selecting a semester during registration periods. Also, when I was declaring Business a few weeks back, I was sent to http://my.aucegypt.edu and told to search for the declaration form in a specific place, and only after about a half hour of exploring the site did I find that form. 2. The only interaction i had was at first enrolling at the university, and was my
email was not working. Since then i was not informed about services i can get from the IT help desk. i faced problems with wiki connectivity from my different laptops, however i solved them myself and with help of friends as i did not feel there will be someone who could help.
3. I did not know about the other services provided by the IT Help Desk before answering this survey.
4. "To combine the whole services in one visit like kasper antivirus and network, printer and hardware. Maybe our problem has apart from all these department which requires a visit from each responsible person, and it causes much time to solve one problem"
5. The library IT help desk is only one person, not enough at all 6. Satisfied with UACT dissatisfied with network and wireless services
7. Okay, ignore all of my other answers. I had to answer other questions just to type this. I didn't even know there was a help desk. I've been an MA student for two years and faculty for a semester. I've visited to get help for computer stuff probably a half dozen times. I've been to lots of various departments and desks. Always found people helpful, but despite having been to 10 or more desks, I still don't know if I've ever been to a "Help Desk" nor where I would be able to locate it.
8. Not directly related to the IT, but the library is excessively noisy.
9. "The only time I needed the IT, I contacted them in it. However no one replied. It was about the error in the online housing application. So I had to come to Egypt to do it. Only luck served me"
10.I had problems with my home desktop and wanted to bring it to campus to have them help me, but they said that is not allowed. I wonder why not? If I can manage to bring the desktop to campus, what's the difference between that and having them help me with a laptop problem?
11.The help desk has been of extreme use and service. However, I would like to take a minute to ask about the issues of the Internet in the Zamalek dorms. Please contact me for follow up on [email protected]
12.I have a problem with setting up the VPN and connect to Argos from home and the help desk was unable to solve this issue.
13.With SAP, Software and Hardware support we usually contact the specified contact person from the directory (UTI or UACT) as the Help Desk personnel are either not fully aware of the troubleshooting procedures or they would ask us to contact the person in charge directly.
14.Usually the problem I have turns out to be a system wide Internet being down. However, I don't know if this is related to your department, but I was surprised about the sudden requirement to update our computer operating systems by November 10th. I am traveling and there are NUMEROUS other very large faculty deadlines on November 10th (including grants applications, committee work, student advising contact, etc.) so to give us such a short time notice is very stressful, and I do not approve of people visiting our offices in our absence to update computers that are filled with sensitive information including
examinations, student dishonesty cases, personal faculty contracts, etc. Also, I can see that our department IT person is going crazy trying to deal with this issue on so many computers, which takes up so much of this person's time which compromises the other tasks which we had previously requested of this person which negatively affects our work as faculty and administrators. Future warning as well as longer turnaround and sensitivity to other major university deadlines when choosing the due date would be much appreciated so we can all plan ahead more effectively. Thanks for all your patience and excellent support." 15.Just a clarification: I took the survey thinking about the IT service (email service
mainly, which is in the core building and the help desk in front of the main help desk at the entrance of the library (with STAs and one IT guy (Gaber) = they and Gaber are great)...the survey doesn't clarify well to which help desk you're referring to so I filled in thinking about the IT people related to the core building. 16.It's not the staff I have issues with -‐-‐ they do try to fix things -‐-‐ but rather how
frequently things need to be fixed. I am sick of the same classrooms having malfunctioning equipment over and over again, and the continual problems with the Internet crashing or dropping my connection while I'm in the middle of working on something. The first issue in particular is a major interference with classroom teaching.
17.Sometimes the level of English with the person providing help makes the process a little less efficient than it could be, but this is the case with most areas at the university and I would rather sacrifice language ability than technical ability. 18.Help desk service is quite good; the only problem was because of the expired
anti-‐virus. I hope these issues are dealt with in advance and within a planned schedule to update anti-‐virus. Thanks for your help and support
19.If the IT Help Desk is one stop shop, why they transfer us to technical support?
Suggestions:
1. I think the portal should be a lot more user friendly and less confusing.
2. I believe IT help desk should be closer to students offering help (even through emails) rather than waiting for requests
3. I think, the Help Desk need to raise awareness about these facilities somehow. 4. "Making sure to man the front desk all the time. Perhaps, extend working hours
till 7 pm!"
5. As the domain implementation takes place and particularly in the classrooms, evening courses will encounter large numbers of problems that will require the domain experts to be available after 4:30PM and possibly Saturday.
6. "Develop communication scheme to take problems when it is forwarded to assigned person. Some problems could be solved over the phone, so i shouldn't be on the queue when a phone call could sort it out."
7. I suggest more accurate notification of time frames for services, adherence to the working hours of the office, and/or some sort of priority system based on whether the need for the service request will affect productivity or services. For example, a request to fix an issue that prevents someone from being able to work-‐-‐ such as a computer that crashed, or a request to program new hardware that is unusable until such programming takes place-‐-‐ should take priority over a routine maintenance issue or a service request that is non-‐critical.
8. "I think Wi-‐Fi should be available for all AUCians with passwords of their ID numbers or email accounts and its passwords. As I need Wi-‐Fi when am at the university, although I don't have much time to contact the IT help desk."
9. Can you have a website with step by step guide for common problems especially net problems
10.Wishing for a faster visit in order to solve office PC issues especially hardware ... Thank you
11.In case there is no answer, the IT support should call back to ask for the problem. A message can respond that all lines are busy and that we can expect a call back when free..
12.People usually advise me to visit the UACT when I encounter technical problems. I visited them a couple of times and I got the "Not our problem, it's the IT's" reply more than once. Then I learned about the original IT dept. below de caf. Are the UACT and ITHD related? if yes, then why not just merge them? If they are not related then I'm sorry to say that the UACT is more well-‐known to the students than the IT dept.-‐-‐may be also because it's located beside the library. Please make yourselves more visible for help.
13."Publish List of Frequently asked question and related departments (if other than IT help desk). Improve response of IT help desk by setting lead time to recurrent issues as they have to refer to the specialized person (ARGOS, BANNER access, Network..)"
15."Antivirus should renewed automatically online The internet sometimes is too poor and sometimes it is gone we need to have emergency electric supply that work automatically whenever the government electricity get off to save our equipment".
16.You should clarify the locations of the help disks so that they are can accessible by all students.
17."A manual should be sent with steps to show us what to do with any deficiencies fro ex: to retrieve the Nortel if it is lost or to connect a visitor to AUC WLAN and instructions should be for both Mac and windows ...etc."
18.The operating hours should be extended to cater for other units within AUC, which remain open after working hours may be to 6:00 p.m. by running 2 shifts. Or through email at least.
19." Second look to the workload Vs. manpower may enhance the time frame of direct services (visits) provided, especially when technical problem impacts the daily duties of employee. Frequent Technical awareness guidelines (customer education approach) may minimize tiny issues."
20.Appreciate providing more technical support to hardware problems. We need at least to identify the cause of the problem before calling for external support, thus PCs won't take too much time for repairs outside Campus through the provider; and most commonly, some issues could be solved by settings adjustments, which i believe, our IT engineers can very easily do. 21.Designating different staff for PC and Mac
22.Extend working hours till midnight, if possible.
23.I need to know more about the facilities that can provide by the IT.
24.Service is great but need hotline for after hours. By the time I get home and start to work it’s evening. If I encounter a problem I wait till I come to campus. A hotline would be good. Thanks for your support.
