My shadowing hours started out rather confusingly. I originally wanted a 9-11pm shift to better fit my schedule, and to have more time dedicated to one purpose. However, I have decided after my first two hours with Helen (learning about the Help Desk) to move one of those hours to the middle of the day, so I can see how to handle live support issues.

As for the two hours I was learning from Helen, I saw far into how the help desk works. In a nutshell, I learned the method in which TLT provides help for users: by phone, chat, and email. I listened in on a phone call about a class not appearing in a user’s Blackboard, and the solution was simple: wait 24 hours. Another support request came from a user via email about Print From Anywhere. Lastly, I got to personally test how the chats work: a user can log on via the Need Help link on the desktop, and be connected to a Help Desk consultant. The system then proceeds exactly as an Instant Message session would.

The most important part I learned was our issue tracking system. While solving a problem for a user is part of a senior consultant’s duties, another is ensuring there are logs of these events. Footprints (by Numara) is the system we use for that. To me, it is much like a KB (Knowledge Base) article I would find for Microsoft products– a way of saving a problem and a known solution, for ease of solving it later. I also learned how to sort emails about issues into their respective categories, and how that ties in with Footprints.

I also learned about transferring phone calls, because of a question I asked about how the phones work. Even though only 3 phone lines were available for use, I was able to successfully transfer a call from one room to the next.

Considering all of this, I believe the most important concept I learned is if I wish to know how to use a system, I need to ask about all of that system’s use cases to understand everything.

In site managing, I learned about basic procedures in running a SINC Site, and learned more about the larger organization I work in– specifically, the faculty that support those SINC sites.

As for what I learned in how I act, I see now that while it is not necessarily as important to memorize every detail, ensuring professional conduct and knowing when the details are important, as well as where one can look up those details, is even more important.