Faculty/Staff Help Center - Office of Technology Services

OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Faculty/Staff Help Center

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The Faculty/Staff Help Center is the first point of contact for your computing needs. Over 80% of the problems and issues that are reported are resolved with the first telephone call. When necessary, the staff will arrange for an office visit by a technician.

Telephone Support (Including Remote Control Assistance* for Campus Computers)

Number:	410-704-5151, 2+2+2 on the voice menu
Fall and Spring Semester Hours:	Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
January and Summer Hours:	Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
After Hours All Year:	Assistance is available nights, weekends, and holidays through our support partner whenever the campus Faculty/Staff Help Center is closed. Please listen to the recorded information for instructions when calling after hours. Click here for FAQ.

Web Support Request

Website:

Click Here

Live After-Hours Chat Assistance (When the Faculty/Staff Help Center is Closed)

Website:

Click Here

Walk-In Assistance

Location:

Cook Library Room 29

Remote Control Assistance*

Remote Control Assistance allows OTS staff, with your permission, to view your desktop or take control of your computer to fix a problem, install software, or show you how to do something. Your computer needs to be turned on and connected to the Towson University wired network. Remote Control Assistance is not available over the wireless network at this time.

Self-Help Assistance

Hundreds of self-help documents, quick sheets, movies, and other resources are available 24/7. Click here for more information.

Training

Workshops are available in a wide variety of topics and software products. Click here for the calendar or to register.

Information on Frequently Requested Topics

On-Site Technical Support

Problems that can't be resolved over the phone or through Remote Control Assistance are assigned within an hour to a technician who will contact you within four business hours to schedule an appointment. The Distributed Support Services staff operates out of three campus precinct offices for rapid response.

Triage and Service Prioritization

To ensure critical problems and issues are handled quickly, all requests are evaluated based on “triage” guidelines and impact on essential instructional and business services. The following chart is provided for transparency in understanding our decision-making approach:

RED: SEVERE Ensuring Security and Protecting Assets	Issues that affect public health or physical safety Campus-wide outages of named critical services High potential for data loss Serious security exposure Loss of primary communications systems Significant monetary loss, institutional embarrassment, public relations nightmares
ORANGE: HIGH Maintaining Mission-Critical Services and Support to Key Offices	Major issues that affect classroom or lab instruction or direct service to multiple students Significant PeopleSoft problems Loss or serious problems with entire workgroup applications or systems Executive officers and their staff Core academic and business offices and their leadership
YELLOW: ELEVATED Providing or Restoring Access to Network or Workgroup Resources	Issues that prevent one or a very small number of people from doing work Physical connectivity to the network Account or login problems with no alternative to get time-sensitive work done Computer deployment or setup for new faculty and staff
BLUE: GUARDED Customer Service Recovery	Situations where a client has had an unacceptable customer service experience Issues that have required multiple attempts to correct the problem Problems where service was delayed for no significant reason Problems that were made worse by previous service attempts
GREEN: LOW Routine Work Requests, Elective Procedures, Non-Critical Impact	Add-on or convenience service requests Routine Computer Trade-Up program installations Services not essential for the person to perform their job Optional upgrades without a compelling business or instructional need Installation or configuration of personally owned devices used on campus for work Services the client could reasonable do without help from technical staff

Administration and Finance Questions

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• TSM Restart (TSM) at 3/4/2013 10:58:08 AM

• OTS Maintenance Complete (Other services) at 3/3/2013 10:03:11 AM

• PeopleSoft Scheduled Maintenance is Complete (Peoplesoft) at 3/3/2013 9:41:19 AM

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