How to contact helpdesk

Overview

Basic Tips of contacting helpdesk

• Always email helpdesk regarding any CMPT related technical issues.
• Do not email helpdesk questions about your assignments, we can't help with that.
• Always make sure helpdesk is the only recipient of your message
• (optional) Do not CC people when emailing helpdesk; instead include their email address in the message to helpdesk.
• Read through this page for more useful tips.

How about a template for contacting helpdesk?

Here is an email template you could use:

User Name:
Account Name:
Student Number:
Access Card Number: (if applicable)
Course Number:
Platform: e.g. Windows, Linux
Computer Name:
Campus & Room#:
Application: (if applicable)
Description of the issue:
Error message (if any):

What happens when I contact helpdesk?

We are using Request Tracker (RT) system to manage the inquiries to helpdesk. This RT system is monitored regularly by members of CMPT tech support team. Here is some background information about the helpdesk process:

• Upon receiving the email, the RT system will generate a "Ticket" and reply to the sender with the ticket number.  Reply to this email if you have more information to add.
• The ticket will be assigned to a staff member for resolution. The assigned person becomes the "Owner" of the ticket.
• The ticket Owner will gather all the information as needed, solve the issues and answer to the Requestor. If there are other people who should be involved, they will be added to "CC-ed" group of this ticket by the ticket Owner.
  
• Once all the issues in the ticket have been addressed by the ticket Owner, the ticket will be "Resolved".
• All the corresponding messages are archived on the RT system under the specific RT#. The requestor could review them.
• Please only respond to the ticket by replying to one of the emails with the ticket number.  This will ensure that your responses are properly logged to the ticket.

What should I do before I contact helpdesk?

• Please make sure you are making the inquiries on CMPT related technical issues
  • e.g. if you could not access the SFU's wireless network, please email help AT sfu DOT ca
    
  • if you are a guest of CMPT@SFU and need to use SFU's wireless, please ask the faculty who invited you to contact us.  Or use Eduroam if you have an account from another institution.
    
• If you have an SFU account, please always use this account to contact us.
  • if you use other email account, please always inform us of your SFU account.
  • if you have an alias for your SFU Connect account, please always inform us of your SFU login account, not the email alias.
• When emailing helpdesk, please make sure the message has one and only one recipient: helpdesk
• When replying to helpdesk, please do not alter the subject line, especially the portion of "[fas.sfu.ca #?????] ".
• When replying to helpdesk, please only include the necessary portion of the previous message body.
  

I know the person who will handle my inquiry; may I email this person directly?

The short answer is: always email helpdesk, and include a line like:

please assign this to ...

Please do not email individuals. If this is an urgent matter, please call the person after you email helpdesk.

I would like to keep other people posted while I contact helpdesk; what I should do?

The short answer is: email helpdesk, and include a line like this:

I would like following people on the CC-ed list: ..., ..., ...

If you decide to CC other people while you email helpdesk at the same time, please keep these in mind:

• Only you will get the confirmation message from helpdesk with the ticket number.
• The other people will become the CC-ed members of this ticket; they will get all the messages just like the requestor with the exception of the first/confirmation message.
• If "Reply All" used, the request and the CC-ed members will receive duplicated messaged: one from the RT system and one from the sender.
  

I did not get speedy response from helpdesk; what I should do?

In general, your request will be assigned to proper tech people in 2 hours.

If you did not get response in reasonable time, you could reply to the helpdesk replied message, this will send a reminder to the ticket Owner.

You may think to email helpdesk without using the reply method to create a new ticket. - When you do this, please make sure you include the previous RT# for reference!

If you think the inquiry did not get proper attention, please call the Manager or the Department Assistant for support.

I work in a CMPT research lab, should I email helpdesk as well?

Yes! Absolutely!

There is only one tiny thing you should do - which could greatly reduce the response time: add your lab's acronym to the subject line: like

CMPT-AAA: need new software.

When you do this, the RT system will assign the ticket to the proper tech personnel without delay.

We have put a list of the acronyms at the bottom of this page. Please check them out.

Click here for a page we prepared to assist graduate students of the School.

May I put multiple issues in one message to helpdesk?

Yes.

And please use numbering system to help us to get all of the issues properly attended.

BTW, if needed, we (CSTS) will create separate tickets (Child Tickets) for different issues so the request could be taken care of in parallel for speedy service.

I know the same issue happened before; what I should do?

In this case, please give us the previous RT# (ticket number) - it will be very-very helpful.

Please do not directly reply to the old ticket. We (CSTS) will link these tickets together.

Should I send a message indicate that all the issue has been addressed?

No, you don't have to. - Unless we ask explicitly.

In general, we will resolve/close the ticket in a few days after all the actions have been taken and there is no further feedback from the Requestor.

Please note: any reply to a resolved ticket will reopen the ticket and put helpdesk to work. So if there is no further assistance needed, you do not need to reply to the ticket.

I received a message with an RT#, what I should do?

Here are some things you may consider:

• If you like to track the request call, you could email helpdesk with proper subject line and you will be in CC group and will be informed about this ticket.
  
  
• If you do not want to become a  CC-ed member, you could just email the parties directly, not CC helpdesk.
  
  
• When you received a message from someone CC-ed to you with an RT#,
  • if you want to join the discussion of this ticket (become a CC-ed member)
  • and/or if you want to see your replies get archived in the RT system
    
• Please note: if you "Reply All" to a ticket with other parties, they will get duplicate messages: one from you, one from the RT system.
• Please reply to helpdesk with the proper subject line.

I think there are some issues in the ticket could not be handled by CSTS; what I should do?

If you know certain issues should be taken care by certain party, e.g. by RCG (Research Computing Group), please kindly indicate it in your message.

You do not need to send separate emails to RCG. The TIGR may create new ticket for you and pass it to the other party.

I sent helpdesk one message, but I got 2 tickets replying me; what's going on?

In general, this means there are multiple issues to be addressed in the ticket and they could be dealt with in parallel by different people. So, to speed up the process, some child tickets will be created.

After all the issues have been addressed, the original ticket and child tickets will be resolved together or one after another.

I received duplicate replies from helpdesk; what I should do?

The most like cause of duplicate messages from helpdesk is you have been set as the Requestor and a member of CC-ed group.

We try our best to reduce the communication cost; but sometimes duplicates do happen. That's why we ask people always use helpdesk as the sole recipient of the message.

Please do notify us by replying to this RT# so the ticket Owner could remove the duplicates.

I sent helpdesk with a specific subject line, but helpdesk replies with something else; why's that?

To improve the quality of service, we try to make the subject line as clear as possible. Since the RT# is the identity of the ticket, the change of the subject line wording is a safe practice.

How can I check the ticket status?

If you contacted helpdesk using your SFU account, you could check the status of your inquiries.

Please go to this web page; key in the RT# (only the digits) and now you see all the messages of this ticket.

I'm using a laptop, what kind of help I could get from helpdesk?

Please click here for some tips.

I got more questions; what I should do?

Please email helpdesk for more information.

Here are the acronyms of the CMPT research labs:

Research Labs on Burnaby Campus

Research Labs on Surrey Campus