Help Desk Ticket Tips

Our #1 tip: Before you call or submit a ticket: Restart your computer. This is often the first thing you'll be asked to do if you're experiencing computer trouble. Restarting your computer fixes more things than you might think. Why? Who knows! But it definitely works. No change? Ok, time to submit a ticket:

• Enter a descriptive summary of your problem in the Summary field of the web form, or in the subject line of your email. This will help us route, sort out, and quickly locate tickets.
  • Use wording that states what the specific problem is and what you are seeing. For example, "Issues logging into Email" is a better summary than "Help!", "Work Order", or "Ticket request". 
  • Examples of descriptive summaries:
    • Sound system is not working in DT 215
    • Phone is not working in room CH 355
    • Computer in continuous boot loop in CAD lab
• In the Description section of the web form, or in the body of your email, put all the details that are relevant to the problem.  Please don't assume we know what you're talking about: be descriptive. Try to include as much of the following information as possible:
  • The ID or make and model of the equipment. Computers should have a white label on the top or front of the tower that has a building and room number and a five digit number. Example: CH117—12345. If it's a printer or other piece of equipment, the make and model is usually easy to find. Example: HP LaserJet 4200n
  • The building and room where the equipment is located.
  • Your phone number.
  • Detailed information about the problem or request. Anything you may know that is pertinent will help our team find a solution quicker for you.
    • What software were you using? (If you know the version number, include it too)
    • What you were trying to do when the problem happened?
    • What happened instead?
    • What are the steps required to reproduce the issue? Does this happen every time you do do these steps?
    • If there was an error message, what did it say?
    • When was the last time this worked and/or when did you first notice the problem?
    • What are the steps required to reproduce the issue?
    • What's the severity? Are you the only one experiencing the problem" Is everyone in your office having the same problem?
• If you are emailing your ticket to the Help Desk be aware that the system converts everything to plain text! This means that formatting like bolding, strikethroughs, highlighting, etc., are all removed.
• When tickets are created, or comments added, you will receive an email with a subject line that has the ticket number and summary in the subject field. Example: "[Ticket #12345] Computer not responding – Spiceworks".
  • When you reply to one of these emails, that email will become a comment that is added to the ticket.
  • You should always use reply if you need to add additional information to tickets – sending a new email to the Help Desk email will create another new ticket.
  • Please read the ticket emails because the ITS technicians may ask you for additional information or provide information you need!
    • If a technician asked you to try something, let them know what you tried. Most tickets are held up because follow up questions don't get answered or are answered vaguely.
    • For example, if he technician asks "Did you try restarting the computer?", don't reply "It's not working". Instead say "Yes, I restarted the computer, it's still not working."

Ready to submit a ticket?  Find out how to create a ticket.