Tech Support Orientation (for Admins/Staff)

Introduction

Perhaps they can start by checking out this [howto?]

Volunteer Agreement

• Volunteer Agreement (Tech Support)
• Volunteer Intern Contract

General Support Guidelines

• Who's covered and who is not
• What's covered and what's not (http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Tech_Support#Services)
• When its okay to go above and beyond
  • Adopters are highest priority, followed by grantees, followed by store customers
  • If you choose to go above and beyond, the most important rule is that you make it clear that you are making an exception and that this will likely not happen again (don't throw other techs under the bus).
• When to charge people
  • Always charge when out of warranty for anything
  • You can leave charging folks to the coordinator, if you are uncomfortable.

Lists, RT, and Database

• Support Techs List - Add intern to list. Explain uses of list including:
  • Auto-generated RT ticket summary (of the tickets you created)
  • Cool stuff in linux, tech
  • Where you let folks know you are sick and not coming in
  • Advise others when you become aware of new documentation or bugs
• RT -- This is the main one all support techs must have. Generally by the time a tech starts, his or her email is already in RT as a user. Find the email, change the username from the email to something suitable, give the account privileges, have the tech put in a password. Then once the account is privileged, add it to the fgcore group.
• Wiki -- Techs need a wiki account because part of their job is to update the Tech support knowledge base.
  • Encourage techs to get involved early. Even wording/formatting cleanup on existing documents and testing links is very helpful.
• Application server -- This allows them to log in to their own account on the terminals, and provides a place for them to store files.
• Database[1] -- Get intern a database login. Show how an intern would find the date of the beginning of warranty.

Procedure for Phone Calls

• Answer with "Hi, this is (YOUR NAME) at Free Geek Tech Support."
• Ask the customer their name.
• Is the machine from Free Geek? Adopt/Buy/Grant?
• What OS are they running?
• Get a thorough description of the problem.
• Record everything in an RT Ticket.
• If you can help them over the phone, please do so. If you need to ask the customer if you can place them on hold and speak with someone else for assistance.
• If you cannot fix it over the phone, please ask them to bring their box in (5 minutes in here is work an hour on the phone!). Let them know many problems are solved within 1-2 business days.

Intake Procedure for Drop Offs and Others

• Ask the customer to fill out an Intake Form (Name, phone number, email, volunteer ID (volID), Username, Password, Whats needs to be done?). Please use RT if your handwriting is not legible! Forms are on a hanger on the right side of the door. Extra forms are in the bottom shelf of the filing cabinet (back corner of the room).
• Ask the customer to wait for a moment while you add their request to our system.
• Enter the ticket into RT, fill in as much information as you can! ESPECIALLY CONTACT INFO. ("Create a Ticket" bookmark in Firefox).
• Write the RT number on the RT ticket (Yellow and White copies). Give the Yellow copy to the customer and let them know most repairs are done in 1-2 days. We will call them when it is ready!
• Every piece of hardware the customer gives us (towers, laptops, power cables, USB Drives, EVERYTHING) gets labeled with the RT # on a piece of masking tape (tape is attached to shelves).
• Towers go on the middle shelf with their White RT Ticket taped to them.
• Laptops go in the Server Rack on an empty shelf. Be sure to label the laptop AND the shelf with the RT#.

RT Training

• Click on "Create a ticket" in the Bookmark Bar. This will populate the relevant fields for you automatically.
• Fill in the customers name and a short description of the problem in the Subject line. i.e. "Super Man - Can't Connect To Kryptonet".
• Fill in as many fields as possible, especially contact information (phone number, email). Also specify the Box Source and Type of Box.
• Put user description of problem in quotations in the "Describe Issue Below" field. i.e. "Can't Connect to Kryptonet".
• Add any notes you have beneath that NOT in quotations.

Hard Drives with No Home

Any hard drive floating around without some clear explanation of its purpose is to be handed to a Staff Member (i.e. Paul, Meredith etc) immediately. Please label all drives with their RT#.. Sharpies and tape live on the silver shelf at the back of the room.

Mean or Unreasonable People

• Cadets, interns and volunteers don't have to deal with them. That's what the Staff are for.

Walk Around

• Meet keyholders and regular staff
• Get RT login from technocrat
• Show parts available in build
• Show laptop area and advise getting all parts from instructors

Where to Go for Help

• Talk to fellow interns
• Talk to the staff person on duty (escalate the ticket to level 3)
• If you think you need to elsewhere for help always ask the staff person about this first.
• If an issue is especially tricky/new you can escalate the ticket to level 3 and make the Tech Support Co-ordinator the owner of the ticket (currently Paul Munday -- please also send an email to paulm at freegeek saying you have done this, and stating the ticket no).