Help for the Help Desk

Abstract

Information technology organizations at colleges and universities are beleaguered by the increasing demand for desktop client support. In the past five to ten years the "computer center" migrated from an "end-of-the-line" support unit into the forefront of the organizational communications infrastructure, adding thousands of clients to institutional campus networks and to the Internet. This paper provides a useful guide to the strategies used by colleges and universities to meet the growing demand for desktop client support, including proprietary and locally developed Help Desk software and intranet-based "self-help Web sites." Benchmark data are included by institutional control, size and type for Help Desk staffing, average number of clients per FTE staff member, and average number of calls per client per month.