Please refer to the following recommendations for how best to reach out to ITS, and best practices and expectations about when you should do so.
Reaching out to ITS team
Sending ITS a ticket, either via the portal at ithelp.ncssm.edu or emailing ithelp@ncssm.edu, is the best and only supported way to send ITS a request.
The ticketing system:
Makes sure all ITS team members are notified of your request.
Allows us to assign and prioritize your request.
Enables ITS to document our work and note solutions for future cases.
Provides us with the ability to track our time, and to create metrics to help us get the resources we require.
Please never:
Directly call or email a specific member of the ITS team, unless you have no method by which to reach the ticket portal or email the team’s ticket address.
Drop-in to a ITS team member’s office without a scheduled appointment.
Physical spaces
ITS is currently in the process of moving from the old Help Desk in ETC-012 to a new and much more accessible space in Bryan, just to the left of the entrance to the Library where the School Store used to be. We expect the new ITS Service Desk, as it will be named, to be available for walk-up service in fall of 2021.
ITS also has several offices in the Cottage, which is not available for walk-up service, and by appointment only.
As always, however, please make sure that your first point of contact for ITS is a ticket, either via our ticketing portal at ithelp.ncssm.edu or by emailing ithelp@ncssm.edu.
Projects and when to contact ITS
Aside from creating tickets for short term issues, whether they be for reporting network issues, or notifying us of software installation needs, for example, how else might you get in touch with ITS? And when should you get in touch with ITS?
Summary: If you are buying new software/services or you are planning on purchasing hardware that needs to be configured and networked by ITS staff, please create a ticket to let us know as soon as possible, at at least two weeks prior to the need for work to begin.
Want to buy new software, or use software or services from a new vendor?
Please send ITS a ticket, using the portal at ithelp.ncssm.edu or emailing ithelp@ncssm.edu. And please do so well before buying anything or committing to a purchase. You should bring ITS into the conversation as early as is possible. This means a notice of at least two weeks prior to any evaluation and integration work required by the new software or service(s).
ITS will need to engage with the vendor to evaluate:
Do they meet our security requirements and best practices? This includes how accounts and sign-in works, and where data is being stored.
Will they require ITS involvement for implementation and support?
ITS can also be consulted to help determine the best solution to a given problem, and may be able to play a role in the vendor selection and RFP process, as needed.
Want to buy new hardware and equipment? And also wanting to connect it to the NCSSM network?
Please send ITS a ticket, using the portal at ithelp.ncssm.edu or emailing ithelp@ncssm.edu. And please do so well before buying anything or committing to a purchase. You should bring ITS into the conversation as early as is possible, and in fact, please provide us with at least two weeks notice prior to any plan to either set up this new hardware or to connect it to the NCSSM network.
We will need to plan:
The setup and configuration of any computers.
Make sure that there is an appropriate plan in place to network that equipment, and if not, to put the appropriate infrastructure in place.
We will need to evaluate all hardware and software for meeting our security requirements and best practices.
The last thing ITS wants would be for hardware to be purchased that is somehow incompatible with the NCSSM network, making it impossible to support or not to have the full functionality required.