IT Employment·20,050 discussions

IT faults not being reported to department

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I am in a situation where I have a user who does not report their IT faults to me. This user moans to all her co-workers about PC problems, but never reports them to me. When I do go out to her site and look at her PC it works fine. She says she doesn’t need training. She is bad mouthing me to the rest of the company by saying that she phones me every day to report faults, but I never fix them. I have spoken to her line manager who has done nothing. I am the only IT support person in my company. Any ideas? Thanks a lot.

Topic

I had a couple of those

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I did a couple of things. First, I set up a simple database to log and track issue reporting. This covers the bases in the event that anyone ever has issues about responsiveness. It’s tedious at times, but it has come in handy.

You might also ask the person directly. I recommend that this be done in person, but handle it in a very neutral manner: “I understand that you are having issues with x,y,z, but you haven’t brought these to my attention directly. Why is that?” Then, just leave some silence, which most people will feel compelled to fill. If she says that she called you on a specific day, just look at your database printout, frown, and say: “That’s not included in my log, and I would really like to help you with that. Do you have records of when you called? That would really help my troubleshooting.”

I also made a written request that the user come in for remedial training for x, y, and z to the supervisor and copied the user on it. The word “remedial” provokes interesting reactions, so keep your tone very neutral, helpful, and non-accusatory in all other respects. Think hard on whether you want to use that word in your situation. If your user won’t go for outside training, offer to do it yourself and have her come in for one-on-one training with you, at your convenience, in your office. Yes, this takes time. But, that gets the point across, resolves any honest issues that the user might have, and also demonstrates to management that you are going the extra mile to resolve the problem. The user will probably decline, but you have made the point that you are being aggressively helpful and have documented it.

You will probably never win this person over, but take heart in the thought that you are probably not the first target of this sort of behavior from this person. Others around you probably know the score more than you think.

Direct Approach

In reply to I had a couple of those

Don’t know about you but if someone in my company was bad mouthing me behind my back to others in the company, I’d have to confront the miserable individual personally….. but with tack. There’s ways to put people in their place without embarassing or seeming confrontational. If that doesn’t work, a little wall to wall counceling after hours might get the point across.

Phone records disprove her claim

In reply to Direct Approach

When someone claims they’ve called repeatedly, get the phone records; they will conclusively prove or disprove whether IT was called or not. Usually it’s a very simple query against the phone log database, easy and quick to do.

Agree with “Direct Approach”

In reply to Direct Approach

“Honesty is the best policy” — Cliche’s are cliche’s becuause they are true. Confront (tactfully) this person and just be very straigtforward, upfront and to the point. My experience is that people that engage in actions such as you’ve described simply can’t deal with this sort of thing and you will probably find they will move on to someone else that doesn’t “confront” them.

Be Pro-active while CYA

In reply to Agree with “Direct Approach”

Respond to everything concerning her problems in writing, including all conversations, forwarding copies to appropriate management. You might want to take time to check on her once or twice daily in person. (A little hand holding, besides, it?s tough to bad mouth you if you show your face in her department on a daily basis) Be extremely tactful. Document everything. I manage networks in two law firms for the past seven years. Run into this occasionally. It?s a situation where you have to win, but you can do yourself a lot of damage if you don?t do it right.
Three undeniable laws of computer service:
1) No good deed goes unpunished.
2) He who touches it last loses.
3) The truth, while amusing and interesting, it totally irrelevant. Perception is the only thing that counts.
Good Luck
Bill

boiling nitric acid

In reply to Be Pro-active while CYA

…is what I feel like throwing on these people. Basically these types of folks are somehow maladjusted socially, have problems at home, or some other problem where they learned to make others’ lives miserable. All the way from middle management to a scanner admin.

What I read from most of these seems really good. Documentation, logs, anything to keep track of discourse. Thank goodness that they are in the minority.

Online Service Requsts

In reply to Be Pro-active while CYA

We use an online service request form for all our service requests. It is a simple database program that tracks all requests. It shows the day/time the request is submitted, who it is assigned to, when it was completed and by whom. Using this formate will elliminate the “I’ve called you many times and you didn’t respond” excuse. If they don’t submit the request online, it doesn’t get taken care of.

I disagree with direct approach

In reply to Agree with “Direct Approach”

In life that’s the way to handle your issues, but in a professional environment that sort of situation, especially when you’re already upset, can easily get out of hand and go in a direction you did not intend. I would probably let YOUR boss know about the situation. Because frankly he’s the one you should be worried about. Then you should bcc him on every interaction you have with that person. That way, if and when she complains and her manager brings the issue up in the next management meeting, your boss can slam dunk the issue in front of the complainers boss and her bosses boss. That’s an effective way of smoking the rat out. Everyone in that meeting will now know who the troublemaker is.

A confrontation can make you look bad and give further credit to the assertion the complainer is making.

If you don’t have a supportive management structure then you might have to resort to a very level headed confrontation. I’d consider that a last resort.

JMHO,
Mike

Reply To: IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to I disagree with direct approach

‘Kin oath, mate! Confronting the person directly should be your last resort. If you’re not very careful and lucky it will end in a he-said-she-said bunfight that you cannot win (no ever does), adds thin skinned and agressive to whatever has already been said about you and, assuming you work for decent management, you will both get a bollocking – you twice (by her boss AND yours).

Dealing with such problems is part and parcel of working in any service job and, let’s face it, IT is a service unit for most businesses. You should:

Have a job/call/problem logging system in place. This is a general CYA issue for any IT dept (doubly so if you are contractors).

Make sure your boss knows about it. Not the other person’s boss – that’s your boss’s perogative. If you go direct to her boss, it looks like you’re trying to go over her head and that will get you nowhere pleasant. Coming from your boss it’s a meeting of equals. See Mike’s post above.

Make it obvious to the person complaining (and her workmates) that you are there to help. Stick your head in when you are at her site and say “hey, I heard you’re having issues with such-and-such, I haven’t seen the job ticket/report/etc, but since I’m down here…” My experience is that these people are either insecure or semi-competent and won’t call for help because it might make them look dumb. Nine times out of ten, dealing with their problems face to face (and giving the IT dept a face to match the voice on the phone while you are at it) you find they are quite pleasant because it’e much harder to blag someone when they are in the room. The tenth time you’ll get some a***hole who gives you an earful, but he was going to do it anyway – nothing you can do. You don’t normally get that sort of behavior outside of junior management. Remain calm, explain you haven’t seen their reports and that you are here to solve their problem. You’ll come out smelling or roses and they look like a tool. This works every time, even when it’s your fault, by the way.

Don’t worry that being bad mouthed behind your back is hurting your image at work. If you are doing your job and other people will just put it down to a “personality clash”. After all, there’s only one person complaing, right? Besides, odds are you’re not the only being complained about – her workmates probably know her as a whiner.

Executive summary – stay calm, maintain your professionalim (getting upset just validates the other person’s statements), document everything (with a copy into the departmental Perl Harbour file), and keep your superiors in the loop ’cause it’s actually their problem.

Laurie

Go direct, but get her Manager involved

In reply to Direct Approach

Confirm with her manager that she is complaining. If so, confront her in the manager’s office and let her know that you have had some feedback about her problems, but that your call records don’t show that you have heard directly from her. Get her to explain in front of the supervisor, and together the three of you can create an action plan to eliminate the problem. Whatever you wind up doing, do it with reliable witnesses, and if the problem continues, go to HR as someone else suggested.

CYAWP

In reply to Direct Approach

Although it causes more work for others and your self, you may find the old Cover Your Ass With Paper approach to work. It will not point fingers at anyone. Since her supervisor has done nothing, this will give you ammunition for you to then go to HR. If it is possible require that any problems be reported via email, fax, or hand delivered to you (date stamp with them and have them sign it). Have them outline the problem, the time, date, how to contact them, etc.

Then if the complaints continue about your performance you have the performance documentation proof that you need to protect yourself. This person is causing a hazardous and hostile working environment for you–file a complaint. It will then be up to your HR and her supervisor to deal with her.

Be proactive

In reply to Direct Approach

Make a point of going to the users office and asking everybody if there are any problems. Then go to the particular user and ask her if there are any issues, then no matter how trivial solve the issues there and then. As you leave the office report to the line manager and tell them everything that you have done, get them to sign a service ticket for your visit.

Excellent solution

In reply to Be proactive

Your idea should definitely work. Sounds more like a personality issue on the part of the whiner. Once everything is in the open, and notorized, others might put her in her place should she start up again.

Direct Approach works

In reply to Direct Approach

I am an administrator at a large educational institution, and the scenario depicted here is very prevalent.

Quarterly meetings with users are held and various gripes that were never reported are brought up and the administrators are bad mouthed.

I have on every occassion engaged the persons who have brought up gripes and issues, and in 90% of the cases have found that users complain due to the lack of proper knowledge of the product they use or operate.

I have also incorporated engaging the users by writing to them and requesting that they reply to any issues that they raised in the interests of a better experience in using technology.
Not only do I have documented proff but statistics to show management of areas that need addressing with regards tp training and motivation for hardware software replacements or upgrades.

Direct/Indirect work best

In reply to Direct Approach

My team uses a Call Tracking system, which logs every call and its pertinent information. It also provides a history of the users call. When we have a Dynamic use, my team and I take special care to note everything in the worklog and follow-up with emails and phone calls. These are all noted within the CTS.

When there is a compliant, I review the history and send the user a brief summary. I may also follow-up with a personal visit. My team and I will extend every courtesy to the user, even if they are rude. Why? Because we are in the SERVICE INDUSTRY. If you do not realize this then you may need to rethink your calling.

One last thing is, most dynamic users will realize their failings once you show them the facts. If they do not, then you supervisor will understand that the issue is not with you. Some user you will never win over. With them, you need to be very professional and pleasant and document, document, document??

Intranet Infrastructure

In reply to I had a couple of those

I have a service request form setup on the Inranet. It is simple the user goes to the page and fills the form out and then submits it. My IT department then recieves an email and completes the service request. If you set something like this up you can require its use by the company. So now the person cannot make such claims. It will also give you a method of metrix tracking as well… Hope this helps….

Shannon

Nicely put

In reply to I had a couple of those

Very good observations, and very well written. Does Sunshine work in an academic setting?

Not an academic one…

In reply to Nicely put

…but a governmental one. I wish it was an academic setting. Judging by the number of posts, Corrielein’s experience seems nearly universal.

Thanks for your kind comment.

Good solutions

In reply to I had a couple of those

I have not had experience with this type of situation but I think that the solutions outlined here are professional and will provide results.

Obviously, if this user is being malicious, then it is up to the IT Support person to disprove her claim? It might be useful for the IT Support to implement some type of evaluation of service request so that user can supply feedback on how timely the response was, how professional the support staff, etc. etc. If this user is the only one with a problem, it should speak volumes to management.

Good solutions

In reply to I had a couple of those

I have not had experience with this type of situation but I think that the solutions outlined here are professional and will provide results.

Obviously, if this user is being malicious, then it is up to the IT Support person to disprove her claim? It might be useful for the IT Support to implement some type of evaluation of service request so that user can supply feedback on how timely the response was, how professional the support staff, etc. etc. If this user is the only one with a problem, it should speak volumes to management.

One further step

In reply to I had a couple of those

Someone who would lie about calling every day would probably also accuse you of deleting records from a database, or of never entering the records in the first place (not that it’s ever happened to me, he said through gritted teeth).

I initiated a new policy of sending a confirmation e-mail with a sequential ticket ID for each help request received. Make sure the users know about it and don’t let them off the phone until they have received their e-mail (unless it is an e-mail problem, of course). Encourage them to save the e-mails “for auditing purposes” (most users with any sense are afraid to delete anything related to auditing). Then, when they come up with these outrageous claims, ask the user to produce the e-mail confirmation so you can “verify the ticket ID.” You will also have, in your Sent Items, all the tickets you actually sent out, numbered sequentially so any gaps (or lack thereof) will be readily apparent.

At our company, as we grew we have had to automated this; we built a a home-grown help-desk application that allows users to enter their own requests via a web page. It generates a sequential ticket ID, creates a record in the SQL database, and sends the user a confirmation e-mail. All IT workstations have a client app that pops up a message when a new ticket is entered. Due to the sequential nature of the ticket ID generation, any record deletion is immediately apparent by the gap in the sequence. Also, because we use SQL 2000, we have a log of any record deletions; there is also the e-mail trail.

Technology is on your side; use it. Don’t let these bozos get the best of you.

Logging System

In reply to I had a couple of those

“First, I set up a simple database to log and track issue reporting”

Having some sort of Case Logging System, like you’ve mentioned, can really help in a situatuion like this. Our IT Dept. was always getting bad mouthed and blamed for things we had nothing to do with. People never follow procedure at our institution even though we constantly remind them and show them. Yet they always say we do nothing. Logging every Case and instance has helped shut those people’s mouths because we have logs to back it up. We made our system through VB 6.0 and use the Visual Foxpro database. If you are thinking about writing such a program though I would recommend using an Access Database because I ran into so much trouble with Foxpro when I actually was creating a Case Logging Application for college.

Document your butt off

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Start if you don’t already a call / break / fix tracking database. If you don’t have one build one (I hate to say this) in Access and start logging all your support calls and response out comes –

Include an Blob area for Email and document attachments on each call. Create a Email account for the users to report trouble calls – along with a specific phone line – (have that phone line logged for incoming calls)

Document – document – document – otherwise its your word against her’s – and guess who is going to lose …. it isn’t her.

Best of luck … once burnt twice learnt … been there a long time ago – never will happen again ..

Create a form

In reply to Document your butt off

I have to agree with those that are suggesting documenting. What I would do until you can build a database (should you decide to go that route), I suggest creating a sign-off form. Whenever I go to a user’s desk to assist them with a problem, I have them sign off on the form which basically states that the machine is working when I leave.

Implement call logging & work with her for a week

In reply to Document your butt off

Being a only person for call handling, it may be easy to form a call logging procedure. Announce this as a policy. Use a browser based solution( there are many freeware on the net), so that all users can use it with a minimal effort. This will avoid most of the talk behind you, even if they are done intentionaly.

Make a daily call to that lady for a week and ask about her problem. If possible visit her for week for this purpose and discuss it in front of others, to show you care. This will automatically put her off. Then you will see a change in her attitude.

Hope that helps.

Navaneetham, System Engineer, PSC, Muscat
navaneetham@hotmail.com

Tracking Software

In reply to Document your butt off

There are also some shareware and opensource helpdesk tracking tools. Have used RT Request Tracker which is an open source and works very well. We require ALL requests to be submitted to the helpdesk via email (unless computer or network is down, which they can phone in and the helpdesk staff has to enter).

This way for this exact reason we have the history or how many calls, what has happened and who said what! While there is still some griping the question is almost always asked “did you put it in the helpdesk?” Now this will take support from the management but is well worth it and RT is a great tool. Whatever tracking tool you use, get one and use it. Not only does it address this specific issue it helps build a knowledge base of problems/solutions.

document ,document ,document I agree!

In reply to Document your butt off

Hello, I agree! you have to document. Document even when you heard she was bad mouthing you. If you do not, your rear is in the wind. If this has gone to far for too long. Contact your supivisor, ask for a meeting with everyone involved. Take the bull by the horns. Have a plan. Do not be agressive in the meeting towards her. Come off as wanting to help. (Even though we all know inside you want to ring her little neck) I have seen many times over this is a way a low performing employee trys to get over by saying they can not do their work due to IT. Again, document and cover your rear! Be prepared. I wish you the best.

Use a paper trail!

In reply to Document your butt off

Whenever necessary, document communications with problematic users via email and use the receive and read receipt feature. This will show you did follow up.

In addition, since the person is claiming they informed you when they did not; I would suggest sending out an email to the user with bcc to your boss stating that you heard from other users (don’t mention names!) that they (the problem child) is experiencing problems and they never informed you. Then proceed to ask for details of the problems experienced.

Do this enough times and they will stop.

BCC should rarely be used

In reply to Use a paper trail!

I have twice seen a suggestion to send a copy of an email discussion to a third party as a BCC. I think this is a bad idea.

Yes, company email belongs to the company. Technically an email you get from the complainer and your reply are perfectly okay to share with your boss. But if it is okay to share it, why do you want to hide the fact that you’re sharing it?

How much would you trust someone who did this to other people? How would you know they wouldn’t do it to you, too? I had a co-worker who made a habit of replying defensively to people who complained about him (or even asked him for help) and putting the names of everyone he could think of in the BCC line. This only made him look bad.

By using CC instead, and explicitly letting the other parties know there is someone else included in the discussion, a professional attitude is encouraged. It’s tempting to try to trick people into “revealing themselves,” but trickery breeds trickery, distrust breeds distrust.

Thanks to both who replied

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I already have a database where I log all calls I receive from users, but its good to hear the importance of keeping it up to date. I will try asking the user why she didn’t report faults to me directly and also put in a training request. I have come in this morning to find it has happened again…. Grr!! Thanks for your feedback though.

Just to add some points

In reply to Thanks to both who replied

Hello Corrielein,

from your comments, your are in a small organization (related to the number of employees). As you’d have realized, things become very personal in small groups. The point from the previous answers is very important: Try to be professional in your request, don’t go into acusations, allow your internal customers to document their own actions (requests), document all your actions (answers, phone-calls, on-site assistance).
Beyond the “Problems-Solutions database”, a good point is to open and close your work on a problem with an e-mail. Open asking for details, close with your solution, if the customer can follow some step, or describe what you did. This is not usefull only as a basic CRM, but as work-log for your boss.

Good luck,
Raul

Make a procedure

In reply to Thanks to both who replied

What i meanby this, write a paper where ppl who wants support should act like and log it, so if he doesnt report something u can automatically say

No support needed today
keep that log and afterwards he cant say he you didnt help, you show the log and you show the procedure he should follow to get the desired support if not used no assist given

what about using a helpdesk

In reply to Thanks to both who replied

I’ve had issues like this but luckily we were already implementing a helpdesk, if you can swing it in your budget a helpdesk can help you with this type of issue’s.
Since it?s an outside program one you didn’t create to catch these people in a lie it’s viewed in a friendlier manner, and the history of service calls is invaluable when showing a need for additional training.

Help desk

In reply to Thanks to both who replied

It appears as though you are a combined helpdesk/call center, troubleshooter and department interface. Too many hats!

One way to split this out without increasing headcount is to ask for an e-mail record from the problem reporter (any of them). It may be a form (desirable) or just freeform text.

Currently, it’s all verbal – no audit trail – for existent and non-existent problems. It’s not too hard to see why this person’s manager fails to act: no problem records created by the problem reporter. Just your word against hers.

The problem tickets MUST somehow be the responsibility of the problem reporter. Either phone logs or e-mail.

Another angle would be to enlist the support of just one of her co-workers to call you when she starts complaining. You take it from there.

Reply To: IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to Help desk

“It appears as though you are a combined helpdesk/call center, troubleshooter and department interface. Too many hats!
” Take a look at my username. 🙂

I also am the only “Computer Guy” at a small company. From my experience this is normal behaviour. Why? Because if the problem user actually makes a documented request to have the “problem” taken care of they lose their “out” in the process. The “out” is the constant *itching that computer users use to blame/scapegoat problems on some unknown “computer problem”. In my experience it very often turns out to be lack of knowledge or understanding in using a computer on the part of the user. Pointing that out in any sort of public way is not a good idea.

Talk directly to this person and get exact details about what is wrong. Make it clear that you know they have not been reporting these problems to you. Ask them why. Take steps to solve any problems they identify to you and document those efforts.

I also developed my own problem tracking database, more to cover my own butt than anything else. Certain problems still go unreported. When you are the only one performing a job it is easy for others to blame you. Get a manager in on this and outline the details in full.

Understand Her ‘Problems”

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Make a date and time to meet with her to discuss her problems. These sort of people mostly just need to be given a little attention. Write down her problems as she tells them to you and there is your record. Then also write down the solutions etc. and ask if she is happy. 9 times out of 10 – this will sort people like her out.

Some ideas I found useful….

In reply to Understand Her ‘Problems”

Try going to lunch or for an after work drink with her, get her alone on neutral ground where you are equals. Send her an invitation saying something like “to discuss the reoccuring difficulties you are experiencing”. Make it clear that you are taking time just for her…
Make sure you go there with a listening and understanding attitude but don’t hold her hand too much. Then sit down and let her pour it out. Most likely she has tons of problems which are not IT related e.g.pressure etc but which she can’t spell out in the company, and therefore she is blaming you.
Maybe she doesn’t want training because she has bad experiences of not understanding the trainings she was sent to? Maybe you have to start with raw basics with her…(ECDL could be a good idea…it’s certication for her and you can be sure she knows what a floppy drive is etc..)
find out what the real problem is, there is a real problem behind it and you are gonna have to wade through the pseudo-problems till you find it. In my experience people tend to say it clearer than they think it, simply reflecting what they said often changes their impression of their situation considerably.
Even if she doesn’t give you the clue you need to get her off your back you will find that you go up mighty high on her list for having listened for an hour and she will probably stop slagging you off even if she still claims to have those hundreds of problems which you don’t solve…she’ll probably start to claim that you can’t solve her incredibly special problems…but maybe she’ll jump in on the training if it’s not presented as the problem solution but simply a certification course….

Retired IT Manager

In reply to Some ideas I found useful….

From your discussion & various replies, it seems to be a “given” that what you’re hearing about the situation from others in the office is accepted as erue. What if it’s not ?

Mobbing?

In reply to Retired IT Manager

Interesting idea…
Maybe someone is using you to mob on her?
Politics and intrigues are common where I work and I have heard of people priming employees from other departments to discredit colleagues with their supervisors. It seems that the false accusations are objective if they are made by a contact in a different team…I have never been involved on it but I hear it’s been very nasty in the past and apparently even bosses have been heard to use it to get employees off their backs…
just one more thing helpdesk needs to cover it’s back for….*sigh*

Looking at the whole picture

In reply to Retired IT Manager

I agree with this.

As I’ was reading through, I was hoping someone wouldI agree with this.

As I’ was reading through, I was hoping someone would mention this side. How do you know for an absolute fact that she is saying all these things.

Also what your colleagues are telling you of this lady?s behavior is gossip (whether it is true or not). The best way to deal with gossip is to take precaution regarding what you are being told is happening, by documenting, logging, or the many good suggestions given here.

After that whenever someone reports what she says, be very neutral, do not let yourself be drawn into bad-mouthing her, just tell whoever it reporting her that your sure that now that you have a system for reporting faults, that if she has a problem you have no doubt she will have put a request in.

The problem with mad-mouthing is that no-one ever wins.

Take heart, many of us have been in similar situations

Really smart

In reply to Some ideas I found useful….

“Try going to lunch or for an after work drink with her, get her alone…”

There’s a sexual harassment law suit waiting to happen.

You need to read BOFH

In reply to Understand Her ‘Problems”

Follow this link… I make all my trainees read this before I start training them!

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bofh/

-Joshua Leisk

problem following link

In reply to You need to read BOFH

I tried to follow your link but received a message that the page had moved. Can you provide a new link?
Thanks

current BOFH link

In reply to problem following link

Try the BOFH section at http://www.theregister.co.uk

They carry the new columns, as well as archives.

Complete Sympathy

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I work in a school, and can totally understand where you are coming from with this. 90% of the problem is usually that people think they are an expert on the computer, when actually they have no idea. This just causes more aggro and tension. We had to invest in a HelpDesk to resolve the issue, and every user on the system has to log calls (even down to requests for printer cartridges) for each and every problem, and we respond to them accordingly. This eliminates the old “But I told you about it in the corridor ages ago” or the “But I phoned you on tuesday” type scenario. Unfotunately a HelpDesk that has individual users on it is not viable for everyone as they are not cheap.

Other than that just keep smiling and stay cheerful whenever you deal with this specific person.

Document, Document

In reply to Complete Sympathy

This is not an easy task, if you do not have an issues tracking DB, you should invest you time in creating one.
Log all email and voice correspondence in this.
When you receive a phone call from the user, email back immediately confirming your conversation, this is painful, but it shows that you are been professional and want to ensure that you have captured their issues and concerns accurately.
Remember, a voice acknowledgement from a user is not worth the paper it is written on, hence follow-up email.
Offer your help in training, but remember to cc your manager and their manager, be flexible, but most important, write all your email in a neutral manner, and before you send any email on this subject, save it as draft (do not put their email address in either, just in case you click send by mistake) and take a break for 10-15 minutes away from your desk, when you get back, you should have a fresh perspective on what you are writing.
Good Luck

Inexpensive helpdesk software

In reply to Complete Sympathy

If you’re looking for an inexpensive off the shelf solution look at Wonder Desk. It’s a great product and fairly cheap too. Has all the logging you’ll need, email notification, etc.
Just in case you don’t want to spend the time developing your own.
http://www.wonderdesk.com/

Web Help Desk

In reply to Inexpensive helpdesk software

I implemented Web Help Desk for $4000, ten technician seats
plus hardware. It tracks what we do, e-mails clients about what
we do, and is *truly* platform-independent via web browser
(NOT windows only or MSIE only).

It’s been a big help, and it has helped me with the very situation
that started this thread–we log EVERY call and message we get,
and when we hear “I.T. never responds to…”, our response is “we
have no record of you contacting us about that. Did you get a
help desk ticket number?”… they shut up every time…

Web Help Desk works on Windows, Mac OS X, or Solaris servers
and uses just about any major database.

http://www.webhelpdesk.com

(no, I don’t get kickbacks, either, darn it)

Open source web app help desk

In reply to Web Help Desk

I know this is an old dicussion but here are open source web app help desks available at http://sourceforge.net specificly http://sourceforge.net/projects/phphelpdesk/. It’s based on PHP and with a MySQL backend. Fairly easy to implement. Best of all it’s FREE!

Demo version http://networkpenguin.dyndns.org:8000/phphelpdesk/

Write it all down…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi Corrielein,

I had a very similar but there is a perfectly simple solution. Each time this user contacts you you should make a note of the date, time, problem and how you resolved it. The more detailed the better. This way you have a record of her problems (perhaps there’s a recurring theme that will stand out?) and if it comes to the crunch you have detailed backup that she did not have such and such a problem on such and such a day. If it gets too much then you should bring your logs to the attention of her manager – particularly if she is bad-mouthing you to her own manager.

Hope this helps and don’t feel like you are being sneaky by doing this because you are doing nothing wrong by logging your work.

Good luck,
Joanne

KIS

In reply to Write it all down…

Most of the time I encountered a problem user here was a personality conflict or a question of “faith”. The easiest way to overcome that is respond in e-mail to the user and your supervisor or his/her supervisor anytime you “hear” something new. Keep it simple polite and direct – I understand you are experienceing these issues if that is so….. any time you do anything or check his/her system out them report that as well (but not necessarily to the user!

HelpDesk

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

create a helpdesk (e.g Outlook) for reporting IT faults, including a FAQ section.
So doing you can have peace of mind that cals/requests are filed as well as users being able to help themselves re FAQ.

Log Faults

In reply to HelpDesk

Set up a simple help-desk logging system (e.g. in XL or Access) and assign unique numbers to your calls. When a user logs a fault quote them back a ref number relating to the fault.

You can then request that all correspondance re reported problems should include this ref number to ‘ help you provide a more efficient service to your beloved users’ 😉

If the user has no Ref number then they can’t complain.

It’ll also give you some documentary evidence should things come to a head.

this worked

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I wrote to their line manger, informed them that traing was required. Also informed them, that I would email this person on a daily basis, every morning about the status of their support, and that the complainant needed to reply to my mail and circulate their line manager. no reply, meant no support required. When she did have a problem, I repaired it urgently, and automatically requested training.

From another retired IT Manager

In reply to this worked

The suggestions for documentation, help desk, socializing, copy her supervisor, training, etc. are all good ones.
I suggest a more proactive, and somewhat drastic approach. She probably has not only outside stress or other problems at work here too (as suggested by some) but also may be using IT as the scapegoat for marginal or poor perormance not related to the PC, but it’s a good place to divert atention. Here’s my recommendation:

Take her PC away for at least 2 work days! During this period, clean the PC (make sure to vaccum her food crumbs out of the keyboard, wash the screen and scase, etc. Also, run a defragger on the HD. Look over her files – I’ll bet she has data in several places, not well organized, and spends a great deal of time just finding work she needs to complete or follow up on – this may provide a good topic for training (file organization) that usually doesn’t come up in other training.
E-mail her supervisor twice a day while ou have her PC to report that you are making good progress on clearing up some problems (unspecified) with the computer. In fact, you probably won’t really spend more than 30 minutes of your valuable time actually working on her PC.
By the time you return the PC to her, she’ll be so glad to have it back, she’ll have to spend her time on catching up (unless ou give her a loaner machine while you have hers.) When you return it, make a point of getting her to see how nice and clean it is, and that you cleaned it up internally, as well as externally.
Follow the experience up with an e-mail to her, copy to her supervisor, enumerating that you cleaned the machine, checked the software, did “special” file and virus checking, etc. and make any recommendations about file structures and training in that e-mail.
Make it a point to be cheerful when you work with her and return the machine, making the point that you went above a beyond normal maintenance specially for her, because she’s such a good person, she deserved your special attention.
I’ll bet the shock of the experience will turn her in a new direction, since you have preempted most of the possible areas of complaint. Make sure her co-workers know that you went above and beyond, so she’ll have no audience for future complaints, etc.
Good luck.

Does she give any specifics?

In reply to From another retired IT Manager

I was wondering if there were any specifics. Taking the computer away shows you’re serious in a number of ways. I get users complaining about their computers at times. If I offer to take the computer away, with no replacement, they reconsider carefully. If I offer a replacement, they know it adds to the total support time as I’ve got to move and set up the replacement for them.

Here’s what one technician/support person did for a person complaining her monitor stopped working (for the “umpteenth” time)…

After replacing the monitor he left a note to that effect and walked away. He stayed within visual contact of the workstation until the person returned. When she did, she put her pot plant back on top of the monitor and watered it to overflowing. Problem solved, and no more new monitors.

Not the same problem with you, but I suggest next time you’re off-site, the extra time subtly watching her work habits could be well worth it. If there is a mysterious problem, you materialise out of the blue and fix it. If not, escalate the problem as high in the company as you can.

A little bit of training each time you see her could also help – people have often complained about equipment when all they really want is a bit of training.

Pot Plant?!?

In reply to Does she give any specifics?

Wow, I wanna work where you do!

Document and Create Logger

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Corrielein,

Create logger for all the internal calls that originate from the telephone of this lady.

Create a excel sheet about reports of IT breakdown reporting and your action.

Send all concerned the excelsheet which they should fill in and send you via email.

No Calls except from people you can trust.

Just document.

Best Regards

Log System

In reply to Document and Create Logger

Create system where calls are logged via e-mail and a reference number is returned to then stating that there call was logged. This work a 100% at our company.
Eg. Your ref: Deparment-log001/user

Indeed, be professional, use a logging system

In reply to Log System

This is one of the cases where technology can lend a helping hand.

Just as it is with pierre, this system works at the company I work for.

Some benefits:
– Helpdesk calls are logged and updated, therefore no dispute over unresolved calls.
– If you’re facing more calls than you can handle, you can ask for additional help from mgmt – the logging system is your proof.
– If you’re good at what you do, you’re able to publish your call clearance rate by mining the logging system. (Hey, we all need some self-advertisement, don’t we? 😉

Drawback:
– It’ll only work if you have mgmt support. Users often find it easier to pick up the phone.

If you’re able to get mgmt support, this is the way to go. Hth.

Records: Keep ’em, use ’em

In reply to Log System

I agree with the folks who recommended logging calls/emails/verbals re issues. My experience suggests that any record should include the following:
1.Sequential ticket number.
2.Description of issue.
3.Who reported it.
4.Time and date of report.
5.Cause of issue and corrective action taken.
6.Time and date of resolution.
7.User sign off for acceptance of resolution.

Keep these records and archive them to non-perishable media. Not only does this system keep things from dropping through the cracks, it also gives you ammunition at review time and for those “What have you done for us lately?” discussions. If you need another body the records can add substantial weight to your arguments.

Log and Track ALL requests

In reply to Document and Create Logger

I found myself in a similar situation about 8 years ago, the only IT support person for a group of small companies (about 50-60 desktops, and a few servers). My primary role was that of developer, so I quickly developed an app that was used to log all requests for help and give the user a case #. Since I worked directly for one of the company groups, I had to charge time for the other company groups, which the application helped me track.

The trick was that I advised everyone that only requests made through the newly adopted “procedure” would be honored. It worked great.

Make Her Prove It

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Have her sign-off on a repair form.

Also, make a company-wide announcement about how IT problems are to be reported and documented.

Create a tracking process

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi Corrielein,

One way of combating this is to create a tracking mechanism for all calls, visits and problem resolutions. This way, you always have a record of calls to the helpdesk and can be shown to your managers if it ever comes up. You could also create a web-based form to report help desk problems. There are many inexpensive Help Desk applications out there which will ease your record-keeping needs. But primarily, you have to create/re-create the culture of logging every call.

Ravi Kallianpur

Troublesome Users

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Have a policy implimented where all faults are reported via a help desk or central collection point with loging of each call, then add to the call the history of what you did to fix the problem. This gives you a record of the faults or non existant problems (or evidence trail) then go to the persons manager with your problem and the work history, if you get no help there next time send the report the persons line manager’s manager this usually gets results and fixes two problems at the same time, the troublesome employee and the unhelpfull manager.

Work out of her location for a week

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I did this once with a troublesome location once. I had a server upgrade to do so it was convenient as well. I planted myself about 5 feet away from the individual in question and went about my work. The server was finished in about two days and I just worked remotely out of the location until the end of the week. You may not be able to do this due to geography or being the only IT person you may be required at the HQ. I don’t know but give it some thought.

Strangly enough I only had to troubleshoot a few minor PC issues and answer a couple of questions. I joked around a bit and that “high-touch” method worked. The relationship became much better and I got calls when there really were problems.

Yes, and document everything.

There is always one in every family, so there isn’t much you can do, but having a standard operating proceedure for logging incoming trouble tickets and being able to report on them is a definate requirement.

Another tactic that might be helpfull is to try and get inside the head of the person. What is the “pain” that is making them act this way. It is seldom what they are saying. A good example of this is another remote location in which one of the employees was taking upon themselves to by the local IT support person. Without really knowing or understanding the systems and not having the proper tools or permissions this individual turned to blaming the IT department. His frustration led to the fingerpointing, not any real technical problem. The solution was to designate him as the locations SPOC for all things technical, satisfying his desire to be involved but restricting him to user assistance (software) and referring tickets to the support desk. As well as being involved in some of our IT meetings and responsible for equipment requisitions etc. You get the idea. Good luck.

Many good points…

In reply to Work out of her location for a week

There have been many good points and many recurring themes. My observations are:

1. Since you sound like the entire IT staff in your organization, you need to wear all the Helpdesk hats. You probably don’t have much time to develop tracking software. One solution: go to http://www.repairwizard.com/ – they have very inexpensive helpdesk software that looks very good.

Set up a special email account called “helpdesk@your-org.com” and funnel all help calls through that. Set up an autoreply to acknowledge the email. Minimize phone call requests. TELL EVERYONE ABOUT YOUR NEW POLICY – several times. Brodcast email, internal memo, etc.

In those instances where a system is down, users can have a co-worker send the email. If the network is down – you should know already…

2. Understand your job. Repairing faulty systems, training users, etc are symptoms of your real problem – someone is unable to do what they need to do. They may be carrying emotional baggage like they really don’t understand computers and feel that they can’t communicate with technical people. Keep this in mind if you find yourself rolling yoour eyes at some user comment, or asking “What did you do to the computer this time?” There may be a track record of poor support that didn’t happen on your watch. You will have to overcome their skepticism before you can find out what is really the problem.

A short war story: I had repeated calls about a new keyboard. Sure enough, a key kept popping off. However, I had no problems with using it. I talked to the user, who complained that the new keyboard just didn’t feel right and she liked her old one much better. I scrounged up one of the old type and those trouble reports disappeared…the keyboard was fine, the user had a problem.

3. There is a tendency, particularly in your situation, for the IT staff to be spread too thin. A rule of thumb for a working network is one technician for every 100 systems. Geographic separation lowers this number. With more problems than time, you conduct triage, prioritizing and dealing with those problems that are the most important – IN YOUR MIND. The users who are left out (pushed down in the list) only see other repairs getting done and theirs not. This is a communication issue – directly between you and the user. Explain why. They may not like it but they won’t feel out of the loop.

There are many other good points in the responses – go through them and grab the essentials.

You may be reading too much into the user’s actions. On the other hand, “just because youare paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you…”

Best of luck,
Samuel Norris
s_norris@email.com
TheFixers@repairman.com

Be Active !

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Phone the user regularly and ask if their PC is performing as expected. Document the calls and what was discussed.

Email everyone on a regular basis offering handy PC tips / shortcuts / security reminders etc. Have a standard email signature advertising your support services, contact number etc.

That will sort it.

Totaly agree – document everything!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I would suggest creating an IT logging procedure, if you don’t already have one. Highlight exactly how to raise an IT query, and make sure that all requests have to be documented. Either only allow all requests to be raised via email or confirm all telephone requests via email.
Make sure everyone in the company has a copy of the procedure, collect a signature to confirm receipt of this.

This way you have a traceable route for everything that is asked of you.

Be Professional

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

1. Build fault reporting into your software
most software allows accees to the error handing routines and you capture the who, when, and the screen at the point of the error. Usres are amazed that you know/solve even before they report.

2. Have her report errors via her line manager.
(on paper) This will stop lying.

Focus on the department!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Tell the user’s boss that in view of the difficulty that “X” appears to be having he needs to send you an email each time she complains to him or her colleagues that she has a problem wqith IT and that you will respond rapidly to the boss’s emails. Ask all the members of the user’s department to send you an email about any IT problems that they have in the department, even if they concern another user. Follow this up by your own publicity, to the boss, the user and her colleagues. Flush out and publish (name and shame) the devious tactics of this user.

IT faults not being reported

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

corrielein,
document your IT activities (all) and that it includes the training and PC maintenance, and let the users sign on it for their acknowledgement. i work on our IT dept, i am supportin more that 100 users and this documentation works not only on tracking down my job but also in cases like yours. hope this will work.
good luck!

Outlook task it

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I had similar, they said they could never contact me or I didn’t follow up. Everyone uses Outlook to organise their day so I set up a daily recurring task that pops up every day at 9.15 asking how their PC was. The body of the pop-up had my contact details in it and I also mailed each department head at lunchtime with a list of who had what problem, they could then see who said they had an issue but I had heard nothing.

Three dimensions times two

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

There are 3 role dimensions to this problem – task, people and power. And there are two ends to each dimension –
For ‘task’, you can attempt to prove you are the most task-oriented person around = keep records; or you can joke about it – tell everyone she’s just trying to needle you and just poke merciless fun at her jibes.
For ‘people’ you can try to be ‘Mr Nice Guy’ = listen to everything she says, do whatever she feeds into the gutbucket line that she wants = chief Wuss; or you can start to send ‘correctional’ jibes about her into the same gutbucket = playing her game; you may even get personal – but you’ll lose.
For ‘power’ you can start to market your skills and achievements to the whole organisation, especially showing that her problems are extremely tiny and hardly worth attention – anybody with half her skills would be solving the problems themselves, already = the pro-active stance; or you can be the total submissive – accept whatever is coming to you, sucker = the reactive stance.

For continued success in your own role, I’ld use a combination of super task-oriented + #1 power marketer. Keep the people role absolutely neutral – neither suck nor blow.

I have dichotomised each role type to its extreme – it is possible to play a little less than full steam – you know the old adage “Only use as much power as is needed to maintain good working relations”

ITM

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

This is a common behaviour on the job place of people who want create trouble with noise. I had several times of such kind of persons. I tried to avoid to react, I tried to have personal relations with these, I’ve tried to go on a regularly base I mean one time a week going around to obtain feedback on actual problems, I’ve also set up a tracking form with the users who requested help for problems and have set up a faq where to register the needs and the answer. With this action noise has not disappeard but was diminished as I sendt also each week a mail to all users with a solution for all the points pending. This list of course was not nominative.

Chain of command, use it

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Im sorry but I dont have time to read other replies but there is one simple answer have a system where faults are reported to you through the line manager and you report back along the same chain. This will also shortcut some problems as the line manager may be able to deal with them theirselves.

Get Organized

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I am not sure about the size of your organization but it would stand you in good stead if you think about developing a web based solution to log all service requests. I had one developed for me works just wonderfully well (HTML, ASP and SQL). Until then it`s only your Patience and perseverance that`s going to help you, TALK, TALK and TALK to the person. Communication is the key. Good Luck.

Mail!!!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Dear Sir,
Having the same problem in my work. First Of all In each department we managed to create a list where anyone who has a technical problem writes hes name and derscription of the problem by hand!!! Every morning I collect the list with the problems. Anyone who has not writen a problem cannot complain (Right???). Also send a mail to everybody in your company and inform them for the existanse of the lists. No other job out of the list will be done. If something is very important to be done immediatelly demand to mail it to You, so you can be covered. Talk to your manager and ask him to change the way you work so you can do your work better and also be covered….

Don’t worry shit happens…. I have been there…

Good Luck

James Black

Passive Aggressive Disorder

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

My experience with people like your ‘problem’ user is that nothing you do will make her feel warm and fuzzy toward you; she’s probably been slamming people behind their backs and playing innocent to their faces all her life. It’s a win-win for her: she gets to play the victim and probably gets out of doing a lot of work in the bargain. All you can do is stop her from ruining your career and wasting your time, and you can do that with some of the excellent logging and tracking suggestions others have made.

I would emphasize that you *must* have the support of your own manager when instituting the tracking and logging. If you can’t get the support of your own manager, find another job before she ruins this one for you. (Been there, been done like that.) Obviously, her manager is worthless, either having been taken in by her ‘victim’ role or having chosen to be supinely ignorant.

If she’s smart, she’ll stop complaining as soon as you start writing her complaints down…but most of this sort have had too much in life handed to them just for whingeing to think of stopping. When you have a month or six months’ log of her petty complaints recorded in excruciating detail marked ‘user needed to press Shift key’ or ‘problem resolved itself’ (or even more likely, a blank log but gossip swirling around this office about how poorly you’ve served her), you and your manager can go to her and her manager and suggest tons of training. This sort hates actually having to take responsibility or do anything, so that will shut her up for good.

Good luck. I was fired from a job because one of these got the ear of my manager and half of my co-workers (the female half). She was very good at what she did, and I didn’t see it coming.

how i deal with the situation

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I agree with joanne ( posted a few days ago)that all the contacts should be in writting, however my suggestion is to check every single PC under your control from time to time to do “preventive” work, in other words you should be “one step ahead”. If any problems occurs then easily you’ll detected it.
regards,
Luis

gossip

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

install peer to peer on her PC and flag her machine for remote administration if the problem is user related then you can actually document the key strokes leading up to any event and present this to her supervisor and if all else fails actually disable her terminal until training is arranged and the user is re-educated in proper PC use and manners.

remote

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Setup remote on this station with managers aproval then do screen shots and save this will take time but it may show where fault lies. also phones dont they have a system that stores callouts for phones in the comapany if they do get phone logs again document and save. All with Managers approval.

Single Point Of Contact

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

In my experience the best way to deal with a situation like this. Is to use a single point of contact at the company. All users must report problems to an internal contact and they will report the issues to you.
If this is not viable, just make sure that any support calls to you are reported to the contact or carbon copied to the contact.
This way the user cannot lie about reporting issues.

Bad Mouthing

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

What I did to solve the problem is to design a quick form in duplicate. Not an online form but an actual paper form. Make them/her fill out that form anytime they need something fixed and sign it. Have a place on the bottom where they sign off when the job is complete. They keep the copy and send you the original. When a request is made or when the job is finished both parties have tangible proof. An easy fill in the blank form will do, Date, problem, Unit or employee name, etc. Another thought along this line is to take a roving clipboard with you and have a similar signing sheet. It can just be a few columns like, Employee Name, Date, Computer Working fine or having problems, list problems, and have them sign it when you go over to check in on that system or any system. Or you could hang it in a non conspicuous area and require they sign it daily, stating they are having problems, or all is well. That way it can also pinpoint true problems and when they may have started. Just tell them it’s a new customer service that you’ve begun to help them stay live as much as possible with as few problems as possible.

Getting Management on Board

In reply to Bad Mouthing

Hi-
I agree that documenting everything is important. However, if you are a sole resource, you might have trouble shifting time away from the work to administrative tasks. I would go to management with a concern that in the interest of increasing efficiency, you would like to institute a method of problem reporting (whatever works best for your environment), and that you should be able to report some metrics out of your system of choice. Any middle or upper manager probably reads CEO magazine, and metrics is a hot topic.

Unless you are under-scheduled, which I doubt, this should work to yhour advantage.

Good Luck!

Accounting NO doubt!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

You must work for an accounting firm – in any case though, send out a broadcast email that says: “Historically, there have been reports of unresolved problems with staff computers, yet to date, some have been unknown to the IT Department. New policy is that Staff must notify the IT Department if there is a problem so that we can fix it. We can’t fix a problem that we’re unaware of.” Good luck.

Blame the system

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

It sounds like you have a person who has:
a. B*****d their way into a job that they cannot actually handle and is blaming the computer system for not being productive to hide this fact. or:
b. a computer phobia – technology now runs the work place and she cannot be honest to herself that she needs to be trained.
Either way you have to confront this person, point out that the PC is not faulty and offer to help her master the situation whichever one it is. But make it clear that you are not going to take flak on your competence by her accusations.

Create a performance report

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Its extra work, but if you can get your hand on phone records you can prove thelack of calls. You can manually log all your emails and f2f meetings in your call log, but you may also be able to get phone system records of all your incoming calls and the extensions they came from. With these records, you can provide everyone with a performance report showing the number of calls from each area that you receive and the lack of calls from the area bad mouthing you. If you have a separate phone number for your help calls, all the better.

performance report

In reply to Create a performance report

Sounds like the start of a right track– at least you know someone is complaining.

Phone logs are a must. I would follow up every phone call with an email reply outlining the conversation. My company uses an email “HelpDesk” alert for all matters– whther computer , housekeeping, maintenance, etc. This is an excellent log– particulalry if the answer for most requests is, “Submit it through the Helpdesk and we can get working on it!”.

It’s not foolproof, but, where I come from, “…if it’s not in writing it didn’t happen…”.

Proactive reporting

In reply to Create a performance report

Documentation is great but only if someone else knows you’re doing it and sees it before you reach crisis stage.
1.Use your logging system to produce and inventory of the problems reported to date for her and her alone.
2. Set up a meeting with her to review the list and, most important, add to it anything that is not working, that doesn’t work sometimes etc. that is not already on your list.

Make sure that she knows you take her situation so seriously that you are committed to doing this as long and as often as it takes.

3. Regardless of the length of the list, have her triage for you – what are the most important ones to resolve first from HER perspective.
a. If the list is really long, you may want to take the PC for a tune-up as another post suggested but be sure to schedule the time around her work – no sense letting her blame you for missed deadlines.
b. When we suspect user error and need to train, we use a ‘procedural review’ session – where we just sit and watch the user execute the task/software in question. We can then offer “helpful hints” or refresher training if the problems are chronic. We never say ‘remedial’ as it is so loaded and reporting that someone has repeatedly taken refresher training makes the same point but less, err.. pointedly.

5. When you have a final list, email it to her and both your bosses “Jane’s Problem Punch list as of mm/dd/yyyy).
a. If a tune up of the pc or one-on-one sessions are indicated as resolution for certain problems note it (schedule it before you leave the meeting or indicate that you are ‘waiting to hear from Jane on a good date’
b. indicate priority/work sequence
c. Where you can sensibly do so, commit to a delivery date (will install version 7.2 by 08 June)

6. At least 2x week initially send regular updates as you resolve problems. Highlight additions (recurrences or new) as well as resolutions. You can back of to weekly if/as things improve.

7.DO NOT close the call until you have her sign off; just indicating that you believe there is resolution and you are awaiting her sign off – via email, individually on each problem.

7. If something happens “sometimes” and you cannot replicate, leave it open for monitoring. Ask her to email (better documentation)as soon as it happens again. Better to leave it open and unresolved (because it hasn’t happened again) for a long time than to close it at your discretion. Once something has been on the list for >3 mos. ask her if she wants you to continue to monitor it actively. It’s her decision – it’s her list.

8.Meet with her, in person, to review the list every week (move to every other week, once a month) so that you can both review progress and triage. Even if there is nothing on the list, send a copy of the finalized version to her and your bosses – so that everyone knows status.
Note: The list must include (at this point) both open calls (including those awaiting her sign off and those you are monitoring) but esp. anything that came in since the last review that you BOTH agreed to close out.

We have used this approach for 3 years in my org. with great success. We’ve done it with entire units and their boss, just the boss, just an individual (always copying the bosses (theirs and ours)).

Invariably the list starts much longer and ends empty/nearly empty. After awhile, the users no longer want to take the time for the meetings and review and ask to stop. We always make it clear we can reinstitute this if they ever feel that their support from us is “slipping.”

advice

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I have the same problem in my company so I suggest to install a voice recorder or a telephone answering device, so as to save complains while your out of the office or forward phone calls to your cellular phone while your out of the office.

Your Manager!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

What is your manager doing to address this, you must report to someone? At this point, they should be handling this! This situation ultimately reflects on his/her departments performance!

IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

First try and speak to the client one on one, if that does not work, take it to your Surp. or Mgr. and document, document, document(CYA).

Another option

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

We have a whiteboard where jobs can be logged, this shows all when the jobs were logged and when they were resolved (and who by)

Get the Department involved

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Corrielein – I sympathise entirely. I would endorse 90% of the suggestions, especially about documenting the system and what it can/can’t do. I’d be a bit hesitant about having to setup a Helpdesk system on a database, especially if the user concerned has to use it to log calls – what if it goes wrong? More ammunition for them to b*tch about IT in general.

If you don’t have it already, take a look a Microsoft SharePoint services. It’s like an Intranet but very simple to setup and maintain. You can control postings and content and has proven in my company to be an effective way of addressing IT issues.

I would then call a meeting with the department (and others too) and throw it open to any suggestions on what the users would want to see documented and what sort of level of problems they experience with the system. Make sure your user is there, plus her line manager, plus THEIR line manager if possible. Don’t accuse her of anything but ask her (along with everyone else) if there are any issues with the system or if they ever have problems that they can’t resolve. Odds on she will keep quiet – but if she doesn’t then go with it for now. Assure her that her issues will be addressed and document them. By having everyone contribute she will have no excuse to carry on like this, especially as her boss’s boss is taking note of what is being said.

It will be a pain, but I’d suggest making it a monthly meeting for the first couple of months. Keep the SharePoint site updated with issues/fixes etc and make sure the whole department can see it.

If she is seen to be making the same tired old routine tirade against you in front of the whole department I would imagine soon (if the management are any good at their job) that she would be offered an “alternative employment opportunity” – and they kick her sorry backside out of the door.

Best of luck from Across The Pond…. 🙂

Reach for the next level… and have proof

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I am the only IT support person in my office (though not in my company), and if I were in your shoes, I would go to the line manager’s most direct supervisor if you need to, however I would consider some alternatives first…

First of all, if your company has a digital phone system, then it probably logs every single phone call made- internally or externally, or it have this functionality that may be turned off. Ask whoever administers it to turn it on for a month and print out a weekly log of every call made to your phone. When this employee’s extension doesn’t show up, you have some proof.

Also, look at this employee’s reputation- this sort of personality trait does not usually isolate itself to one area of life- talk to other support people, such as mailroom supervisors, administrative assistants, and members of your company’s finance or bookeeping department to see if they have had similar experiences.

With this information, you can go to the line manager (which has so far been ineffectual)- this should force action. If not, go to HR with it and see what they can do. Good luck!

Our last resort

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

In our IT department we had the same issue with users not reporting problems to us but to their managers and then to their managers manager stating that we just don’t know what we are doing and that we never fix anything. After serveral meetings with our CEO and department heads about these users we came to the solution of a workorder system. I designed this and placed on our company intranet and we wrote a company policy that stated in brief, to get work done put in a workorder, no phone calls, no emails, and no pass the word trouble calls. With this we track the problem as described by the user, who the user is, their location, and the date they reported the problem and after we complete the job we record what we did in detail and when we completed it. After doing this we shut off the helpdesk line, our pagers and overhead paging system in our building to get our point across to the rest of the company users and meeting with all the higher ups, if anyone came to them they would simply look to see if the problem had been reported and if not make them do so and wait for us to come to them. This has solved 98% of our issues with end users. There are still a few rebels but with this system and policy in place they are rebels without a cause.

workorder

In reply to Our last resort

this is a great idea. when i ask users why they don’t report problems, they say they don’t want to bother me or assume it’s already been reported. having an online program with shared database, can easily create new workorders, search current workorders for the same or similar problems, show w/o priority, status, and maybe w/o ETA. this would make reporting problems much easier and help me better organize my to-do list with an easy to change priority number or date.

System Support Specialist

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I am in the same position being the only one on site. We have a Helpdesk and I was having the same problem until I told that person they had to call the Helpdesk in order to have some kind of documentation. If you do not have a helpdesk you could tell that person you need to receive an e-mail as to what problem they are experiencing so you can track the effiency of the computer. You need this information to see if the computer is up to speed or needs to be replaced. Once they figure they will get a new computer they usually send the e-mails so you have documentation just to track problems or replace it.

Easy to fix it

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

You have to create a FORM to report a hardware problem in your organization, with a signature and name of the user, with a field on the FORM for the computer working properly when you finish your job.

Take back the initiaitive by “improving service”

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

You are letting the (ab)user have the initiative. Get it back by implementing “processes to improve service”. Here are three that have worked for me, use one or more as you need:
– Take requests by e-mail only, and save all of them with the responses. This automatically creates a log for you.
– Have all requests from one site channeled through a single point of contact. This person then becomes your point of verification.
– Have all phone calls go to a receptionist who logs them for you.
Each of these creates a third-party point of verification for calls and responses

From the Small World Segment

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I think all of us have this issue in some manner. I am the IT guy for a small company (35 employees, 25 workstations). Most of the time the issue arises from those least computer literate. And most to the time it is due to a loose connection between the chair and the keyboard. They don’t understand what the system is supposed to do and don’t want to admit it.

I’m not a trained IT Manager. Just absorbed it over the years and am the only one in the company that vaguely understands how it works. So, having set the scene, here is what I do, for what it’s worth.

Tracking: I put TrackIT into use a year ago. I use the help desk portion of that system to track issues and resolutions. Don’t have the time to set up a custom tracking system when there is one available.

Management: I issue a weekly newsletter to the “boss” keeping him apprised of current issues and answers. Those issues include comments on individual users and their habits. This works for me because I have a close relationship with him and may not be suitable for everyone.

Publication: I post a general email periodically about system problems, workarounds, new features, etc. I keep it non-personal but in that email I will address the “rumors” that have surfaced without mentioning names.

Confront the Issue: Not being quite so generous as most of you seem to be, if I’ve got a complainer on my hands and the anonymous approach does not work, I confront the issue directly. Either by phone (if that’s the best I can do) or in person, I go to the complainers worksite. I plainly tell them what I have heard on the grapevine, ask what specific problems they are having, write them down, and either fix them (if they are legitimate complaints), explain how to use the system correcly or workaround the issue, and finally point out that if they don’t notify me when they have a problem that is must not be a real problem.

Proof is in the pudding

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Make sure you have a tracking system that you use to doccument every call you get. Even if you solve the problem over the phone enter a ticket for it and close it yourself. After the first month you should start sending out a note to all the departments with the stats of open, closed, and pending tickets and give everyone access to even go look at the tracking system and enter in thier own tickets. At the bottom of this not or email you send out encourage people to call you or email you with thier problems and note the “normal” turn around time of your tickets.

A little advertising goes a long way….

I too had a similar situatin witha department supervisor

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I also experienced this only a supervisor complained to her own staff about me. I now require all calls be logged via e-mail and I use Microsoft Sharepoint Services web server to track all IT requests. I document every step of the way including initial call time and date , start time and date and solution end time and many other parameters. Fortunately for me I kept a log of e-mails prior to this so I had back up at the mediation. Good luck but document document document and require some sort of written logs etc and blast her back by showing no records for her problems.
Marc

One BOFH to Other

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Buddy, tell me something. What’s her beef ? Did you yank her chain or what ? Or is it that your predesessor/Boss yanked it ? If its not that then is she or her friend after your job ? This could be the only explanation of why she is bad mouthing you! 🙂

Well Jokes apart, you need to have a long patient talk with her. Take her to side and ask it up front. Let her pour as many fellow admins have suggested. It could be she’s got a beef in which case she’ll tell you. Or She’s scared of her pc. (believe me people are!) Whatever you do, try not to involve her boss. Anyway he is not doing anything and second no point antagonising her further.

If this does not work out, ask her to give you records of calls made on E-mail. Activate Voice mail or give your Mobile Number to her. Best way is to publish it on some notice board or something. That way you will get a trail of her activities. Keep track and document it to your boss. If she does not want training may be its boring for her. jazz it up a bit if you could.

If all fails then bring it on. Hit back in true BOFH Style!!! 🙂 Oh Yes Brother you need to read BOFH big time!

My sympathies…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hate to say it – get out of IT. I got so sick of those problems that I dumped the field, 100%, after working in it for 10 years and making 160k a year. I did it all – user support, database development, web design, OOP, etc.

Problem is not really solvable, because it involves human issues and politics, not technology. The two don’t rhyme well, and the technologist usually looses (unless you have very very good management at the top, which now rarely happens, at least in the U.S.) The pity is that you’re probably the smartest one in the whole outfit, yet you hold no political clout.

Tell the world…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I’ve had similar situations, but not quite as bad. User1 sends out a comapny wide e-mail saying that User2 cannot send e-mail due to her computer being broke, yet no-one has bothered to report it to the support team. Solution: reply to the message, sending it to all users, reminding them that the support team don’t have psychic ability (not a core competency for the role) and that they can only fix problems that they know about. Usually gets results in 9 out of 10 cases.

user problem

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If you do not have helpdesk software, purchase some to track problems that arise.
If you do not have voicemail on your phone, ask if you can get it.
These serve as reference to problems for verification, otherwise this is an HR problem and I would approach them to get it solved.

Track Record

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I can fully relate and appreciate your dilemma, but I learned sometime ago, “you can’t please some the people all the time, you can’t please all of the people all the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time. That is where your worries over your problem are resolved. If you consistantly help as many in your company you can with successful results, they will be satisfied and your reputation will blossom. The individual who walks around complaining, will clearly be identified by your satisfied customers as the problem, not you. I know that doesn’t give you an immediate solution or one in which this problem user is forced to deal with in a public way, but it’s a proven methodology in our IT business that works for civilian as well as federal IT service to the customers and our users are our customers.

Overkill

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

It’s been my experience that to resolve this sort of situation it takes a proactive measure on your part.

Explain the situation to your supervisor, that when ever you check out her PC it seems fine, then obtain permission to ‘work from her desk’, or next to her desk for the next few days.

Move yourself there and be a constant presence, take notes, watch for problems (there may indeed be some you just haven’t been able to reproduce).

After two or three days, possibly less with no problems, you’ll have some documentation with which to dispute her claims if they start up again, which, in all likelyhood will stop once she’s seen what you’re willing to do to resolve the problem (if indeed there is a problem).

Last but not least, if you don’t have a formal process, keep a ledger of every call, and I mean every call you receive each day, date, time, person calling and nature of the problem. Then update the ledger each day with your response and results noting yhe date and time it was resolved.

It would be a stretch for any manager to think you’re simply ignoring this one individual, when making the effort to record everything else.

I wish you well.

-Bill

Document and Confront

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Dear Corrielein

The first thing I would do is have a one-on-one talk with this person. I would approach her in a neutral, professional way, and ask her questions geared toward making her aware that you know what’s been going on.

Then, if you haven’t already, I would keep a log of every phone call you receive with the time and general question/problem. And when you resolve the issue, have the user sign off on it (for those times when it requires you to physically visit their PC).

Hope this helps, and good luck!
CM

A problem indeed…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi Corrielein,

I have had a similiar experience in the past. When I wasn’t able to resolve the conflict with the person directly, and the next in line with the chain of command, I went to the HR dept. and asked for a meeting with all 3 of us to attend.
Rather than point fingers at the other person and manager, I presented the information in this manner:

There seems to be a problem with a particular PC/ Program and the communication that has arisen as a result. When I have checked it, I found everything to function normally, so perhaps we need a different mode of of communicating problems. I have keep track of all phone calls ( there should be some sort of log you can pull up from a database, and emails are easy to track and printout.) Since I value all coworkers and want to help them, perhaps the two of you (irrate coworker and their manager) can tell me your thoughts and ideas as to how I can best serve you. You have accomplished:

1. A 3rd party (HR Dept) is now aware of the problem, knows that you are trying to improve communications and resolve all problems regardless of the origin.

2. Put the coworker and their manager on the spot to resolve the conflict for you, in front of HR. This will help absolve you of past complaints.

3. Establish a guideline for future problems and will seriously decrease the amount of future complaints.

In the advent, HR does not exist or offer such facilities, I would approach the CEO, President,… and let it be known that there is a serious problem to resolve.

I have found that when push comes to shove, and shove comes to biff, people stop when they are presented with solving their own problems.

At least it has worked for me. I hope this has helped.

Stop the Bad-Mouthing

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Does this user have other people that use the same software as she in that department? If so, try swapping the PC with someone else. That way when she continues to have problems with her new PC that hasn’t ever reported any issues and the user that now has the “Bad” PC isn’t having any problems, then maybe you can offer some training diplomatically at that point.

We did all of the above–and then some…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

My smart boss created a “Help Desk” in MS Outlook which includes a “feedback” section, together with materials used, and the time spent. It documents user complaints by user–as well as by station. We also instituted a training session for new users and made them SIGN our policy and procedure which gives instructions on the help desk function. THEN, we made “house calls” and offered instruction on the spot…as well as having telephone logs, documentation, and e-mail inquiries when we heard about problems from OTHER staff. This has worked well–but, yes, we’ve been there before. Now its a different story–we get backup aplenty from supervisors who have seen “just the facts, man.”

Every business has one

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I call this type of person the defensive complainer: that is, this type will complain about everything under the sun, and when a problem does Occure, they sit back and say, I complained about that and no one did anything about it. Your only solution is to respond to every complaint, to check with that person every day in front of her peers and check in with her boss every day and let that person know you are taking charge of the situation. Soon, everyone will understand that this person’s unfounded complaints are costing your dept. too much time without you having to complain. You will eventually get the upper hand.

Only one thing to do

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi

I think there is only one thing you can do.

Go to your line manager / his/her line manager, or even to the top and report your concerns, detailing any accusations etc, particularly payin attention to how it is making you feel etc. This will show that you care about your job. Perhaps you may also email/print out the fault reporting procedure with contact details, or even get her to complete a fault report log every time she claims to have one. Then there is a record of contact/fault reporting/your actions.

Good luck.

No Worries

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

She needs you more than you need her. If you’re doing a good job with everyone else in the company, who is going to believe her complaints? You’re probably not the only one she complains about. People are quick to spot a whiner and discount their antics. If push ever comes to shove, make sure you’ve documented all calls and their resolution and she won’t have a leg to stand on.

Outspoken Critic

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

In this case you and your manager need to take the initiative and approach the individual regarding a specific problem she is complaining to other people about. Correct that problem and inform her that this was reported as a problem from her co-workers. Ask for specific dates that she reported issues and ask her what media she is using to report them. If it is a phone, then ask her who she spoke to and let her know that it wasn’t reported to you. Ask her to Fax or e-mail the problems to your attention so that a written record of the request is on record. Document for your records also the visit to her location and have her initial a written record that nothing is wrong at the time of your visit. Do this in the form of a service call ticket.

get them to call

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Get management support for an I.T. policy that all support calls have to be routed through the HelpDesk. This will enable you to log support request and the nature of the problem. If the user claims that they never got service to fix your problem, you can show them that they never logged a support request. For companies that never had a formalized helpdesk/logging system, this seems like an extra layer of red tape. The buy-in to users is the ability to track and check on the status of the request. It can be a diagnostic tool as well to see the frequency of the problem that maybe it would be better to replace the unit rather than fixing it. You are also building a knowledge-base of support fixes. Management likes to ask questions about quality and quantity indicators. This tool will aid you in generating such a report.

We’re all human

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

In my experience, most IT problems are identified by users, rather than by me. Some users have an intense dislike of anything “IT” and will use this to full advantage – often to hide deeper dissatisfactions in life. The danger here lies in such people associating IT personnel only with machines, thus depersonalising IT personnel. If you know the identity of the person “badmouthing” you (as seems to be the case) then it is your responsibility to “re-humanise” yourself with this person. We must all face the consequences of our actions (including words spoken out loud)and this person needs to be enlightened as to this fact. If you can do so in a dignified & private manner, all the better, but if a manager needs to be present during this process of enlightenment, then choose one with both the wisdom and the clout to protect the interests of the company and its wonderfully unique and individual personnel.

Put her in her place.

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If you can’t just be one of those people who can ignore stuff like this (which is an option that will save you a lot of aggravation in your life)…then, respectfully, don’t be one of those wimpy IT people that lets every bitter employee take out all their frustration on you. If you want to live your life in fear and frustration and documenting every move you make that’s up to you. If you want to take the bully by the horns, then calmly, politely, and professionally look her in the eye and tell her that if she has a problem with you, she needs to address it with you, and you do not appreciate having to hear about her problems with you from other people. I don’t care who she is (or who she thinks she is), that behavior is wrong and unprofessional. She is obviously a coward, otherwise she would confront you directly with her issues. Because she is a coward, she can easily be put in her place. You brought it up to her manager. Good. It’s documented. Continue to do a good job and document your work. People like this are everywhere, and I’m sure a lot more people than you have problems with her at work. You can and should go through all the proper channels, but the reality is…most companies and people just simply don’t care about you. Cynical but unfortunately true. You gotta take care of yourself. You are responsible for your career.

Something that may solve your problem.

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

This of course depends on how good you are.
Create a situation where there is a definate problem and the user has absolutely no choice but to call you. You appear and run through all the usual procedures and then after the users fellow workers have noticed that you are there troubleshooting, resolve the problem that you yourself setup. Somewhat unethical but it may get the point across, that you do know what you are doing and that the user does not.

Evidence is the key

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I’ve had a few of these too ..

Assuming you have a corporate PBX, get a report from the call logs on how often & when your user has called your extension, and then challenge the user on the allegations that they have been calling, and when. If you catch them out, then you can challenge them with evidence that they are not being truthful.

If this does not resolve the issue, you have a case (with the evidence above) to take the case to HR as a potential case of ‘creation of a hostile workplace environment’ which will make everyone sit up and take notice. Trust me on this, it’s a hot button.

HOWEVER:

Basic rules:
1. Never lose your temper
2. Always, always, act professionally
3. Keep everything – emails, voicemails, notes of conversations and witnesses.

I know it may seem a little drastic, but these things can be exceptionally damaging to your career and you do not have to sit and take it. In fact *not* doing anything could be seen as an admission of incompetence.

Just my humble opinion.

Andy

This IS the answer to THIS problem

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

1) Create an email officially requesting a list of problems that the user is having. Send a CC to her boss, and your boss. Make sure that the user SEES this CC, do NOT BCC. Put a read receipt request on it.

2) Most likely you will not get an answer to this- in which case problem solved.

3) If you DO get a list back, make sure that everyone in the CC list gets a copy. Acknowledge receipt the list IMMEDIATELY.

4) Make this list TOP priority and communicate often with the user (via this ad hoc mailing list) and get the user to confirm that each problem is solved. If the user never responds, again, problem solved.

Essentially, make sure that you go the extra mile to communicate with this user, and go just as far to demonstrate that user’s lack of communication and you will look great, AND/OR you will actually solve this user’s problems and make a believer out of her.

establish a system of noted reports

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Put a proposal forward to your management that, for
professional reasons, to install a system of logged reports of all
faults and for all staff under your aegis to log phone calls and to
fill in a fault report, (design a fault report form), so that you have
a good idea of the problem when you reach the location.
management will support any professional assist and it will look
good on your record. It will also make your ‘bad-mouther’ more
truthful

Have the user request via Exchange form

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I had a similar problem – it turned out that she heard that somebody said that they had overheard a conversation that somebody said that I had said something about her friend. (The gossip mill at that office worked overtime and was rarely accurate – but it did cause that user to become antagonistic with me.)

I attempted to solve the problem by talking directly to the user, and by offering to talk to the person I supposedly offended. Nothing worked and she continued to badmouth my work without informing me that there was a problem.

After two weeks of trying to resolve the problem, I created an Exchange form that would be used as a help ticket. I sent a memo to all departments stating that I was attempting to solve a problem with “lost help requests” and asked all users to submit help requests using that form.

This form solved a number of problems:
1 It helped me organize my work.
2 The form was later used to inform the user as to the status of that help ticket
3 It gave me the ability to document the work I had to do resulting in a larger IT budget the next year
4 It gave me an out with that user. All help tickets were viewable by all users (modifiable by me or the originator.)

A week later, she again attempted to tell office staff that I was unresponsive to her help request. Everybody could see that she had not submitted any such request. She is still antagonistic to me, but I don’t have to put up with her bad-mouthing my work.

One possible explanation

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Sometimes an employee has performance problems in general. I.T. seems to be an easy place to blame to a lot of people because of the ‘black hole’ appearance people perceive about tech.

We have users just go and sit down if they get any message on the screen. Hours later someone will ask what’s going on, and they’ll have a ‘press any key to continue’ or some such and that’s good enough to quit for some users.
We’ll get ‘my computer isn’t working, there’s some message’ etc. etc.

If the complaints are really coming from the user ( i.e. not being slagged by the others reporting the user’s complaints ), then a quiet meeting with the user’s boss is neccessary.
Often, they’ll know what’s up, and you can form a strategy together.

Hope this helps, and here’s to a positive outcome.
–Les

IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Next time she calls, have her Supervisor accompany/meet you at her desk, to see (In Person) that the problem is “Reporting Person’s” error/Needs more training.

charletshew

AVO – Avoid Verbal Orders! Lock Down the user!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Bad business period to permit verbals in any area of a business. AVO goes back generations and holds true today. Can you imagine other areas of a business operating without documentation? No way, yet folks quite often expect an IT Dept to operate in such a manner which is ridiculous and I’m not aware of any IT Training that instructs otherwise. Require IT events be in writing to record history and status and determine Triage levels of support. I notice alot of IT folks on this forum are really whimpy and weak on the management of their networks which is probably one of the largest investments of any organization and to let a staff worker that has no investment whatsoever have such control is outrageous and these folks need some Management Training as they think business is a Democracy when in fact it is not at all. This staff person can be locked down through group policy if in fact they choose to misuse your services or misrepresent the services you deliver. Kick some butt – do you think your Director would put up with the crap? NO WAY! Stand Up you aren’t a burger flipper at the big M act like you have some Kahuna’s.

Just make her real

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If her computer works Ok when you check it, use Windows remote control to check remotely, and _send_ an e-mail to her, her manager and coworkers informing of this posibility.

Furthermore, establish a suppor policy with ticket support numbers who can be followed, and make this user’s manager aware of the lackness of tickets from the user.

Be kind, smile to her, and have good luck

Try this one…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I also had one of these. My solution occured by accident. Be proactive. Go to her and treat her as if you are her personal servant. I do not mean grovel, but talk to her and listen to her complaints. Then follow up when you perform the solution. She is likely intimidated by the technology and needs reassurance that you will help here every chance you get. A one-on-one type relationship is needed here to eliminate her fears that she can not keep up with the technical side of the job. I did this and the issue went away.

Reacting to Bad Mouth

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Try sending her (cc to her boss) a nice letter requesting that she e-mail her problems to you, that way you can give her “better” service. It’s amazing how this works.

Been there…and NOT going back..

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I feel your pain – I’ve had the same done to me over the years. However the problem is solved now — we (myself and other IT associates) basically had enough of this stuff going on so we more or less said “ok everyone wants to play that game…fine…we’ll play back.”

Now its company policy that if you need IT assistance you are *REQUIRED* to submit it to a little request system we made using email.

The request is routed to the appropriate employee with the most relative skillset (database, programming, network, hardware, etc)…if its not sent through this request system you simply don’t get help. Its that easy.

There are two exceptions to this however…
1) It doesn’t apply to the top execs (yes its politics, yes its not totally right, but yes it is LIFE)

2) If its a situation classified as an emergency and this classification is based on IT discretion with a quick talk to the employees manager on the impact to departmental projects and / or priorities; but if its classified as an emergency that person gets priority support right then and there without a need for a request. But even then, after the work is done — it has been documented.

A bit of a pain, yep. Do I like keeping logs of everything over doing things I enjoy like fixing PC, Server and Network issues – nope. But has the work paid off in the long run..you bet your arse!

Its amazing how much you can change a person’s “mean or PO’d demeanor” on a issue when you have overwhelming facts on your side — its a beautiful thing.

Always remember in both your professional and personal life…people will BS at every chance they get…BUT you can’t BS fact!

later.

IT Policy

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I can’t stress enough the importance of IT policy in this situation. If you don’t have one to address this particular matter you should create it now. Outline the Helpdesk process you want followed by any user. Have your manager approve the policy, circulate it to your users, and have them sign and return it. Keep them on file. Then make sure you follow the policy for EVERYONE all the time. No Exceptions!

The other posts suggested you document to CYA, and those are excellent recommendations to follow. In a one person shop it will always be your word against their’s. Document the date/time called, a brief description of the problem, notes on resolution of the problem, and then close the work order only when the user indicates the problem is solved not when you believe it is. After that send an e-mail summarizing the problem and resolution to the problem user, their manager, and yours just to cover all bases.

Needs Management Committment

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

This happens all the time. Someone in your management team needs to stress to that person’s manager that it it is very hard for the persons problems to me managed if she does not report them. As far as bad mouthing IT, that’s probably part of the job. Chances are that the person ivolved’s colleagues already ignore most of what he or she has to say anyway.

Documentation is the key

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Daily emails,copy her boss.Documentation,to meet her needs and requirements.

Diplomacy Also Counts

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Bad-mouthing is so often a symptom of a deeper disease. Sadly, most people aren’t honest enough with themselves to admit what is the real problem. When this co-worker isn’t clicking with you or has a bad feeling towards you, she may re-direct that into slander. This is hard for I/T types to hear. Take a look at how the overall relationship is going next time you work with her. Ask questions that show an interest in the problems she is having, how she uses her computer, and what unmet business needs she has that the computer might address. If you do this well enough, you may even cause her to support you even if you mess up sometime — the opposite of what you experience now.
People are fickle. Human nature is a strange and perverted animal, and you must deal with it as it is. People often don’t know themselves or what is really bothering them. Dare I say, this goes even more for women! Be a bit of a friend and you may turn an enemy into a fan. Same goes for her line manager — if that person sees you as both capable and helpful, low-level complaints just won’t get anywhere.

You must remeber this.

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Don’t take it personally. It sounds like this person has an issue with you or your department. Before I started working with binary brains I worked as a therapist and the reactions of users to IT staff could be a whole book. You can’t change someone who is having personal issues and taking them out on others. The bad mouthing is reflective of something more going on. Speak to management and make your points clear. Let them deal with the malcontent

The Other Side of the Coin

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

It is possible this person may genuinely have a problem with her computer (unlikely), or even her computer skills, or lack there of (more than likely). None the less I am reading that your problem is more office politics and not technical, your question is directed more toward “how do I handle personnel” especially the ones that are attacking my reputation and job standing.
So to that side of the problem – here is some hard earned advice.
1. First and foremost you must change your own self image! “Power Perceived is Power Received” In short re-examine your job role/duties/status as IT support ‘person’ (almost demeaning) try using IT Support PROFESSIONAL or TECHNICIAN. You say you spoke to her line-leader – this is how a co-worker and equal would handle a bad mouthing problem – and it definitely puts you in a he said she said situation. Besides managers are somewhat immune to disputes among co-workers (for good reason!). Being an equal gives others the choice whether to co-operate with you, even over computer matters. So you MUST decide what authority is reasonable for you to exert relevant to carrying out and achieving your job responsibilities and position, then incorporate this into your demeanor and project this image to others with the expectation that they treat you accordingly (including management – and line-leaders). This is the most powerful tool you have. **I am guessing that as the only IT ?Manager? your job has never really been defined beyond what you are responsible for, if this is true and you are worried how management will react – then, once you?ve decided what authority you need , have a meeting with the person or department head that hired you, gave you your job duties or your boss (the higher up the better). Keep it as casual as possible, present your concerns toward how the company will benefit by or lose from your action or inaction, all the while do not act or talk like you are asking for permission but rather looking for additional input/thoughts/ideas that might expand upon or uncover missed areas of concern from those higher up (this action has the added benefit that you will have outlined your ability to perform your job and stated your commitment in carrying it out in the best manner possible within the confounds of company policy.
2. Document – Document – Document, but also do it the way other department heads or managers would! You covered first base, ask the individual directly. Next write a brief but to the point letter/note for everyone in that job group, be specific ?if you experience computer? please do this? & ?I am available to discuss software programs?(by appointment – on ?day? am/pm – anytime, etc)? feel free to check with me regarding new software, or if you think a program is not responding the way you think it should? and so on. Adding boldly in a hard to miss location (like under their name or position) ?Copy to the all managers?. Then write a different letter for managers? outlining what was stated in the first and of course extending the same services/support to them, also ask them to encourage their staff/department to communicate with you regarding any questions they might have. Adding , that it would be greatly appreciated if they (as managers) would let you know if they notice anyone having continued difficulties or problems with their computers. Maybe adding – would they please remind people that it is easy to forget to report small problems – that are easy to fix and that usually don?t affect productivity – but the consequences of this type of inaction can be ??? Serious ??? Ask them to stress that reporting problems is every ones responsibility. (this action should have the added benefit of stating ?shared blame? and also get managers to discuss YOU with their employees in an authoritative role, and more as their equal with their authority behind you.
3. Do everything else IT related as well – don?t crowd yourself, or tell others you will be doing this or that until you are sure that you can complete and deliver – no need in making yourself look bad too!
Hope this helps.

Reply To: IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to The Other Side of the Coin

Open computer management
double click logical drives
right click the drive you want to log
properties
security
advanced
audit
From here you can set who to audit.
The next time she starts bad mouthing you, get her supervisor and the user and review the audit.
This will tell no lies.

Not enough time

In reply to The Other Side of the Coin

Most of us are too busy to spend our days and nights documenting troubled users. Setting up logs, a tracking system, a complete cover your butt strategy is a complete waste of time if the perception in the company is that you are an incompetent IT Guy. So basically try your best to educate your users when you help them… Make them as “independent” as you can… they will appreciate your education and your ability. The rest of the nonesense in these posts tell me that most of us have way too much time on our hands.

Honey over vinegar

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I would start giving her a courtesy call every day letting her know that you do care how things are running for her.

I would then document each and every call.

(l)user 1-0 System Admin

In reply to Honey over vinegar

You waste your time, achieve nothing but making the person feel like they have a new friend and document a bunch of calls.

This does not solve the problem, just records it and boosts an already overinflated ego

glyn

Shoot her, with the facts

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

In most cases these are employees that aren’t being productive so blaming the computer which they feel can’t be track because “computers are known for having mysterious problems”. So how do you shut up a lazy employee, fire them. But since you don’t have the power, put a case together for the manager to do so or at least to clear your IT commitment. And if her management is blaming the computer then they need to prove to you that it is malfunctioning and let them know that you can’t fix what is not broken. Often managers are scared of employees and so they will let it go as a computer problem to avoid their real issue, the lazy and or manipulating employee.

1. Track and print the event logs (assuming windows environment), this will let you and management know weather or not there are problems.

2. Lock the employee privileges down to power user if at admin or to user if at power. Note the number of internet “free software” and games installed on the pc. Check the favorite and cookie log to see where the employee goes to. A streaming music or video will of course bog down a pc. Also, check for active desktop or third party screen saver which can become a problem.

3. If possible set up a new pc as a backup to switch over to when her current pc is having problems or offer it up now as a solution to see if “the mysterious problems continue”. Have the employee print any error messages or simply not touch the pc and go to the backup and leave the error message up when it happens. If you can use pc anywhere or compatible software you could monitor the desktop as it happens.

4. Talk to the others employees or management to see if the are performance issues with the employee.

5. If you don?t think it is an employee issue, check and or change the physical memory. Faulty memory can have its ghostly problems.

6. Pray.

Some of these actions will cause problems

In reply to Shoot her, with the facts

“Check the favorite and cookie log to see where the employee goes to.”

You must be the most senior technically minded person in your organization. If I found anyone doing this unsanctioned, then they’d get in more trouble than the user. I have had to defend “big brother” actions in the past and almost got fired.

“4. Talk to the others employees or management to see if the are performance issues with the employee.”

Explain the difference between this and the initial problem the user has caused in the first place. It sounds like whining about a co-worker to me.

Yes, talk to your Manager about the whole situation and mention this to them at this point.

Do not gossip to others.

Do not go to your Manager saying “So-and-so said nasty things about me, does she do this to everyone?”

No actions can cause problems

In reply to Some of these actions will cause problems

Hi Glyn,
I’m not suggesting that our comrade go postal, in all things you are to stay professional and calm. But that doesn’t mean to be someone?s escape goat. It the company hired you to do this job let them define it and define your authority. Now that being said, yes she should let management know what her intention are and get approval to be “big brother” but don’t be manipulated.
If a company will not stand by you now, get to packing when it hits the fan because you are going to be the problem. One replier suggested taking her out to lunch, your are to pray for your enemy not wine and dine them, you aren’t a social worker unless that’s the field you choose to be in.
Corrielein said that this was an off site and my suggestion to talk to others is not for gossiping, merely to get information to know what you are dealing with. I?m sorry I didn?t better explain that. By simply engaging in conversation with other employees there, see if that are having similar problems as the problem child is. People will offer up information or even body gesture without you asking. I’ll beat they are tried of hearing her problems too. She could sit with the employee and the line manager from log on until about an hour into the day but I’ll beat you the employee would have a problem with that or nothing would happen.
In the matter of big brother, if the employee owns the computer then there could be a problem. However, if the company owns the computer then they need to establish the rules and by-laws governing the use of company equipment (not compromising any federal and state laws which aren?t address in a company?s by-law that should have been read and understood by the employee just before the sign here signature block). Corrielein should not have to go home with a headache because of one employee who continues to have undocumented and or unreported problems and a line manager who does nothing.

Documentation is key

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

The biggest way to prevent this problem from coming back to bite you is to start documenting your support calls. Currently, where I work, we have a web based “trouble ticket” system. It is very crude, but it works to track IT issues. When someone calls us directly, we either ask them to please open up a trouble ticket, or we open one ourselves for the call. This way our butts are covered when someone complains about our responsiveness, we can track issues and our response time.

You can begin to build one yourself with Access were you would need to log all issues manually, but this can still cause you a problem because your problem user could then claim that they called but you just never entered it into your DB. There a many boxed trouble ticket software packages out there that will help you track your IT related issues and how and when you responded. This way, when the person says that she called you and you didn’t do anything, you can ask her if she “opened up a ticket”.

Perceived Problem

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I see the issue as a perceived problem on the end user’s side. Remember IT support is more about dealing with people than with hardware and software.

Ask the user to leave everything as is next time she experience the “problem” and give you a call to which you must respond immidiately.

It might also help your cause to give the workstation a once-over, after hours, to ensure that the issue resides on the user’s end.

You must win this person over or hope she resigns,
working in “an atmosphere” does not contribute to your well being or best performance.

A timesheet / callout log are for your use to show what you have been doing and which systems are nearing end of life. This will only prove you right – it will not make the perceived problem go away.

to sum it up so far

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi Corrielein,

to sum up what I have read so far:

1. Get your boss on board
2. Suggest a help desk policy if one is not already in place – and follow through until it gets written, approved and signed.
3. Set up a calls database or if you use Outlook, then a automated form for all break/fix calls.
4. Document the situation up to your ying yang (like the alliteration?)
5. Fix the problems when they actually occur, in a timely manner. NOTE: Do not jump when she says so. Treat her in the same way that you would treat a call from the human part of the workforce. If you do jump, then she has won her little passive aggressive struggle and will stop whining, but start boasting that you are her tech-bitch.
6. Follow up at job close via e-mail and request a response “for your helpdesk database”, but it is actually to CYA.
7. Review the new helpdek system with your boss after a month, so as they can see the stats.
8. Use the same system for everyone, because if she gets wind that this is special treatment then she will have cause to complain

NOTES:

a) Always be professional. It is OK to ask for assistance to help sort out a problem, but not to stoop to her level and whine all day long to anyone who will listen. (BTW on this forum you have handled this well.)

b) Don’t take her out for beers. You have a job to do and it is HR’s job to find out what her problems are. Repeat the Sysadmin Mantra – “My job is to ensure that the users can access network resources and use the applications they need to do their job”. You don’t need to take her monkeys on your back as well as your own. (Read “the one minute manager meets the monkey” to understand about monkeys)

LINK: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688103804/002-5561641-9148026?v=glance

c) Suggest to your manager about a remedial training program and suggest to him/her that you have an ideal test candidate. Do not go to the person and suggest it as she is 95% likely to get even more obnoxious if you point out a fault (whether it is there or not)

d) Read the BOFH at http://www.theregister.co.uk for fun. Don’t take it too seriously as everyone hates a self-righteous network nazi.

Neutral Help Desk

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I too, have had similiar problems, the request for training and direct approach worked reasonably well. When a particular problem user still had issues, I recruited a secretary to track my calls, if I was out of the office, giving the usewrs an alternative to me, so that they too could save face. I also devised some basic computing issue hand-outs which are given to new employees.

Schedule a meeting or track emails

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Schedule a meeting with her, your supervisor (unless you are the supervisor), if you are the supervisor, have a member of Human Resources, her supervisor.

Explain to her that you have heard she has had numerous problems, however, you’ve not been informed. Let her know you’d like to help her resolve these issues, but she needs to communicate with you. We use a system called Track IT and this has helped us tremendously.

If you communicate via email, have all correspondence marked with the option of letting you know when they were delivered and read (or deleted without being read). A paper trail is sometimes the best method, but when supervisors get involved, that also tends to lend some weight to the matter.

People are weird

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Is it possible that she IS calling but not leaving voicemail? I have users who will not leave voicemail, will not send email, in fact they will continue to get frustrated until they speak to a human. It’s not uncommon for them to walk into the office looking for help. We offer a very high level of support, very quick and personal response time and that is what is expected now. It’s good and bad at the same time.

Create a CONTEST

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Rather than seeking revenge or retribution, seek to involve that ‘Trouble Person’ in the solution.

(with management approval) Create a monthly contest to engage all of the users in a program to improve the quality of the network and installed applications for the good of all. Simply establish a mailbox or a webpage to collect the input (a database to collect and tally suggestions and an autoresponder function would be nice add-ons).

It is likely that if a person desires the attention gained by crying, they may also be driven to participate.

Good Luck

Could be other reasons for her behavior

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

In my case, the person who was blaming IT for all their computer problems was using it as an excuse for not getting their work finished. It’s especially easy to blame IT when you haven’t got something done “My computer kept crashing”. She eventually got caught, but in the meantime, I agree with everyone…CYA (Cover Your Ass) Policy wherever you go. I also agree that confrontation is good…I’d ask her why she hasn’t reported the problems and let her know that it’s company policy.

Then again, she just might have a bone to pick with the company, and you are a convenient scapegoat.

Hope this helps.

Two ideas

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

1.- Design a form to report faults. Everybody should report faults using this new form. Or/and fill yourself a report for each call you receive and make the user sign after you fix it. Together with…
2.- Publish statistics of how many reports you have each day, week, month, how many you solve by department. Include in this statistic some column telling recurring problems. This will put this user in evidence and keep you safe.

Regards,

Institute an ‘Approved” mechanism

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Institute an ‘Approved” mechanism for requesting assistance and disallow deviations.
1-ALL requests for IT assistance must be sent by email DIRECTLY TO THE INDIVIDUALS manager (If they phone you, report them to HR.)
2-These requests must be forwarded from their managers email to your managers email and must be forwarded from your manager to you.
3-You reply by email (which should automatically generate ‘hidden’ emails to be sent to each manager in turn. (Or hit ‘Reply All’)
4-In your email state when you will be there and be on time.
5-When you get to their machine, log into your trouble-ticket database remotely and say something like “commencing diagnostics.”
6-Have your bucket capture MachineID, date and Time.
7-Log back in when done and say “Problem was/is and ‘Completed” or “Awaiting parts” or whatever.
8-Cause your trouble bucket to dump an email to you, your manager, their manager and the motor-mouth stating ‘Completed” or “Awaiting parts” or whatever.
9-Require ALL personnell to physically sign a pre-printed document with the ticket number that says “DONE” or whatever. – Keep them in a LOCKED drawer.
10-Cut and paste this entry to an email that is sent to your Manager, their manager etc until the President of the company receives it.
11-Have the President of the Company forward it to all employees and all Contractors with a forward that says: APPROVED!
Persons attempting to submit IT requests through any other means will be subject to reprimand and or dismissal.
12-Include this policy in the Employee Handbook.
13-Have the Company pay for your lunch today and pat you on the back.

I hope this isn’t a repeat of whatever was posted above but there were so many of them I quit reading.
Good Luck

Get it approved by the manager?

In reply to Institute an ‘Approved” mechanism

I have several issues with this proposed solution:

1. What if you have managers like mine…That only check their email once a day? What if there is a true emergency (The only program I use is broken), and is not reported until the next day? An entire day’s work is lost, because the issue was not reported in a timely manner.

2. What if this is a problem with their email client? Or Keyboard? Or monitor? How is the user supposed to email their request to their supervisor if they can’t get to email.

3. This seems like a waste of the manager’s time, to have to “approve” IT requests. We have a department where 99% of that department’s requests come from the manager, but only because she has tried to fix the problem before reporting the issue (She knows her limits, and generally does not make things worse.)

Maybe I work in a company that provides more autonomy than most, but for the most part, users properly submit their requests, without involving supervisors. This has taken quite a bit of user education, but most of them get it.

We have separate phone and email to report issues, and emphasize that unless it is an absolute emergency (the network is down), requests go to Help Desk email.

VERY GOOD, BUT…

In reply to Institute an ‘Approved” mechanism

Excellent points, but not all places may be so formal or have the necessary infrastructure to do all that you have suggested. Most managers/supervisors are so busy, they don’t want to get caught up in this sort of thing. That’s why they hired us in the first place.

Maybe this person has vile intentions, or maybe he/she likes you and is too immature/proud to express him/herself appropriately. Whatever the reason, the two things you don’t want to do are:

1. Waste your time and the time of others.
2. Uneccesarily hurt that person, physically or emotionally.

That being the case I would send an e-mail to everyone in the company with the following message:

‘Good morning, I just wanted to seize the opportunity to remind everyone of the procedure to follow when help is needed to resolve an IT issue. The first step is to close all programs, restart your computer, and then log in again. If the problem was not just a one time glitch, it should reappear. In that case, send me an e-mail if you can and I will reply with a solution, or a time for a scheduled visit. Please do not change the subject line or the body of the e-mail when replying, as this will help in the troubleshooting process.

If I do not respond within thirty minutes, or if your computer is sufficiently affected so as to prevent you from carrying out vital job tasks, then feel free to contact my Supervisor at Extension xxx. He/She will then be able to contact me or take the neccesary action to restore your computer.’

With this reply, you are respecting the person’s dignity (and even though they might not deserve it, do it anyway). You are also giving them a chance to change their ways, letting them know that you are aware of the problem, and since everyone is copied on this they will think twice about running their mouth. If they continue to bad-mouth you, then people will begin to realize that this person is the only one with a problem. Soon enough there will be enough complaints (from fellow employees)about that person, for senior management to send them a letter/reprimand etc.
And of course you wouldn’t have to lift a finger, all your precious time would now be spent reading TechRepublic. 🙂

End user grief

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I think every tech has one know everything end user that seems to give them the same type grief from time to time. More often then not it is an end user training issue.

We (our IS staff) pushed the upper management to include computer knowledge in all employees evaluations. We put together, and made available to all supervisors on the network, some short test to help with the computer knowledge portion of the evaluations. These test are changed ever three months so the end user can?t fake their way throw it.

We also send a report to all department heads of how and who the I.S. Staff helped each month. This will show the department heads just witch of their staff is or isn?t asking for help. If they are asking for help the report will show how much and for what. If their staff is isn?t asking for help the test will show if they should setup some training time with the I.S. staff.

This is a good idea….

In reply to End user grief

…and in addition to tracking problems for your own benefit, perhaps a “FAQ” distributed to all users would also help. When I started as network manager on a company’s first-ever network many years ago, I did monthly “Computer Newsletters” with user tips and tricks, updates on problems/requests people had, and “coming soon” about upgrades, etc. This helps because if you start “fixing” the problems through knowledge distributed to everyone, then everyone will know when someone is just whining – and some will reply “oh, that problem was addressed in June’s newsletter – I still have my copy, do you need it?”

Dealing with a problem child.

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

It’s very unfortunate you have to deal with this type of individual. They are everywhere in the office environment. I recommend that you get a compilation of calls received at your desk to show how often this person reports problems as she claims, in adition extract the history of work done on her work station from the network management system. You should have all supporting documentation to defend yourself because is going to reach the upper level of management and they ussualy do not have all the facts straight. In addition make yourself seen attempting to help this individual that way the area around her will see that your behavior is the opposite from what she claims it to be.

Ditto

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Our firm is not quite large enough to justify an elaborate helpdesk setup. Just 1 person – me. After having run into these situations repeatedly, the CYA rule became real important.

My solution — POLICIES. All PC problem requests must be emailed to me with a cc to the office administrator — only exception being a total system meltdown. Theory here … no email message — it didn’t happen. No exceptions. Getting the support of administration is the key. I have found that confronting professionals no matter how well you handle the conversation always seems to goes badly.

Great Suggestions

In reply to Ditto

Everyone has put in great suggestions, I didn’t read through all of them of course, but if someone mentioned this, Great –

I had a problem like this, working in a Mid Sized Company with an IT budget of almost next to nothing, I had to do a couple of things manually. When this happened to me, the first thing I did was went directly to the person and said, ‘Heard you were having some problems – what can I do to help you.’ Going through everything they claimed wasn’t working – after that, give them a call once a day or once every other day – Keep it simple, “Hi, how’s everything going with your system? Are you still running into any problems?”
When they see you are watching them – They tend to stand down……

On the other hand………

In reply to Great Suggestions

I have walked in on a situation like this, sweeping up after one of my junior’s hastle.

It turned out the complainer did have real problems of the intermittant kind.

The engineer swore there was nothing wrong – it had been checked numerous times – client said there was etc etc. It has gone on for weeks.

Only after a suppling a longer network cable that didn’t get in the way of the user’s feet (the engineer was short) was it all resolved.

e-mail is the solution

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

create an e-mail account to receive all support requests. That means that you will no receive any phone call for that pourpose. In case of an emergency, users can phone you only to ask you to give high priority to a previously mailed request. When you finish a request you send a mail to the user just to document and close the report.

There is another point to take into account: the level of help asked. Some times users call to report they can not print, when the only problem is that the printer is offline. In that very trivial situations, users should be capable of resolving the problem. If you have problems like that, you should train people in massive form. The strategy is as follows: ALL personnel must attend a general course (3 hours aprox length) but they get out with a manual that exemplifies all that simple problems. If you do that, when you receive a trivial request your response could be as simple as “Follow the steps showed in page 20 to solve that problem”

IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Corrielein,
I have found in my experience that if your customers are happy with your work and their experience from their time with you, the bad mouther is nothing more than making a bad reputation for herself. Happy customers will listen but give no merrit to the bad mouther. I would not worry much about her, but one way to stop this if it really bothers you, is to “befriend” her sort of say. Call her once a day and be real nice and just say you are checking to see if she is haveing any trouble or anything not working the way it should. This will give her nothing to talk about. Also, I hope you are tracking all your calls and finished work orders, this way you cover your back incase it ever goes up to mgt. I know it will be a strain on you being the only tech. person, it will take time you just don’t have to waste, but it will work. Feel free to e-mail me if you want more ideas.

Trouble ticket system

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

The easiest way to prevent this is by creating a web based trouble ticket system. I was having similar problems. Once I set it up and informed all users on a weekely basis where to go to create a trouble ticket, the tide changed. The user still kept complaining, but as I pointed out They never used the system. So i created a way to track my “work product” and was able to CYA at the same time…
I know it sucks to have to CYA but as we all know IT can be a thankless job and some users are so unhappy at their job they will resort to tactics like this to mask the real reason for their poor job performance!

Faultlogs@

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

We implemented a fairly simple solution which has eradicated this problem fairly simply, we have asked that any users send ALL fault reports in an email to “faultlogs@companyname.co.uk” (which we then forward to mobile devices), we then setup an automatic reply which informed the user that we had received the fault report which would be investigated within the day. This allows a permanent record of all fault reports which are stored on the main server, so that any “back stabbing” can be quickly proved or disproved. This also has the advantage of keeping a txt record of all faults. Hope this helps…

You may want to look at Reflectent Software

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If you are being ‘falsely accused’ of not providing proactive customer support, you should look at Reflectent Edgesight. We enable you to understand the end user’s perspective of IT.

http://www.reflectent.com

Nothing worse than SPAM

In reply to You may want to look at Reflectent Software

or a plug in the middle of a discussion thread.
Very bush-league.

Make her appreciate you

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Well, you could break her computer so badly that you will *have* to fix it. Then, you’ll look like a hero(ine).

Seriously, though, your choices are to lump it or take action. The first step is always to approach the individual. This is the hardest thing to do, but you HAVE to do this first.

If what you say is true, then this is workplace harassment. If you have a company policy addressing this, follow the policy. If not, notify the manager *in writing* that this is still happening and that you wish to report harassment. That will more than likely be enough to get the manager moving because he/she becomes liable when they’re made aware of the problem. Maybe that incentive will do the job.

Keep in mind that, if all this fails (i.e. the company you work for does not support it’s employees), you can either quit or go tit for tat and bad mouth her right back.

Protect yourself and show results

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I would log every call you get for support, no matter how small or large the problem. In reporting, include the location or department information, problem, resolution and of course who placed the call(The more information the better.) This will protect you from those that state you are not doing your job, and you can provide a report to each department stating how many calls they have made for support, or even post the report at that location on the wall.
If you can log a great amount of calls to a department you can then justify a training class to cover common problems.

What OS are you running?

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Keep in mind that Windows 2000, XP, etc., have tools built in that can be “turned on” to log problems. These in turn can be saved or printed to provide “proof” of her claims that the computer is misbehaving.

Another nice tool that I have very helpful (in XP) is at Programs – Accessories – System Tools – System Information

Use event viewer to validate her claims of problems

In reply to What OS are you running?

The next time you need to deal with your client, use the Event Viewer to validate her problems are valid. (This applies to if you are working with Windows 2000 and XP). If howevre you are using windows 9x, carry a paper log sheet that you will fill in manually with a pen of the services that you did on the machine, and have her sign it, so that she is satisfied with what you have done.

Ammend situation

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If you have a remote admin tool like vnc installed on the users pc, remotely access the users pc and create a deliberate fault which will be easy for you to resolve like altering the users email server to point to a non existant machine. The user will be desperate to get their email back and will have to call you. Make a big scene of how much you have helped the user when at their site ensuring that the user is publically appreciative of your help. Tell the user that a user error has occurred but dont hesitate to contact you in the future. This should make everbody around the user see how helpful you have been and what that user has been saying to be rubbish as well as safeguarding your position.

Work Order

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I had the same problem with an employee. I setup a work order form that had to be sent in.

Different versions

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Use written IT problem forms. Depending on the severity of the problem, use a simple form to be submitted to you or have it go thru channels for verification. Also when you “ask” if there are problems have it answered on a signed form that states all is OK, or not. Put it in writting!

1 more chance then out the door!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Non technical people may see you or the equipment as defective as an easier to accept reality to that in which they are not all knowledgeable. I Suggest you could sit with this person and say that you are here to help her and that you will action her requests with a priority, don?t mention that she computer illiterate. Failing that, put some porn popup?s on her computer and catch her, report her and have her fired? Drastic but hey, your job is hard enough.

Fear

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi
I believe that most I.T. people in our position face this situation in one form or another – it is often a fear of appearing to be inadequate in one area of their role – so they shift the blame etc. I have overcome some of these situations by using Group Policies to lock down systems and present users with a uniform environment and conditions. Then, if one person complains of ‘issues’ that are unexplainable, I move the person to another system and see if the ‘problem’ follows them. Of course, if it does then it is highly unlikely to be a workstation issue.
Also, we have created a helpdesk/log via Outlook that is the ONLY way that we respond to questions and issues – this ensures that all issues are logged and reportable etc.

logging of calls

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

This is really a matter for your boss and her boss, however an option is to require all support requsts to be by email / fax only and then to log the request (and an activity) on a DB. This will ensure that all inbound calls are tracked, resolved / escalated and KPIs’ such as response times etc are reported on. Just as importantly it allows you to justify your position in relation to your customer.

IT Issues not reported to your Dept

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi Corrielein !

Just want to let you know that I once was in your situation. The best way to handle this type of situation is to approach the end user as I did in a friendly way and confront them about the rumors.

In addition you should create a rule with all your end users and have them send you an email describing their issue. Once you resolve their problem or problems reply to the user with the same email that was sent to you by them with high importance, stating the problem has been fixed and the call will be closed.

Best to have some kind of documentation to cover your ass. Better safe than sorry.

It seems to me that she is spending most of her time doing nothing and she’s trying to find someone to blame.

Another way to put a stop to this conieving little liar is by swaping out her PC with a spare.”if you have a spare”

Good Luck !

Document IT

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Your description of the problem did not include the types of malfunctions encountered on this person’s PC. Are they very simple to solve, do they vary, have you tried swapping hardware? This would give you some idea whether this person is just out to get you riled up or is genuine. Create a documenting system. Post it on your company intranet if necessary. This is an unbiased indicator that every complaint has been addressed. In the end, if you do find out the person is just out to make your life difficult, ignore her. Deprive her of the pleasure she seeks and she will soon tire of your non-response.

Plan and act

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Plan to talk to your supervisor with the information and that you will resolve it. This is to protect yourself in case of attack by her supervisor.
Act by cutting of her login access. This will force her to contact you directly.
Now you can be sure she has called and can take this time to discuss the current problem and any others she may have. Resolve them (if true)and reconnect the login.
Pass the information along to your supervisor that all the problems have been resolved.
In the future, if the problem starts up again, have your supervisor contact hers and resolve it from that side and not yours.

Create a new procedure…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Don’t you just love people who follow the correct avenues to get something done?

Get your boss to approve a new procedure. Make people fill out a form and sign them. Make the form easy…like…what’s your tech problem today? I used to work in such an environment and I had to create a form that asked questions such as: is the computer on? is the printer ON?
If staff has to fill out a form, it seems they feel more important and that their problem is important to you…make them explain everything and then visit them with the answer…Many people are still intimidated by pc’s even copiers and fax machines….if this person were in my company I would visit them with a donut and a coffee and sit down to have a little tete a tete…but I am one to tackle things head on….
good luck let us know what you ended up doing

Pam lindsay, previously IT manager at Burton Public Library in Ohio……my email is pammms@yahoo.com

Proof in the pudding

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Go to her desk and ask to be shown exactly what the error/problem is. If she can not reproduce it on the spot, then make a point, loud enough for all to hear, to log a call, with exactly the error message that appears on the screen. Then ask her if she knows how to screen dump the error. I think you will find that by asking her to show you, will stop all the ‘bad-mouthing’. I have had this happen to me in the past and as soon as I have requested in person and with other staff arround, the error soon disappears and I never hear from them again.

What I do to CMA

In reply to Proof in the pudding

I have a phone line that logs all the calls and since it uses caller ID it is proof that cannot be manipulated and is indisputable. I also record all my calls(It’s automatic – which may be illegal in your state. I don’t have that problem) which stamps the caller ID information Date and Time. I make my entry of the content of the call so that all I have to do is make a query and find when I had discussed a particular subject with the End User. In the event I have someone who claims they were not told I can refer to the recording since the caller cannot sign off on the help you have provided at that moment (and following-up on getting such documentation can be a pain). I sure we all know that even when we make our note you have those who swear they were not told and therefore suggesting that maybe what was written is not true. Ghee, I’ll say it. They practically are saying you are a liar. I have twice had the satifaction of taking out the big guns in front of the users boss and let them have it. I cannot tell you how sweet it is after paying the recording and ..you know the rest.,P.S. I’m the owner and still have to deal with such nonsense.

CYA Document All HelpDesk Calls

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If you don’t already have a Helpdesk Ticket Tracking Software and Policies approved by Management requiring that all Computer Systems Issues be either called in or emailed in and Logged and Tracked manually or by software which Tags and Numbers each and every Incident. Every user whom reports a IT Incident will be issued an Incident Resolution Ticket Number. Also, I suggest that you have good and constructive conversation with your Human Resource Manager about the individual whom is making all inflamatory comments ( Lies ) about the type of service that you provide and demand that she have real proof of her claims ( Put Up or Shut Up )!!!! Also, document everything that has occurred to present with date, times, names and exact statements made to whom etc…

Good Luck and Hang Tough !!!!

PT

Simple written request

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Establish a simple written trouble ticket system. Could be as easy as an e-mail with a few specifics. Some folks just like to belly ache but if you have a mandatory written system it will flush out the woe is me routine. Remember to document resolutions.

IT faults reported to managers

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi Corrielein,

I used to have the same problem. What I have done is as soon as I hear that their is a problem or any IT requests that I receive I send a reply email stating what the problem is that I have either heard or have been requested and listing what I am going to do about fixing it. I send this to the person who has the so called problem plus CC and sometimes BCC it to their manager. If the manager won’t pay attention I will CC or BCC it to the Managers manager. I then send a follow-up email stating if the problem was fixed, when, where, how and CC that also. If the problem wasn’t there or couldn’t be fixed for some reason I email that too. Whatever happens or if I hear any whinging I email a reply. I keep a copy of all my sent emails. If you get pulled in to get your butt kicked because of the whinger, all you have to do is lay a printed copy of all the sent emails on the desk of the person trying to kick your butt. Then sit back and watch who’s butt gets kicked.

IT Faults and Corriellen

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Mine was similar but more sadly than yours, because I got queried for same. The solution; try and keep a friendly relationship with these people.When they they do not seem to know, try and be teaching them one or two things, each you come in contact, by the time you made them a wizard-5 to 10 times calls or visit, they will be grateful for your “IT sermon below the mountain”

I hate to say things like this but…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

IF you are the only IT person in the company and top management doesn’t make sure that your word comes first, you need to find a better job. It is bad enough trying to do that job as it is without knowing that even the people you work for won’t back you up. Listen close – there are better jobs out there for us – your life is too short to work hard and be spat on for it.
Ron (P.S. I am 61. I programmed computers for 36 years and as a consultant for many of those years. I have been in situations like you are but I never stuck around if I wasn’t being supported by top management.
Good Luck

introduce a fault reporting log

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

May I suggest that you introduce a “formal” Fault/Incident Reporting Form/Log that users get to fill in and send over to you. I have lived through problems of a similar type you are experiencing (users are the same everywhere: they also resort to the same tactics) and frivolous claims disappeared soon after such a formal reporting structure was introduced. No one can claim that you never attended to a problem you were not informed about (the presence or absence of such a report quickly resolves such issues)! Moreover there is a plus side: you can actually work out statistics as to problems by OS/applications/hardware/users; no of problems by day, week and so on. NUMBER OF PROBLEMS BY USER (some report a lot others hardly any).

Keep the incident reporting log SHORT and UNCOMPLICATED so that you cannot be accused of creating a form which is to “intimidating” to fill in.

Good Luck.

Oh Boy do I have one of those

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I was hired as director for a very large dairy company who did not have a networked environment. So, I set up a full network, got rid of the wyse terminals and gave all the workers PC’s, removed the DSL and installed a T-1, etc. The secretary for the owner of this company was real excited and gave me kudos for every change I made,….until 1 day.
I set up a data cluster and the log file got corrupt, which wasn’t such a disaster due to the fact that I only had 4 people at that time logged onto the domain, unfortunatley she was one of them. Well, the owner was there that afternoon asking his secretary to retrieve a photo that she had on her computer, which I moved all the documents for the 4 users to the server. Because the log got corrupt that morning, the system was a little slow retrieving the documents. She never called me to ask for help, all she did was tell the owner that “All my stuff isn’t here anymore, it was all moved on me. This new network is so slow…etc.” So, after slamming me to the owner, now he starts walking around saying how stupid the network is, etc. She, still doesn’t say anything to me letting me know what happened, I find out a week later from the General manager who says to me, ” I hear you made an enemy.” Not sure what he meant, I asked him to explain, and he repeated the story to me. So, I went upstairs to talk to the secretary, who, by the way had such an attitude when I walked in the room, and asked her why she didn’t call me. She freaked and started with this system is so slow, I can’t get anything and kept going. So I said, let me look at what is happening. As I started to look at her screen, she said, “and I can’t get on the internet either!”. Ok…I look at the taskbar, the lan is disconnected, so I go behind the computer and notice the lan line is out. I asked her why…she said, and I quote “that plug was never in my system before, so I took it out”. Hence, the missing internet. Then I look at her desktop. The icons I put there for her are gone, (now, this was before I set up policys and she needed to be able to install programs by herself on her system), the links to the data for some of the software are gone…I asked what happened to them. She deleted them. She couldn’t see the wallpaper of her daughter so she deleted all the icons. IT was a mess.
After the cleanup…and a few weeks later I was ready to throw some more users on the domain, and I start hearing, “I don’t want to go on the domain, yvette (oops, did I say her name)says its slow.” I freaked, and told them in order to use the company software, they had to go on the domain.
A year later, everyone is now part of a company wide network, loving every second of it, except for yvette. Who still calls me in her office because she can’t figure out what is wrong with her computer. I tell her all the time its an ID10T error, and to be careful, for it can spread to other systems so its better off that shes not on the domain.

Documentation

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I have all of my staff email me when a problem occurs (save documents in Outlook) and have them sign off on a simple form a day after the problem has been addressed to validate that the “fix” worked. This is also done via email which the staff member then prints out and sends back a hard copy. If a response is late in being returned, I send out another mailing to impress upon the staff member to follow through with the form.

You are not alone;

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

You are not alone;
Some Users who can not meet there deadlines or operate the equipment or become frustrated with there equipment they have been issued with, always use there IT technical support as the scape goats for there own lack of expertise. They don?t want to look stupid so they refuse to be placed on any form of remedial IT training. Unfortunately their line Managers will back them up because most of them, can just about cope with there own It skills and don?t want to loose face with the workforce,and when they can not manage will blame equipment for there lack of production.

All we can do is support them and take the flack,could I suggest something we do and that is keep a record of repeat complaints, this does give you some ammunition to fight back when your dragged in front of your IT manager, we have used it to great effect and have shown time of call and the problems, and who had them so there is no comebacks when the persons say they have had no IT support.

Keep up the good Fight

Malcolm

some ideas

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

1. get one of her co-workers to pass her commplaints to you. You then show up to investigate the problem for which she hasn’t called for help.

2a. start collecting a list of PC problems within their department. Check the list daily.

2b. post a suggestion and complaint list on the wall of their department for anonymous complaints.

3. create a reward system for prompt complaint submission, whether the complaint is for their PC or someone else’s PC. This might set up a competition between the complainer and her co-workers.

4. enlist the help of your mananager to cut across the management layers of the two departments.

5. (SWAP OFF) let one of your co-workers handle her problems. See if the PC complaints move to the new person or cease. If they cease, then it is an interpersonal problem. At least the complaints won’t be a hinderance to your performance reviews.

6a. install a (silent) performance monitor on her PC. Record all activity.

6b. tell her that you have installed a stealth performance monitor on her PC so that you can keep an eye on her ‘problems’. stress that you aren’t paying any attention to her keystrokes (but say it in the manner that leaves her some doubt).

7. find out if she is complaining through the company email system and have those complaints copied to you, your manager, and her manager. You can respond to her problems without a direct complaint from her.

8. break her system and replace it with one known to have no problems.

9. be sure to lock down her system, so that she can’t do any damage with her login ID.

10. break her system on a regular basis and see if she complains to you. You know what’s wrong, so you should be able to fix the problem quickly. This might establish your credentials with the complainer. If she doesn’t complain, you know something is really wrong and can address this with her manager.

All of these are good ideas but…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

…what is the actual problem? There are whiners in every company. Usually, nobody listens to them, because they whined about someone else before you came along – and will whine about someone else after you leave. So, is the problem that other people are listening to her, and if so, who are these other people? Users, managers, directors? Because the problem is, if the people listening are just other users, all your tracking helpdesk calls in the world isn’t going to help, as it would be counterproductive for you to start shoving logs in basic end-users faces. If this is the problem, you need to talk to HR. Outline “what you’ve heard”, express concerns that it may leave you ineffectual with some users, and express a desire that people not criticize your professionalism to other employees without your presence. Have that documented. Ask what you can do to alleviate the problem, come up with a plan with HR (and your boss too, if possible) Then, if it comes up later, you have followed channels to show you are aware of the problem and tried to address it. If however the problem is that management believes her, the logging and tracking will certainly help.

mouthy shut

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

You can start sending her replies to the most basic operations with copies to other persons in the link: “As I understand the problem you described here is the simplest solution to fix it. Please press down on the shift key when you want capital letters.” If you can estimate the regularity of the occurances then you can estimate the timing for ‘responses’. She will be forced to relate real problems or appear incompetent instead of you appearing incompetent. Alternately initiate a call course recording on your phone. Then post incomming phone records on a bulletin board or do a weekly report to users by e-mail.

Why are poeple telling you this?

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

My first question is why are people telling you this? Are they truely concerned or just back-stabing trouble makers. More than likely the person complaining really didn’t intend for this to get back to you, so the person(s) that told you betrayed that person. No doubt if you’ve said anything in response they ran back and blabbed that.

In my opinion if someone doesn’t bring it to me or my boss who gives a sh– what’s being said. If you’re doing your job and no one else is complaining why worry about one user.

It’s probably too late in this situation but a better way to handle this is to stop by from time to time and check on the user and spend a bit of time answering questions or pretending to fix something. If you go by and fix something call for a couple of days to check and see how things are going.

See what type of results you get. Don’t get pulled into the age old trap of he-said, she-said.

Set up Incident Report so users report problems in writing

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I have tried to get the users I support to write things down. I find that it is easier to trouble-shoot when the problem is in writing.

It would also help document requests and your responses.

Another Tech Heard From

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I had this problem also. My solution was to create a very simple html form to be filled out by the user with the user name, problem description etc. This form would be emailed to an account I had setup, and monitored 24/7 by a computer running Outlook express. It then forwarded a copy of the message to the appropriate tech, based on message subject, and sent a reply to the sender stating that their report had been received. I then used Windows Active Directory to place a shortcut to this form on all users’ desktops. Followed that up by creating a company policy that absolutely NO problems would be attended to without this form being submitted. I didn’t care if the user told me about it in the hallway or on break or wherever. No form, No resolution. That seemed to do the trick.

This goes back to documentation, documentation, documentation! Not only that, but the email server retains logs of all messages sent (or NOT sent, in some cases) which can be used to prove or disprove false claims.

Ken Krause
IT Manager
Dealer Marketing Services, Inc.

Over-Kill with Kindness

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Hi Corrielein –
you’re in an interesting position.
Here’s a couple of ideas:
~ if you’re tracking your users concerns, start a monthly newsletter that identifies the issue, who reported it and how / when it was resolved. This puts you in a better light and will make everyone ever that your chronic complainer is just that.
~ if you’re not tracking, start!
~ if you’re comfortable with a face to face conversation, talk to the user – start out by saying something like “Could you please help me to understand this situation? From what I’m hearing, you feel as though you’re not supported and I want to fix that!”

Please let me know how you make out!
~Jayne

badmouthing IT

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Forget arguing about personal honor. Take the bull by the horns and get the issues documented and an email trail made. The email should cover the issue, the work you did, and what was found/not found and any conversations/personal instructions given. Develop a tracking system for all calls, if you don’t have one already.

try this, it worked for me

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

this is fairly routine problem for most of the support people.

U can send a group mail stating common problems that u have
solved in a recent week. U can also mention latest worms,
viruses etc that have been floating around. keep it short and
interesting.

At the end serve ur self for assistant for the group.

During ur second or third week, when people know that u are
going to make this a standard practice. Ask them, what more u
can add to help them. In this process include this person with a
little more attention.

hope this works for u too.

not you, its about her reputation…

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

We know we are so talent, so patient and so
whatsoever for our jobs as IT staff, and
I think most people appreciate to our efforts.
Do not worry someone’s “bad mouthing”, she
will “kill” her reputation for sure, sooner or
later…

Start a new communication policy.. [By email]

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

For any system work or troubleshooting force the user to send you an email with a detailed description of the problem that they may have..

After troubleshooting or/and solving the issue reply to the email with the summery of the issue and how it was solved or what it should be done next, But, make sure you copy her/his supervisor to the reply.

Is it important?

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Is it important to be aggrivated over this if everyone else knows that you use due diligence in getting the job done? Especially your boss.
In other words, unless the complainer signs your paycheck and you are doing your job otherwise, I say to h*** with the complainer.
And when she really has a computer problem, she is not to be a priority. Let’s see how long she plays the game now. (time to play hardball).

Another tact would be to send out an e-mail to Everyone reminding them that you are not clairvoyant or have a crystal ball and if anyone has computer problems, they need to bring it to your attention ASAP.

I think the important thing is to make the people that matter the most, the happiest.
When in doubt, refer to the food chain at your place of work.

Robert

Very common problem

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

First don’t take it personal.
Second ask her what her problem is with communicating a problem.
Third point out that you are only able to address problems you know about.
Fourth point out you can track communications
Fifth Create an IT support form either paper or intranet and refuse to accept any other form of problem reporting.
Hope this help

BadMouthing Coworkers

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I had a similiar situation and my solution was I took her manager and my director to her workstation and confronter her with all the rumor and reports that we are hearing. I called her on the spot and let her know that my logs show that she doesn’t call me with issues and that she is undermining the IT Department. This is aggressive, but I was tired of her attacking IT at every opportunity.

Create your own paper trail

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I previously worked at a local computer store as the head repair tech., We had a contract with the local community college repairing PC’s & Mac’s for them.

When a problem occurred, the college required all of the employees fill out a repair request form stating, the model & serial # of the machine, the OS, the problem, the date, whether the problem was continuous or intermittent, severity of the problem, what software programs were open when the problem occurred.

All requests for repair were to be submitted after the same problem had occurred a minimum of 3 times.

The request for repair was handed in to the head of the IT department where it was signed & dated upon receipt. The request for repair was then given a #. It was then routed to the appropriate technician (computer or printer, PC or Mac, software or hardware).

The technician initialed & dated the time when the request for repair was received by them. The technician filled out the following blanks, could tech repeat problem (yes or no), analysis of problem, notes, parts required, time when request for repair completed.

The completed request for repair form was then handed back to the head of the IT department, the department head notified that person as to what had been found. The form was held onto for 3 weeks (in case the problem was not fixed correctly or reappeared), before it was filed.

This created a paper trail that could be followed from start to finish. It also gave the head of the IT department an insight into what was causing the problems (hardware, software, user ignorance).

Mad Mouther

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Rat Poison in her coffee? No? I go for the Direct Confrontation account in the presence of her line manager… than on up the line of protocol. You can’t do your job if she’s constantly having you come fix something that “ain’t broke.”

tickect

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

hi
1. You should record all activities
2. Create ticket and everytime you come & fix her computer, ask for signature
3. Create smal database about everyone’s call and your action.

These activities will show actually about your activities.

Hope it helps

i was in the same problem

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

i produce a full audit on his/her event Viewer
then every two hours i was exporting the event list . then i print it out ,and the next time that he/her says everything about me i went to my manager to the person that i report ,and i show how he/she use the pc ,and also i speak to the person who looks after the telephone center to filtering the report about the calls and for internal .and last i intsall on my pc and a his/her pc a remote administrating programm ,and i inform everybody about that so every one to know that i am online on he/her every time .and put a very larg book ,so them who says that they cannot find me ,to wright down every day the problems that they have ,and i was cheking the time of the report and the event viewer ,if the time is the wright one and no a day before or after ,and if the problem is real and appears in the event log .
and finaly hide from the users the event viewer .

This is what management is for

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

In an ideal world:
You should be able to explain this problem to your boss. This will acieve two things:
1) he/she might have an idea on how to deal with it
2) you’ve alerted him/her so if they hear about your alleged poor support via the grapevine, they’ll know which pigeonhole of ‘truth’ to put it in straight away.

In the real world:
Not all managers are so supportive, and not all companies are formal enough to have line managers do battle on behalf of their employees. If this is the case, maybe you should still tell your boss, just to alert them, but go for one of the other ideas here like logging the calls.. maybe keep a diary so that you can say what you were doing when the person allegedly called you for support, etc?
I had one of these once. The whining user got her boss onto my boss before I realised what was happening. When my boss found out how it had happened, she was furious with the whiner.
Hope your guys are as supportive!

She wants attention

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I’d say give her something to complain about.

Everyone Else

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If she’s is your only “bad-mouth” and everyone else

Everyone Else

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If she’s your only “bad-mouth” and everyone else KNOWS you’re the “stuff” that gets the job done, I’d treat her like I treat everyone else and sooner or later all users/managers will know she’s full of it. Chances are if she’s complaining about you, someone else is also taking a hit without merit.

If all other users are happy, and you treat ALL users the same, you’re good to go. Only you know THAT for sure.

Stay Well

Self-confidence rules

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If you don’t make mistakes and you do your best to accommodate her, you have only two people to worry about. Yourself and whoever you report to. Everyone else knows what she’s like and won’t put any stock in what she’s whinning about. Of course, she may have a friend or two but the vast majority know the truth.

Open Systems are best

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

For people as well as infrastrucute ! Develop, Publicise, and launch a Call Management Scheme within your organisation ! You can include a brief description of the requirement for such a scheme such as: “To avoid the problems that arise when staff “believe” they have logged a support issue but where there is no record of such, as has occurred at certain times”. Initially, for small numbers of users, you could use an email logging system to a “dedicated” mailbox for instance. What ever you decide you must insist that calls are logged with accurate descriptions and once this is done, send the user a call or issue ID which they must refer to when discussing the particular issue on subsequent occassions. Its not worth confronting individuals such as the one mentioned. As a true IT person…render them ineffectual in their attempt to denigrate your good work by resorting to good service and a foolproof tracking system ! I’ve seen this situation arise many times, the cause is usually that the person is attempting to blame “IT” for the own ineptitude. Good Luck

Document, Track, Update

In reply to Open Systems are best

Corrielein,
Having worked for a large corp I have experience this problem and it was quelled by our Help Desk Ticket tracking system. We created a ticket, a copy was sent to the IT Manager, the user reporting the problem, and a copy to the Tech assigned to the problem. The ticket would show how many days it was open before the issue was resolved. Tickets could not be open longer than 30 days max. Generally they were resolved within 2 to 3 days , or you had some serious explaining to do. Any actions taken were updated in the ticket for reference to future problems. That way you can track if it is a “User Issue, or a Computer Issue.” When management sees it is a user issue they will either have them re-trained or replaced. C.Y.A. and you will have no worries.
Good Luck,
MLUFF

Keep your boss informed

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Although I agree with the concept of documenting everything and Bcc your boss about it. In my experience, I have seen that some people try to look important as if they are the one running the show. The best approach I have seen is that one should avoid direct confrontation, rather keeping your direct management abreast with the situations is a good policy.

Silent Treatment

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

After this person leaves to go home,replace there PC with another.and say nothing.See if this helps.If this does not work.Carry them to a office and have a hart to hart talk.and tell them they are slowing down other workers production.
if this does not come to a halt don’t let the door hit there back side.

Thank you all so much!

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

I’ve been out of the office all week on a course and have just come back to see all these replies. Thank you all very much for your input – I’ll read them all through and use what I can.

Be cautious of your sources — they might be part of the problem

In reply to Thank you all so much!

I have sometimes found that the person reported to have a problem was the problem person at all — it was the one doing the reporting. Some enjoy ‘drama’ and manufacture it for others if they don’t have enough of their own. Step back and take a look at who is passing on the complaints to you. Does that person tend to focus on imperfections or past woes? Do they have something against the other person? If several individuals confirm that one is complaining without reporting the problems, then that’s more legitimate. If only one is, check that source as well as the reported complainer.

A good second thought

In reply to Be cautious of your sources — they might be part of the problem

This is a very good piece of advice.

Reply To: IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

1. Use the email as communication evidence.
2. Treat her as a VIP users. Do a health check on her PC and its applicaiton to ensure it running smoothly. Then, send her the healthly status report. Ask her if any poblem find, report to you immediately.

Reply To: IT faults not being reported to department

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

get documentation. as much as you can. email, paper, whatever. if it’s not in writing, it doesnt exist.

log you work for her. problem. resolution. time spent. after 2 or 3 months you can take it to the next level if needed. most users calm down after a while.

How to keep a record of faults being reported by a client

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

If a user has got a problem,give him/her a form on which he/she fully describes the nature of her/his problem,date,name of user and the form must be signed by his/her line manager.After the IT department has resolved the problem the user must sign again the form as an indication that his/her problem has been resolved and return back the form to IT department for filing,this keeps a track record of faults per user and the IT department will know easily who needs training in which areas.This is also makes it easier to see who is not doing his/her job in the IT department.

Regards alamuru@natfood.co.zw
EDS Africa

Welcome to the real world of IT

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

The first thing you have to understand is that the end user always knows it all even though they might be incapable of even turning on the unit in question.

Secondly just telling people that they have made a fault complaint to the IT department means the IT department should know as we are all physic.

Being in IT means you are responsible no matter what so get used to it no matter how unfair it is.

The only way to correct this particular problem is to keep an accurate phone log of all reports that come your way {I know it’s a pain in the but but you are only covering yourself anyway} When you can show that you have received no complaints from either her or that section HR should go out and ask exactly what is going on here as the person in question is obviously not performing at peek efficiency and maybe even goofing off while supposedly working.

Of course there is always the other side of the coin as well once a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away I worked for IBM back in the mainframe days and the Social Security Department in a rural town had continual crashes which I could never understand until one day many months latter when I ran across one input operator who could enter data faster than the machine could handle it so it would just crash. When ever this woman wanted a break she deliberately crashed the entire system and brought everyone to a standstill but she had her smoke or cup of tea or whatever and the IT guys there where left to tear their hair out in an attempt to understand what was going on.

Col

Teach her a subtle lesson

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Create a Job completion form. Whenenver you visit each user to resolve issues get their signature on their to make sure the issues are resolved. Approach this user, (be sugary sweet if you have to) ask her what her problem is and get her to sign the form. Once she signs, nobody can fault you. By the way watch your back. She sounds bitchy. Hope this helps.

Get rid of her access rights

In reply to Teach her a subtle lesson

and go on a vacation for a week. 🙂

Easy answer

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Everyone has answer to your problem. but when I approch the techies with real technical question it takes weeks before someone tries to answer it.

I have given up on these easy to solve questions Im mean theres nothing wrong with a bit of advise, but this is what seperates the boys from the men. I have real technical issues and it seem like no one has an answer at this time. This is not the first time this happens it seems like people are afraid to answer the real tech questions. However when I find my answer I will post it for everyone just like I did last time and just for the record I usally end up solving the problem myself.

Just to answer your question you need to ignor this person and you will see it all go away. Dont add wood to the fire and eventually it will burn out. In addition when you communicate with this person you might want to communicate by email and cc: Her manager. You are so much better off with written documention in lieu of verbal communication. Like I always say (C.Y.A) Cover Your Ass

Good Luck

AVO

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

Old business addage is “Avoid Verbal Orders” same holds true in IT – Don’t accept verbal requests otherwise you have no history to show your support. Lazy IT Users place the responsibility on you to do their paper trail and when your it how can you manage it? Don’t accept verbals – require written notice and use Task Manager in Outlook if you lack a Help Desk Service. Crow Canyon makes a very affordable nice Help Desk System that integrates within Outlook. My IT Policy prohibits verbal requests period – I want a history and I do not care to type it in for them. Cannot bad mouth you if in fact verbal isn’t permitted and you have your paper trail demonstarting support. A little CYA to support your end if you ever get challenged by a PITA such as this person.

nothing to document

In reply to IT faults not being reported to department

When a user does not REPORT the problem, there is nothing to track.
Point is the user needs to call IT for help. I have found that users use IT as the “dog who ate my homework” when there really isn’t anything wrong. Also, users have been embarassed to call for help.

be proactive, call and ask if anything is wrong. and document that. also, let the person’s manager know. going above someone’s head never gets respect, but it does cover your ass and reputaion.

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