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by diabetic
Well that is a pretty broad question.
What does your helpdesk support? Desktops? networks? Printers? Software?
Here are some basic commandments of troubleshooting on the phone:
1. Don't panic (no matter how upset the caller is). Be professional and relax. Your telephone demeanore can help calm an upset user.
2. Treat every situation like it is the first time that you have heard it. Listen carefully and take notes while the caller is describing the problem.
3. Be patient and ask open ended questions for clarification. If the user wants to call the system unit the modem, let them do so, and you should do the same so as not to confuse them.
4. One step at a time. Make sure that you and the caller are on the same page. Ask the caller to do something and have them tell you what they are going to do before they do it. i.e. if you want them to hit ctrl-alt-del, you'll tell them to hold down the control key, and at the same time hold down the alt key, and then hit delete. Make sure they can repeat the instructions before you have them actually do it.
5. Take copious notes. You are documenting for the future, not for the moment. Set a personal standard in your note taking that a perfect stranger can open your notes in three weeks and not only fully understand the problem, but understand how you resolved the problem and what relevant steps you took in getting there.
(Continued)
by diabetic
6. Focus on one problem at a time. In other words, don't let the caller sidetrack you with a laundry list of problems. Focus on resolving one problem at a time and stick to that problem. Help the caller understand that once you fix the first problem you will address the second problem. Be patient!!!
7. Isolate the problem. Is it the processor, memory, hard drive, modem, network? Once you have the problem isolated, try and pinpoint the cause of the problem. Don't just document what doesn't work, document what does work as well. For example, if the user is dealing with a networkproblem that could be rights, or could be connectivity, or could be an application, determine if others at that location have the same problem. Also determine ifthe problem continues even if the caller moves to another machine. This infomration gathering is all part of putting together the puzzle and is especially useful if you have to pass the problem on to another techician or to field support.
8. Once you have pinpointed the problem and the cause, determine a course of action. Can this be fixed over the phone? Does it need a replacement part? Does a third party vendor need to be called in? Does a technican need to go onsite?
9. Test and verify. if you have been able to ffect a fix over the telephone, make sure that you test that your fixhas worked, this is important not only to for you, but your caller needs to be assured that the fix you have implemented works.
10. Document your results.
Hope these are helpful. If you need specific troubleshooting guides for different types of hardware, let me know.
Humbly submitted,
Diabetic
by jas_kumar
by army45
add a point,
the caller may sound like he is attacking You personally, when he is not and is just upset. so keep a soft tone, and calm him down, and get to the point of question in question.
by jas_kumar
by jas_kumar
by peterst
Have a look at the downloads on the Tech Republic web site. Otherwise, for MS products the support section of there web site has a question/answer based fault finding tool.
Beyond the basics, any crib sheets or fault finding flow charts you need will have to be developed depending on your suported environment.
by jas_kumar
by opus100
Check out this web site, http://www.scinc.org/
Under the publications area they have some good articles on troubleshooting. These are on the troubleshooting process itself, nothing on specific applcations or operating systems.
You need to register with the site to get in, it's free.
You could always purcahse a knowledge base to integrate with your problem traking software. There are many KB applications that cover just about any app/os.
Good luck.
Ken
by jas_kumar
by jas_kumar
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