Hi Beth,
Lately I'm conducting training sessions on Argus (collections mangement database applications) and digital imaging.
My thoughts on appropriate topics center around communication issuses that frequently occur with technology. Often users will know they can't do what they tried to do, but won't know what they are doing wrong or who to ask for help. Frustrated or panicked users aren't the best communicators and support staff often have necessary IT skills without having great communication skills. I suggest the following strategy to prevent these situations before they occur and compensate for these situations if they occur.
1. Conduct regular and thorough training for all users.
2. Compile a library for users. Technology in its various forms should be accompanied by well-labeled and concise libraries including (where appropriate) a) instructions manuals b) help resources (including names, e-mail addresses, URLs, and phone numbers as appropriate), c) data dictionary, d) vocabulary controls
3. Keep accurate notes of all work sessions. These notes should include a) what your intended task was b) key strokes to achieve this task, c) the actual outcome of your intent and action d) decisions you made or instruction you gained regarding the data entered, the task attempted, or the feature used. This will remind you how you accomplished tasks in the past, decisions made, and results achieved. It will also help you identify patterns of problems and better articulate problems when you report them. Efficient users will keep a log of:
a. date and time problems occured. This is the best indicator that network traffic contributed to the problem.
b. intended outcomes and key strokes that preceded error messages.
c. error messages, explanations and resolutions. This can be the best reference of who to call when problems recur.
4. When problems occur, use your work session notes to organize your thoughts into an e-mail before you call for help. The first step will help you better articulate problem when you get a support person on the phone or have to leave a message on voice mail.. This step will enable you to answer unexpected questions your support person might have and will give your support person all the details in written form without having to try to memorize them.
5. Call the right person. In smaller institutions, there may be fewer on-site resources to consider, but larger sites may have a number of folks for help. For example, your network administrator can address network problems, but probably can't address individual hardware or software problems. Larger institutions may employ IT staff including a database administrator. Your database administrator can address some software problems, but focuses on the database-specific software and might not be helpful on network issues. Your IT or IS specialist may focus on database, network, hardware or software issues. Depending on the size of the institution, the key word in these titles is probably "specialist." Smaller institutions may have a really computer-literate staffer who is actually hired to do something else, but is facile at dealing with common technology issues. Regardless of title, all these folks may or may not own gre!
at skills, but if they don't understand the circumstances, they can't quickly solve the problem.
6. Call after the e-mail is written. This gives the support person the immediate heads up that they are needed, and a written set of circumstances. They will make fewer assumptions about what you are asking them for.
I hope this helps,
Ruth Bryant Power
Database Administrator
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
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