This week in Tech Bits, I wanted to cover the concept behind the OIT Knowledge Base, the changes we have made to that system in the last week, and why the Knowledge Base is something you should know about and use.
By definition, the Knowledge Base is a special kind of database for knowledge management. Here at SCSU, it is a location where the Office of Information Technology can create and publish documents in How-To format that can help solve common questions that the Help Desk deals with frequently throughout the course of a work day. These documents have been formatted for ease of use with screenshots and attachments. Also, the Knowledge Base is a location where you can find Global Outages and Alerts that relate to technology. The list below is just a small sampling of the student-based documentation you can find in the Knowledge Base. As of today, there are 65 How-To documents in the KB that relate to students, faculty and staff.
● How to set up OWLs Mail on your Smart Phone (http://kb.southernct.edu/issue/1/73042)
● How to forward email out of OWLs (http://kb.southernct.edu/issue/1/73033)
● How to connect to the SouthernCT Wireless Network (http://kb.southernct.edu/issue/1/72760)
● How to stop failing the requirements for Clean Access (http://kb.southernct.edu/issue/1/72758)
● How to check midterm or final grades (http://kb.southernct.edu/issue/1/72843)
● How to set-up your hub in your dorm room properly (http://kb.southernct.edu/issue/1/81673)
With regards to documentation, the Knowledge Base has been a great tool for students, faculty and staff. Each KB article outlines who is effected (Students, Faculty, Staff, etc.), what the problem is, what the solution is, step-by-step documentation, and often has an attachment with screenshots.
Up until last week, the Knowledge Base was only available while on the SCSU Network. On Thursday of last week, we moved the Knowledge Base to the World Wide Web and you can now view these documents from home or on your smartphone. More importantly, our Knowledge Base is linked to our Facebook account and Twitter account. Knowledge Base articles are automatically posted on our social media sites in an effort to distribute this information to people in real-time with social collaboration in mind. Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter and we’ll post on the page when the Internet goes down, when there are problems with email, and when any other global IT issue arises (planned or unplanned.)
The KB is more than just documentation. You can also sign into the website using your NetID and review the status of any open tickets you have with the Help Desk, update information in those tickets or review the contents of closed work orders you may have had in the past. Also, you can create new work orders without having to call us. Today, 50 percent of the inquiries to OIT are by phone and 25 percent are by email. We (OIT Help Desk) hope to move the campus in a direction where the bulk of our work orders are self-submitted using the KB website.
As of today, when you use the Knowledge Base website to create your own work order, you are only required to enter a Summary of problem, Contact phone number, and detailed description of the problem. In the future, we hope to release a self-help work flow that will walk you through fixing your own problem using the web submission venue.
The Knowledge Base has been a great tool for OIT, and we look forward to filling the database with hundreds of documents that will help the campus better understand the IT Tools and Services we offer. I am confident that you will find it just as advantageous to you as you move forward with your academic or professional career.
Looking forward to new directions,
Nick Valsamis Help Desk Manager http://www.facebook.com/scsuhelpdesk
