Helpdesk
Helpdesk
UHI learning and information services helpdesk
The learning and information services helpdesk (UHI helpdesk) is available to all students and staff within UHI and is the first port of call for any technical queries about the various services we operate.
We are open from Monday to Friday from 09.00 to 17.00. Please contact us on ext:150 (internal) or 01463 279150,
Email: 150@uhi.ac.uk or use the online logging form.
Service status / current outages
Log a call with the helpdesk
Use this facility to submit an online help enquiry to the UHI helpdesk team. You will be redirected to an online form which you may use to submit your query.
Alternatively call 150 / 01463 279150
Login to check the status of your existing calls
This feature is only available to users accessing from sites within the UHI network, or by using the web browsers provided within the myUHI service.
Self help
Self help / user guides / further information
Email/Groupwise 
Telephony 
Video conferencing 
myUhi
'How to...' user guides for some Microsoft Office 10 applications
A list of links to plugins and software frequently required to access UHI systems such as MyUHI/Citrix, and the VLE.
Status of regional network nodes
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Local support in colleges and academic partners
Most colleges within UHI now have IT support onsite whose duties include dealing with users' queries and requirements. If you don't know who provides your local support, ask in your department or college, or consult your organisation's web page.
Acceptable use policy: students / staff
Logins
Login to:
Webmail | MyUHI | UHI Records (Evision) | VLE
Analyst login
Use this facilty if you are an approved UHI helpdesk analyst.
If you are outwith the main UHI network, please call 01463 279150 for assistance or access via a browser in myUHI.
If you have any complaints, praise or suggestions about the work of the helpdesk please e-mail the head of IT services, Mike MacDonald or use our feedback form.
The information in these documents may be available in other forms. Please telephone the LIS helpdesk coordinator on 150 / 01463 279150 or e-mail the helpdesk to discuss what is available, any special requirements for presentation and how we could meet them.
Our role
The role of the helpdesk
One of the tasks of the helpdesk is to help students and staff of UHI to be more productive through the use of the facilities it provides. Available technology is of limited effectiveness to many people unless they are also helped to use that technology and are given assistance when they encounter problems with it. In return the LIS team has the opportunity to gain valuable feedback about the way facilities are used and what the real requirements are.
The helpdesk was set up to handle users' initial calls for technical assistance, with the following goals in mind:
- to provide a focus within the service for users to obtain technical assistance;
- to offer prompt and efficient front-line assistance, with the aim of answering as many routine questions as possible;
- if the call is not resolved at the helpdesk, to pass it on to an appropriate specialist if available within the service;
- to provide feedback within the service about common problems encountered by users, which might indicate the need for further courses, documentation or a change in what is provided;
- to record the details of a call and any initial advice given so that we can refer to statistics and case histories if required.
Although the helpdesk resolves the majority of problems it receives directly, it is only the first link in a chain of processes involved in providing technical assistance to users. The helpdesk is backed up by a full team of IT experts, who can handle the more specialised problems. If a particular problem cannot be resolved at the helpdesk it will be passed to the experts for advice and/or action.
It is also possible that local support provided by the user's college or department may be more appropriate.
Call logging
Whenever you contact the helpdesk by phone or in person you will be asked for your user identifier (student number or staff ID), so that your query can be logged in our call logging system. If the helpdesk cannot resolve your question directly you will be given a call reference number via our automated email system. We request that you use the call reference number when contacting the helpdesk subsequently about that problem.
The call logging system ensures that calls are not "lost". Outstanding questions can be properly managed and call histories can be retrieved if appropriate. The call logging system also helps us to monitor trends and can be searched to identify queries which recur frequently, for which further courses, documentation, newsletter tips etc. may be needed.
Privacy statement
Privacy statement for the helpdesk and LIS
This policy relates to personal data, as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998, held on the helpdesk call logging system.
The helpdesk runs a call logging system that holds details of each call made to the helpdesk, and the progress made in dealing with it. This includes any email messages sent to or from the helpdesk email addresses.
The information is used for the following purposes.
- To track the progress of each call and to ensure that it is dealt with appropriately and in a timely manner.
- To produce statistical reports for management purposes.. Such statistics do not include personal data, but require personal data to be held, e.g. to determine the number of different customers during one year, to identify customers in order to conduct regular surveys for the Information Technology Syndicate.
- A small minority of call records are useful for dealing with subsequent problems, especially where a member of LIS staff has sent a detailed solution by email, which can then be re-used for a different call. In such cases any personal data from the original call is removed before the data is re-used.
The information is shared, as necessary, with members of LIS staff who deal with helpdesk support calls. It may be shared with departmental or college computing staff where it is appropriate that a problem be so dealt with. Other people may share some of the data where this is clearly appropriate, e.g. where the customer has already involved a third party. Access to the helpdesk database itself is restricted to staff within LIS.
If it becomes apparent that inaccurate information is held, this data can be corrected by contacting the helpdesk. Data held in some fields forms a time stamped log of information as recorded - such data cannot be considered to inaccurate by virtue of its content, but corrections as to fact can be appended to this log.
Further information can be found in the Freedom of Information pages.
Remote assistance
What is remote assistance?
Remote assistance is a new service from the UHI helpdesk which allows support analysts to connect to your computer and assist you with your problem. It allows analysts to view your desktop, control your mouse and keyboard and transfer files to and from your computer. The remote assistance software only takes a few seconds to download on a broadband connection and it will offer to remove itself from your computer once the support session is terminated. Everything the support analyst does is visible to you at all times.
What do I need in order to use remote assistance?
- Telephone beside your computer so that you can talk to a helpdesk support analyst during the support session.
- Broadband Internet connection.
- Microsoft Windows 98 or later or Mac OS X 10.2 or later.
How to use remote assistance
Telephone the UHI helpdesk on 01463 279150 and request an invitation code.
- Enter the code in the box below and click 'Get assistance'.
- Once the Fog Creek Copilot page has loaded, you must accept the Terms of Service to continue.
- You will be given a link to a program, which you should download and run to start the support session.
- When the support session starts, you must confirm that the UHI helpdesk should be allowed to control your computer.
- At the end of the support session, the Fog Creek Copilot software will offer to delete itself from your computer.
