The Help Desk Central (HDC), a program under the Division of Information Technology of Texas A&M, assists students, faculty and staff with IT problems.
The HDC offers help digitally and in-person and is open 24/7. The number for contacting the HDC is on the back of the student IDs provided by A&M. Statewide client experience manager Scotty Shepherd said the HDC had expanded its services to provide support to more students, such as students at the Texas A&M School of Law, who are not physically part of the main campus. Shepherd said these services would be considered Tier-1 support.
Communications coordinator Bobby Bernshausen said Tier-1 support represents the first point of contact. It deals with problems such as access issues, password resets and troubleshooting with personal devices. Bernshausen said these are the issues best suited for the HDC.
“When [Shepherd] says they’re the first point of contact, they truly are,” Bernshausen said. “Somebody may say, ‘Hey, I’m having trouble with darararara’ or ‘So-n-so is down,’ then we send them to Help Desk and Help Desk starts everything. They, in other words, get the ticket going, like he was saying, and then they get everything taken care of. So that’s what we mean by, ‘They’re the first point of contact.’”
There are separate IT shops for different colleges, such as the College of Medicine or the College of Liberal Arts. Shepherd said the respective college IT shops would be greater equipped for more specific issues that would be considered Tier-2.
“[For example] with TAMU Health, they have loaner laptops that are handed out to students,” Shepherd said. “So if someone drops and breaks their laptop, that’s a College of Medicine laptop and they’re a College of Medicine student, they wouldn’t call up Help Desk Central.”
Zeke Ramirez, electrical engineering junior, said he had difficulties booting up his laptop and spent three hours trying to fix it. Afterward, Ramirez decided to take it to HDC and let them look over it. Ramirez said the staff was engaged with him and his technical issues.
“They seem like they want to help,” Ramirez said. “It’s kind of like that whole process of solving a problem. When I run something that doesn’t work, it’s almost like a problem or like a puzzle, trying to fix it. And I think they all probably have that same mindset.”
Though they eventually had to wipe the laptop clean, Ramirez said he would recommend HDC services to any Aggie having difficulties with their electronic devices.
“I’d recommend to anyone that has a problem before they start beating their head against the wall for four hours,” Ramirez said. “Go in there if you need help. It’s really convenient.”