Stabbed in the Back at Work.

0neAnd0nly said:
Most people ring or email, what can I do, tell them to use spiceworks and spend half an hour showing each one how to use the program ! I think I'd get a lot worse feedback by doing that personally.
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what you can do is start keeping your own work log, when your called or emailed just jot it down, no need to go into great detail, just along the lines of called at 10.00 by joe bloggs to fix blah blah, task completed by 10.30.

that way if HR pulls you again about supposedly not pulling your weight or refusing to do jobs, you'll have something to reference.
 
If there's a system in place for requesting tech help use it. It's a means of proving what work you've been doing. If people can't use the system, **** em. You're getting flack because they're either to lazy or to stupid to raise a ticket issue.
 
0neAnd0nly said:
The problem is it uses a server based form of Spiceworks and its very slow and usually says server is too busy. I have half hour for lunch but a part from that I'm constantly dealing with issues people have. Most people don't use or don't even know about Spiceworks that work there, I've started using spiceworks to add tickets that I've already done but here is so many to add in a very short about of time left after I finished my dinner.

Most people ring or email, what can I do, tell them to use spiceworks and spend half an hour showing each one how to use the program ! I think I'd get a lot worse feedback by doing that personally.
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And those are problems to bring up with your manager, not your problems. You need to realise that by doing work outside of the ticketing system you're screwing yourself in the end. Other people might say thanks but casual words won't help you, whether you raise tickets in the system or they do, they need to be raised.
 
Atrox Moris said:
If there's a system in place for requesting tech help use it. It's a means of proving what work you've been doing. If people can't use the system, **** em. You're getting flack because they're either to lazy or to stupid to raise a ticket issue.
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bigredshark said:
And those are problems to bring up with your manager, not your problems. You need to realise that by doing work outside of the ticketing system you're screwing yourself in the end. Other people might say thanks but casual words won't help you, whether you raise tickets in the system or they do, they need to be raised.
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In all fairness to the staff, the program is not the most user-friendly for basic computer users and if the server struggles to handle more than one or two users they'll be phoning me to say the server is down or they can't do it.

Some of the roles of the staff are important, some deal with customers, despatch, CAD, deliveries, payroll . . . if there is a major delay with some of their tasks, the company could get a bad rep or lose a lot of money See there is a big catch to the company processes, hopefully the restructure could consider this :P
 
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VoG said:
what you can do is start keeping your own work log, when your called or emailed just jot it down, no need to go into great detail, just along the lines of called at 10.00 by joe bloggs to fix blah blah, task completed by 10.30.

that way if HR pulls you again about supposedly not pulling your weight or refusing to do jobs, you'll have something to reference.
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Personally I'd be annoyed if people working for me did that instead of using the ticketing system...seriously, they exist for a reason, because in 5 minutes I can find out which systems cause the most issues, which departments request support most often, how long it takes to respond to and fix an issue and any number of others things. Somebodies scribbled notes are a lot less helpful than a database you can interrogate at will...
 
Get spiceworks to automatically pick up emails and log a call from a mailbox. Get all users to email to that inbox ([email protected]) for instance and then all you have to do is update the call with a resolution and close it when you are done. That way everything is logged. If someone phones you say you will get right on but ask that they email the request through so that there is a log of it.
 
bigredshark said:
Personally I'd be annoyed if people working for me did that instead of using the ticketing system...seriously, they exist for a reason, because in 5 minutes I can find out which systems cause the most issues, which departments request support most often, how long it takes to respond to and fix an issue and any number of others things. Somebodies scribbled notes are a lot less helpful than a database you can interrogate at will...
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Absolutely, probably the most unrecognised but joint most important factor of a proper ticket system.

As a user its frustrating when you dont get immediate service or have to go through the hoops about saying you have this blah blah this etc
BUT, if the data is used properly IT should be learning whats the score, is someone failing to submit access requests, is a piece of software/hardware an issue, is a department badly trained or shock horror not capable of basic IT etc. loads of good stuff tobe learnt from logs if someone takes the time to understand.

Suggestion to OP. Stop taking the phone calls, get people to fill in a word doc (email to you) if the ticket system is that bad, and then you can print and write what you do on that. Ask to speak to your manager and say look im having problems with the ticket system so until its fixed here is the solution I am adopting, it means we lose no data and yet I am still very reactive to users on fixing what they need. Show initiative in the solution and the problem, dont be one of them who just says "system doesnt work".

Then at the end of each week summarise the documents even if this is at home watching TV, send you manager a summary of the tickets you have dealt with. He may be very surprised in the work your doing but also the data. If possible identify any issues and suggest solutions.
 
0neAnd0nly said:
I totally agree, I'm trying to save emails but there are a lot of people who don't reply after the job is fixed due to busy roles themselves. They usually thank me on passing or buy me a coffee haha.

Any idea how I can document everything ?
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This is the line i'd be going down - documenting and logging everything.

Ultimately you'll need some kind of system to log problems, log what you did to resolve them, and how long it took. Ideally you'd also need a word document. a quick 1/2 page one to act as a feedback form. Ask what was done well, and ask what could be done to improve the service they receive. Ask them to print it off and fill in anonymously to get ultimately honest answers

The system we use at work is called Easy CMDB http://www.easycmdb.com/Pricing.php Its a one off licensing fee and 250 CIs for the small business fee should be up to your requirements. You can create an incident for every specifc call, attach a document to that incident with the feedback form in it, it will automatically log times and dates for you etc..This is the sort of thing you need.

If the idea of paying sounds crap - then think about how you can improve the process of dealing with support calls with the system you've already got. In every IT job i've ever done, the logging of the notes about the problem has been done with the user on the phone. Get yourself a headset and type as they talk - that way its logged each and every time. Look into spiceworks and see if you can get it to create a ticket if it receives an email from a certain address. Our easy cmdb can do that, user sends an e-mail, automatically gets an email response with a ticket (we call them incident numbers, ITIL crap and all that) and you get something on your system with the entire body of their email in it.

Then all you need to do is keep on top of updating it when you're done.

That way when somebody else who isn't the person you ultimately dealt with gets funny, you have evidence to back up what you've been doing and how well.
 
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Op, if anyone asks you to do a job for them over the phone or by email ask them politely that they send it through spice, as it is affecting your performance statistics.
 
When someone asks me to do a task ill ask for them to put a ticket in for some good reasons:

1) Aids in communication
2) All infomation is to hand
3) The ticket system reminds me through out and logs my process
4) Can serve as a guide to other engineers
 
When people call just tell them that company policy is for them to report it via the ticket system and that the phone line is just for problems regarding the system.

If they're emailing they're doing almost the same thing as writing a ticket so just get them to switch over or see if emails can be incorporated into the loggin system in some way.
 
I experienced stuff like this when I was in my late teens, starting out in the workplace. People trying to take advantage of my youthful willingness to help, possibly feeling a bit threatened by the new kid.

It's best to take things day by day & concentrate on your own stuff no matter what everyone else is up to. If management or HR want to discuss your performance get them to be specific, if they allude to any areas you aren't performing well in "so & so says this" isn't good enough, get them to be specific about your actual job performance, what you are doing wrong. Actually ask them "what am I doing wrong?" "What do I need to do to correct this?" Don't worry about who said what, just stick to what relates to your work.

The workplace is full of people we don't choose to be with, but we all have to earn a living & put up with the odd a**hole to do so, it's part of life. All this stuff is good experience, gives you the ability to cope with stressful situations. Hang in there mate & don't let the b***tards grind you down!
 
Advice from my wife who works in managment has given me. "Never trust anyone you work with"

Hard to do but from some personal experiences it's the thing to do..
 
I know how you feel OP. I had an accident whilst raising thousands for charity on behalf of my work (who seriously need the good press). Now because I've had roughly a month so far off for an operation to correct my injuries, a colleague is basically being trained to do the job I'm supposed to have.
I work so hard for this job and doing these added extras and as soon as i walked out that building I've been betrayed multiple times.
 
0neAnd0nly said:
Most people ring or email, what can I do, tell them to use spiceworks and spend half an hour showing each one how to use the program ! I think I'd get a lot worse feedback by doing that personally.
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Any idea how I can document everything ?
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You asnwered your own question. the users need to start using the system, get management to sort it out.
 
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