12.6 SupportHelpdesk

12.6 Support/Helpdesk

The support department guides and advises users of a system. It also forms the connection between users and those responsible for maintaining the system by registering and possibly following up on relevant events. Support personnel must have thorough knowledge of the configuration management tool(s) used for registering events and extracting information in the metadatabase(s). They must also know about information available for configuration management items and event registrations, and how fast it can be obtained.

The staff of the support department or helpdesk may take advantage of information in configuration management to solve their support tasks . Their activities typically include

• Registering relevant events with a correct statement of required information

• Following up on registered events to the extent required of them. This may involve handing over ownership of the event registration to the configuration control board.

• Gathering information from the configuration management system(s) when answering inquiries and registering events. This may be

  - Information on registration of similar events

  - Identification of configuration items in use

  - A temporary solution for a problem (workaround)

  - A change history for a configuration item (a complete system or part of a system)

  - Information on contents of deliveries

  - Progress of an event registration

References

More details about relevant subjects may be found in Chapters 7 and 8Event Registration.