CLASSE-IT Service Requests

Every year, CLASSE-IT receives around 3000 new requests generated by hundreds of local users housed in three different buildings on campus, as well as remote users from around the world. Because of the large volume of requests from multiple sources, we ask that, whenever possible, all requests be submitted through our ticketing system (and not by contacting individual IT group members). You may submit a ticket for any issue, large or small, whether it's a general inquiry or a specific problem.

Tickets may be submitted in one of two ways:

• Email service-classe@cornell.edu
• Fill out the ServiceRequest web form

Tickets are basically group emails that go to the entire IT group. For the list of people who receive these emails, see our call list.

Our ticketing system is very effective at:

• Ensuring that no requests get lost.
  • We hold a daily morning meeting to review our list of outstanding tickets.
  • Emails to individual IT group members do not get included in this list.
• Coordinating our work.
  • It often takes multiple IT group members to complete a task.
  • Work can continue even when some staff members are absent.
• Documenting our solutions for future reference.
• Keeping everyone in the loop.

To help us help you:

If you are unsure how to describe your problem, please open a ticket anyway. We will ask you for the information we need. However, here are some tips to help speed up the process for everyone:

• Be as specific as possible -- details matter. There are many possible causes for any problem, and the more details you provide, the quicker we can help you. Often, the key to solving a problem is buried in one of these details.
  • For example:
    • If you are using a CLASSE-managed computer, tell us the name of your computer (which usually appears on a white sticker, or in your terminal prompt).
      • If you are logged into a remote computer, we need the name of the remote computer, not the computer you are actually sitting at.
    • If you encounter an error of any sort:
      • List the exact steps that you tried. If possible, copy and paste your terminal commands along with their output (to avoid transcription errors).
      • Copy and paste the exact wording of any error messages, or include a screenshot.
    • If you have a problem with a web page, copy and paste the exact URL into your ticket.
    • If an error occurs in a batch job, send us the location of the full log file for your job.
• Submit a separate ticket for each individual problem. If you combine multiple issues in a single ticket, then one of those issues can easily get lost.
• Conversely, keep all correspondence about any given problem on the same ticket. Simply reply to a ticket email and keep the ticket number in the subject line.
• Don't submit tickets for others (unless you CC them as well). We often need to ask the person experiencing the problem for additional details.
• To include other people on a ticket, add their email addresses in the CC field when submitting a ticket.
  • Unfortunately, adding people to a ticket after it has been submitted must be done manually by an IT group member. It is not enough to CC them on an email response, so please mention it to us explicitly.
• If your request is likely to incur a cost (in time or money), please do the following in your initial request:
  • Include the WBS to be charged. We need this information to satisfy the lab's accounting and audit requirements.
  • CC the appropriate cost account manager (CAM).
  • If you are unsure of this information, ask your project manager or see these documents.
• Check our NetworkStatus page for issues we are already aware of and working on.
• If you have an urgent request, please follow up your ticket submission with a page or a phone call.

Caveats:

• Our ticketing system relies on Cornell email, and email outages have been known to occur. Also, sometimes emails are caught by Cornell's spam filter. After submitting a ticket, you should receive an automated confirmation email. If you do not receive a confirmation, please try resubmitting or paging CLASSE-IT.