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So, at the IT service desk at The Client, there are four networks we do work on, although only two (NetA and NetB) get the majority of calls. We still do occasionally have to field calls for the other two (NetC and NetD), and most of the time, those calls are for password resets.
Since moving back to the IT Service Desk this summer, though, the admin tools I have to use on NetD haven't been working. I keep getting an error message whenever I try to launch them.
I didn't realize this for a couple of months, because there were delays in getting my admin account on NetD activated. Once it happened, though, and the error popped up, I waited again until all my access requests went through, figuring that it was a result of one of those that I couldn't use the admin tools. Then all my access requests were finished, and I still couldn't use the tools.
So, I put in a trouble ticket about it, albeit with a relatively low priority. After all, 99 out of 100 calls will be for NetA or NetB, not for NetD.
A month later, with no response on the ticket, I sent an escalation request up to the group to which it was assigned. Nothing major, just a simple "hey, this request has been sitting in your queue for a while, could you take a look at it" kind of email. I made a note of it on the ticket as well.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the ticket had been closed as "resolved." I checked NetD-- nope, the tools still don't work. I checked the ticket, and there was NOTHING on the ticket except for the note I'd made when I put the escalation request in. So I reopened the ticket, and noted that I'd done so in the ticket, but I did ALL CAPS my notation on it, noting that nothing had been done and the problem remained.
Fast forward to this week, when I finally hear back from someone. Tech Guy, as I'll call him, shoots me an email with a recommendation for the fix. Basically to install an update to the tools to see if that gets them working. Alas, I hit another error message that the system admin has locked out install rights on the workstation. I grab Tech Guy on IM and let him know about the new error. He asks me to log out so he can remotely log into the workstation and update it himself.
After he's done, he tells me to go ahead and try using the tools. Nope, same error pops up. I decide to try logging into a NetD workstation at another cubicle-- one where I know the tools are working-- to see if the problem follows me. Which it does. I let Tech Guy know, and he checks the permissions and group memberships my NetD admin account has. There was one missing, which he adds in, but alas, the error STILL occurs.
I even try rebooting my NetD workstation a couple of times, to see if the updates Tech Guy had done had maybe just not applied themselves properly, but nope, the error still pops up. By this point, Tech Guy is running low on ideas, and says he'll get back to me after talking with some colleagues.
I get an IM from him later that says I had been accidentally added to some group that might have been affecting my ability to use the tools. He removes me from it and asks me to try again. By the time I see the IM and respond to it, he's already left for the day, so I send him an email with my results: nope, the error is STILL occurring.
The next day (yesterday), I see an email from him citing something else he'd tried, but once again NetD's admin tools give me the error again. This time Tech Guy comes up to the office personally to take a look at it, and he admits to being stumped. There's no explanation for why it's affecting me this way. We try a few more possible fixes, but that same error keeps popping up. Tech Guy goes back to his office to ask around and work some more on finding a solution.
In a way, I'm glad that this problem is not an easy fix. After more than two months with no action being taken on this problem, if it had been fixed so quickly, I'd have been pissed off that it had taken so long for someone to 'press the button,' as it were.
Naturally, I seem to get more of the NetD calls than anyone else, and I can't just pass the call off to someone else who has a working NetD account. Sigh.
Since moving back to the IT Service Desk this summer, though, the admin tools I have to use on NetD haven't been working. I keep getting an error message whenever I try to launch them.
I didn't realize this for a couple of months, because there were delays in getting my admin account on NetD activated. Once it happened, though, and the error popped up, I waited again until all my access requests went through, figuring that it was a result of one of those that I couldn't use the admin tools. Then all my access requests were finished, and I still couldn't use the tools.
So, I put in a trouble ticket about it, albeit with a relatively low priority. After all, 99 out of 100 calls will be for NetA or NetB, not for NetD.
A month later, with no response on the ticket, I sent an escalation request up to the group to which it was assigned. Nothing major, just a simple "hey, this request has been sitting in your queue for a while, could you take a look at it" kind of email. I made a note of it on the ticket as well.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the ticket had been closed as "resolved." I checked NetD-- nope, the tools still don't work. I checked the ticket, and there was NOTHING on the ticket except for the note I'd made when I put the escalation request in. So I reopened the ticket, and noted that I'd done so in the ticket, but I did ALL CAPS my notation on it, noting that nothing had been done and the problem remained.
Fast forward to this week, when I finally hear back from someone. Tech Guy, as I'll call him, shoots me an email with a recommendation for the fix. Basically to install an update to the tools to see if that gets them working. Alas, I hit another error message that the system admin has locked out install rights on the workstation. I grab Tech Guy on IM and let him know about the new error. He asks me to log out so he can remotely log into the workstation and update it himself.
After he's done, he tells me to go ahead and try using the tools. Nope, same error pops up. I decide to try logging into a NetD workstation at another cubicle-- one where I know the tools are working-- to see if the problem follows me. Which it does. I let Tech Guy know, and he checks the permissions and group memberships my NetD admin account has. There was one missing, which he adds in, but alas, the error STILL occurs.
I even try rebooting my NetD workstation a couple of times, to see if the updates Tech Guy had done had maybe just not applied themselves properly, but nope, the error still pops up. By this point, Tech Guy is running low on ideas, and says he'll get back to me after talking with some colleagues.
I get an IM from him later that says I had been accidentally added to some group that might have been affecting my ability to use the tools. He removes me from it and asks me to try again. By the time I see the IM and respond to it, he's already left for the day, so I send him an email with my results: nope, the error is STILL occurring.
The next day (yesterday), I see an email from him citing something else he'd tried, but once again NetD's admin tools give me the error again. This time Tech Guy comes up to the office personally to take a look at it, and he admits to being stumped. There's no explanation for why it's affecting me this way. We try a few more possible fixes, but that same error keeps popping up. Tech Guy goes back to his office to ask around and work some more on finding a solution.
In a way, I'm glad that this problem is not an easy fix. After more than two months with no action being taken on this problem, if it had been fixed so quickly, I'd have been pissed off that it had taken so long for someone to 'press the button,' as it were.
Naturally, I seem to get more of the NetD calls than anyone else, and I can't just pass the call off to someone else who has a working NetD account. Sigh.
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