Support and Training

There are several teams dedicated to providing technical support and on site assistance for the SMU community. If you need assistance from any of our teams, don't hesitate to contact the IT Help Desk! They will be sure to connect you to the right resource in OIT. We look forward to serving you.

IT Help Desk Hours

Contact the IT Help Desk

Providing IT support to the entire SMU campus community.

 Phone: 214-768-HELP
or
214-768-4357
 Email: help@smu.edu
 Submit a Ticket Online: help.smu.edu
 Live Chat: smu.edu/itchat
 Classroom Emergency Support: 8-8888 from any campus phone or
214-768-8888

Find the IT Help Desk

The IT Help Desk is located within the Fondren Library West lobby, adjacent to the Collaborative Commons and Starbucks Café.

Help Desk in FLW

About IT Support

The Help Desk provides support to the entire campus community. In addition to supporting current faculty, staff and students, the Help Desk provides limited assistance to retirees, parents and prospective students.  All of the Help Desk staff are HDI certified and are committed to providing exceptional service.

The Help Desk is available to answer questions regarding any of the services that IT provides and any of the software applications that we support. They are able to assist with network configurations, software troubleshooting and training, email support and configuration, and more. The Help Desk staff uses remote tools as well as a shared knowledge base to help provide resolutions to reported issues as quickly as possible. All requests for assistance are documented in the Help Desk software. If the Help Desk is unable to resolve the issue, the ticket will be routed to the appropriate IT technician for resolution. The Help Desk makes every effort to respond to each request the same day it is received.

Service Level Agreements

In order to ensure that your requests for assistance are handled in a timely manner, service level agreements have been configured in the help desk software. Each help request is assigned a priority based on the severity of the request. The "clock" starts running the minute the request is opened. As each threshold is exceeded, additional notifications are sent to the assignee to ensure that each help request is resolved appropriately. The default SLA and thresholds appear below (business hours are calculated as 8-5 Monday through Friday).

Emergency 4 hour target turn around
High 9 hour turn around
Medium 24 hour target turnaround
Low 1 week target turnaround time

The Help Desk Staff

Shanta Ball, Help Desk Manager HDI Certified Help Desk Manager, HDI ITL® 4 Certified, Certified Apple Care Service Provider, MOS Outlook, MOS Word, MOS Powerpoint
Jonathan Bull, Student Employee Manager HDI Certified Analyst, HDI Support Center Team Lead, MOS Outlook
Blake Zimmerman, Senior Help Desk
HDI Certified Analyst
Rebecca Hernandez, Senior Help Desk
HDI Certified Analyst
Margaret Dew
HDI Certified Analyst
Ashlee Berry
HDI Certified Analyst, MOS Outlook
David Mourlam

Vanessa Bermudez
 

On Site Support

There are a number of teams that are dispatched to the various offices or locations to provide specialized support. To view the list of personnel, consult the OIT Org chart. In addition to the teams below, all of OIT is eager to serve the needs of our campus community. Simply contact the IT Help Desk and they will be sure to connect you with the correct resource.

A team of 9 consultants are distributed throughout main campus to provide on site or in depth remote support to faculty and staff. Requests for assistance should be directed to the help desk first.

Hardware Repair and Computer Deployment

OIT provides hardware repair services and computer installation services for campus faculty and staff.

Emergency response to classroom technology support is provided by multiple teams within Customer Service.

Remote Support Teams

IT personnel are also available onsite on the Taos campus.

The Academic Technology Service Directors, stationed within each school, provide valuable consultation and assistance to faculty and staff.

Lab Management

A team within the Client Services team is responsible for overseeing the various computer labs on campus. They ensure the computers are functioning properly, updated regularly, and maintained.

AV and Event Support

The AV and Event Support team provides AV support for pre-planned events on campus. Please click on the hyperlink above to submit an event support request.