Information Technology’s Help Desk, which for SIUC computer users is the one place on campus they can go with any computing questions, has been closed down for what could be a year.

A reason for the shut down, according to C. Michael Williams, executive director for budgeting and information resources, is because there is no money available to hire and train the personnel needed for the new IT Customer Service Center, which was to take the place of the Help Desk.

The Desk, originally located in the basement of the Communications Building, was shut down at the suggestion of IBM, which studied all of IT’s operations and suggested that a new customer service center replace the Help Desk.

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Williams said a new help desk, which will be called the Customer Service Center, is already in place. IT has rented space in Lentz Hall at Thompson Point and new computers and software are being installed now. The new equipment should be operational by Sept. 30, he said.

The problem blocking the opening of the new Customer Service Center is that more people are needed to run the new operation, Williams said, but more importantly, the money to hire and train these people is just not there.

We could reopen (the Center) right now if we had the people and money to train those people, Williams said. Money will be needed for courses, travel and consultants.

Williams said he feels it would be a mistake to open the center now with a minimal staff because that would be contradictory to the purpose of the new center. It would repeat the problems of the Help Desk.

Skills were lacking and the training (for the old staff) was not enough, Williams said. There were three students and four regular staff for 25,000 people.

As things were, there was no help desk, he said. This is not condemning the people. They were just overworked.

But the closure has left a hole in IT’s ability to help students with problems they may encounter either working with computer systems on campus or working off campus with the University’s system on-line.

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Lindsey C. Lawwill, the former Help Desk manager, said I would expect there is a noticeable hole, especially because of the timing. We are at the beginning of a new semester. We have new software and there is a new security system that students will have questions about.

Between the walk-in customers and the one phone line, Lawwill said they were always busy. Even so, he agreed with Williams that something new was needed.

The old Help Desk as we knew it needed more people and better software, he said. Our problem-tracking programs were in-house and not commercial. They did not help very much because they did not provide an immediate response.

Mark Collins, a senior in industrial technology from Downers Grove, said he used the Help Desk for one of his computer science classes.

I was unfamiliar with the CWIS (Campus Wide Information System) as well as other aspects of the system like getting on-line, Collins said. It would have taken me much longer to learn the system and it would have hurt my work in class.

Computer Science Chairman Kenneth Danhof said the shut down of the Help Desk is a disappointment for him and his department because it comes at a time when the students are really going to need it.

What you want with these new systems and equipment is effective utilization by the students, Danhof said. You don’t like to see the systems go down, if I can use that term, or new systems causing confusion.

Because no money is available to open the new center, Williams said he will have to wait until next year, when the budget for Fiscal Year 1997 is figured out, to get the funds he needs.

Williams said he expects criticism for his decision to keep the new Center closed, but he defended it by saying it was not a ploy to get more money sooner.

He said the only way he can get more money is to ask SIUC President John Guyon for the funds or reallocate the current IT resources.

I can’t fault the president for not having the money to give, he said. I know people will ask Are you whining when everyone else needs money too?’

My reason for closing is this:Why not wait and get what you need and then reopen going down a new road? Williams said. We were going to have to stop sometime and start over. Why not now?

Williams did not say how much money he would need for the new people and the staff, but he did say he would like to see 17 full-time staff brought on in order to make the new center effective.

With the average civil servant yearly salary at SIUC standing at slightly less than $34,000, the cost in staff alone would be nearly $600,000. That is not including the cost of training Williams said the staff would need.

Also, Williams provided figures showing that IT has already committed nearly $538,000 on the new center. This cost includes the rent for the Lentz Hall space, a rewiring of the building, new computers and software as well as new furniture.

Lawwill said even with all these new features, he foresees two possible outcomes from the shut down of the Help Desk. The longer the center stays closed, the more time there will be for training any new staff the center aquires.

But he also said the longer it stays closed, the more chance there will be of customers finding help elsewhere. This would mean when and if the center does open, there will be less people who will need its services.

The way I see it, either or both could end up being true, he said. It all depends on how long it takes.