Tips For Communicating Your Issue

Context is key to troubleshoot issues quickly and efficiently. When filing a ticket or discussing your issue with a technician, here are some key questions to consider.

Not every question below will apply to every ticket, and you do not need to send us a bullet point list of answers to each question, But these provide context that technicians commonly need to identify the issue, so you should keep these in mind when describing your issue.

Before Contacting Us... 

Consider these questions and resources to see if there's a quick solution that can be performed without a technician. 

1. Have you looked through our Solutions database? Did you follow any instructions that didn't resolve the issue, or that wound up being different from your problem? 
    
   
2. For employees, check that you are properly logged in. This is especially important for Network Resources (i.e. O: drive, printers), since they are tied directly to your individual account and require you to be connected to our campus network. 
   1. If you’re on a shared computer, are you logged into your own account? 
   2. If you're on a laptop, or you don't have a wired internet connection, are you connecting to KUAIR or CougarNet?
      If you are on KUAIR, switch to CougarNet and try again. 
   3. If you are off-campus, or if your position requires a VPN, are you logged into the VPN? Is it currently active?

What are you using? 

1) Are you on Windows, or Mac?

• Most Kean-owned computers are Windows computers, but there are a number of Mac computers on campus. 
• If you’re not sure, you can usually tell by the physical appearance of the computer – Mac computers will usually be white, and the Apple Logo is on the backside of the monitor. 
• Mac computers will also show an Apple icon at the top left of the screen, while Windows computers will have the four-square Windows icon in a corner (usually the bottom left).

2) Are you on a laptop or a desktop computer? 

• If you are a student with an issue on your machine, or if you are reporting an issue for a laptop cart, please let us know if you are using a Chromebook. There are some known limitations to what Chromebooks can do (such as LockDown Browser). 

3) If you are on the internet, which web browser are you using? 

• Most of the university uses Google Chrome or Edge. If you are not sure, see our guide to internet browsers.

4) What applications or webpages are you trying to use?  

• Include the application's name in your ticket description, and make sure the Category field is appropriate. If you do not know the appropriate category, leave it as is.
• Our system is configured to identify the most appropriate division to handle the ticket. However, if a ticket is vague, it will have to be manually sorted.
• For example, if your ticket references "Canvas", "Ellucian", etc., it will be automatically assigned to our teams who maintain those systems. However, if your ticket merely includes a reference to a course, the system will not be able to identify that it is a Canvas course.
  
  

• “Network” printers are usually Xeroxes shared by multiple people in a department, but they can be smaller printers. They usually have a naming format similar to “BUILDING_ROOM_DEPARTMENT” and require that your username is given access to use it just like a shared drive. 
• A “local” printer is always a tabletop printer, and often may look like a home printer. Technicians set these up directly to your computer through the internet or through a cable, not to your username.
• These two printers require different resources and technicians to troubleshoot. If you are unsure of what type of printer it is, the name displayed on your computer will help us identify it.

What’s happening? 

1) What specific steps are you doing, and what are you trying to accomplish?

Does the problem happen when you go to a specific page, or use a specific feature (such as printing)? What are you doing before the problem happens? How are you getting it?  

3) Are you receiving an error message? 

Are you not receiving an error message? What does the error message say? If you would like, you can attach a photo or a screenshot of the error message. 

4) How long has this issue been happening? 

Does it happen to anyone else? Has it happened before? Does it go away and come back? Were you able to do this task just fine before, or have you never done it? 

5) What have you tried? 

Are there any successful workarounds? What do you know doesn't work?