Taking the trouble out of trouble tickets Published Aug. 13, 2010 By Staff Sgt. Justin Weaver 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- The answer may sound simple and the solution should be an easy fix, but with an average of 700 trouble tickets a month, the members of the 31st Communications Squadron has their hands full juggling each priority. "One of the main concerns I have is meeting our computer users' most pressing needs and getting the number of trouble tickets under control," said Lt. Col. Raymond Newbill, 31st CS commander. "For example, we closed 700 tickets last month, but 650 were opened. With that amount of volume, the prioritization of those often becomes difficult and we may not be getting your most urgent ones identified." The 31st CS has seen the number of trouble tickets double since a recent push of a new operating system on computers across the base. To help efficiently handle and fix each trouble ticket, Colonel Newbill is implementing new procedures and guidelines. "When you have a computer issue and you call the help desk, you are connected to either the Ramstein or Lackland help desk," Colonel Newbill said. "The customer service personnel enter the information in a database and it gets forwarded to the 31st CS Communication Focal Point. At that point, trouble tickets are prioritized based on several criteria we have developed." Properly identifying the issue and conveying how it affects each work center is one part of helping expedite priority tickets. "The urgency or seriousness of a user's issue often does not get translated into the database comment section," said Colonel Newbill. "For example, our folks may see a ticket with the issue described as 'Outlook Issues.' Once we peel back the layers a bit, we find it was actually a mission stoppage for an entire work center." In order to support the base better, the 31 CS will work to close out each squadron's top five, high priority tickets, each week. "We will deploy in three teams geographically every week to accomplish this goal," Colonel Newbill said. "We are requesting each squadron's involvement to make this process work." How to submit squadron top five issues: · Each squadron commander or point of contact will work directly with the 31st CS · Each squadron POC will be presented with a spreadsheet outlining squadron tickets · Every squadron POC will need to return the spreadsheet with their Top five by close of business each Thursday · The 31st CS will release the weekly top five squadron strike plan by 6 p.m. each Friday. · If the Top 5 squadron tickets are closed before the end of that designated day · Tickets in that local area will be prioritized by the 31st CS team and squadron POC's · The 31st CS will work the appropriate hours to fix as many assets as possible in that area · High Priority Tickets will be worked as usual "We are here to support you," Colonel Newbill added. "While we get this process in place, I realize there maybe a few bumps along the way. Please don't hesitate to call us with any concerns you may have as we smooth out the process." To identify a squadron POC, call Capt. Steven Fromm or 2nd Lt. Jeremy White at 632-7608. The CFP can be reached at 632-2666.