UiA coordinates Help Desk Services
From Monday 4 November onwards, students and staff can get assistance at UiA Hjelp whenever they need IT assistance, new keys, academic transcripts – or if they want to borrow a book from the library.
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If you need help at the University of Agder (UiA), you can turn to hjelp@uia.no or call 38 14 10 00 from Monday 4 November onwards. If you call from an internal line, you can simply dial 10 00.
The previous telephone numbers and email addresses of the different services for IT assistance, the library, maintenance assistance, service desk and several other services, will be phased out.
“No one has ever done this before, so this is ground-breaking work. The invisible partitions between the different help desks have been taken down. We have worked very hard at mapping all services, building up a knowledge base, trained staff members and in general we have done our utmost to make the transition as smooth as possible”, says Beate Andreassen, Head of the Service Centre.
Asking for patience
Some of the co-workers of the new UiA Hjelp (left to right.): Tuva Jacob, Nicklas Iselvmo, Audun Wathne, Zainullah Beg (practice student). In front: Ardian Pasjaqa.
Even so, Andreassen is asking for some patience from all. The UiA case handling system will be restructured during the weekend before 4 November. The aim is that no one will notice anything of the changes, but there is always a risk for some complications in the beginning.
“We will need to make some further adjustments to the services in the period ahead. Next summer, we are going to renovate the service areas both in Grimstad and in Kristiansand so that they are more accessible and adapted to the new offer of services”, says Andreassen.
At Campus Kristiansand, the service desk will be located in the library – where it is today. However, instead of the earlier three separate help desk for IT-Assitance, Library and Service Centre, there will be only one point of contact, and the offer will also include UiA’s maintenance services.
“The relocation of the help desk of what used to be the Service Centre at Campus Grimstad has already been completed before last summer. This is a temporary solution; the final location of UiA Hjelp in Grimstad is under evaluation”, explains Andreassen.
Longer opening hours
Already before launching UiA Hjelp, there are some noticeable improvements. The opening hours are extended from 08:00 to 21:00 during weekdays, and the Centre will be open on Saturdays from 08:30 to15:30
The accessibility to some services, such as keys and key cards, has been extended from one hour to being accessible from 08:00 to 15:30 at both campuses.
While evaluating all the services that UiA has on offer, it became clear that there was a potential for digitalizing several services – and many of them already have been made available online.
“Even just by evaluating and mapping all services that the departments deliver, we have accomplished an improvement of quality. We expect a further benefit from an increased effectiveness, but the main objective was to simplify and improve UiA’s point of contact with students, staff members and guests”, says Assitant University Director, Solveig Margrethe Roland Svendsberget.