About the Help Desk

Who we are

The CITES Help Desk has eight full-time staff members, including a manager and assistant manager. Every staff member has earned professional certification in computer consulting.

In addition to full-time staff, the Help Desk relies on about 30 part-time student employees. Each student typically works in the Help Desk about 10 hours per week.

What we do

The CITES Help Desk is the first place for customers to go with questions about CITES services and supported software. We have extensive resources to provide answers to our customers' issues. When appropriate, the Help Desk works with CITES service managers and other staff to find a resolution to your problem. If you are inquiring about a service CITES does not provide, we will try our best to put you in touch with the right group.

In addition to handling questions about CITES services and supported software, the Help Desk provides limited troubleshooting with Windows and Mac computers. If an issue becomes too complex or time-consuming, we will refer you to a more appropriate resource such as OnSite Consulting.

The CITES Help Desk helps approximately 5,000 customers a month. Our busiest month is August, when our traffic typically doubles. We continuously measure how many people contact the Help Desk and our performance as we assist them. These statistics are publicly available on our Monthly Reports web page.

The CITES Help Desk also facilitates the monthly meetings for the Help Desk Consortium, which is a campus group for customer computer support staff.