“A Day In The Life” is a new feature for TechTalk.  Communications employee Dana Graham, once a month, will follow around two of DIT’s “front-line” employees in order to gain a better understanding of their unit and job functions.  This information will be shared with all of DIT’s employees in hopes that we can better understand the inner workings of the department, as well as seek out areas for improvement.

This month, TechTalk features Matt Doty and Malcolm Cleveland, both technicians in our Field Services Division.  Matt and Malcolm allowed Dana to spend some time with them, taking photos and gathering information for the TechTalk articles.  By sharing both the joys and frustrations of their work, Matt and Malcolm gave us all an idea of how the Helpdesk works, and also what we can do to improve customer service.

Stay tuned each month for new “A Day In The Life” features.  If you know of an employee you think should be spotlighted in this new item, email Dana at grahamd3@michigan.gov 

Matt Doty is a member of Team D in DIT's Field Services Division.  He is currently stationed at the Operations Center at the State Secondary Complex, and serves a number of agencies throughout Lansing.  Matt came to DIT from the Department of Environmental Quality, where he worked in the Storage Tank Division.  He began his career with the State as a Student Microtech.  Matt has applied for an Associate's Degree in Digital Electronics from Lansing Community College.  Matt provides hardware and software support to various state agencies and his work as an ITT always has him doing something new.

The time I spent with Matt was at the Department of Management and Budget in the Cass Building.  During our time at DMB, Matt was working to configure several new machines - 3 laptops and 3 desktops.  By configuring one machine and creating an “image” on CD, Matt is able to duplicate that image onto other machines, rather than having to configure each individually.  On this particular help call, however, Matt ran into a problem installing Microsoft Front Page.  He worked with some other on-site DIT employees to figure out the problem, but they determined Matt would have to return the next day with a different version of the software. 

After our time at the Cass Building, Matt and I returned to his office to check his Remedy workload.  Remedy is the program that DIT's techs use to get assignments, track them, and communicate with each other about the Helpdesk calls.  Matt used the time to check in with a few customers.  He said he tries to contact each of his customers on a daily basis, be it in person, by phone or by email. He says doing this is important because often times, problems cannot be solved as quickly as a customer expects and therefore it is important to communicate with the customer.  Sometimes, a new software license is needed, or a server issue has to be resolved, or another problem arises which delays the process. 

One of the biggest frustrations Matt faces in his job is a lack of good contacts.  He says that sometimes, he'll spend 20 minutes to an hour just trying to figure out whom he needs to contact to help him resolve a problem.  For example, a section manager in DMB may initiate a Helpdesk call, saying that a software program on his machine is not working properly.  The software problem turns out to be related to a glitch in the server.  However Matt, who came to us from DEQ, does not know the ins and outs of DMB's servers, and of course the non-technical section manager from DMB does not, either.  So Matt has to make a number of phone calls to find the person who can help him with server routes and passwords.  Matt's suggestion to solve this problem is a Tech contact list - a list, separated by department, of the various people our techs need to contact to help them improve service to their customers. 

Despite the frustrations the transition to DIT has created, Matt says he really enjoys his job.  He is doing something different every day, and “it makes the job interesting,” he says.  He also enjoys seeing the way other agencies worked in the past and how other technicians supported their customers, compared to the way things work in DIT. 

Spending some time with Matt allowed me to meet and talk with some of his co-workers.  They shared some of the joys and challenges they face.  While they enjoy the opportunity to help people every day, and the fact that the job is never boring, Matt's colleagues also cited a lack of communication as a frustration.  They also thought a Tech contact list would be helpful.  Another suggestion brought up was cross training, or techs teaching each other how to serve various agencies.  The eventual goal is that each tech in DIT could address any hardware or software problem statewide. 

It is easy to see that DIT's technicians are valuable assets to the Department.  By spending some time with one of them, we can much better understand how they do their jobs.