Changes to JASMIN Helpdesk

Posted on June 16, 2020  (Last modified on October 19, 2023) • 3 min read • 494 words

We are pleased to announce some changes to our user support services, aimed at improving the experience for users and making our helpdesk processes more efficient.

Please take note of the following changes that will take effect from today:

1. Email changed to support@jasmin.ac.uk

All user queries related to JASMIN services should now be sent to our new email: support@jasmin.ac.uk  All existing queries will be replied to from this new email address. 

Please note that the support@ceda.ac.uk email address is now dedicated to support CEDA Archive and data service related issues only (e.g. data access).

2. Submit issues via our help beacon

On JASMIN-related websites, there is now a help beacon (shown by an orange question mark in the bottom right corner). The help beacon can be used to search our help documents but also to submit helpdesk queries, with some drop-down options to help you self-categorise your own issue. We encourage all users to make use of submitting your query via this method.

Why have we made these changes?

We believe these changes will help to make our helpdesk processes more efficient, with benefits for both users and the JASMIN team.

Using separate email addresses for our two key services (JASMIN and the CEDA Archive) means we will be able to categorise queries more appropriately and direct them more easily to the right person. We also anticipate improved analytics for each service, enabling us to better focus our efforts to improve systems and services.  

By encouraging users to use the beacon to categorise your query, it should help to speed up the process for assigning issues to the appropriate JASMIN team member. 

The main changes have now been completed but we anticipate that some web pages and documentation may take us a while to update with the new helpdesk details. As with all changes, it will take us (and you!) time to adjust - we would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions/comments on these changes.

A reminder of good practices to follow when contacting the helpdesk

Please follow these steps to help us resolve your query more quickly: 

• Only include one issue per query submitted. When multiple issues are submitted in one email chain, it makes it very difficult for the team to distinguish and address each issue. If you have multiple issues, please submit separate emails for them.
• When letting us know about an issue (e.g. perceived slow performance), please give concise but specific evidence of what happened and when, and where. See here about the kind of detail we need. Sometimes we won’t be able to investigate your issue until we have this detail.
• JASMIN is a unique and complex service supported by a relatively small team. We do our best to investigate and resolve issues for you, but it’s not always possible to do this quickly, particularly in the current situation where staff are working remotely and access to machine room environments is restricted.

Best wishes,
JASMIN team