Requesting Support

Before making a request, please gather the required information, choose the most suitable contact method, and select the most appropriate contact point.

Information to Include in Requests

• For hardware faults please include the following:
  • room number
  • equipment ID (usually stenciled on the case)
• For software problems please include the following:
  • a complete description of the problem, including the error message or other output of the command and any verbose or debugging output of the command when run with the verbose or debug option (read the man page for the correct option)
  • all information required to reproduce the problem, including:
    • the hostname
    • the complete command line, including the full path of all commands (use type -p command to get the full path)
  • what you have done to try and identify the problem, including:
    • what documentation have you read (e.g. the man page, the software package homepage, the Computing Systems Documentation, the Help Desk FAQs, Google for the error message)
    • using other versions of the same command, using the same command on a different machine, reverting to the default environment.
• For purchasing requests, please read the purchasing policies and guidelines beforehand and include this information:
  • the account from which funds will be provided.
• Please include details of any applicable deadlines and consequences if they are not met.
• Please make the subject line as descriptive as possible, while keeping within one line.

Contact Methods

In general you should use the following order of preference when choosing a contact method:

1. Request Tracking System

   Users with a Departmental account can use the web interface (follow the links in the next section to make a request). See the Request Tracking System documentation for more information.

2. Email

   Anyone can submit requests via email. These are forwarded into the request tracking system. If you send mail from other than the Departmental mail system you will need to append @csse.unimelb.edu.au to the queue mail address (e.g. nobody would become nobody@csse.unimelb.edu.au) and include your Departmental username if you have one. See the Request Tracking System documentation for more information.

3. Phone or In Person

   Before seeing someone in person, students must first obtain a referral from the Help Desk (unless the Help Desk is closed, or you have been requested to visit).

Contact Details

Please select the most appropriate contact point. If you are unsure, choose Help Desk.