Evolving our tools to improve how we support researchers on our platforms
Over the last few weeks, you may have noticed a few differences in the look and feel of our main Support channels.
NeSI's Support team has shifted to using new platforms to power its user documentation and Support Desk. The change is part of an evolution of our tools and resources to better support researchers using NeSI's computing and data services.
Shfting to "as code" approaches
Across our team, there’s a growing amount of effort being put into building up our experiences, knowledge, and confidence in adopting "as code" approaches to managing NeSI infrastructure and services.
We're changing our practices to embrace not only cloud-native technologies but also cloud-native methods and skills. We see opportunities on the horizon in that space for us, and we think it's a future for researchers too. (On that note, stay tuned for related updates to our Training service and expansion of our Training Catalogue for researchers.)
Changes to our documentation
Our support documentation – a one-stop shop for getting started, system details, cheat sheets, and more – is now hosted at docs.nesi.org.nz. We made the shift to an an open source content management system to improve maintainability, openness, and collaboration around these materials.
Our new docs are now publicly hosted on GitHub, meaning anyone can view, copy, and suggest changes to the source material. This should help ensure our documentation is more accessible and responsive to community needs.
If you had any of the old documentation pages bookmarked, they now automatically re-direct to the docs.nesi.org.nz domain.
We would love to hear your feedback on the new documentation pages. Let us know your thoughts via this form or by emailing support@nesi.org.nz.
Changes to our Support Desk
Emailing support@nesi.org.nz is the most common way to connect with our Support team. You can ask us questions, let us know of issues or challenges you're having with systems or services, and action tasks related to your account and allocation(s).
The process of contacting our Support team doesn't change much. Requests for support or questions about NeSI platforms and services can still be sent by email to support@nesi.org.nz. No question is too small or too big for our Support Team, so don't hesitate to reach out.
In the meantime, any requests you already had in the queue have been migrated over to the new Support Desk platform and will be solved from there.
One feature you might notice missing is a separate portal where you could view your past Support reqeusts or submit new ones. We're reviewing the value of maintaing such a portal as a separate feature. We'd love your feedback – tell us what you think using this form or by sending an email to support@nesi.org.nz.
Other improvements on the way
With the migration to this new Suppor Desk platform just days old, we're still ironing out a few teething issues. However, behind the scenes our new Support Desk will allow us to more effectively respond to your requests for help and suggestions for service improvements.
Also, now that all of our documentation has been moved to its new home, the next step is to audit and improve the content organisation, navigation, and design. We'll begin rolling out incremental changes there over the next few months.
Questions? Need help with anything?
Thank you for your patience while we make these changes and polish our new processes. We're working to ensure responses to support requests are not overly delayed as we adjust to these new tools. In general, we strive to reply to support requests within one business day of receiving a message.
If you have any questions at any time, send an email to support@nesi.org.nz or pop into our online Weekly Office Hours to chat one-on-one with a member of our Support team.
