Support for IT Professionals

Provider Desk

IT professionals are entitled to utilize Technology Support Services' Provider Desk, which is both a telephone help desk and an e-mail service. The ProDesk is not for end users. It is a resource designed especially for and limited to Local Support Providers (LSPs).

If you send e-mail to the Provider Desk, the staff is committed to responding to your message within four business hours. To contact the ProDesk, please call 215-573-4017 or e-mail: prodesk AT isc.upenn.edu..

Here are just a few of the things you should contact the ProDesk about:

• All networking needs (outages, bad boxes, installations, IP addresses, domain names, power failures, assignments, etc.)
• PennKey and PennName issues
• Central PennWeb, e-mail and listserv issues
• High level technical questions, including planning issues
• Penn technical procedure and policy questions

The ProDesk staff is committed to making sure that every call is followed through to completion. They encourage you to call them back to let them know whether the advice they gave you worked or if your problem remains unresolved.

Feedback about your experiences using the ProDesk is encouraged. Please direct comments to Mike Lazenka.

Provider Page

The Provider Page is part of the Computing Web and is designed to provide Penn's IT professionals with a list of pertinent links to information about current technical issues and projects. Check in to this page often, because it changes frequently. Suggestions for links to the Provider Page should be e-mailed to Amy Phillips.

In addition, a useful site on the Computing Web is the Services Page, which is a consolidated list of Penn computing services and resources.

ProCD

The Mac and Windows ProCD each contain a collection of software utilities, updaters, drivers, and installers which are helpful to IT professionals. Local Support Providers can request copies by calling the Provider Desk at 215-573-4017 or sending e-mail to:
prodesk AT isc.upenn.edu.

SIGS and Such

Campus user and special interest groups have a particularly important place within Penn's distributed model for computing services, improving communication and encouraging adoption of standards and best practices across schools and units. These groups provide an opportunity for computing staff on campus with common interests or technology needs to work together and support one another through information sharing and work on campus projects and teams. Presentations by units testing new or emerging technologies, or implementing technology solutions of broad interest at Penn, enable others to leverage the knowledge gained from their experience.