These include the School and Research Unit Surveys, the End-User Surveys, and the Open Forums. A description of this process can be found in Appendix A. Summary of Review Process . The essence of computer support centers around a user with a need, and the process of discovering and making use of available support to meet that need. One goal of the Review Committee was to assess the available sources of support, the ability of those sources to meet support needs, and the ability of campus personnel to identify and make use of those support points. Support sources have overlapping roles and a mixture of expertise, and users have incomplete knowledge about which support source is responsible for a given technology or piece of equipment.
End users report a range of experiences in seeking support.
Sometimes they know whose job it is to deal with a given problem. Sometimes they know a particular support person who always seems to know how to assemble resources to solve a problem. Sometimes they are referred from support group to support group and nobody seems to know how to solve the problem, or to have responsibility for it. It is likely that units do not have the resources to provide the breadth of support for which they feel responsible. These systems are used for a range of academic activities.