To provide users with a reliable and consistent support mechanism, the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre operates a Helpdesk service. It provides a single point of contact where one may seek information or help for any aspect of Pawsey, its operations, and its facilities.

How to contact the Helpdesk

To contact the helpdesk, simply send an email to help@pawsey.org.au. When preparing an enquiry, please aim to cover only a single topic per email. Enquiries are handled by a team of experts, and different types of enquiry are handled by different people. You are welcome to send multiple emails, if you have several enquiries you wish to pursue.

Please aim to provide as much background as possible in your email. For example, if you have a problem using a particular system, make sure to let us know your username and project group, the system you are using, and the command, task or operation for which you are encountering a problem. If you see an error message or other output, please include this also. We will let you know if we need more information, though we can often resolve your enquiry more quickly if you provide all of the required information in the first instance.

The system also has access to background documentation which is accessible via the “Find a Solution” field at the top of the portal, or, after you select one of the options in the portal and begin to type in your summary possible solutions will start to display on the Right Hand Side of the screen, please review these, they may save you some time.

If you are following up on an in-progress enquiry, please include your ticket number (see below) in the subject of your email. Simply replying to the most recent email in the enquiry conversation (and preserving the subject line) should ensure that this is the case.

We do request that you avoid sending new enquiries to individual members of the Pawsey team. Such enquiries may be delayed – for example, if the individual is unavailable – and will not be tracked properly by our Helpdesk system.

How the helpdesk works

Each email to help@pawsey.org.au is routed to our web-based ticketing system. It is assigned a unique identity (called a ticket number) and held in a queue to be read by a Helpdesk Operator. Operators monitor the queue during normal business hours (that is, 9am—5pm AWST), so you can be assured that your enquiry will be read promptly during these times. Once read, the Operator will usually pass the enquiry to an appropriate expert (the Handler), who will progress the query to its resolution. The Handler will usually be in touch with you within a couple of days. If for any reason it will take more than a couple of days to resolve your enquiry, then either the Operator or Handler will be in touch to let you know. Sometimes we may move a query from one Handler to another – if, for example, a Handler is unexpectedly away or if the topic requires the attention of a different expert.

To resolve an enquiry, the Handler may contact you to discuss query details or to ask for more information. Once an enquiry is resolved, the Handler will close the ticket in the Helpdesk. If, for any reason, you wish to revisit an enquiry that has been closed, you may send a further email including the ticket number in the subject. We will then re-open the enquiry and continue to progress it.

We do keep a record of closed enquiries. This is to help us resolve similar enquiries in the future, and to guide us to develop better user resources. Information in closed enquiries is accessed in a statistical manner and not disclosed to third-parties without the permission of the query originator.

Direct access to your ticket(s)

If you have a login on the Pawsey environment you can use 2 methods of access to the Service Desk system.

You can work via email as used by people with no login (as above).
Or with a login you can go to the portal to lodge, monitor and manage your tickets.

Lodging a ticket using your Pawsey login

Go to the Pawsey Service Desk Portal located Here:

https://support.pawsey.org.au/portal/servicedesk/customer/portal

Login using your Pawsey login details.

Select the option you wish to use from the list displayed.

After selecting an option, it will show a form to be completed with some basic fields in it, complete the form with as much information as you have to help the technicians to best provide support. The forms may differ depending on which option you choose, complete what you can.
After you save the form the system will email you a confirmation with the ticket details in it, there will be a link at the bottom of the email you can use which will send you to the ticket in the system, from there you can:

Manage your ticket

You can manage your ticket via your login to the Service Desk by following the ticket link, or just logging into the Service Desk here:

https://support.pawsey.org.au/portal/servicedesk/customer/user

When you have logged in, it will show the ticket lodgment screen, but in the top right hand corner it will also show a counter of how many tickets you have open. To drill down on these tickets select the link under the number and it will list your tickets, then from there you can drill down further into whichever one you wish. Once you are in the ticket, you can:

Monitor the status of your ticket.
See any comments added to the ticket.
Add comments to the ticket.
Add attachments to the ticket.
Share the ticket with others so they can get updates and comment.

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