Craig Notman

Briefly outline your role at the University

I work in Information Technology and Digital Services (ITDS), and I'm very proud to manage the teams responsible for delivering frontline IT support to colleagues, students and external stakeholders.

We are responsible for running the IT Help service, resolving issues and maintaining, replacing and upgrading all University computers. We also maintain the security of our IT systems and management and deploy all software to our users.

What's been the biggest change to your daily routine during the coronavirus outbreak?

Not needing to travel each day is the biggest change.

What's the biggest challenge you and your team have faced since the coronavirus outbreak began?

Dealing with requests from colleagues and students who are adjusting to working remotely.

What is the single most important element of your job at the moment?

I manage a diverse portfolio. The most important element of my job is to understand the changes to workload and use that data to help the team provide the best support possible. This may involve looking at resources or requesting support from the wider team to create training materials as an example.

How are you managing personally during the current situation?

I'm doing well. I have my family around me to keep me mentally strong. Home schooling is a new challenge but we are coping quite well with it, although I'm not sure who is teaching who!

How has your team pulled together under difficult circumstances?

The team has pulled together very well and we are supporting each other as much as possible. I have some new team members and it great to see the rest of the team making sure they are supported.

What does it mean to you to be part of Team Teesside?

It's important to be part of Team Teesside. We can achieve greater things when we work together and support each other.

What do you think the response to the current situation says about the resilience and commitment of the Teesside University Community?

The University has pulled together and ITDS has been involved in many projects to enable colleagues to carry on working. We've also looked at how we can help people in the wider community and offered support to those suffering from the devastating effects of COVID-19.

How is the IT Helpdesk Team operating at the moment?

The IT Help Team is working normally. Obviously we can't deal with walk-in support but we can deal with all email and phone queries as normal. Given the quick change needed the team have responded very well to the challenge.

We have invested in software that allows the team to remote onto our customers' computers and mobile devices and it's been invaluable to us.

How many calls has the IT Helpdesk handled since the outbreak began? How many laptops have you distributed, and what's been the most frequently asked question or IT request?

We've been extremely busy ever since social distancing was introduced, especially in the first couple of weeks. We've handled around almost 850 calls and about 2800 emails, as well as deploying 160 laptops to colleagues to allow them to work at home safely. I'm very proud of my team and what we've accomplished.

Any advice for your fellow colleagues and students?

Please be sensible and keep safe. The IT Team is here to support you as much as possible.

What are you looking forward to most once we are able to resume to some sense of normality?

Weirdly enough, seeing the office again. Otherwise it's going for a curry mmmmmm :)