Need IT help fast? Now, any U-M user can access the Michigan Medicine Help Center using their Michigan Medicine (Level-2) or UMICH (Level-1) credentials.
“Expanding access to the Help Center increases the accessibility of HITS support to the entire University community,” said Emily Fuentes, director of HITS Customer Success. Our goal is to ensure your success with technology both before and after using our products and services - and how you get support goes far beyond the traditional telephone support you are used to.
Click first!
With so many HITS support options online, there were a multitude of reasons to expand access to the Help Center. First, expanding online access has the potential to bring down call wait times for users with urgent or critical issues.
Fuentes explained, “Your first stop for HITS support is online at the Michigan Medicine Help Center. Here you can quickly find answers, chat with an agent, submit tickets, and see notifications when our services are interrupted.” When it comes to phone support, HITS is working hard to improve the experience now and for the future - and the online Help Center is an important part of that. “Call services will still be available and it is our goal to answer every call that comes in,” Fuentes said. “Providing access to robust online tools gives us a better chance to improve our phone support, answer your call, and quickly recover the most critical and urgent issues.”
Another good reason to expand online access is that not everyone is issued or regularly uses their Michigan Medicine (Level-2) credentials. “We needed to make our system more inclusive for all of the faculty and staff who utilize our technology. Similarly, we recognized we can coordinate better with our campus IT colleagues if we can more readily share answers to common questions,” Fuentes said.
Updated login screen
With the ability to use UMICH (Level-1) or Michigan Medicine (Level-2) credentials to authenticate to the Michigan Medicine Help Center comes an updated login page, which allows users to select which credential type they wish to use.
“This new authentication page is similar to the login for MLearning, with some design tweaks like moving the dropdown to the top to allow the user to interact with the page more quickly,” said David Hasselbach, manager for HITS Identity and Access Management.
More improvements coming soon
In these last few months of 2021, HITS is continuing to make the Michigan Medicine Help Center better than ever.
“These service improvements reflect the momentum and direction of the entire HITS organization. They are the result of great teamwork, with each improvement reflecting the lessons learned in supporting our hybrid workforce over the last year,” said Michael Warden, senior director of HITS Business IT.
“As Michigan Medicine moves toward permanent hybrid work, HITS understands the important role technology, and the support for technology, plays in ensuring we can all be successful regardless of where we are working from. We believe if we challenge ourselves to modernize and reduce the friction we experience every day, our products and services will enhance the productivity and collaboration of all of our faculty, staff, and learners.”
Be on the lookout for these enhancements:
- More service options: Soon, the Michigan Medicine Help Center will house more service providers beyond IT. "We're working to unite our shared service partners behind a common customer experience. The Michigan Medicine Help Center will give our workforce one place to go to make requests across a variety of partners,” said Erik Zempel, director of HITS Service Management. Be on the lookout for an updated homepage that allows you to choose the service provider you need after authenticating.
- Public knowledge: Need to look up an IT answer or video quickly? The Michigan Medicine Help Center will soon feature a ‘guest’ option, allowing you to search and access some articles and videos before authenticating. You will still need to authenticate to chat with an HITS agent or submit a ticket.
- Improved knowledge articles: Over the past year, HITS has updated knowledge articles from their Confluence Wiki site and moved them directly into the Michigan Medicine Help Center, where they are more easily accessible, more frequently updated, and users can provide ratings and feedback. Additional articles are added every week.
- Improved service catalog: HITS is working to improve the experience of requesting hardware, software, and other tasks through the online catalog. Look for updated item categories to find what you’re looking for, and clearer labelling that highlights catalog changes and updates.
- Smarter virtual agent: While HITS launched the virtual agent over a year ago, we are implementing updates to make it easier to use. Look for an expanded selection of topics when you click the ‘chat’ button in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.
- Redesigned emails: You’ll notice emails coming from the Michigan Medicine Help Center instead of the HITS Service Desk, featuring graphics so you immediately recognize who we are. The email body will also feature clear instructions on how to take action on and interact with your ticket.