Source: Freepik
Since July 2020, the documentation portal IT Center Help accompanies you and us. In this portal you will find answers to your questions about the IT Center’s IT services, such as eduroam, RWTHmoodle or HPC. Especially as new students or employees it is often difficult to find your way through the IT jungle. Among other things, illustrated step-by-step instructions and FAQs are available to help you.
As the IT service provider of RWTH Aachen University, it is very important to us to make our IT services as easy to understand as possible. To give you an insight into IT Center Help and at the same time celebrate the third birthday of the documentation portal, we would like to take you on a short time travel with this blog post.
From doc.itc to IT Center Help
The forerunner doc.itc had previously served as a documentation portal for six years before it was replaced by IT Center Help. Of course, you as users were not left out of this transition: We conducted usage tests to find out which aspects were important to you. Usability and ease of use were at the top of your list. You can find more detailed information on the early days of IT Center Help in the blog posts on the usability test and the introduction of IT Center Help.
The Hub: The Homepage
On the homepage of IT Center Help you will find an overview with quicklinks, which can be divided into four major topics: News from the IT Center, IT Security, For Starters, and IT Center Support.
Source: Own illustration
Using the fold-out menu on the left, you will find a list of the seven main categories: Study & Teaching, Research, IT-Basic-Infrastructure, Procurement & Software, Collaboration, Server & Hosting, and Support. Behind these are sub-items on our IT services with instructions and information on your questions.
Source: Own illustration
Documentation portal 2.0 – What IT Center Help Offers You
To provide you with the best possible support in answering your questions, we have included a prominent search field. For a better overview, you will also find links to current status messages and frequently searched pages directly on the homepage.
The color scheme of the site is based on the corporate design of RWTH Aachen University and the colors of the IT Center. The layout is also adapted to smartphones, which supports mobile use. Our content is available bilingually, that is in German and English. Digital accessibility is also very important to us for the preparation of the content. For this reason, we explain, for example, abbreviations and acronyms when they are first used in a text or use headings, subheadings, and paragraphs.
Source: Own illustration
More Features
IT Center Help will continue to be optimized and adapted to your needs based on your feedback. New features include the ability to rate FAQ entries using smileys. This gives us direct feedback on how helpful the entry was for you. In addition, you can easily send FAQ entries to other people using the share button.
Source: Own illustration
The newest feature we have implemented for you can currently be seen directly on the homepage: A yellow box can be placed there, for example in case of acute problems or urgent messages. The box then covers the title of the homepage, but you can also close the message with a click on the X if necessary.
Source: Own illustration
So if you ever forget your password for your RWTH email account, have trouble redeeming coupons, or need information about current news and incidents, IT Center Help is always ready to help!
Small tip: For a shorter way, bookmark IT Center Help in your browser. That way, the documentation portal is just a click away!
Responsible for the content of this article is Jelena Ćulum.
