Help Desk Mastery: IT Support Best Practices & SOPs

What if your help desk could solve recurring IT problems in minutes, not hours? In this episode, we explore the backbone of reliable IT support, focusing on clear SOPs that remove guesswork, SLAs that align technical work with business risk, and an effective ticketing flow that transforms scattered fixes into measurable outcomes. Whether you're preparing for a CompTIA exam or seeking practical IT skills development, you'll find valuable insights here. We share real-world examples—from login failures to VPN drops—that demonstrate how documentation, escalation tiers, and knowledge bases reduce time-to-resolution and prevent repeat incidents, making technology education and effective IT support attainable goals.

We also get candid about the human side of support. Professionalism is not a soft skill; it is operational. We talk punctuality, clean language, and the kind of active listening that clarifies issues without talking down to users. De-escalation matters, but so do boundaries; you can stay calm without tolerating abuse. And yes, social media can cost you your job—one vague post is all it takes. These habits shape trust with customers and credibility inside the org.

To round it out, we map the OS landscape you actually support: Windows, macOS, Linux, and ChromeOS on the desktop, plus iOS and Android in the field. We cover MDM realities with JAMF and Google Workspace, why file systems like NTFS and ReFS or APFS and ext4 affect security and performance, and how hardware requirements such as TPM 2.0 should drive upgrade planning. You will leave with a sharper playbook and four cert-style practice questions to test your knowledge.

If you found this useful, follow the show, share it with a teammate, and leave a quick review to help others find it. Got a help desk win or a hard lesson learned? Send it our way and join the conversation.

Chapters

• 0:27 Welcome And Host Intro
• 1:47 Why Documentation Matters
• 3:19 SOPs In Action
• 3:59 Understanding SLAs And Uptime
• 4:55 Ticket Types And Severity
• 5:57 Escalation Tiers And Lifecycle
• 6:57 Knowledge Bases And Lessons Learned
• 8:10 Policies And Login Warnings
• 9:04 Professionalism And Service Process
• 10:51 Punctuality And Work Ethic
• 12:41 Do Better Work To Like Work
• 14:21 Active Listening And Questions
• 15:31 De Escalation Without Tolerating Abuse
• 17:07 Social Media Cautions
• 17:46 Operating Systems Overview
• 19:09 Mobile OS And MDM Tools
• 20:15 File Systems And Why They Matter
• 21:07 Compatibility And Lifecycle Planning
• 22:15 Study Resources And Winter Worksheet
• 24:20 Four Certification Questions
• 27:31 Respect At Work And Boundaries

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:27

And welcome to Technology Tap. I'm Professor J. Rod. In this episode, managing support procedures inside the modern help desk. Let's tap in the Welcome to Technology Tap. I'm Professor J Rod. For those of you who don't know me, I am a professor of cybersecurity and I love helping students pass their computer A, Network Plus, Security Plus, and Tech Plus. So if you want to follow me, you can follow me at on Instagram at Professor J Rod, on TikTok at Professor J Rod on LinkedIn. I have my LinkedIn profile on my website, professorjrod.com, and I'm on YouTube at TechnologyTap. And if you want to buy me a coffee, you can buy me a coffee at Professor BuyMeacoffee.com slash Professor Jrod. Welcome to today's episode of Technology Tap, where we deep dive into the beating heart of IT support, managing support procedures. This would help you with help desk processes or preparing students for real-world workflows, understanding documentation, professional communication, and operating system fundamentals is key. Today we'll unpack standard operating procedures, service level agreements, ticketing workflows, support documentation, and the professional behaviors that separate good technicians from great ones. Let's begin with one of the pillars of IT success, documentation. Standard operating procedures. A standard operating procedure is a step-by-step instructions set that guides how a task should be performed. Why does it matter? SOPs reduce guesswork. They ensure that every technician, junior, or senior follows the same predictable process. Example. Imagine a new hire on a help desk ticket, on a help desk. They get a ticket, users cannot log into Windows 11 Workstation. An SOP for user login issues might include verify network connectivity, attempt domain login with admin credentials, check account lockout status in Active Directory, reset password if necessary, and document resolution in the ticket. Without an SOP, steps vary widely from tech to tech, causing inconsistencies and delays. Service level agreements. SLAs define expectations, response times, and responsibilities between a service provider and the customer. Key SLA concept, the rule of nines. Your deck mentions the uptime expectation known as the rule of nines. 5.9s. Only 5 minutes of downtime, 5.2 uh 5.2 seconds of downtime per year. 8 9s, only 315 milliseconds of downtime. Real world example. A hospital may require 99.9999% uptime for electronic health records. Anything less could delay access to critical patient staff. SLL could also define how quickly a ticket gets response, escalation time limits, performance metrics, and penalties for non-compliance. Incident and ticketing system. Ticketing is the lifeblood of technical support. Everything flows through the ticket. Definitions request a user asks for something new, like software installation. Incident, something is broken, printer is offline. Problem, a pattern of incidents requiring deeper investigations. Severity levels, critical, system-wide outage, major, large functional impact, minor, single user convenience. Ticket escalation tiers. Tier 0 self-service knowledge base. Tier 1 frontline agents. Tier 2 more experienced tech. Tier 3 engineers, developers, and vendor support. Here's an example of a ticket lifestyle. 1. User submit VPN disconnects every 10 minutes. 2. Tier 1 checks known issues. 3. Logs indicate repetitive authentication failure. Escalate to tier 2. 4. Tier 2 finds an expire certificate, escalates externally to vendor. 5. Certificate updated, issue resolved. 6. Tech technician documents details for lesson learned. Ticketing system may also maintain progress notes, diagnostic steps taken, who worked on it and when, and final resolution. Knowledge base and support documentation. A knowledge base is a searchable repository of troubleshooting guides, known issues, policies, step-by-step procedures, and tips contributed by senior techs. This creates institutional memory so issues solved once can be solved again faster. Example A network printer repeatedly disappears from Windows devices. A knowledge-based article might include registry key fix, correct driver version, screenshot path to reinstall, notes from a previous incident. When a junior tech encounters this issue again, they'll fix it in two minutes instead of 45. Lessons learned. After major incidents, IT departments create an after-action reports that turn chaos into clarity. Example, a major email outage is traced back to a misconfigured DNS record. Lessons learned may include tightening change control processes, mandatory peer review, and updated SOP. This is how organizations evolve into a mature IT environment. 6. Policy documentation. Two key documents. Acceptable use policy defines what user can and cannot do on company systems. Example, restrictions. Example restrictions. No unauthorized software, no access to inappropriate content, no connecting personal devices to secure network. Splascreens. Many organizations display a login warning reminding users that activity may be monitored. Next, professional support processes. Professional technicians must follow structural procedures. Document service hours, examine repair and replacement options, follow up with customers, meet expectations. Technicians are ambassadors of the IT department. Next, professional conduct and appearances. What separates an amateur tech from a professional? Key behaviors. Arrive on time, avoid personal phone use, ask permission before accessing data. Use clear and simple language, avoid jargon, be culturally sensitive. Example When repairing a workstation, a technician should not read through personal folders, open emails, comment on private photos visible on the screen. Professionalism protects both the client and the organization. And that's a big one for me, is getting there on time. Like I'm a big believer in, you know, they're they're paying you get there on time and be there on time for your for your job. Nowadays, you know, we we have there's no punch card systems for a lot of companies. You know, I a lot of times, you know, you scan through the turnstile that that you have, but now but most companies don't have a punch-in system like they did back in the late 80s, early 90s. You were expected to be at your desk. You're an adult, you expected to be at your desk at nine o'clock. Like when I worked for a nonprofit, there was no punch time. There was, you know, in the 90s, there was you you expected to be there at 9 o'clock, and they trusted you to be there at 9 o'clock. That's plain and simple. Believe me, they they know when you're late. Like, oh, you know, these for you younger folks, that you say, oh, nobody, you know, nobody knows you know, see me when I come in late. Believe me, they see you. You may not know it, they may not tell you now, but they see you. Go for promotion and see if you get it. You're probably not gonna get it if you come in late every day. Because they know, even though they might not tell you, they know that you're coming in late. So I worked at jobs where they, you know, you I worked there when I was there at 6 30 in the morning. I had to get there. That was my shift, 6 33, and I was there every day at 6 30. Take pride in what you do. This is my advice to people who hate their jobs, right? You hate your job. Oh, I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job, and you want to quit, but you know, the job market's not that great. How about this? Try doing your job better, right? Take that little effort to make it a little better, and if you and if maybe by doing it a little bit better, maybe you get a little bit more enjoyment out of it, right? And that'll let you stay a little longer, or you know, the waiting until you get another job makes it a little better, and you might be a better employee, to be honest. Next, active listening and communicating. Active listening skills include maintain eye contact, nod, and acknowledge, don't interrupt, repeat back your understanding. Example, user states the computer freezes every time I open Excel. Tech. So the issue happens specifically when launching Excel, correct? This confirms understanding and builds trust. Yeah, but it also might piss the person off. What do you didn't hear me? I just said Excel. Next, clarifying questions. Use open-ended questions first. Can you walk me through what happened before the crash? Use closed-ended questions to confirm. Did this start after the office update? Destructed questioning shortens troubleshooting time. Handling difficult situations. Customers may be frustrated, angry, confused, having a bad day. Your job? Remain calm, do not argue, do not deny the problem, do not take complaints personally, which is extremely hard to do, and seek a supervisor if abuse escalates. Example, a user yells because their presentation won't open. The technician calmly responds, let's tackle this together. I understand this is urgent. De-escalation is a critical help desk skill. And I agree it is, but I also have when it says don't take this, is of course, this is all coming from Comtea, right? This stuff that I'm that I'm reading out loud. But don't let anybody disrespect you either. Like, you know, they can yell at you or yell at the computer or be a little frustrated. And to be honest, most people will apologize later on if they're rude, especially to the tech. But and you know, this, but if they when they start, when they cross that line, is when I take things personal. And you know, you shouldn't let anybody try to intimidate you or bully you. Because if they talk to you bad once, they'll talk to you bad again. You need to you need to find a way to cut that out. So, social media warnings do not post customer experience online, even vague references can violate policy. A simple tweet like another user today deleted all their files again could expose the company to lawsuits, and I just cannot understand why in the year 2025 people are still getting fired because what they post on social media. Man, just don't post anything about word. I don't get it. Like people still getting fired over postings, just don't say anything. Take take the the old term or the old adage, if you don't have something good to say, don't say it. You know, people still getting fired over posting stuff on social media. It's incredible that that they st this is still happening. Like, come on, guys, you know, stop posting stuff that you don't need. Alright, next operating system types and compatibility. Windows Mac OS, Windows Mac OS, Unix, Linux, Chrome OS. Windows, common in businesses, versions 11, server 2019 to 2025, strong enterprise management tools, mac OS, Apple exclusive, popular in education and graphic design. Unix, foundation for many OS architectures, uses a shell and a kernel. Linux, open source, many distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, Cali, standard releases versus rolling releases. Chrome OS is web focused, lightweight OS for Chromebooks. Excellent for schools, I think, in my opinion. They would do a really good job, those Chromebooks. Example, real world mix. A college campus might use Windows for administrative offices, Mac for digital medias, Linux servers for web hosting, and Chromebooks for student loaner cards. Mobile OS, iOS, and Android. iOS runs on Apple hardware, very controlled ecosystem, is a great security model. They are really great for as far as security is concerned. And Android open source runs on many hardware platforms and highly custable, cust customizable. Now the one thing is iOS does not have a mobile management system, a mobile device management system. They use JAMF, J A M. J A M F. Google uses the Google Workspace, which works really well for the Chromebooks. Really excellent, I find in my opinion. JAMF works pretty good too, but I'm surprised that Apple doesn't have its own. File systems, Windows file systems, NTFS, journaling permission and shadow copies, REFS, Enhanced Integrity for Servers, FAT32 and XFAT Legacy and Removable Media. Linux file systems, you have the X Extended 4 and XFS. Mac file systems, you have the Apple filing system, APFS, why it matters. File systems, choice effects for security, performance, device compatibility, and maximum file size. OS compatibility and limitations, hardware compatible examples. Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0. Older machines without the TPM chips cannot upgrade. Software compatibility applications are often OS specific. A Mac OS may not run on Windows without virtualization or emulation. Network compatibility, changes to the OS or file system configuration may require retraining. And vendor lifecycle limits when operating systems reach the end of life. Security updates stop, like Windows 10 did. So if you're still using Windows 10, why? Why organizations must plan migration proactively? Alright, that will do for the lesson. Now we're on to the four questions, the computer four questions. Now, for those of you who don't know, you can use these for the winter break, right? We're in December 2025. So winter break is coming up soon. And I have created not only do I have these four questions, but I also have a lesson planned for this chapter. So if you're an educator or you're a student, you can go to my website, professorjrod.com slash downloads. Look for the specific episode. And if you click on it, you see a whole worksheet. If you're an educator, your teacher, and if you want, your students can work, you know, you could give them assign them homework off, you know, have them listen to the podcast, and then do work off the worksheet, and then hand it in. So that could be a good, you know, it's a nice simple assignment that they can do over winter break. That way, you know, they still have their, you know, they still not lost once they come back. Because, you know, two, three weeks vacation, you know, you you know, you could still retain stuff, have it refreshed in your memory. And if you're studying for the A plus exam, you can also use this, right, as a refresher. Do these lessons I've put out. This will be the fourth one. I'm gonna do this going forward. I'm gonna try to do some of the earlier ones. But yeah, so we'll we'll do that. Try to help educators, right, like myself, have their students pass their comp exam. All right, let's do the four questions, and this is how we do it. I read the questions first, and then I give you the four choices, and then I'll read it again and I'll give you the answer. All right, question number one. Which document describes a step-by-step procedure for recurring IT issues? A S L A, B, S O P, C, A U P, or D lessons learned. Which document describes a step-by-step procedures for recurring IT task? A S L A B S O P C A U P or D lessons learned. I'll give you five seconds to think about it. Five, four, three, two, one. The answer is B S O P. SOP is contain detailed task instructions. SOP standard operating procedure. S L A, remember a service level agreement, and AUP is the policy that you have at work. Right? So I'm drawing a blank at what it is. Alright, number two, a customer becomes verbally abusive during troubleshooting. What should the technician do first? A hang up immediately. B tell the customer to calm down. C, remain professional and attempt to de-escalate. D post anonymously about it online, or E punch the customer in the face. No, no, no, there's no E. I'll read it again. The customer becomes verbally abusive during troubleshooting. What should the technician do first? A hang up immediately. B. Tell the customer to calm down. C remain professional and attempt to de escalate. And D post synonymously about it online. I'll give you five seconds. Think about it. A U P is I forgot. Wow, I just had it in my hand. Alright, five seconds. Five, four, three, two, one. And the correct answer is C. Remain professional and attempt to de-escalate. De-escalation is the first step unless the threats escalate. And then what do you do? I had one guy in one of my first jobs. I went to do here I am telling people not to put on social media, and here I am telling a story. But this is this is a long time ago. So he oh AUP acceptable user, acceptable use policy. That's what it is. Just came into my head. He so I was work at this place where I had to, you know, put some expenses out, and I would get reimbursed via petty cash. So I called the guy, the guy's secretary, and she she told me, go back in an hour. And an hour later, come back, and then I call back, and she says, call back in an hour. But I can sense that I was annoying her.

unknown: 21:08

Right?

SPEAKER_00: 21:08

But she was telling me to call back. And the third time she said, Oh, come up. And when I went upstairs, the guy gave it to me. Like he cursed, literally cursed me out. This has to be 91, 92. Granted, I'm like 20 years old, right? And so I need every money, every dollar that's there that I had. I needed it, right? And I asked one thing I don't think he understood. So he cursed me out, like literally cursed me out, like really, really loud. I didn't say anything because it's not always a good idea to, you know, when you go back and forth with somebody who's angry, it never turns out good. It's always better to wait later till the person calms down. I get up, you know, the next day I get to work super early. This was a regular nine to five. I think I get there at 7:30 because my boss got there at 7 o'clock. And I go to my boss and I tell him, hey, listen, I'm going, we didn't have an HR department. So if you had a problem, he had to go to the Department of Labor to complain. I told him, I'm gonna file a complaint with the Department of Labor, New York State, because he he cursed me out. And I said, you know, I'm a grown man, I don't think that's fair. And my boss looked at me, the look of shock. I still I still see the look on his face. And he he told me, okay, he goes, you can do that if you want. But I want you to do me a favor. Can you hold off for a couple of days? Let me talk to him first. And my boss went and talked to him, and the guy actually apologized. And he never did it again to me. I know he did it to other people, but he never did it again to me. And then when I would go up to his office to get the petty cash, he would say, Oh, you can't curse around him. He gets he's very sensitive. And I'm like, I'm not sensitive. I and I didn't care that he said that because I knew that I earned his respect. I knew he wasn't gonna bully me around anymore. So, you know, sometimes you can do things for for, you know, customers, one thing. You probably won't ever see that customer again, but a co-worker, that's an entirely different thing. You know, you you gotta be careful. Don't let people disrespect you, because then they then they always gonna disrespect you. So and if you get fired, you get fired. I mean, what are you gonna do? You you either work there and and just put up with that, right? Or or now I had another incident where a guy was mad and at the team. My supervisor wasn't at the meeting, and he started using curse words at us. And I waited for him to calm down and the meeting to end, and then I went up to him and I'm like, Hey, what's up with this you calling us this bad word? And he was like, What do you mean? I'm like, Yeah, like you just like cursed us out and said this this word that we're all this word. And he goes, Oh, why is that a problem? And I'm like, Yeah, it's a problem. I'm like, why don't you call me that outside? Let's go outside and you can call me that word. And I said, uh, and I'll guarantee you, it's gonna be a different result than what's what just happened here. We could go outside and you could call me that word, and you could you could see what's gonna happen. He's like, Are you trying to threaten me? Like, I'm not threatening you. I'm just saying, we can go outside. Let's go outside, me and you. You tell me that word again, and then you see that it's gonna be way different than the reaction that I'm having now. He goes, Oh, I'm gonna report you that you're threatening me. I said, Go ahead. And I went to my supervisor and he I told him what happened, and he ended up calling my supervisor. And my supervisor said, Okay, you want to report him? You can. But remember, you cursed the whole crew out. He has witnesses that you crew that you cursed them out, and he just asked you about it. So you want to report him, that's fine. But just know hey, he's gonna report you also that you that you cursed out the whole crew. So the guy backed down. So, but again, don't let people disrespect you. That's that's my only thing. Because if then if if they disrespect you once, they're gonna disrespect you always. All right. Number three, which file systems would a technician most likely use on a large-scale Windows server environment requiring data integrity? A FAT32 B APFSS, C REFFS D Extended 4. Which file systems would a technician most likely use on a large-scale Windows Server environment requiring data integrity? A FAT32 B APFS C R EFS D Extended 4. Give you five seconds to think about it. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Correct answer is C. REFS is designed for resilient, scalable server storage. So the answer is C. Alright. Question 4. Our user's laptop cannot upgrade to Windows 11. The most likely cause is a unsupported GPU, B missing TPM 2.0, C wrong file systems, D. No local admin rights. Again, a user's laptop cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. The most likely cause is A unsupported GPU, B missing TPM 2.0, C wrong file systems, and D no local admin rights. Give you five seconds. Think about it. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And the answer is B missing TPM 2.0. We discussed it earlier in the chapter. Right? Alright, hopefully you got four out of four. And if you did, you're well on your way to passing the Camtea exam. Very good. Again, I want to remind those educators that if you go to my website, professorjrod.com, you will see a student worksheet packet for the winter recess that I've created just for you guys for you can give out to your students, have the students listen to the podcast, and then do the work on the student worksheet. And that will do it for today's episode. We just to remind you, we have two more episodes left, and then we ourselves here at Technology Tap will go on hiatus for two weeks for vacation. So just if this is the last episode you listen to at the year, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. And remember, keep tapping into technology. This has been a presentation of Little Catcha Productions art by Sarah, music by Joe Kim. We're now part of the Pod Match Network. You can follow me at TikTok at Professor Jrod at J R O D, or you can email me at professorjrod at J R O D at Gmail.com.