The recent launch of our NEWA help desk isn’t simply a way to send us an email or casual message. The real strength of this system was put into action over the weekend when apple disease models glitched. What happens after hours or during the weekend when something goes wrong? How can you avoid the inevitable frustration that comes when green tip is less than a day away, your apple scab forecast is getting testy, and it’s 5AM on a Saturday morning?
Use the help desk to send a request right away.
Every time the NEWA help desk receives a new request outside of normal business hours (8AM-5PM EST Monday – Friday) I am instantly notified. If the issue is urgent I take appropriate action and initiate an immediate response.
This weekend is a good case study. We received an incident notification from a grower who used the website ‘Help‘ link at 11:00AM EST Saturday. A response was initiated and NRCC programmers brought the issue to resolution at 4:30PM EST the same day.
The response time would have been much longer If we didn’t have this new channel for reporting issues.Downtime with the help desk was 4.5 hours.
Without the help desk, downtime could have been >48 hours. It’s likely the error would not have been resolved until sometime Monday morning.
Do not wait to contact the NEWA help desk if you are experiencing problems. We will send confirmation of your question or issue and will follow up as we learn more or find a resolution. You may be the first to encounter a problem. Reporting it to us will expedite a solution.
There are two easy ways to send us a message. Send a message to support@newa.zendesk.com. Alternately, use the ‘Help‘ link in our website navigation bar.
In either case, provide a detailed message explaining your issue. Also include screenshots as attachments (if possible and applicable) along with any other description information such model, dates of interest, or weather station used.
If you have comments or questions about this article…send a message to the NEWA help desk.
All the best.
Dan Olmstead | NEWA Coordinator