Is a franking machine 'IT'?

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One of the girls can't get the new franking machine to work, so of course she calls me. Now, I know the phone line works because she's plugged it in to the same line as the old (but fully functioning) machine.

My knowledge of these things is, frankly (sorry), zilcho. Do I spend an inordinate amount of time beefing up on this machine when I could be busy doing my proper job (posting here)?

In order for me to make this difficult decision I ask you the question above...

Cheers,

J.

 

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In my option? No

In my company's opinion? Yes

"Because it uses electric means its IT" in my company unfortunately....

Do you work at a small company by any chance?

 

Sorry, I dont have the foggiest as to what a Franking machine is!!!

 

It's a reasonably big company, but the site I work at is relatively small, so I'm the only IT representative here!

J.

 

It's one of those things for bulk mailing, you bung the envelopes in and it stamps them for you.

J.

 

"When the photocopier doesn't work, call IT support. There's electronics in it, right?"

I've attached that to my company email sign and to my skype status and since then I can see a small drop in those calls


the bottol line is that MOST OF those things (copiers, franking and others) have quite good support.
in my opinion the only thing you should do is to find her a website with the helpdesk contact number.

 

Yup, she's already got that and that's what I've advised her to do!

J.

 

thats a negative!

on the same note, we had someone call it because it was cold, and they wanted the heating turned up.

 

Good Point!

Let's face it we've all been down this road. I was asked to fix a fax machine, a mobile phone and kettle. When I asked why their reply was "well it's got electronics in it??"

In my opinion no the franking machine should not be part of the job. Having said which i know when I worked for the local council they got the IT dept. to fix the Franking machine because it uses software and it was displaying a run time error on the LCD screen of the Franking machine.

I guess it's up to you at the end of the day Juice. But you know what will happen if you do fix it?

They will ring you again when it stops working rather than get an engineer in from the company who make them!

 

Then again maybe you should fix it? (how good looking is this girl who runs the franking machine???)

 

in my opinion no and you should tell her that but say you'll do it as a favour and in return she might do you a favour

grim

 

it really depends on what is wrong with it too. Remember that a lot of support companies will refuse to support an item which has been 'tampered' with. If its as simple as a 'voltage supply discontinuation' then fair enough, but if you have to open the thing up, you may be voiding the support on the product.

 

Nah, definitely not IT ! be asking you to reorder their rubber stamps and post it notes next !

 

I view an IT person as being responsible for maintaining computer systems and their peripherals - both internal and external. Given that a franking machine is neither, of course it's not part of your IT responsibilities!

If you do fix it award yourself the cert 'MCFMP' (Microsoft Certified Franking Machine Professional).

 

No, I don't think a franking machine it "IT". So if another franking person comes up to you and tells them to fix their franking machine, you can tell them what the frank IT really is, and they can just go frank themselves. Franking users...

Sorry... couldn't franking resist!

 

give it a kick

it looks like one of those machines that will work with a bit of abuse thrown at it

but no it isnt IT but as has been said some companies expect IT to change plugs and reset photocopiers n stuff.

 

You think thats bad, I once worked on a contract as a DBA - and had to do everything else as well, including user support. One woman, notorious for being a pain in the arse, came up to me one morning and said "The kettle lead isn't working". No joke.

About two months later, the contract manager asked us to design name badges, because the customer decided that they may want them introduced at some point. I'll try and dig up the design I came up with - it said 'IT STAFF' - then underneath in smaller letters: 'underpaid, underappreciated, overworked'. Right at the bottom, in VERY small letters, it said '...and no I can NOT fix your f***ing kettle'. Needless to say my design wasn't chosen...

Incidentally, the same user about a month before I left the contract, came up to me and said she could 'smell burning' in her office. i, of course, politely enquired whether I LOOKED LIKE A F***ING FIREMAN to her...

Oh - I nearly forgot - the reason I posted is that we had a Franking machine on that contract and I wasn't expected to look after it when it broke. If THEY didn't consider it IT equipment, then no other organisation should - because we truly fixed everything else with a PCB in it!

 

my college course was renamed from IT to ICT (information communication technology) i don't like it, it looses that nerd appeal

grim