Simple IT System Troubleshooting Checklists

We can simply create yes or no questions to get the information needed about IT Troubleshooting problems. This can be put together in a checklist.

First and foremost, why are checklists important ?

Checklists are important for several reasons. Few of them are mentioned below

• They ensure nothing is missing
• They ensure pertinent questions that can be easily over-sighted, are captured
• They provide valuable information across the support chain. These are people working in the first, second, third line of support.

These are the following questions you can ask in your checklist

What problem has been reported ?

When did the problem occur? Has the problem been occurring for some time and they are just able to report it? Is it a recurrence of an old problem they had before, is it exactly the same occurrence, a similar one ?

What is the main problem area ?

Could it be the PC, the Operating System, the Software. Is it the issue about a recent update, is it about the desktop usability issue ? Is it a printer or peripheral issue ? Is it a problem with a network or internet connection. Is it cloud or on-premise related issue ?

What has the user done so far ?

Has the user tried restarting the device, checked all the cables and the power sockets ? Does someone else have the same problem? This is a very good question to ask because, if another user is having the same problem with the same cloud service from another PC then you can immediately discount that the issue is related to the PC.

What has changed ?

Maybe nothing has changed at all. Maybe there is a recent operating system, software or hardware driver update. Maybe the user has changed something, users changing things can cause problems as we all know. Maybe something new has been installed. When it comes to something new being installed, it could be a case of their printer being faulty, the printer was taken away and they replaced it with an identical printer. The user might not think that that something has changed because the printer is exactly the same, but the printer might have different firmware on it. So even though the user might not think anything has changed, something actually changed.

Finally, do not make assumptions about the technical ability of the user. Try to use simple terms that they will understand as much as possible. For example, instead of saying, if you want to ask about Peripherals, what’s a peripheral? Well, just say it’s a printer, a keyboard, a mouse, headphones, speakers, anything else that’s plugged in to the PC that’s not actually a part of it. Look for factors that might have contributed to the issue. Work through things with checklists, with quick tests, and use these to not only gather information, but to eliminate many things. And this is the basics of how you can begin to troubleshoot IT systems.