IT Vocabulary

We'll try not to overwhelm you with IT jargon when we meet, but some terms are bound to pop up.  This page is here to help!

Service Desk (or Help Desk)

While we have physical desks at SRWTP, Goethe, and NACY, if you need IT services, we encourage you to contact our Service Desk support staff at https://help.sacsewer.com or (916) 876-6411.  Many problems or requests can be handled remotely.  We also have a robust knowledge base at https://help.sacsewer.com to answer your most common questions.  If you need help from IT, reach out - we are happy to help!

ITSD (or Service Desk Ticket)

When you contact our Service Desk, we will create an IT Service Desk (ITSD) ticket for you.  We commonly refer to these as ITSDs because the ticket identifiers start with "ITSD-" followed by a number, so we may talk about your "ITSD" or ask for your "ITSD number."  Once you have contacted us, you can access your ITSD tickets via our portal at https://help.sacsewer.com.  ITSD is a generic term for our Service Desk tickets.  We further categorize them by type.  ITSD types are Service Requests, Incidents, and Project Requests.  

Service Request

A Service Request is a type of ITSD.  When you enter a ticket asking for a modification to, or help with, an existing system or service, that's a Service Request!  On average, we get about 150 Service Requests every month. Service Requests require business-side approval.  Once approved, we meet to gather requirements to ensure IT and the requester are on the same page with what needs to be done.

Incident

An Incident is another type of ITSD.  An Incident is a ticket reporting a problem with something that is no longer functioning as expected.  In a typical month, we receive about 250 Incidents. Incidents are typically our highest priority.

Project Request

A Project Request is our final category of ITSD tickets.  Projects are large efforts that result in a major change to an existing system or the implementation of a new system or service. We only get a few of these each month, but these are large efforts that typically grow into Initiatives (our large projects).  Project Requests require business-side approval.

Initiative

Initiatives start out as Project Requests.  Once we receive and analyze a Project Request, our Project Management Office will kick off an Initiative.  Initiatives can last from a couple months to a couple years...or more!