Dear microscopists,

in a major drive to improve the service of FILM, we have reviewed the workflow within the facility, taken into account feedback from users, tested various solution, and are now introducing some major improvements to the way we communicate with our users, speed up processing of equipment issues and keep users better informed.

In detail, we are introducing the following innovations

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS <film-service@imperial.ac.uk>:
With this email address you reach all FILM staff, whoever has time first will get back to you. This can be used for all requests like training requests, equipment problems, support or anything else

NEW ISSUE TRACKING system <https://share.imperial.ac.uk/fom/NHLI/Facilities/FILM/Lists/FILM Service Issues>:
Under this Sharepoint link, you can get up-to-date information about all microscope problems and similar issues. The list will be constantly updated with all action taken by FILM staff or service engineers, so you know what's going on, when issues are likely to be fixed, so you can better plan your experiments and work around problems.
You can sort and search the list by equipment, status, issue, date and more. And as with every Sharepoint list, you can also set an ALERT for this list, so you get an automated email whenever something happens. On each microscope page, there is now also a link, specifically filtered for that equipment.

NEW 'KNOWN ISSUES' LIST ON FILM WIKI <https://wiki.imperial.ac.uk/display/film/Home>:
Some might already have discovered this, but on the bottom of each microscope's FILM WIKI page, there is now a list of KNOWN ISSUES, with self-help tips and workarounds for recurring minor problems. Experienced users might find quick solutions to frequent problems, like a button forgotten to switch on, plugging a licence dongle into a different USB port and the like, little things you don't need our help for if you. However, please always ask FILM staff for help if not needed or not sure! This tool is here to help experienced users to get the best out of their microscope time, but we are always happy to help whenever we are needed!

I hope these tools will help make best use of our equipment, minimise downtimes and user frustration and streamline the communication. We hope you will like them, and we are very interested in your feedback - please let us know what you think, and if you have any ideas for further improvements.

Good imaging,

Martin

Martin Spitaler, PhD

FILM - Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy
- Facility Manager -
Sir Alexander Fleming Building, desk 401
Imperial College London / South Kensington
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2AZ
UK

Tel. +44-(0)20-759-42023
E-mail m.spitaler@imperial.ac.uk
Website: http://imperial.ac.uk/imagingfacility