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How to handle client inquiries when you don't know the answer.

At the Help Desk, you will get many different questions, it is honestly impossible for you to know the answers to all. You are more than welcome to ask your colleagues the questions, but you should always be sure to use the resources that are at your disposal prior.

Below is a break down of the resources your are expected to use for all your troubleshooting needs: 

  • CaRMS Online and COAT are also at your disposal. Use these tools especially when an applicant is asking questions about their account such as "Where do I put this information?" or "What is this section intended for?". While applicants will rarely read the information in the sections with CaRMS Online, you can, and it tends to be super useful. COAT is also an incredible tool to use when it comes to looking at the back end of their account. Experience using these tools will allow you to decipher what to use and when.

    Any inquiry regarding a section in CaRMS Online, you must pull up their account in COAT and COL as the very first step so you can a) see what the user is seeing (COL), and b) see their full account details (COAT). This should be common practice and trust that it will help you troubleshoot efficiently.
  • The Help Center is an amazing resource for the majority of your questions. This is where a lot of the FAQs we receive at the Help Desk go, with the goal of helping both external clients, and internal people at CaRMS. There are LOTs of articles so you're not expected to know which exact article to reference, but you're encouraged to use keywords in the search bar to help narrow it down. If you don't find it in the first pass, try a different keyword or add another word to the previous one you entered. 
  • The carms.ca website is also one of the first places you should go when you aren't sure. The main website contains important information for all of our clients, such as timelines, program descriptions, document types, etc. 
  • If an applicant is inquiring regarding external organizations, or requirements that an external organization deals with, check that organization's website. This includes, but is not limited to MCC exams, the Casper test, the FMProC exams, licensing requirements, etc. If the answer to their question isn't available on their website, feel free to direct them towards that organization as they are ultimately the owners of that information. 
  • Another incredibly important resource is Communiques. These contain incredibly important information for the respective client types. I recommend creating folders in your Outlook for the communiques copies you're provided, by client type and year and match, to ensure they are organized and easily accessible.
  • CaRMS Online and COAT are also at your disposal. Use these tools especially when an applicant is asking questions about their account such as "Where do I put this information?" or "What is this section intended for?". While applicants will rarely read the information in the sections with CaRMS Online, you can, and it tends to be super useful. COAT is also an incredible tool to use when it comes to looking at the back end of their account. Experience using these tools will allow you to decipher what to use and when.
  • As a last resort, you can always contact a colleague (even another department) with your question, there is no harm in doing so! But it is always important to be sure that you utilized your resources ahead of time.  
  • When you find the answer to a question with one of the resources, I always recommend bookmarking this page on your browser. You can even create folders on your browser to keep it organized. I recommend doing this with any important page, such as timelines, program descriptions, HC articles you usually have a hard time finding on your own, etc. 
  • Another option is creating and keeping your own information document with important answers and information, which is something past CSRs have done when they first started at the Help Desk, and it was a life saver. Where you save this document is completely up to you.