Whether you are dealing with a vendor, enjoying dinner at a local restaurant, or trying to sort out your weekend project at the local hardware store, there is nothing better -- or more pleasantly surprising -- than finding great service.

It is in that spirit that it is worth noting the lead item from today's Online Update (see below), which briefly outlines the support system improvements taking effect tomorrow. All of these improvements are being made for one reason: To improve our services for your benefit.

The support requests we get through the ZenDesk ticket system, phone calls and e-mail range from the simple to the complex. Regardless, we want to excel at resolving your issue quickly while staying in closer communication with you throughout the process.

To help us continually tighten our support services, I encourage you to fill out the survey that will come with the e-mail that arrives at the end of the process. Thirty-seconds of your time will go a long way toward continuing to improve our support system for the benefit of all.

Following is the text from the Online Update, with greater detail about the process changes:
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* SUPPORT SYSTEM: IMPROVEMENTS BEING MADE TO TICKET SYSTEM

Starting on Wednesday, GateHouse's ticket system is getting an overhaul. This is what you should notice:

• Faster response time: After a ticket is submitted during regular business hours, you should expect to learn who is handling your ticket within an hour.

• More personal attention: Tickets will now be handled by a host of News & Interactive personnel, in an effort to get tickets in the hands of content and technical experts who can address your specific needs. Many of those experts will be calling to discuss your ticket when the topic is more content or strategically related, and not a technical request. We anticipate this will improve the communication relationship with many of our newspapers.

• Self-help tools: Once a ticket is submitted, if there are training materials available, such as informational sheets or how-to videos, we will provide those documents when we note who will be handling your ticket. We hope that the training materials may help newsrooms gain an even better understanding of the issue before our expert contacts you.

• Surveys: In an effort to constantly improve our ticket system, once a ticket is resolved, there will be a five-question survey that each submitter can take at the bottom of the ticket that will provide us useful feedback.

We hope these changes will help improve response time, training and give newspapers the opportunity to provide more direct feedback to our ticket system.