I was just wondering if anyone uses help desk software to log users calls and do your users have access to send faults.
What system to you use and do you recommend any?
I'm just testing the water here don't know if a solution like this would be suitable for my organisation.
Robert
yes and yes. We use RequestTracker. Generally users email requests, the requests get separated into specific queues, the user gets an acknowledgement and can track the problem through a web interface.
We also use RT for change management, documentation of installs and procedures. Its very flexible and quite easy to use.
http://bestpractical.com/rt/
If you try a quick searc of the forums, you will find more than a few references. The most popular seem to Liberum and One||Zero (one or zero).
I personally use One||Zero... easy to set up on LAMP and with a bit of indoctrination the staff seem to have got the hang of it. The biggest problem I have is getting them to read the updates so that they don't come and find me to ask if I have fixed their problem (despite the fact that X, Y or Z is now working and I have left them a message - and they will have received an email!)
Yes, I use sysaid - pretty easy to use once setup. I don't allow teachers to log calls however. Instead, calls are logged at reception and they log the call details for me. I have found this seems to be the best method here.
Before i installed the helpdesk, i used to rely on e-mail. This was a nightmare as staff would just bombard me with problems most of the time lacking any real detail - such as where the problem was, what computer etc etc. I would usually get emails such as "my computer's broken - please help"!!!!
The way we operate now is much more efficient because reception are fully briefed on the information that i need, so when they get calls they know what questions to ask! Then i simply log in to sysaid and read full and clear descriptions of any logged calls!
Took a while to get there tho - hardest part was convincing reception to take on the extra workload!
We are looking at getting NetSupport Manager/School with the option of adding the DNS and Helpdesk modules onto it.
We currently use a custom-made script on our Intranet which takes user input from a form (type of problem + description) and then emails it to us. But we're looking at Liberum to be able to have a database of recurring faults etc.
does one||zero use ldap. i know liberium does but one||zero looks prettier. also does it work properly on iis? or do is it best to install something like apache2triad?
We use a very customised version of Liberum that includes scheduling tasks, ajax knowledge base searching, new reports, and various other tweeks. It is very easy to alter to fit your needs if you know VBScript / ASP and would recommend it to anyone.
If you do use it, I would recommend you opt for using the SQL database first of all, because if after many customisations, it can be a a bit trick to switch over from Access if your not to carefull.
Good luck! The hardest part is to getting people to use it. Tip: Make it as easy as possible for them, and enforce it.
Stephen Fletcher
Easington Community School
We currently use OTRS (www.otrs.org) but it can be a bugger to set up.
We use a free piece of helpdesk software called Hesk available here http://www.phpjunkyard.com/free-helpdesk-software.php it's very basic, but does what we need it to, and runs on a webserver so it's accessable by any member of staff anywhere in the school to submit new tickets using a simple link from our intranet homepage.
It's simple for users to use, simple for us to use and runs exceptionaly quickly. It also sends out E-mails to ourselves and the relevant user when a new job is submitted and when job tickets are updated with responses.
I've actually customised this script quite heavily for use in my school, and introduced a feature for alloating a job to a particular user, as well as adding an option to place a job on hold, and adding fields for Room number and department. I also changed the job number from using a random number to using a counter, so the job numbers get handed out as NBC1, NBC2 etc.
Been using it for 5 months now, up to job 1032 as of this morning, and it's working extreemly well. Would recommend it if you want a helpdesk that's simple to setup and use and best of all free.
Mike.
A agree. We (I) also use Liberum, but uncustomised. Only one teacher has shown any interest in it!Good luck! The hardest part is to getting people to use it. Tip: Make it as easy as possible for them, and enforce it.
My only compliant about Liberum is the search feature. It gets the date format the wrong way round - instead of DD/MM/YY it uses MM/DD/YY, but doesn't say so. It took me ages to work out why searches weren't returning what I knew was there.
Cheers for all the tips guys I going to check out your suggestions and undertake some research.
Any decison to implment a new system such as this will need planning. Plus Full support to ensure all uses it
Post is also bookmarked!
Robert
Yes it uses LDAP if you want it to. Both myself and Ric run it on LAMP boxes so I don't know if it'll work on IIS. Just keep in mind there's a fairly hefty performance penalty for running PHP + IIS vs LAMP.Originally Posted by krisd32
*deleted*
Double posts over ten hours apart? Bizarre!
Which of these helpdesk solutions are able to show that a problem has been escalated to a specific person? and how is that person notified.
What I would like is for some software where one of the tech's can sit on a helpdesk take calls, log the details and then escalate it if needs be, to a specific person and have that person notified either by logging into the software or by email. Excuse my ignorance if this is a feature of all of them, but i know nothing about helpdesk stuff!!
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