NetSupport adds HelpDesk to education suite :)

[Al_NetSupport]

Hi all,

 

After many years of being focused on Classroom Management and Remote Control, i know lots of members on this forum are now using NetSupport DNA as our complete IT Management suite for schools. We have been working hard in background to complete the circle and i am pleased to advise we have just launched the latest update to NetSupport ServiceDesk, our low cost HelpDesk solution.

 

 

NetSupport ServiceDesk is installed on a single PC at a school and then accessed by Operators and staff through their browser. It's also been updated to ensure schools can support multiple sites with the latest update. As you would also expect, NetSupport ServiceDesk also integrates with NetSupport DNA, so when a member of staff raises a ticket, you can instantly access their system information directly from within the Helpdesk.

 

 

 

You can download a free copy of NetSupport ServiceDesk from NetSupport ServiceDesk - Educational Benefits and try it free for a month, or follow this LINK to take a look at our online demo version.

 

NetSupport are also offering NetSupport ServiceDesk to EduGeek users for a specially discounted price, so please PM me or contact the NetSupport team with your details for more info.

 

As always a big thanks to everyone for their feedback on NetSupport DNA and also to all those schools who have chosen us as their preferred solution moving forwards.

 

Best wishes

 

Al.

 

 

 

 

 

A few bits of customer feedback after purchasing NetSupport ServiceDesk

 

Tower Hamlets LA - "After meeting numerous help desk suppliers I was impressed with NetSupport’s solution as this met our needs, allowing all schools and field engineers access to the helpdesk via a web browser. In my opinion NetSupport ServiceDesk is very good value for money offering features other products charge a premium for. On top of this, support provided for the product is 1st class."

 

Wilmslow High School - "We were being inundated with requests from teachers asking for work to be done on the computer system within the school, we needed some way of recording and managing these requests. After looking at numerous products we decided on NetSupport ServiceDesk based on Internet reviews. NetSupport ServiceDesk has helped by allowing us to easily record jobs undertaken in the school by the ISS team and then reporting back to the School’s leadership team."

 

Heathcote School - "NetSupport DNA and Helpdesk have proved their worth many times over. Installation was straight forward and in next to no time DNA was providing me with a wealth of information about the Hardware and Software we have around the school. Armed with this information it has been so much easier to plan upgrades and using DNA's software distribution feature I can deploy new technology across the network in a matter of minutes."

 

 

 

 

 

Specifics for those interested

 

NetSupport ServiceDesk includes :

 

As an entirely browser-based solution, NetSupport ServiceDesk is easily integrated into your existing IT infrastructure, providing your staff and technicians with a quick and convenient system for initiating, tracking and resolving reported incidents. With an intuitive multi-lingual and fully customisable interface designed for both desktop and tablet platforms, automated workflow and email processing and a wealth of reporting options, NetSupport ServiceDesk rises to the challenges that face the modern IT department.

 

Incident Management

 

The key to effective Incident Management is being able to minimise the impact on day-to-day business operations, restoring normal service as quickly and efficiently as possible. NetSupport ServiceDesk's automated workflow processes help you achieve this by delivering the following as standard:

 

• Customers can log incidents on-line and review current status in real time.
  
• Automated Incoming/Outgoing email processing.
  
• Automatic assignment of incidents to operators based on pre-defined customer rules for either Problem Type or User Type.
  
• Automatic escalation of incidents based on customer-specific rules.
  
• Structured notes history for an incident with source identifiers (telephone, email and more) for each additional entry within the item's lifecycle.
  
• Use in conjunction with NetSupport DNA to retrieve a full Hardware and Software Inventory for each user's system.
  
• Attach, store and associate files to an incident.
  
• Avoid duplicating effort by connecting multiple related incidents.
  
• Automatic priority assignment for new incidents.
  
• Accurate recording of time spent dealing with incidents.
  
• Prioritised Help Requests for users and incident types together with easy operator allocation.
  
• Help Request logging with customisable categories for easy input.
  
• Pre-populated incident templates.
  
• Pre-populated solutions database enables customers to search for an answer before they log an incident.
  

 

 

Change Management

 

NetSupport ServiceDesk helps you introduce a set of defined methods and procedures for the efficient and prompt handling of change requests. Automated workflow processes ensure appropriate communication, reporting and approval mechanisms are in place at each stage of the lifecycle.

 

User Management

 

• Active Directory synchronisation.
  
• Allow end users to generate ServiceDesk logon accounts or restrict generation of end user accounts to Administrators and ServiceDesk operators.
  
• Import user departments and companies from other systems into NetSupport ServiceDesk.
  
• Assign ServiceDesk operators to specific companies and departments in the user hierarchy.
  
• Pre-define the members of a Change Advisory Board (CAB) for each category of change request.
  

 

 

Problem Management

 

The key to successful Problem Management is being able to reduce the volume of incidents being logged in the first place. NetSupport ServiceDesk enables you to proactively investigate and resolve the root cause of issues, leading to:

 

• Improved reliability of services.
  
• A reduction in the volume of reported incidents, thus lightening the load on your Service Desk.
  
• Delivery of permanent solutions rather than constant workarounds.
  
• Improved customer satisfaction.
  
• Increased knowledge within the service desk.
  

 

IT staff can utilise a range of tools, including report dashboards and advanced searching, to help them identify trends and link related incidents to a problem. Once a resolution is found, the relevant incidents are automatically closed.

 

 

Service Level Management

 

Service Level Management is one of the core components of the ITIL Service Delivery framework. If a healthy relationship between the customer and IT team is to be maintained it very much relies on the ability of the ServiceDesk to deliver efficient and cost-effective services within agreed timescales. With NetSupport ServiceDesk you can:

 

• Establish condition-based workflow rules for incidents, problems and change requests that are continually checked against stored SLAs.
  
• Give instant visibility to imminent service bottlenecks to ensure relevant items can be actioned before impacting on service performance.
  
• Gather historical and real-time data on service performance.
  
• Tracking and reporting service performance against SLAs on an ongoing basis.
  

 

Integration

 

NetSupport ServiceDesk integrates seamlessly with other NetSupport and third-party network management solutions to provide you with the range of complementary tools you need to provide a complete support offering direct integration with NetSupport DNA IT Asset Management Suite for Schools.

 

 

Reporting

 

Information is key and one of the main principles of NetSupport ServiceDesk is to offer you the means to capture comprehensive statistics, ensuring you are fully informed in order to make effective decisions.

 

However, the data gathered must be made available in an intuitive and user-friendly format, otherwise the efficiency benefits gained from implementing NetSupport ServiceDesk will be cancelled out by the time spent filtering this information and manipulating it into a useable format.

 

NetSupport ServiceDesk offers great flexibility:

 

The reports dashboard enables you to manipulate data to suit your specific needs. On-screen results are provided in a tabular and/or bar and pie chart format. Multiple reports can be presented side by side for easy comparison. This option is backed by a set of common status reports provided as standard with the product. You can even create your own reports (containing HTML, text and supporting graphs) using the intuitive "drag & drop" custom report designer.

 

 

Customisation options

 

• Custom Data Designer allowing for customised data fields.
  
• Profiled Operator access and customised functionality.
  
• Streamlined creation of a solutions database to aid future help requests.
  
• Use the intuitive design tool available to administrators to add custom data items to records.
  
• Custom report designer.
  
• Personalised "Home" page based on each operator’s individual requirements.
  
• Personlised "Exit" pages.
  
• Multi-lingual user interface.
  
• Escalations & Notifications
  
• Send email notifications using fully customisable email templates.
  
• Automatic escalation of incident based on customer-specific rules.
  

Edited March 17, 2016 by Al_NetSupport

[PatMoloney]

Having just started using DNA I am now able to identify out of date versions of software, and plan an upgrade path. Tracking of PC's not being used is proving interesting in managing resourses.

Still a lot of features to learn

[pandy43k]

We have just started using DNA and its great, makes keeping things like identifying software versions and hardware easy to discover and maintain. Its got some nice features for keeping an eye on E-Saftey issues and you can setup different suers on the system so they can only see the items they need to see.

 

Overall its made managing the network just that little bit easier!