Help Desk Software

[robert.mabbutt]

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

[CyberNerd]

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/

[Ric_]

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!)

[rusty155]

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!

[alan-d]

We are looking at getting NetSupport Manager/School with the option of adding the DNS and Helpdesk modules onto it.

[webman]

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.

[krisd32]

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?

[Stefletch]

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

[Slartibartfast]

We currently use OTRS (http://www.otrs.org) but it can be a bugger to set up.

[maniac]

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.

[OverWorked]

Good luck! The hardest part is to getting people to use it. Tip: Make it as easy as possible for them, and enforce it.

 

A agree. We (I) also use Liberum, but uncustomised. Only one teacher has shown any interest in 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.

[robert.mabbutt]

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

[Geoff]

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?

 

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.

[Slartibartfast]

*deleted*

 

Double posts over ten hours apart? Bizarre!

[monkey_boy]

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!!

[CyberNerd]

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.

Requesttracker does this, once a ticket is escalated, Technician is informed by email and ticket appears in his/her "currently owned tickets"

Tickets can be created either by an email to "itsupport" or manually be tech on telephone

[plexer]

I use request tracker and a job can be allocated to anyone and indeed even stolen by a user if they can solve it.

 

Ben

[alonebfg]

wow i have found this http://happicow.com/cowtacular/ having a play with it at the moment very simply but seems very good and freeeeee

[webman]

Alonebfg: Thanks!! That looks great. Only just skimmed the surface of it but it looks good. We're about to work on Liberum to get a ticket-based helpdesk in for after May.

[Rozzer]

We use servicedesk plus and does everything we want. Only just rolled it out to staff to be able to log in and add jobs.

 

Ross

[limbo]

I have developed our own helpdesk over the last few years.

 

It is an Access Database, all staff (and some students) can log faults onto the helpdesk through the website (from home too if they feel so inclined!).

 

The Network Manager then allocates them to individuals and sets them a priority. Each member of staff sees their list of jobs when they log into the database, but can also see all the listed jobs for cross reference or if they are looking for more work.

 

The database includes a full asset list and any consumables or equipment the team use they enter into the ticket (from the maintained drop down list) and that then gives me / the Network Manager the option to send a PO request to the finance office to raise to paperwork to send to the supplier.

 

It is all connected to our MIS and Active Directory so that there is no real maintenance other than the supplier / purchasing stuff and I am working on a page that the suppliers can keep up to date for us through the website to take this away from us.

 

If is fully FITS compliant so that a number of logged incidents can be grouped together into a single problem or change management incident so managed as a single job.

 

The system also plans our future replinishment of kit so at any one time we know what to order and how much to budget.

 

It did take a bit of time to set up - but now it saves us hours per weel so it was more than worth it.

 

Just something for you all to consider before you make up your minds to go with a third party solution.

[zag]

Yep use a custom one here as well, just a simple asp.net web database and logging system.

 

I don't force users to login to the system, just ask for an email or telephone call for new jobs.

 

They recieve an email when the job is closed, or put on hold.

 

Another option is to use sharepoint 2007, there are some helpdesk templates already written for it.

[baronne]

We've been using One or Zero for a while now, but we are in the process of setting up Microsoft SMS for inventory etc. and will keep an eye out for a helpdesk package that can integrate with SMS.

Anybody know of such an application?

 

cheers

Baronne

[plexer]

I'm waiting for Ozan to finish his help desk app to take a look at it:

 

http://www.opsoftware.co.uk/pages/my-little-helpdesk.php

 

This is a possible replacement to our current windows install of RT unless I can get my head around a nix install.

 

Otherwise I also use NCS and GLPI for inventory and asset management and a MediaWiki install for support docs.

 

Ben

[CyberNerd]

@plexer

RT is available in the ubuntu repositories.