[Technical] Do you use a helpdesk system or just regular email foruser-support and job tracking?

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Folks,

 We wrote our own based on asp with an Access Database back end. It works very well not least because it allows us to tweak to suit our needs.
Eg. Alerts and updates to both job request person and technician, the use of comments ( both "public" for the job requesting person and "private" for the technician(s)  ) to monitor jobs , response times analysis and the use of SMS and email to keep up to date with what is going on.
 I know many schools have no such luxury but it has served us well.

Kind Regards



Kevork Krozian
IT Manager , Forest Hill College
k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
Mobile: 0419 356 034

>>> "Jason Clarke" <JCL at gwsc.vic.edu.au> 29/07/2008 3:49 pm >>>
Hi Paul,

We use Request Tracker. RT for short. Made by Best Practical.

It's a complete PAIN (understatement since the dawn of creation) to
setup. I would not recommend it.

We've found that its improved our workflow out of sight. We have far far
less interruptions and we can set priorities much better.

Staff and students can submit faults through our intranet.

I would very much recommend setting up a Web Based and Email Based job
tracking system. There are a few around. Grab VMWare, install a new OS,
test out the packages. I believe that the new Microsoft SharePoint
'stuff' might be able to be bent to your needs.

Cheers,

Jason Clarke
------------------
Network Manager
Glen Waverley S.C.
p 03 8805 6750
m 0418 145 318
e jcl at gwsc.vic.edu.au 



-----Original Message-----
From: tech-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:tech-bounces at edulists.com.au] 
On Behalf Of Paul Williamson
Sent: Tuesday, 29 July 2008 3:11 PM
To: Technical Discussion in Schools Mailing List
Subject: [Technical] Do you use a helpdesk system or just regular email
foruser-support and job tracking?

Hi again,

We have been using a program called Public Folder Helpdesk made by
Kalmstrom for the last 3 months and it's gone from buggy to worse
(crashing, ticket id's duplicated, emails get filed under the wrong
tickets etc.).

We used to just use plain outlook, then assign a category/colour per
email to assign who would complete that job.

The problem we found with using outlook was that if we wanted to add
notes just for the helpdesk staff, there was no way to do this. This was
the main reason we looked at a helpdesk system - A way to share
information between helpdesk staff without complicating the experience
of the requesters. 

Reasons we looked at using a helpdesk system:
- Allow helpdesk staff to make notes on each issue so other helpdesk
staff could follow it up if required
- Easy tracking of sent and received emails per issue
- Gather statistics on the types of problems encountered and time spent
on them (not a primary requirement)

I'm interested to hear what you use in your school to manage emails from
staff..

Thanks!

Paul Williamson
Huntingtower School
Mt Waverley, Victoria

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