Creating New Help Desk Tickets - Outlook, Web or Email

• Users can enter tickets through Outlook client, through a Web browser or by simply sending email to the Help Desk folder.
• Help Desk reviews and assigns the tickets
• Help Desk staff can create and assign tickets directly.
• Notifications are sent out when a new ticket is received. These notices can be set up to go to a "high priority" email address (such as a pager or cell phone) for the critical tickets and a regular email address for the normal tickets.

Assigning Tickets - assign to yourself, to a tech, or to multiple techs.

• Once the ticket is received, Help Desk staff reviews and assigns it.
• The ticket can be assigned to "Self" or to another technician. The tech's name can be pulled from the Global Address List
• Once assigned, the tech gets an email notice about the assignment.
• A ticket can be assigned to multiple techs. If assigned to multiple techs, each tech can work on the same ticket or each can get a separate ticket.

Completing Tickets

• The tech works on the ticket and enters in details, comments, and actions taken into the History Log
• While working on the ticket, the tech can send an update to the user through a simple click of a button.
• The tech can copy the ticket to a personal Task so that it can sync with a PDA or handheld computer.
• The tech can enter in the time worked on the ticket; this is automatically totaled.
• The ticket can be reassigned at any time.
• The ticket can be printed using the "Print Ticket" button.
• When done, the tech can mark the ticket complete and send an email to the user.

Entering tickets with a Web browser

In addition to using the Outlook forms, users can enter and view tickets through a Web browser. You set up a Virtual Directory named "helpdesk" on your OWA server. Users enter a URL such as http://yourcompany.com/helpdesk in their browser and this brings up a logon page. Once authenticated, the users can then submit a new ticket or view existing tickets.

Another option is to create a "Support Ticket" on your Web site. This is a Web form that is geared towards external customers, though of course your users could fill it out also. When the Submit button is pressed, the form is sent as email to the Help Desk where it is converted into a new ticket. Since this does not require a login, it can be available to anyone who can access your web server.

The web files are provided with purchase of the full release version.

Email to Help Desk creates new ticket

Users can create tickets by sending email to the Help Desk folder. They address a message to the folder, just like they do to a mailbox. A script in Exchange 5.5 and an Event Sink in Exchange 2000 and 2003 convert the email into a Help Desk ticket. Users and customers outside your company can send emails to the Help Desk by using the SMTP address of the folder.

The email script and Event Sink are provided with purchase of the full release version.

Other ways to create tickets -- from an Intranet page or the Outlook Toolbar

Users can create Help Desk tickets by clicking on a link or button on an Intranet page. This launches an Outlook form, not an HTML form. Click here for more information.

A new Help Desk ticket can also be launched from the Outlook Toolbar. No need to navigate to the Help Desk folder to open a new ticket. Click here for more information.

Generating reports with Report Builder

Report Builder will help you track Help Desk performance and identify problem areas. Report Builder exports tickets to an Excel spreadsheet or text file. You can use date, status, and other filters to generate the reports you want. The full version comes with report templates ready to use. See more information under Report Builder.

Knowledge Base - valuable information at your fingertips

The Knowledge Base provides a valuable and easily accessible repository of information on Help Desk issues and fixes. The information is readily available to Help Desk staff and users to help them speedily fix problems. The Knowledge Base is an integrated with Outlook Help Desk system, using the same Problem Categories and Types for sorting articles. New articles can be created from tickets with the click of a button. See Knowledge Base for more information.

Utilities give you control over Outlook Help Desk:

• List Manager lets you control the contents of the drop-down boxes.
• Popup Message lets you configure a message to display to the users whenever they fill out a new Ticket. The message is easily changed or turned on and off.
• Ticket Colors allows you to change the colors of the tickets on the fly.
• Ticket Numbering sets up sequential numbering with a prefix and/or suffix.
• Automatic Notification designates two email addresses to send notices to when a new Help Desk Ticket is created. One address is for high priority tickets, the other address is for all others.
• Ticket Mode allows you to switch the Help Desk Ticket's default mode from "end user" to "help desk" depending on who is filling out the tickets.

See Utilities for more information.

Copy to Tasks for synching with PDA or handheld

The Assigned Tickets have a "Copy to Tasks" button. This will make a copy of the ticket in the tech's personal Tasks folder. This copy can then be synched with a PDA or handheld computer so the tech has the ticket information readily available.

Fully compatible with Outlook 2002/XP and 2003, no security warning

Outlook Help Desk 3.0 works on all versions of Outlook. However, Outlook 2002/XP and 2003, as well as versions of Outlook 98 and 2000 with Microsoft's security patch installed, will generate a security warning when programs try to access the address book. Outlook Help Desk avoids generating this warning through the use of Redemption.DLL.