HDI Member Discussion Room / HDI Discussion Rooms / Help Desk Technology

Building a Problem Tracking System using TFS?

NSauers — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:47:14 GMT

Was wondering if anyone has utilized Microsoft's TFS system to bulid a probelm tracking system for help desk support?

If you have, would like to here about the pros and cons.

Also, interested if anyone has linked the TFS product into an off-the-shelf tacking system?

Thank you.

PC HELPS SUPPORT LLC

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

I am currently in an outsourcing arrangement for Help Desk services. PC Helps Support LLC claims a niche market in saying they can provide basic to advanced support for "HowTo" shrink wrapped applications. This could be benificial since the normal level one Help Desk only provide minimal support for applications like Crystal, Visio, Access etc..

Does anyone do business with these folks?

Web Based Problem Tracking Software

NSauers — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:38:33 GMT

Looking for a good free web based problem tracking product for a small help desk of 3 supporting 200 employees and approximately 500 external customers.

Also, would be interested in a good web based tracking that is not free.

Can anyone share what they have been using?

Thank you.

Shared Resource Allocation Guidelines/Policies (ie. Printer/Copier)

Cdavid — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:47:46 GMT

My unit is responsible for all desktops on campus AND all print and copy resources. I need to write a 'guideline' document that will govern how we distribute resources so that the process is fair and transparent.

For example, it might say that:

there will be at least one black & white printer in each building
total building print usage / 80K per year = total # of printers in building
there will be a printer within 80feet (or less) of each office

And then when I have a building that houses 35 people where the print volume is 160K per year and the ends of the building are 250 feet away from each other, I could evaluate the guideline like this:

1 building = 1 printer
160K / 80K = Twice as much as we want one printer to do, so add 1 more printer

... and so on

Does anyone have a document that looks anything at all like this that they'd be willing to let me review before I get started? I'm not sure at this point what sensible guidelines to use, you see...

Thanks!

Information on Footprints Incident Tracking Software

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Hi, we are looking at purchasing Footprints for our incident tracking software and would like to know if anyone is using it, how they like the product, etc.

I got references from the vendor, but would like the opportunity to hear from people who the vendor handpicks.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

Cathy Stevens

Columbia College

Remote Control Tools

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

I am looking to purchase a remote control tool for our help desk and deskside analysts, about 7-10 licenses. Any suggestions. There are many out there and the prices all seem to be very competitive.

Client Verification

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are an internal HD at a bank and we need to impliment a user verification method before we reset passwords. The main concern is for our main banking software, which doesn't work with Active Directory. So Track-It's self serve won't work.

Cisco IPT and metrics

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Anyone familiar with CISCO IPCC and capturing metrics?

C-Support 5.0 Upgrade help needed

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We tried upgrading from Version 4.0.0.1 to Version 5.0 this weekend but when we did we could no longer integrate properly with Active Directory. Duplicate accounts pulled in from Active Directory and the new accounts were not connected to the incident history. We were only able to see the duplicate accounts when we ran a SQL script, the customer list in C-Support only showed the new accounts even though the old accounts were pending for deletion. Technicians could still access the history from the rep site but the users could not from the EUD. Also, they could no longer authenticate through Windows and had to manually login. Since support was not available we restored back to Version 4.0.0.1 but still have to manually login. Please let me know if anyone has experienced this or a similar problem with C-Support. Thanks!

IPCC & Oracle E_business Integration

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Folks,

I am wondering if any one pass through this practice before where you will need to integrate your telephone system along with the Ticketing system software you have , the main goal is to have single interface fir your agents , the challenge here what areas I need to focus on and make sure it wont lose me any features I already have by using each system as stand alone .... is it softphone , CTI .. ??

Best Regards

Mohammed Abu Jubara

Call Center Manager

Integrated Telecom Co. Ltd

Tel : +966 (1) 405.8900 Ext. 6155

Fax : +966 (1) 405-8900 Ext. 6223

GSM: 0508405953

Website: www.itc.net.sa

e-mail: m.jubara@itc.net.sa
P.O Box 8732, Riyadh 11492

Forum / Discussion Group Software

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are looking for a technology solution to allow us to host and moderate discussions for our members and customers via our website (something like the tool we are using for this exchange).

Any feedback (positive or negative) on various vendors/products would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

WiPro Technologies

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Has anyone had any front hand experience with a company called WiPro Technologies?

We are looking into outsourcing some of our Level 1 Help Desk Adminstrative tasks and this company is of interest to us; however, it would help our decision to hear from others in the IT industry first.

Please e-mail me at colleen_declark@mentor.com

Thanks!

Track-It 7.0 and Password Reset

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Is anyone using the Password Reset functionaility in Numara's Track-It 7.0? If so were you able to limit the options for how a password can or can't be changed, length, special characters, etc. We're very interested in the advantages of this type of utility in reducing calls but need to adhere to standards...

Thanks
Brenda Hunter
University of Connecticut Health Center
Farmington, CT
860-679-4609

Netsuite anyone?

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We provide external software support for businesses using our proprietary software. Our CEO would like us to incorpate our issue tracking system with a CRM system and has asked us to review Netsuite. Netsuite is primarily a CRM application that provides issue tracking and contact maintenance, but is not it's main focus.

Any held desks using Netsuite?

Outsourcing Helpdesk Support

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Anybody out there that can recommend outsourcing vendors for Helpdesk Support.........primarily in the Southern California area??

Answer here or E-mail me at Dan.Clarke@lacity.org

Call Recording Support Plans

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We will be implementing a call recording program for quality monitoring and training. I want the call recording system to work well, but I do not need five 9's of availability. I want to negotiate a lower support contract based on a lower level of support.

For those of you with call recording, what SLA's and other key support metrics do you have with your vendor and what do you recommend?

Consultant Assistance: Requirements & Tools

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

I'm sorry about not having a chance to lurk for a while and get a feel for the board before I post, but I have found myself in a sudden time crunch. My company is bringing back in it's outsourced IT in about 60 days. That's the crunch. The problem is that I am not at all convinced that Track-IT will meet our new needs.

If I could clone myself I could do a good and complete job of developing requirements and comparing against options. Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen. So I'm wondering about the next best thing: Is there a consultant or consulting company that any of you know of that would be able to do a good analysis and options presentation?

Thank you for any thoughts & ideas,

Request for help choosing a "clipboard" program to store canned e-mail responses

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Hi. I’ve got a client who needs help choosing a new “clipboard” program to store her help desk's canned e-mail responses. Do you have any advice to offer or any recommendations about who she could talk to? Here’s the question she asked me: “…We’re looking into replacing our current ‘clipboard’ program. We use this program to store boilerplate responses for email. Our current program has the capability to paste frequently used ‘clips’ utilizing hot keys (alt + key) and can store up to 100 ‘clips.’ We would sincerely appreciate any programs you suggest or have come across in the field. We have no need to implement a more robust program than what is currently in place. The current software is old and technical support will not support it any longer…”

Also, she mentioned that the program she’s using now is free -- open source. So, she may be interested in another open source option.

Thanks for your suggestions!

HPSD Users - Problem Trending Practices

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Having just joined an organization elbows deep in HPSD, I have found that we are struggling with trending out of HPSD. We have a hierarchical external utility that populates the Short Description field based on pull-down choices, but that has grown to be so granular that it has become overwhelming.

My question is - what are other help desks using within HPSD to trend call types? Text searches on the problem description would probably be inefficient based on our volume (~2000 tickets per day). Classification field? Configuration Item? _____?

As a result of this struggle, we are kicking off a project to review and/or rebuild our tools, but want to scan the environment for others' experiences.

Goal is to be more detailed than running reports against what our ACD would provide. Thanks

Peregrine - Service Center v.5

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

I’m looking for advice on efficiently closing out tickets in real time using Peregrine version 5. Our techs go out to remote sites with a list of tickets that they need to work and do not return to their desks to close out the tickets until the end of the day. The tickets must be closed in real time to meet SLAs. How can we remedy this? Is their anything cost effective that would help us close out tickets in real time (ex. pocket PCs)?We have tried to have the techs call into the helpdesk to close out tickets, but this overwhelms the helpdesk as they are not staffed to handle this call volume. Thanks for any help / advice. -Mehdi

Aldon

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are currently using Magic Service Desk for our call tracking, and many other tracking like change request.

My director has mentioned several time now he would like to look into an alternative to Magic for call tracking.

Recently we moved our AS/400 application, and Unix application on a i5 series. With the huge cost of the i5, certain departments are trying to put more and more on that machine.

Here's my question....Aldon, is a Change Management piece with an Incident Management application that integrates with the Change Management. Have anyone heard of Aldon? And if so, what good or bad have you hear in regards to call tracking?

ITIL

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are in the process of implementing ITIL. Does anyone have any do's and do not's that can help me? We have just finished our incident and change management workflows. Now we're revamping our call tracking system and getting to upgrade it.

Help Desk Software/AD integration

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We have recently moved to Active Directory (AD) and are in need of new help desk software that will integrate with it. A year ago we purchased Revelation by YellowFish software. We believed that it was just what we needed. However we are now realizing that the AD integration is very labor intensive. It requires routine monthly, if not weekly, maintenance and this is something that we want to avoid.

Is anyone using help desk software that truly syncs with AD? I would love to hear about it.

Library software recommendations requested

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Our Help Desk loans out laptops, projectors, and other miscellaneous equipment to our employees. Does anyone have any library type software recommendations? Currently we track our check outs via an Excel spreadsheet. At the very least we are looking for something that is customizable to the IT industry and includes an scheduling feature (to keep track of future checkouts).

Magic Service Desk Version 8 MTTP product

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

****o

Has anyone used this tool? Are you managing all of your moves to production with this tool? We have this tool and have learned about some limitations

webbased solutions - self-help

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are presently in the process of implementing web-based soltions for users and allowing them to open and review work orders submitted to the Helpdesk.

I am looking for any suggestions or feedback on on the following: (and anything else you feell is relevant)

How to get users to start using the web-based software and solutions.

Type of web-based solutions offered to users that are acutaully used.

% of your work orders (tickets) that are entered by the user on the web.

Thank you in advance,

Laurie Merkley

Service Desk Tools - ITIL Framework

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are in the early planning for new Service Desk ticketing system. Does anyone have recent experience with ITIL certified tools for mid sized businesses? At a minimum I'm looking for Incident, Problem and Change Management with plans to implement Configuration Management in the future. Any input on tools implemented, pros and cons would be appreciated.

Lynne M

Requirements Docs for Technology Upgrade

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

I am currently leading a project to identify the requirements for both the technical and operational sides of an upgrade to our current version of Heat (7.0 to 8.3). Has anyone out there ever put together a requirements document for an upgrade or replacement to their exisiting ticket management system? Even if it wasn't for Heat, I'm trying to avoid re-inventing the wheel if someone has a basic outline I can work from. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Call Recording vendor - eTalk vs. Witness

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are in the process of purchasing call recording software and have narrowed our choice to two vendors: eTalk and Witness. Please provide any feedback about either vendor. We'd like information about the implementation, support provided by the vendor and the ease of use.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Real-Time Monitoring

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are looking at purchasing a real-time monitoring solution. The companies we are looking at are Texas Digital, Symon, and Inova Solutions. I am looking for any feedback you can provide.

HEAT

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Can anyone give me some of their experiences with HEAT. I think we are seriously outgrowing the system. Edit sets are taking 24 hours. We seem to be getting random ODBC errors.I feel the more we grow this system the more unstable it will become. I would appreciate anyone’s input on this area. I came to an organization using this product and really have no history to HEat or Frontrange.

Remote service

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

I am looking into the various methods of providing remote access to the product we sell, so that our technical support team can diagnose faults without having to travel to the site; which may be thousands of miles from our office. Can anyone suggest a suitable resource to advise me on this issue? Our product consists of a Dell server with our S/W loaded, usually behind a hospital firewall.

Helpdesk Notification Tools

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Is anyone using any tools to send system down / up messages to user desktops and/or message boards? We are looking for ways to improve communication on system problems, ETA info and back up messages to improve communication and reduce calls to the Heldpesk....

Merging 2 help desk into 1 (acqusition)

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are about to merge with another company - they use remedy (old version) and we use Magic 7.5. As we prepare for integration, is there somebody who has gone through a similar process? what is the best way to initially share information when your ticketing systems are different?

Remote options for external help desk support

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Hi, all.

I have a support desk responsible for remote support for customers using our proprietary software. The old business model was to use PC Anywhere. This is no longer adequate since many of our customers do not want to expose the server in this manner. Many of our customers are in the financial market, which tends to have very stringent IT requirements (as they should).

When using WebEx or similar remote tool, what provisions need to be made for firewalls and security policies? What approach has worked out best for you?

Thanks.

Providing Helpdesk Services via IM Chat

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

All,

We are looking at using a secure IM server within our firewalls to provide live chat support to our customers. We also want to use this same solution to allow Incident Dispatchers to reach out to available techs for incident dispatching.

One caveat is that our customer environment contains UNIX (multiple flavors) LINUX and Windows.

Has anyone implemented such a solution and if so can you please contact me with info on what solution you used?

Thanks,

Thomas Lankford

IT Manager - Cadence Design Systems

Improvement of the HelpDesk

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Does anyone know what components or topics should be discussed in a presentation to improving a Help Desk?

I started working with a new organization about 60 days ago and one of the first deliverables that they requested of me is how can the current help desk be improved.

Some things I have already turned in include: SLA's, some SOP's, help desk responsibility versus network, and job descriptions. I turned all this in before the 60 day deadline but I'm struggling on the presentation itself.

Currently the help desk consist of 5 staff members supporting 400 people. Two times out the week one of my staff members supports and goes to the field offices. In the 60 days that I have been with the organization, I have had less than half the staff. Three of the staff members are currently in the Baton Rouge area providing relief efforts and no telling how long they will be there. I say this b/c I have not had the full staff and don't feel like I can really determine what to use to improve the desk if we are operating in unusual manner. We currently provide all support in person or at the customer workstation. There is no ACD, etc. in place. We do have Track-it as our call tracking software and use the self-service module.

The presentation I would think would consist of all of the topics I turned in in addition to some other stuff that I can't think of. My boss read over the SLA's and said they were good but different from what they are used to. Basically, I discussed differentiating level 1 support vs level 2 where level 1 would mainly be on the phones and level 2 would go to the customer workstation and solve the problems that level 1 support was unable to solve. I discussed response time, software we support and do not support, severity, etc. Currently there are no metrics in place I do know that I inherited a staff that is likable and technical but have been beat about response time, closing cases before getting customer consent and lack of customer service.

I have tried to read as much on the HDI site as possible but have not been able to find one real way of putting this presentation together for senior management.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Help Desk Chat Support Options

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

****o All,

My company is looking for another Chat support tool to continue to better serve our customers. Does anybody know the top 5 standalone Chat support tools? Also is there anybody currently using a Chat support tool that has been successful for their company?

We currently have a staff of 125 globally. We have help desks in US, EMEA, APAC, South Africa, and Japan. We would like to have the ability to support multiple languages if possible. We currently use a Chat support tool that does not meet our needs, but we have found that having a Chat support tool has greatly improved our customers satisfaction and the ability to response to their needs more quickly.

Thanks for your help.

Fabian

Anyone using CustomerFirst or HelpSTAR?

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

We are writing requirements for a new call ticketing system, with the goal of getting the budget approved for a purchase next year. Does anyone have experience with RTI's CustomerFirst! or HelpSTAR? any feedback is appreciated.

C2 Enterprise Edition

Admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Is anyone using C2 Enterprise Edition out there? We have started to use this tool and I am looking to network with another manager on the different things that could be done with it. (reporting, etc.)

Thanks!