Overview

The Help Desk template supports a typical Help Desk environment in which issues or requests are reported by end users and the Help Desk team resolves the issues or processes requests.

Quick Links

• Projects - describes the projects available in this template.
• Forms - explains the forms available in this template.
• Fields - provides details about the fields configured by default.
• Dependent Pulldowns - an example of how dependent pulldown fields can be used.
• Workflows - description of the workflow process.
• Charts - sample charts available in this template.
• Email - information about the default email notification rules.
• Security - a summary about the security model in effect.

Projects

A default project called "Help Desk" is available in this template and is visible to all user groups. This project can be customized and additional projects can be added via the Projects section.

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Forms

A default form called "Ticket" is available in this template, is associated with the "Help Desk" Project and is visible to all user groups. This form can be customized and additional forms can be added via the Forms section.

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Fields

The Ticket form contains the following fields. Note that you can customize the database by adding to or removing fields, or changing any pulldown menu values via the Fields section. Field names with an asterisk are required by the system and cannot be removed from any form(s).

PRN*	Numeric record identifier. Assigned at the time the ticket is created.
Title	A one line text summary of the problem or request. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Product*	Identifies the product for which the ticket has been reported. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Component	Identifies the component for which the ticket has been reported. Values displayed in this field depend on the value selected for the Product field. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Last Updated Date*	The date and time when the ticket was last modified. Set automatically as the ticket is processed through the workflow.
Platform	Describes the hardware or software platform where the problem occurs. An example is the operating system (e.g. Windows XP). Set at the time the ticket is created.
Request Type	Classifies the ticket. Some of the possible values are: Bug / Issue, Enhancement, Equipment Request, Feedback. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Severity	Describes how serious the problem is. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Description	Full description of the problem. Ideally describes the nature of the problem and how to reproduce the behavior. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Reported By*	Name of the user that reported the ticket. Initially set to the name of the current user logged in. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Date Reported	The date the ticket was created. Automatically initialized, and set at the time the ticket is created.
Workaround	Describes how to work around the reported problem. Set at the time the ticket is created.
Pending Issues	Describes what information or tasks are needed before a ticket can continue to be processed. Set by the Help Desk Engineer if issues arise that keep the ticket from being processed.
Status*	Current state of the ticket. Changes as the ticket is processed through the workflow.
Assigned To*	User the ticket is currently assigned to for processing. Set either manually or automatically during processing of the workflow.
Host Name	The host name of the machine of the user who reported the issue. Set automatically when the ticket is created using the AutoFill feature.
IP Address	The IP Address of the machine of the user who reported the issue. Set automatically when the ticket is created using the AutoFill feature.
Operating System	The operating system installed on the machine of the user who reported the issue. Set automatically when the ticket is created using the AutoFill feature.
Est. Close Date	Date when the issue or request is expected to be resolved. Set by the Help Desk Engineer when deciding how to process the ticket.
Priority	Describes the relative importance of handling this ticket compared to other tickets entered in the system.
Close Date	Date when the ticket was closed. Set by Help Desk when issue or request has been resolved. Automatically initialized to the current date/time.
Close Detail	Describes the details about how the issue or request was resolved. Set by the Help Desk when the issue or request has been resolved.
Deleted*	Denotes whether the ticket has been deleted.

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Dependent Pulldowns

The pulldown field Component is dependent on the pulldown field called Product, allowing the Component field to only display those values that correspond to the Product selected. The examples below illustrate the purpose of Dependent Pulldowns.

Example 1: When "Hardware" is selected in the Product field, the Component field displays the following option menu items:

• Computer
• Modem
• Monitor
• Other
• Printer

Example 2: When "Software" is selected for the Product field, the Component field displays the following option menu items:

• Our Browser
• Our Database
• Our Email
• Other

Details on setting up dependencies between pulldown fields can be found in the Customizing Pulldown Dependencies section of the Admin Guide.

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Workflows

It is assumed that tickets will be processed and moved through the workflow process by using the Task operation. A default workflow called "Help Desk Ticket Process" is available in this template and is associated with the "Ticket" Form and is in use in the "Help Desk" Project. You can customize the Help Desk Ticket Process workflow or add additional workflows via the Workflows section.

1. Reported

   It is assumed that each Help Desk Engineer is assigned to a particular product or area of expertise. When a ticket is created, it is set to the state Reported, and assigned to a particular Help Desk Engineer based on the Product selected in the ticket. The user who reported the ticket can update it while it is in the Reported state (before a Help Desk Engineer begins working on it) using the Update Request transition. This transition allows the Reporter to add more information that may help the Help Desk Engineer resolve the issue. The same fields that are available to the Reporter on the Add or Submit pages are available in this transition. The Reporter must explain what was changed in the History Comment field.

   Each Help Desk Engineer reviews the incoming tickets and decides how to process each using a list of possible workflow paths. The Help Desk Engineer can choose one of the following:

   • Begin processing a ticket by selecting the transition called Start Processing Request. The Description field is presented for the Help Desk Engineer's reference. The Help Desk Engineer must enter an Estimated Close Date and can optionally set the Priority of the request. This transition will keep the ticket assigned to the Help Desk Engineer and place the ticket in the In Process state.
   • Close the ticket by selecting the transition called Close. The Description field is presented for the Help Desk Engineer's reference. This transition will place the ticket in the Closed state and assign it to TBD ("no one" since this ticket will not be processed any further). The Help Desk Engineer will be required to enter a reason the ticket was closed in the Close Detail field. The Close Date will be updated automatically.
   • Delay processing of the request by selecting the Hold Request transition. The Description field is presented for the Help Desk Engineer's reference. The Help Desk Engineer is required to enter a reason for the delay in the Pending Issues field and an Estimated Close Date. It is optional to set the Priority for the ticket. This transition will place the ticket in the On Hold state, but will still be assigned to the Help Desk Engineer.

   This is implemented by:

   Workflow Properties

   • Defining Reported as the Default Add State when a ticket is added
   • Assigning a Help Desk Engineer as the manager for the Reported and On Hold states for each Product e.g. Help Desk Engineer One (help_one) is the manager for the Reported and On Hold states for the Hardware Product

   Transitions

   • Defining a transition with New State set to Reported and New Assignee set to "<Same Assignee>"
   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the In Process and On Hold states where the assignee is <Same Assignee>.
   • Defining transitions to move a ticket to the Closed state where the assignee is TBD.

   Task Fields

   • Configuring the History Comment (required) and the following optional fields to be presented during the Update Request transition: Title, Product, Platform, Request Type, Severity, Description, Workaround
   • Configuring Description (read only), Est. Close Date (required) and Priority (optional) to be presented during the task operation for the transition to the In Process state.
   • Configuring Description (read only), Close Detail (required) and Close Date (read only and initialized) to be presented during the task operation for the transition to the Closed state.
   • Configuring Description (read only), Pending Issues (required), Est. Close Date (required) and Priority (optional) to be presented during the task operation for the transition to the On Hold state.

2. In Process

   The Help Desk Engineer assigned to the ticket attempts to resolve the issue or request, then chooses one of the following transitions:

   • If the issue is resolved, the Help Desk Engineer can close the issue by selecting the transition Close. The Description field is presented for the Help Desk Engineer's reference. This transition will place the ticket in the Closed state and assign it to TBD ("no one" since this ticket will not be processed any further). The Help Desk Engineer will be required to enter a reason the ticket was closed in the Close Detail field. The Close Date will be updated automatically.

   • If the issue has not been resolved and the Help Desk Engineer needs to escalate the issue to a manager for troubleshooting assistance, the Escalate transition will be selected. The Description field is presented for the Help Desk Engineer's reference. The Help Desk Engineer is required to enter the reason for the escalation in the Pending Comments field. This will place the ticket in the Escalated state and will assign it to the Help Desk Manager.

   • If the issue cannot be processed until a later (e.g. because more information is needed or there is a delay to receive equipment needed to resolve the issue), the Help Desk Engineer can select the Hold Request transition. The Description field is presented for the Help Desk Engineer's reference. The Help Desk Engineer is required to enter a reason for the delay in the Pending Issues field and an Estimated Close Date. It is optional to set the Priority for the ticket. This transition will place the ticket in the On Hold state, but will still be assigned to the Help Desk Engineer.

   This is implemented by:

   Workflow Properties

   • Defining Help Desk Manager (help_mgr) as the manager for the Escalated state

   Transitions

   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the Closed state where the assignee is TBD.
   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the On Hold state where the assignee is <Same Assignee>.
   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the Escalated state where the assignee is the manager of that state

   Task Fields

   • Configuring Description (read only), Close Detail (required) and Close Date (read only and initialized) to be presented during the task operation for the transition to the Closed state.
   • Configuring Description (read only), Pending Issues (required), Est. Close Date (required) and Priority (optional) to be presented during the task operation for the transition to the On Hold state.
   • Configuring Description (read only) and Pending Issues (required) to be presented during the task operation for the transition to the Escalated state.

3. Escalated

   The Help Desk Manager (help_mgr) decides how to proceed with the issue:

   • The issue can be sent back to the Help Desk Engineer by using the De-escalate transition. The Description field will be provided for help_mgr's reference. Comments to aid the Help Desk Engineer to resolve the issue must be entered into the Pending Issues field. Optionally, the Priority of the ticket can be updated. This will place the ticket back into the In Process state and assign it to the Help Desk Engineer who worked on the ticket when it was previously in that state.
   • The issue can be closed by using the Close transition. The Description field is presented for reference purposes. This transition will place the ticket in the Closed state and assign it to TBD ("no one" since this ticket will not be processed any further). help_mgr will be required to enter a reason the ticket was closed in the Close Detail field. The Close Date will be updated automatically.

   This is implemented by:

   Transitions

   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the In Process state where the assignee is <Last Assignee for New State>
   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the Closed state where the assignee is TBD

   Task Fields

   • Configuring the Description (read only), Pending Issues (required), Priority (optional) to be presented during the Task operation for the transition to the In Process state.
   • Configuring the Description (read only), Close Date (read only, initialized), and Close Detail (required) fields to be presented for the transition to the Closed state.

4. On Hold

   Processing was stopped for the tickets in this state. The Help Desk Engineer can resume processing of a ticket using the Resume Processing transition. The Description field will be provided for reference purposes and the Help Desk Engineer will have the option to update the Estimated Close Date and Priority fields. This will place the ticket in the In Process state and will remain assigned to the Help Desk Engineer. The Help Desk Engineer can close the issue by using the Close transition. The Description field is presented for reference purposes. This transition will place the ticket in the Closed state and assign it to TBD ("no one" since this ticket will not be processed any further). The Help Desk Engineer will be required to enter a reason the ticket was closed in the Close Detail field. The Close Date will be updated automatically.

   This is implemented by:

   Transitions

   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the In Process state with New Assignee set to <Same Assignee>
   • Defining a transition to move a ticket to the Closed state and assigned to TBD

   Task Fields

   • Configuring the Description (read only), Est. Close Date (optional), Priority (optional) to be presented during the Task operation for the transition to the In Process state.
   • Configuring the Description (read only), Close Date (read only, initialized), and Close Detail (required) fields to be presented for the transition to the Closed state.

5. Closed

   Processing on these tickets has been completed.

Sample Saved Charts

A set of sample saved charts are included in this template. The default Project and Form will be selected as part of the criteria. If your workgroup contains multiple projects and forms, these charts can be edited to include additional projects or choose a different form, if desired:

Project Status (default) [Users]

This metric will generate a pie chart, which displays the relative number of records in each possible state. It is designed to give you a quick breakdown of the overall status of a project. To limit the chart to a particular project or release, select a Saved Query that only displays (matches) the records for the project or release as the value for Input Records and click Show Chart.

Add Rate [Users]

This metric will generate two dimensional line chart with the number of records added during each week for the previous 26 weeks broken down by product (one line per product that has at least one record added in the last 26 weeks). It is designed to give you display trend information about the number of new reports (records added) for each product over the last six months.

Average Close Time [Users]

This metric will generate a two dimensional bar chart with the average number number of days it takes to close an issue, with one bar for each Severity. The time is calculated by using the difference between the Date Reported field and the Close Date field of each input record. It is designed to easily see differences in how fast particular issues are closed based on their Severity.

Close Rate [Users]

This metric will generate a line chart, which shows the number of records that were closed during each of the last 12 months. There is one line for each Request Type. And, the most recent month is a partial month (unless today is the last day of the month). A record is considered closed if it moved into the Closed state during the month. It can be used to view the number of records closed each month for the previous year. It allows you to distinguish by Request Type (e.g. Bug, Enhancement).

Close Totals [Users]

This metric will generate a stacked line chart, which shows the cumulative number of records that have been closed as of the end of each month for the last twelve months. As with Close Rate, there is one (filled) line for each Request Type and the most recent month is a partial month (unless today is the last day of the month). A record is considered Closed if it has moved into the Closed state at some point prior to the end of the month. It can be used to see running totals of issues that were closed in the previous year, broken down by Request Type (e.g. Bug, Enhancement).

Deadline Performance [Users]

This metric will generate a bar chart, which shows the average difference in days between the Est. Close Date and the actual Close Date of a record broken down for each product. It can be used to detect how effective the Est. Close Date is at predicting the actual Close Date of an issue. A negative value for any product indicates that the average issue is resolved before the Est. Close Date.

Hardware Component Performance [Users]

A bar chart which displays the number of current records for every component broken down by request type. This metric is designed to show a snapshot of the hardware components that have the most issues logged and to categorize the types of issues logged for each. This is useful to identify components that have chronic problems.

Help Desk Workload [Users]

A bar chart which displays the number of records assigned to each member of the Help Desk user group. This can give you a rough idea of the current workload. If you have a field which represents the actual work required for a particular item (e.g. a float type field which notes the estimated number of hours required to process an issue), you can create your own chart to total the value(s) of that field for each user and display it in a similar fashion.

Project Summary [Users]

This metric will generate a table, which displays the numbers of records added for each product in each row of the table. Each column breaks down how many records are currently in each state. It is designed to give you a quick breakdown of the overall status of each project. To limit the chart to a particular project or release, select a Saved Query that only displays (matches) the records for the project or release as the value for Input Records and click Show Chart.

Requests On Hold [Users]

A bar chart which displays the number of current records in the On Hold state for every component. This metric is designed to provide a snapshot of the current records where the processing has been delayed. The data is broken down by component to allow you to easily identify problem components.

Severity 1 Issue Status [Users]

A bar chart which displays the relative number of records with a Severity rating of 1 in each state broken down by Product. This metric provides an overall status of the most severe issues reported for each Product.

Severity Trend [Users]

This metric will generate a three dimensional bar chart that displays the number of records added during each of the last twelve weeks, broken down by Severity. It can be used to see if the severity of records being added is changing over time.

Workload [Users]

This metric will generate bar chart, which displays the number of articles assigned to each user. This can give you a rough idea of the current workload. If you have a field which represents the actual work required for a particular item (e.g. a float type field which notes the estimated number of hours required to process an article), you can create your own chart to total the value(s) of that field for each user and display it in a similar fashion.

Workload by Project [Users]

This metric will generate a table, which displays in each row the number of records currently assigned to a user. Each column breaks down how many records were reported against each product. This can give you a rough idea of the current workload by project.

Workload Status [Users]

This metric will generate a table, which displays in each row the number of records currently assigned to a user. Each column breaks down how many records are currently in each state. This can give you a rough idea of the current workload by status.

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Email Notification

The Help Desk template is set up to notify users as follows:

On Add or Delete of a Record: The current assignee, the manager for the current state, and the reporter of the ticket are notified

On Change of State to Inactive: The user who reported the ticket is notified when a ticket is moved to a state where processing has stopped (any state included in the Inactive state group: Closed or On Hold)

On Change of Assignment: Both the current assignee and the manager of the current state of the ticket are notified

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Security

The Help Desk template assumes a very simple security model reflecting a workgroup situation where all users are able to see any ticket. This is implemented by setting Enable Record Visibility option under General Preferences in the Administration Task page to No.

In addition, the privileges related to editing the field of the tickets have been removed from users that are not managers or Admin. With this configuration, users can rely on the Task operation to move tickets through the workflow. This can be changed within the User Accounts section of the Admin page.

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