Help Desk

Overview

The help desk is used to log and manage maintenance and support issues. It is linked to the user and their location and enables accurate logging and locating of issues.

Report

Reporting an Issue at Help Desk

  • Log into Accordant and select the Helpdesk link from the installed modules list.
    HelpDesk_InstalledMod.PNG
  • Select the Report tab to log an issue.
    HelpDesk_report.PNG
  • The users e-mail is automatically completed from their log in details. If you would like to report an issue for another user, clicking find will launch the find people window to search for an alternate employee.
    HelpDesk_report_find.PNG
    HelpDesk_report_search_employee.PNG
  • What is being requested can then be completed. The first drop down is for the type of issue to be reported. Once selected, a corresponding service can be selected from the next drop down field. If required, further details can be entered at the third field.
    HelpDesk_whatIsReq_type.PNG
    HelpDesk_whatIsReq_service.PNG
  • The user can then log where the issue is located. By default, this will be at my location and will complete with the user's allocated location, marked on the thumb-nail by the cross-hair. If it is to be logged for a different location, the located drop down is changed to at an unspecified location. The second drop down field is then used to select the floor the issue is located on.
    HelpDesk_MyLocation.PNG
    HelpDesk_UnspecLocation.PNG
  • The thumbnail will update with the corresponding floor selected. Clicking on the thumbnail image will launch the Explore Location window. The floor plan can be navigated in the usual way. When the location for the issue is found clicking on it will highlight it in yellow. Click Select Location to confirm the choice. The issue is located field will now update to say the specified location and display the location, which will be marked by a cross-hair on the thumbnail.
    HelpDesk_SpecLocation.PNG
  • When the issue has been completed it is logged by clicking Submit Your Request Now. This will then enlist the issue with a unique reference number. The logged issue can be viewed by clicking the reference number. The user will also receive an e-mail confirming the issue has been logged along with the details.
    HelpDesk_Submit_req.PNG
    HelpDesk_Report_submitted.PNG

List

List is the default tab when the Helpdesk is accessed. This displays all logged issues at the Helpdesk. These are listed by the reference number assigned when logged, and displays the date and time logged, the user who logged the issue, the group and service of the issue, the issue status, who the issue is assigned to, when the issue is scheduled, when the issue was completed, the location of the issue and the time taken to tackle the issue. The issues are highlighted in green if within the SLA and red if exceeding the SLA. IF there are any additional comments entered as details when the issue was logged, a speech bubble icon gets displayed next to the service. Hovering over this icon will display the comment in a pop-up.
The displayed issue can be filtered using the Date Selection, Reported By and Details filters before clicking Search. The search field can be cleared by clicking Clear Form. By default, completed jobs are not shown in the list. To show completed jobs along with the search results, check Show Completed Jobs before entering a search query.

The Status of an issue can be updated by selecting a new status from the drop down field and selecting the issue(s) using the tick boxes. Clicking Set Status will update the status of all selected jobs.
Issues can be assigned to a particular staff by selecting the staff required to tackle the issue from the drop down box and selecting the issue(s) using the tick boxes. Clicking Assign To will update the Assigned to field for all the selected jobs.

To edit an issue, double click on the row of the required issue. This consequently launches the Edit Service Request window. This displays the e-mail and department of the user who logged the issue along with the date and time it was logged.

It then displays the Service Request Details, showing the service and details entered. Below this is the Status which can be updated by selecting from the drop down list, and the Priority of the issue. This is linked to the SLA of the issue.

The next series of fields are the Supplier/Provider details. The Assigned field can be updated by selecting from the drop down list. The Time and Date for the solution of the issue to be scheduled and resolved can be completed by clicking the date fields and selecting an appropriate date using the calendar while the time can be selected using the drop down fields. The number of hours and cost can also be logged.

The final series of fields are corresponding to the Location. These fields match those completed when the issue was logged and can be updated if required.

After updating an issue click Save Details to commit the changes.

Services and Suppliers

Adding New Items (Admin Page).

New data can be added without sysadmin intervention unless there are new service types and/or activities to register. We will consider an example when a whole new service type (with new activities) are to be added. If these already exist you can skip to the next section of course.

I will add “Software Engineering” with the activities “Analysis” and “Programming” .

To do this, I need to go to “Configure Locator Settings” to access the admin page and then login as the “admin” user.
helpdesk%20-%20new%20object.jpg

The third option in the top menu is “objects” and I need to follow this link to the objects page and then use the selector in the top left to choose the “Service Types” object.

This then displays all service types in use and I can then press the “Add Object” Button to bring up the edit dialog.

I need to chose a new unique code (I have used “SOFTENG”) and then give this a description that will make sense to the users when they see it in the help desk report screen. I can save this and then see it in the list (remember that you can sort and filter this list if checking codes already used).

Now that I have my new service type, I want to make this available to the Help Desk so staying in the objects screen I need to use the selector in the top left corner again and this time choose the “Module Services” option.
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Again I press the “Add Object” button and the edit dialog contains one greyed out field (the new record will auto-number) and three drop down lists containing Booking Status (mainly used for Room Booking Services) , Module and Service Type.

The latter two fields are drop downs containing all of the modules in use and the list of service types respectively. I have selected “Help Desk” and then located my new Service Type “Software Engineering” in the second list.

When I save this, the service type can be used in the Help Desk.
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If I need to add any new Activities (I am adding two here) I now use the object selector to choose “Activities” and again I need to press “Add Object” and add a new unique Code with a suitable description. The Group can be left blank (only used to group activities for reporting) as can the Documents and Sort Order fields which are only used in move management.

I added “PROG” – “Programming” and “ANAL” – “Systems Analysis”

++Adding New Items (Suppliers Page)
Now that I have my types and activities registered, I (or any authorised Help Desk user) can set up services and suppliers.

I am going to set up a new supplier so I go to the “Suppliers” link in the help desk.
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Here I again press “Create” and need to code up a supplier (assuming the one to be used does not exist) – I have used “CADML” and “CAD Management Ltd”. You can also say whether the supplier is Internal or External if required.

I can give a number of hours for Priority 1, 2 and 3 and can set up contact details.

The contact should always be completed and these give the name and email address of the person to whom new requests should be routed – they will get an email when a new service assigned to them is requested.

When this is saved, the supplier is ready to use.

++Adding New Items (Services Page).
Switching to the services page, I can use the “Group” dropdown halfway down the screen on the left to select my new (or an existing) Service Group. When I select Software Engineering, the list will be empty as I have not yet created any services.
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Once more, we use the “Create” Button to create new services:
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Again we need a unique code for the service as well as a description and it is obviously very important to ensure that we select the correct type – here I am using my new type “Software Engineering”.

The drop down at the bottom allows me to select the priority to be assigned by default to this service which will relate to the values I set up for the supplier on the supplier page previously.

Once the services have been created, I can assign them to the supplier that I choose and record the activity that the supplier will undertake to remedy them.

This can be done on any service at any time and can be done with groups of services. I simply set a filter using the controls on the left of the screen (eg just the group “Software Engineering”) and then use the check box at the left of each row to select the service described.

When all the services to be assigned are checked, the correct supplier and activity are selected with the drop downs at the top right and the “Assign To” button is used to complete the action.
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My new services are now ready for use in the Help Desk report and will be correctly routed.
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All of the items that were created in these examples can be edited going forward by finding them in the appropriate screens (using searches and filters as needed) and then double clicking the row to bring up the editor.

Important
Once codes are in use, they should not be deleted!!

This page is currently being updated