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David Benjamin Manager, Client Technical Support Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health Michigan State University Suite 202 Lansing, MI 48910 517-432-5840 >>> John Gorentz <[log in to unmask]> 05/24/05 12:18PM >>> At 11:40 AM 5/20/2005, John Gorentz wrote: >I am looking for helpdesk call management/issue management software that would be suitable for a small department with two IT helpdesk people and an occasional kibitzer or pinch-hitter. We have too many issues that get lost between the cracks, and too many dropped balls when both outfielders are calling each other off with calls of "I've got it, I've got it!" > >We do a lot of business by e-mail, and I'm a huge believer in keeping all possible parties in the loop by way of the cc: list. But just keeping track of the e-mails is getting difficult. I'm not sure exactly what features I should be looking for, but I have this vague idea that a good system would integrate well with e-mail. > >I'm not necessarily looking for a better way for users to report problems -- I think we have that covered reasonably well. What I'm more interested in is a way of keeping track of who has done what on an issue, whether it has been resolved or not, and of letting users know where their issues stand. I also want the information on past issues to be easily available and searchable by us. > >Does there exist anything that would be appropriate for a small department in which the helpdesk people are also busy doing other things? (I.e. something with lots of asynchronicity built in?) I'd be interested in listening to the voices of experience, or even the voices of those who have done no more than go window shopping or tire kicking on these things. (I already have a system for mixing metaphors, so don't need that feature.) > >John Gorentz >W.K. Kellogg Biological Station >I got several responses to this message, of basically two types. I got the names of three products to look at (provided by four different persons), and I also got several >messages saying We'd-like-to-do-something-too-please-let-us-know-what-you-find-out. >I was getting pessimistic about this, because none of the softwares looked like they would do what I wanted, even though I didn't really know what I wanted. But my latest >revelation is that I don't really want helpdesk software; what I really want is "email response management software." Googling with those words is leading me to products that >look more interesting. >I'm tossing that tidbit out in case those magic words elicit any other ideas from this group. >John Gorentz We(DCPAH) use GroupLink and it integrates wonderfully with Novell eDirectory and our GroupWise email. All tickets created or modified sends an email to the technician, submitter of the ticket and the end user receiving the repair. So far it has been great and it's completely web based. You can go to the website www.grouplink.net to schedule a demo or just let me know and I do one of ours over the web with you if interested - for anybody for that matter. It is priced per technician.