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* Crow Canyon Systems, Inc. *
* San Ramon, CA, USA *
* http://www.outlookhelpdesk.com *
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This program is the best Help Desk application for small to mid-sized businesses running Outlook and Exchange Server.
It works like this: Users go to the Help Desk folder (an Exchange Public Folder) and create a new Help Desk Ticket. This Ticket sits in the Help Desk folder. Outlook Help Desk can send an email notification that a new Ticket is in the folder so you do not have to constantly monitor the folder for new tickets.
The Help Desk staff reviews the ticket and then assigns it to one or more Technicians. The Technician(s) gets an email to his/her Inbox or to a pager. Upon assignment, the Ticket is automatically moved to the Assigned Help Desk Ticket folder. From there, the Technician can enter information on the progress, and end users can view the Ticket. Updates can also be sent from the Ticket to the end user. When done, the Technician marks the Ticket as completed. An email is sent to the user saying the Ticket has been resolved. A Ticket can be reopened if it was closed mistakenly.
Five utilities give you control over Outlook Help Desk. Report Builder allows you to export Tickets to an Excel spreadsheet. List Manager allows you to control the contents of five of the drop-down boxes. Ticket Numbering allows you to set up sequential numbering with a prefix and/or suffix. Automatic Notification designates email addresses to send a notice to when a new Help Desk Ticket is created. 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.
Outlook Help Desk 2.2 works on all versions of Outlook. However, versions of Outlook 98 and 2000 with Microsoft’s security patch installed and all Outlook 2002 clients will generate a security warning when programs try to access the address book. We have programmed Outlook Help Desk 2.2 to avoid generating this warning through the use of Redemption.DLL. PCs that have the secure versions of Outlook will not raise the security warning after this DLL is installed. If they do not have Redemption.DLL installed, Outlook Help Desk 2.2 will continue to function properly, but the end users will be faced with the security warning box.
We provide Redemption.DLL free of charge with Outlook Help Desk. This DLL should be installed locally on PCs with the secure versions mentioned above. This is a simple install. Redemption.DLL comes with an Install.exe that requires only a few clicks and takes only a few seconds. The DLL can also be installed through a login batch file. The DLL only needs to be installed on those PCs with the secure versions of Outlook.
Redemption.DLL (also known as Outlook Redemption) is a third-party COM object that uses Extended MAPI to provide secure access to Outlook and Exchange. More information on Outlook Redemption is available at http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/
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Outlook Help Desk 2.2 runs in the Exchange Public Folders. The folders can sit anywhere in the Public Folder hierarchy as long as they retain the folder structure:
-->Help Desk
-->Assigned Help Desk Tickets
-->Utilities
-->Numbering
First make sure you have the rights to create new folders under whatever folder you will be placing the Help Desk folder in. This can be the "All Public Folders" folder in the Exchange Public Folders or any subfolder. The best way to test this is to try to create a new folder at the location you want. If you cannot, you will need to get this permission from your Exchange administrator (or have the administrator do the following installation).
Help Desk
Default = Author
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
Assigned
Help Desk Tickets
Default = Reviewer
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
Utilities
Default = Reviewer
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
Numbering
Default = Custom -- Folder Visible, Read, and Edit All
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
You can now test out if the custom "Help Desk Ticket" form comes up when you choose "New” or click the white space in the Help Desk folder.
Once the folders are copied to the Public Folder, you can delete the Personal Folder Service you added in step #2. In Outlook 2000, go to Tools/Services, then highlight "Outlook Help Desk - Demo" and hit the "Remove" button. In Outlook 2002, go to File/Data File Management, highlight the PST file and hit “Remove”.
Outlook Help Desk 2.2 runs in the Exchange Public Folders. The folders can sit anywhere in the Public Folder hierarchy as long as they retain the folder structure:
-->Help Desk
-->Assigned Help Desk Tickets
-->Utilities
-->Numbering
First make sure you have the rights to create new folders under whatever folder you will be placing the Help Desk folder in. This can be the "All Public Folders" folder in the Exchange Public Folders or any subfolder. The best way to test this is to try to create a new folder at the location you want. If you cannot, you will need to get this permission from your Exchange administrator (or have the administrator do the following installation).
Help Desk
Default = Author
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
Assigned
Help Desk Tickets
Default = Reviewer
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
Utilities
Default = Reviewer
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
Numbering
Default = Custom -- Folder Visible, Read, and Edit All
Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)
You can now test out if the custom "Help Desk Ticket" form comes up when you choose "New” or click the white space in the Help Desk folder.
Once the folders are copied to the Public Folder, you can delete the Personal Folder Service you added in step #2. In Outlook 2000, go to Tools/Services, then highlight "Outlook Help Desk" and hit the "Remove" button. In Outlook 2002, go to File/Data File Management, highlight the PST file and hit “Remove”.
The Help Desk or IT staff members who assign tickets from the Help Desk folder need to have Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) installed in Outlook 2000 or 2002. CDO is not installed by default, but can be easily added to Outlook by running Outlook setup again, selecting "Add or Remove Features", then setting Collaboration Data Objects to "Run from My Computer". Only the people assigning the Help Desk Tickets need to do this; end users do not need to do this.
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If you do not have the demo installed, then simply follow the Installation Instructions above. If you have the demo installed, there will be two scenarios:
Repeat the procedure for the Assigned Help Desk Ticket folder, choosing, of course, the Assigned Help Desk Ticket form instead of the Help Desk Ticket form. There is no need to replace any of the Utilities forms.
One thing to watch for is that Outlook will cache the forms, so the demo forms may come up even after you delete the folders. To correct this, you need to clear the forms cache. See http://www.crowcanyon.com/Help_Desk/OutlookHelpDeskSupport.html#cache
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From the Utilities folder, open "Report Builder" form or use the Actions menu to bring up a "New Report Builder" form. The “Export to Excel” button on this form exports 26 fields in the tickets in the "Assigned Help Desk Tickets" folder to an Excel spreadsheet. (This will not affect the tickets as it only reads them when creating the spreadsheet.) You need Excel on the PC that is running Report Builder. Once the spreadsheet is populated, you can use as is in Excel or save it as a CSV file and import it into a database.
Outlook Help Desk comes with the "Report Builder" form already in the Utilities folder. If it is deleted, you can create a new one by using the Actions menu and choosing "Report Builder". When you save it for the first time, it will save to your Drafts folder. You then need to copy it to the Utilities folder.
From the Utilities folder, open "List Manager" form or use the Actions menu to bring up a "New List Manager" form. This form will allow you to set the contents of the drop-down boxes that are on the Help Desk Ticket form. The following boxes can be set: Department, Location, When needed, Maker/Model and Operating System. Put your choices in the text boxes and preview with the List Previews. You must save and close this form before the changes take effect.
Outlook Help Desk comes with the List Manager form already in the Utilities folder. If it is deleted, you can create a new one by using the Actions menu and choosing "New List Manager". When you save it for the first time, it will save to your Drafts folder. You then need to copy it to the Utilities folder. There must be only one "List Manager" form in the Utilities folder.
From the Utilities folder, open "Notification Form" or use the Actions menu to bring up a "New Notification Form". This form has two tabs with two different utilities. On the "Notification" tab, you can enter email addresses that will receive a notification every time an end user enters a new Help Desk Ticket in the Help Desk Ticket folder. These addresses must be in SMTP format (user@domain.com) because some Display Names are ambiguous and cannot be resolved to a unique address. For example, “Scott Restivo” and “Scott Restivo – pager” -- if you put the Display Name “Scott Restivo”, this will not resolve and the notification message will not be sent. Use the SMTP addresses instead.
On the "Ticket Mode" tab, you can determine whether the Help Desk Tickets open in "end user" or "help desk" mode. Most of the time, you will want to leave the default "end user". However, if the Help Desk is entering the tickets, you will want to switch this to "help desk" mode. Help Desk mode brings the ticket up ready to assign. This is easier on the Help Desk if they are entering most or all of the Tickets.
You must save and close this form before the changes take effect. If you open the form the first time and then save it, it will save to your Drafts folder. You then need to copy it to the Utilities folder. There must be only one "Notification Form" in the Utilities folder.
TICKET NUMBERING
The "Help Desk Ticket Numbering" form is in the "Numbering" folder under "Utilities". This form allows you to set the sequential numbering of the Help Desk Tickets. You can optionally add a prefix or suffix. You must save and close this form before the changes take effect.
Outlook Help Desk comes with the "Help Desk Ticket Numbering" form already in the Numbering folder. If it is deleted, you can create a new one by using the Actions menu and choosing "New Ticket Numbering". When you save it for the first time, it will save to your Drafts folder. You then need to copy it to the Numbering folder. There must be only one "Help Desk Ticket Numbering" form in the Numbering folder.
The Ticket Numbering is in a separate folder because every end user needs to write to the Numbering form to update the number. For this reason, users are given “Edit All” rights on this folder. However, the other utilities are kept in the “Utilities” folder which has more restrictive rights so that end users do not accidentally change any settings.
