OUTLOOK HELP DESK v 2.4

 

User Manual

 

Crow Canyon Systems, Inc.

San Ramon, CA, USA

http://www.crowcanyon.com/

support@crowcanyon.com

 

 

Introduction

Web and Email interfaces

Security patch in Outlook 2002

Outlook 97 Limitations

Full Version Installation

Upgrading from Demo or Previous Version

Outlook Help Desk Utilities

Version 2.4.2 Changes

Version 2.4.3 Changes

 

Welcome to Outlook Help Desk 2.4!

Outlook Help Desk 2.4 leverages the power of Outlook and Exchange Server to bring a robust, simple and effective help desk for your business. The Help Desk runs inside Exchange public folders, using the many features of Exchange folders and Outlook forms to bring efficiency and order to the demanding world of IT support.

In Outlook Help Desk, users can create Help Desk tickets using Outlook forms, a Web browser, or by sending an email to the Help Desk folder. The Help Desk staff can also create tickets directly. These tickets are stored in the Help Desk folder (an Exchange public folder) where the Help Desk staff can review the tickets and then assign them to one or more technicians.

When the ticket is assigned, the technicians receive an email or page with details about the Ticket. The Ticket is automatically moved to the Assigned Help Desk Ticket folder. In this folder, the Technician enters a history and changes the status as the Ticket progresses. The technicians can record the time spent and work done on the Ticket. End users can view the Ticket without needing to contact the Help Desk. Updates can be sent from the Ticket to the end user. When done, the Ticket is marked completed and an email is sent to the end user saying the Ticket has been resolved. A Ticket can be reopened if it was closed mistakenly.

Seven utilities give you control over Outlook Help Desk:

 

Web and Email Interfaces

In addition to using the Outlook forms, users can enter tickets through a Web browser or by sending email to the Help Desk folder. We provide supplements to this User Manual that explain how to implement these options. As an overview, the Web interface works somewhat like Outlook Web Access. You set up a Virtual Directory named “helpdesk” on your OWA server using files we provide. Users enter a URL such as http://yourcompany.com/helpdesk in their browser and this brings up a logon page. Once authenticated, the users can then submit a new ticket or view existing tickets. See UserManual_24_Web.

For the email interface, users send email to the Help Desk folder. The users can type in “Help Desk” or some other resolvable name in the TO line or they can select the Help Desk folder from the Global Address List. Users inside or outside your company can also use the SMTP address of the folder to send to the Help Desk. A script on the Help Desk folder converts the email messages into Help Desk tickets. See UserManual_24_Email.

 

Creating tickets from an Intranet page or the Outlook Toolbar

Users can create Help Desk tickets by clicking on a link or button on an Intranet page. Since this launches an Outlook form, not an HTML form, the user needs to have Outlook installed locally with a profile that connects to the Exchange server. This solution works best on an intranet when you want to put a hyperlink to the Help Desk. Click here to view sample HTML code to set this up. The sample code shows how to set up a button on a Web page that will open a Help Desk Ticket. This code can be adapted for your needs. Note that you will need to have the correct path to the Help Desk folder in the code.

A new Help Desk Ticket can be opened from a button on a toolbar in Outlook. No need to navigate to the Help Desk Ticket folder to open a new Ticket!  We provide an Outlook COM Addin that installs a "New Help Desk Ticket" button. This COM Addin comes with a Setup.exe that can easily be run on each client that needs the toolbar button. Please contact us for more information on this.

 

Security Patch warning box in Outlook 2002 (and other versions with the security patch installed)

Outlook Help Desk 2.4 works on all versions of Outlook (note the Outlook 97 limitations below). 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 2.4 to avoid generating this warning through the use of Redemption.DLL. 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 2.4 will continue to function properly, but the end users will be faced with the security warning box.

Use the following chart to determine if the Outlook client has the Security Update installed (go to Help/About Microsoft Outlook to view version number):

Outlook 97

Not applicable, since the security update is not available for Outlook 97

Outlook 98

Version 8.5.7806 and later

Outlook 2000

Version 9.0.0.4201 and later

Outlook 2002

All versions (10.0.x.x)

 

We provide Redemption.DLL free of charge with Outlook Help Desk (download here). 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/

 

Outlook 97 Limitations

Users with Outlook 97 can submit tickets in Outlook Help Desk 2.4. However, they cannot view Assigned Help Desk Tickets in Outlook 97. They can use the Web forms to view Assigned tickets. Technicians and help desk staff need Outlook 98 or higher to work with the Assigned tickets, as they need to do more than just view the tickets.

 

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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

 

FULL VERSION INSTALLATION

(The instructions refer to files with “243” in their names. These files are for ver 2.4.3. For other versions, use the appropriate version number (such as 242 for ver 2.4.2)

 

FULL INSTALLATION PACKAGE: OutlookHelpDesk243.Zip and WebFiles243.Zip

 

First make sure you have the rights to create new folders under whatever folder you will be placing the Help Desk folder. The Outlook Help Desk 2.4 folders can sit anywhere in the Exchange Public Folder hierarchy as long as they retain the folder structure:

            -->Help Desk

                        -->Assigned Help Desk Tickets

                        -->Utilities

 

The best way to test if you have rights 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).

 

  1. Unzip the “OutlookHelpDesk243.zip” and extract the files. Remember where you put "OutlookHelpDesk243.PST" because you will need to know its location for the next step.

 

  1. Using an Outlook client connected to an Exchange Server, go to Tools/Services/Add and select Personal Folders. (For Outlook 2002 users: Go to File/New/Outlook Data File and choose Personal Folder under “Types of Storage”.)  When the “Create or Open” dialog box comes up, browse to the "OutlookHelpDesk243.PST" file that you unzipped. Choose "OK" in the next dialog box accepting the defaults.

 

  1. You will now have another set of folders under "Outlook Help Desk 243". Expand this set of folders.

 

  1. In the "Outlook Help Desk 243" set of folders, select the Help Desk folder then right-click it and select Copy "Help Desk" (or go to Edit/Copy to Folder on the top menu). In the "Copy Folder" dialog box that comes up, select the folder where you want to place the Help Desk. This will create a new folder "Help Desk" under the folder location you have chosen.

 

  1. Under this newly created Help Desk folder, there also should be "Assigned Help Desk Tickets" and "Utilities”. These should have copied over when you copied the "Help Desk" folder in step #4. Set permissions for the folders as follows:

 

            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)

People doing ticket assigning (if different than Help Desk staff): Custom role with Read Items, Folder Visible, Edit items (All), Delete items (None)

 

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 243 Release" and hit the "Remove" button. In Outlook 2002, go to File/Data File Management, highlight the PST file and hit “Remove”.

 

EMAIL TO FOLDER CREATES TICKET

If you want to set up the Help Desk folder so that email to the folder is converted into a Help Desk Ticket, then you will need to install the folder script “HDScript243.txt”. This file is included in the “OutlookHelpDesk243.zip” file. See UserManual_24_Email.

 

WEB FORMS TO CREATE AND VIEW TICKETS

If you want to set up the Web forms to allow Web access to create and view tickets, then use the “WebFiles243.zip”. See UserManual_24_Web

 

 

CDO.dll or Redemption.dll must be installed to assign/reassign tickets

Help Desk staff members who assign tickets from the Help Desk folder need to have Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) or Redemption.dll installed. If they are using Outlook 2002, or Outlook 98 or 2000 with the security patch installed, they should use Redemption.DLL to avoid the Outlook security warning box. We provide Redemption.DLL free of charge and it comes with an Install.exe. Redemption provides a secure programming model to avoid the Outlook security warning.

If they are not using one of the secure versions of Outlook, they can use CDO. CDO is not installed by default, but can be easily added to Outlook by running Outlook setup, 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 install CDO.

 

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UPGRADING FROM DEMO OR PREVIOUS VERSION

(The instructions refer to files with “243” in their names. These files are for ver 2.4.3. For other versions, use the appropriate version number (such as 242 for ver 2.4.2)

 

DEMO: If you used the demo only for testing and do not need to retain any tickets, just delete the demo folders in the Public Folders and follow the Full Version Installation instructions to add in the full version. If you want to retain any tickets, follow the instructions for “Previous Version” below.

 

PREVIOUS VERSION: To retain tickets from a previous version, follow the instructions below. Basically, you need to rename the old Help Desk, install the new one, then move the tickets from the old to the new, then run the Upgrade Utility to update the old tickets. If you have a previous version, but do not wish to retain any tickets, just delete the old Help Desk folders in the Public Folders and follow the Full Version Installation instructions above to add in the new version.

 

1.         Record the settings of the utilities of the old help desk:

            a.         The current ticket number and any prefix and suffix on the Ticket Numbering form.

            b.         The settings of List Manager for the drop-down boxes.

            c.         The addresses listed in the Automatic Notification form.

            d.         How the Default Ticket Mode is set in the Set Default Ticket Mode form.

 

2.         Rename the current Help Desk folder to “Help Desk –old” or something similar.

 

3.         Follow the instructions for the Full Version Installation in the User Manual.

 

4.         When the new version is installed, it will now be the new “Help Desk”. However, the old tickets are in the previous help desk.

 

5.         If there are any tickets in the old “Help Desk” folder, move them to the new “Help Desk” folder.

 

6.         If there are any tickets in the old “Assigned Help Desk Tickets” folder, move them to the new “Assigned Help Desk Tickets” folder.

 

7.         If you moved any tickets in #5 and #6 above, press the “Update Help Desk and Assigned Tickets” button on the Upgrade Utility in the Utilities folder (shown below) to update the old tickets to the new tickets.

 

           

 

8.         If you have any other folders besides "Assigned Help Desk Tickets" and "Utilities" under the old Help Desk folders, move them over to the new Help Desk folders.

 

9.         If any of the folders you moved in #8 contain Assigned Help Desk Tickets, those tickets need to be updated using the "Update Other Folders" button on the Upgrade Utility. Press the “Update Other Folders” button and select the folder. Also, the folder needs to have a copy of the new form associated with it. Use the following procedure:

            A.        Highlight the folder, right-click and choose “Properties”.

            B.         Select the “Forms” tab.

            C.        Press the “Manage” button.

            D.        In the “Forms Manager” dialog box, choose “Set..” above the left pane.

            E.         In the “Set Library To” box that comes up, choose “Folder Forms Library”.

            F.         Navigate to the “Assigned Help Desk Tickets” folder in the new “Help Desk” folders.

            G.        Choose OK.

            H.        The left-hand pane of the “Forms Manager” box should now say “Assigned Help Desk Ticket 243” in the white space.

            I.          Choose “Assigned Help Desk Ticket 243” in the left-hand pane.

            J.          Press “Copy”.

            K.        In the right-hand pane, if there is an old “Assigned Help Desk Ticket xxx” (not the 243 one), highlight it and press Delete.

            L.         Press “Close”, then “OK” to return to the main screen.

            M.        Again, highlight the folder, right-click and choose “Properties”.

            N.        On the General tab, where it says "When posting to this folder, use:", choose “Assigned Help Desk Ticket 243” in the drop-down list.

O.                Press "OK" to return to the mail screen.

 

10.       Repeat #9 for any other folders that you moved in #8 and that contain Assigned Help Desk Tickets.

 

11.       You can keep the old help desk as a backup (make sure users will not be confused as to which is the right help desk) or delete it.

 

12.       Restore the settings in the new Utilities folder based on the settings saved in # 1 above.

 

13.       If you are using a folder script to create Help Desk tickets from emails, replace the existing script with the new “HDScript243.txt”. The “HDScript243.txt” comes with the OutlookHelpDesk243.Zip file. See UserManual_24_Email.

 

14.       If you are using the Web forms to create and view tickets, replace the files in the “helpdesk” directory on your OWA server with the new ones in the “WebFiles243.Zip” that comes with the upgrade. See UserManual_24_Web

 

 

 

OUTLOOK HELP DESK UTILITIES

 

 

REPORT BUILDER

From the Utilities folder, double-click the "Report Builder" form. Report Builder will export Assigned Help Desk Tickets.  You can choose which fields to export by individually checking them or you can check “Select all fields” to export all the fields.

You can also choose which folder to export from. Some people create a folder to archive finished tickets, for example “Completed Help Desk Tickets”. After a ticket is marked complete, it can be moved to the archive folder. With Report Builder, you can continue to export these tickets by selecting the folder with the “Change Folder” button.

Report Builder now has Filtering Options. Rather than export all tickets, you can filter on a date range (a pre-selected choice or a specific range) and status (open, overdue, completed, or all).  The Advanced Filtering tab gives you 10 other fields to filter on. These filtering options are not required, but give you flexibility in tailoring your exports to get the reports you want.

Exporting from Help Desk folder

If you change the “Folder to export” to the Help Desk folder, the form changes the “Fields to export” list and switches to exporting “Help Desk Tickets” (instead of the “Assigned Help Desk Tickets”). This allows you to export unassigned Help Desk Tickets from the Help Desk folder if you want reports on tickets waiting to be assigned. You cannot export Assigned Help Desk Tickets from the Help Desk folder, but there should not be any in there anyway because once the ticket is assigned, it is moved to the Assigned Help Desk Ticket folder.

 

Notes on Report Builder

Using Report Builder will not affect the tickets because Report Builder only reads the tickets and does not change or delete any data. Also, you need Microsoft Excel on the PC that is running Report Builder. Once the spreadsheet is populated, you can use it 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 move it to the Utilities folder.

 

 

LIST MANAGER

From the Utilities folder, open "List Manager". This utility will allow you to set the contents of the drop-down boxes that are on the Help Desk Ticket form:

·        Problem Category

·        Problem Type

·        Priority

·        When needed

·        Maker/Model

·        Operating System.

 

On the first page of List Manager, you can set the When Needed, Maker/Model, Operating System and Priority boxes. For Priority, you put the entries in the High, Normal, or Low boxes. All these entries show up in the Priority list, but these boxes tell Outlook Help Desk how to set the importance on an Assigned Help Desk Ticket. Any Priority in the “High” box will set the Assigned Help Desk Ticket to “high importance” and the importance icon to a red exclamation mark. For “Normal”, there is no icon and for “Low” the icon is a blue arrow pointing down.

On the second page of List Manager, you can set the Problem Category and Problem Type lists. These two lists can be linked or unlinked.

LINKED: When linked, changing the Problem Category changes what is listed in the Problem Type. For instance, a Problem Category might be Email and the Problem Types might be “Address Book”, “Can’t Send/Receive”, etc. and another Problem Category might be Network and the Types might be “Drive mapping”, “Logon Problems”, etc. To set this up, enter whatever you want into the Problem Categories list (each on its own line), then use the “Select Problem Category” drop-down list to select a Problem Category. Add, modify or delete the list of Problem Types for that Problem Category. You can switch from Problem Category to Problem Category using the drop-down lists and modify the Problem Type lists accordingly. Enter the Problem Types so that each is on its own line.

 

UNLINKED: When unlinked, they operate independently so that if the Problem Category changes, this has no effect on the Problem Type and vice versa. This might be used if the Problem Types are more general and you don’t want linkage between the two lists. In this case, put whatever you want in the two lists, then press Close and save the Report Builder.

 

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 move it to the Utilities folder. There must be only one "List Manager" form in the Utilities folder.

 

 

FIVE UTILITIES

From the Utilities folder, open "Five Utilities”. This form has (surprise!) five utilities, each on its own tab. Outlook Help Desk comes with the Five Utilities form already in the Utilities folder. If it is deleted, you can create a new one by using the Actions menu and choosing "New Five Utilities". When you save it for the first time, it will save to your Drafts folder. You then need to move it to the Utilities folder. There must be only one "Five Utilities " in the Utilities folder.

1. Ticket Numbering tab allows you to change the sequential numbering of the Help Desk Tickets and add prefixes or suffixes to the Tickets automatically. Ticket IDs are issued when the ticket is assigned, not when the Help Desk ticket is first created. This is so that the numbering sequence is not filled with gaps caused by users opening a ticket and then canceling or by tickets that the help desk determines do not need to become Assigned Help Desk Tickets.

 

2. Automatic Notification tab allows you to set email addresses that will be notified whenever a new ticket is entered in the Help Desk folder. Use the “Send Test Message” button to see if the names can be resolved. Ambiguous or non-resolvable names will prevent the message from being sent. Also, the notification is not sent to the person filling out the ticket if his or her name or address is in the list. Presumably, the person knows there is a new ticket in the Help Desk folder and does not need a notification.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Ticket Mode tab allows you to set every new Help Desk Ticket to open in assign mode. Most of the time, you will want to leave it at the default "End User". However, if the Help Desk is entering the tickets, you will want to switch to "Help Desk" mode. This brings the tickets up ready to assign, which is easier on the Help Desk if they are entering most or all of the Tickets (for instance, if they are taking calls from users).

           

 

 

4. Turn Off Warning Message tab allows you to permanently turn off the message box that Outlook Help Desk shows when assigning a message. This message box is meant for users with Outlook set to ‘Warn before permanently deleting items’. When assigning a ticket, Outlook Help Desk deletes the ticket from the Help Desk folder, which causes Outlook to warn. Our message tells you to say “Yes” to this Outlook warning; otherwise, the Help Desk ticket will not be deleted. If you know to answer “Yes” to Outlook’s warning or if you do not have Outlook set to ‘Warn before permanently deleting items’, then you do not need our box to show up.

           

 

5. Ticket Colors tab is a replica of the Help Desk Ticket. Using the Red, Green and Blue boxes under Foreground and Background in the upper right, the colors of the tickets can be changed around. It is fun to experiment with this and see what color combinations come up. Once saved, this color scheme will be used on all Help Desk Tickets and Assigned Help Desk Tickets. Also, the title “Help Desk Ticket” can be modified on this form and the titles on the tickets will be changed also.

 

With different colors:

 

 

 

VERSION CHANGES

 

Version 2.4.2 Changes

Outlook Help Desk version 2.4.2 introduces some important changes that build on the features in version 2.4.1:

 

Version 2.4.3 Changes

Outlook Help Desk version 2.4.3 introduces some important changes that build on the features in version 2.4.2:

·        History Log and Description are larger on the Assigned ticket

·        History Log uses double spacing for ease of reading

·        Total work is in regular hours, not work hours (not 24 hour days, not 8 hour days)