OUTLOOK HELP DESK 3.0 - Service Provider edition

User Manual for Web forms for Exchange 5.5 Server

Crow Canyon Systems, Inc.

www.crowcanyon.com

support@crowcanyon.com

This User Manual describes setting up the Web interface on Exchange 5.5 Server. For Exchange 2000 or 2003 Server, see UserManual_30SP_Web2K

Overview

Setup of Virtual Directory on Server

Setup of Folder Views

Using a Web-based Support form for external customers

Screen Shots

Overview

Outlook Help Desk 3.0 includes Web pages for users to submit and view Help Desk Tickets. The pages are set up as a virtual directory under Internet Information Server (IIS) on an Exchange server running Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Users type “http://yourOWAservername/helpdesk” in their browser to access the Web-based forms. Users are first presented with a login screen where they enter a valid Windows account (just like OWA). Once logged in, users and Help Desk staff can submit and view tickets. When viewed in the browser after being submitted, the tickets are read only and changes cannot be made to the tickets through the Web interface. Changes can be made through Outlook.

These Web pages are only available to users with Exchange mailboxes. For external customers, you can set up a Web-based Support form. Code behind the form emails it to the Help Desk folder, where it is converted to a new Ticket. See Web Forms.

Setting Up Web-based Outlook Help Desk 3.0

You will need Exchange Server 5.5 SP1 and above with Outlook Web Access. Also, you need to have Outlook Help Desk 3.0 Service Provider edition set up in the Exchange Public Folders before using the Web-based forms. Clients just need a Web browser.

I. SETUP OF VIRTUAL DIRECTORY ON SERVER

Create a “helpdesk” directory under the Inetpub/wwwroot directory on your OWA server. Unzip WebFiles30-55.Zip, and copy the files into this new directory
In Internet Services Manager, create a virtual directory that points to the new Helpdesk directory created in Step 1. Name the virtual directory "helpdesk". Right-click the directory and go to Properties. Set the Directory permissions and Directory Security as follows.

Directory Security tab, under “Anonymous Access and Authentication Control”, press Edit. Check Basic Authentication and Windows NT Challenge/Response.

Users who will access the Web forms need only be Domain Users, but they also need the “Log on Locally” right to the OWA server. They should already have this if they use OWA. If not:

Windows NT: Open User Manager, then go to Policies/User Rights.

Windows 2000: Open Local Security Policy (Start/Programs/Administrative Tools). In Local Security Policy, go to Security Settings/Local Policies/User Rights Assignment. If the OWA server is a Domain Controller in Windows 2000, the “Log on Locally” right also needs to be granted in Domain Controller Security Policy (Start/Programs/Administrative Tools). In the Domain Controller Security Policy screen, go to Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local Policies/User Rights Assignments.

Our recommendation is to create a group – “OWA Users” or “HelpDesk Users” – and grant the right to this group, then add users to the Group.

Users need the Write permission on the system <%winnt%> directory, usually C:\WINNT. This is for writing temporary MAPI profiles. If you do not want to grant the Write right to the system directory, a registry setting allows you to change the location that the temporary MAPI profiles are written to. This is explained in Microsoft Q article Q166599.

In NTFS security on the Help Desk directory in the file system, users need Read & Execute and List permissions.

Exchange 5.5 (Windows NT Server):

If your Help Desk public folder is not right under All Public Folders in Exchange, you need to modify Default.asp in the “helpdesk” directory to indicate the “Help Desk” public folder location. Otherwise, you will get a “recurse folder” error when you run the Web pages. Open Default.asp in Notepad, find these lines and make the changes below.

**** Look for the lines below in the Default.asp ****

' THE LINE BELOW HAS TO BE CHANGED IF THE HELP DESK IS NOT RIGHT UNDER 'ALL PUBLIC FOLDERS'

' SEE USER MANUAL FOR INSTRUCTIONS

' *************************************************************

Set recursefolder = myrootfolder.Folders("Help Desk")

' *************************************************************

Replace the “Set recursefolder” line with this (all on one line)

Set recursefolder = myrootfolder.Folders("xxx").Folders("Help Desk")

Replace the xxx with the folder names. The first Folders("xxx") must be the folder right under "All Public Folders". The next Folders("xxx") is a sub-folder under the first one, etc. Use only as many Folders("xxx") as you need to get to the Help Desk location. Make sure the folder names are spelled exactly as they are in the Public Folder tree.

For example, if your Help Desk folder is under “IT Services” which is under “All Public Folders”, then the line would read (all on one line):

Set recursefolder = myrootfolder.Folders("IT Services").Folders("Help Desk")

II. SETUP OF FOLDER VIEWS IN OUTLOOK

In Outlook, use the Define Views dialog box and the information below to create the “Help Desk” view for the "Help Desk" public folder. Go to View/Current View/Define Views. If a view named “Help Desk” is not there, press New. If it is there, highlight it and press Modify.

Create a Help Desk view with these settings:

View Name	Type	Fields	Group By	Sort
Help Desk	Table	From User (from Help Desk Ticket fields)	None	Received (descending)
		Received (from All Mail Fields)
		Subject (from All Mail Fields)

To set fields, choose Fields in the View Summary. This brings up the Show Fields box.

To change which fields you can select in “Available fields”, go to the “Select available fields from:” drop-down box in the lower left.

Using the Define Views dialog box and the information in table below, create four views on the Assigned Help Desk Tickets folder: Help Desk, From, Priority and Ticket ID.

View Name	Type	Fields	Group By	Sort
Help Desk	Table	From User (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)	None	Received (descending)
		Received (All Mail Fields)
		Subject (All Mail Fields)
		Ticket ID (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)
		Task Priority (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)
From	Table	From User (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)	None	From User (ascending)
		Received (All Mail Fields)
		Subject (All Mail Fields)
		Ticket ID (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)
		Task Priority (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)
Priority	Table	From User (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)	None	Task Priority (ascending)
		Received (All Mail Fields)
		Subject (All Mail Fields)
		Ticket ID (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)
		Task Priority (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)
Ticket ID	Table	From User (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)	None	Ticket ID (ascending)
		Received (All Mail Fields)
		Subject (All Mail Fields)
		Ticket ID (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)
		Task Priority (Assigned Help Desk Ticket fields)

Open http://<yourOWAservername>/helpdesk/ to test the application.

Using Web-based Customer Support pages

The Web pages described above work like Outlook Web Access. The user logins and then has access to a Virtual Directory on the OWA server. The pages in this directory allow the user to submit and view Help Desk Tickets.

As an alternative to these Web pages, a Web-based Support form can be added to your Web site that allows external customers to submit support requests.

The Web forms that come with Outlook Help Desk are a full-fledged web application that gives users a way to enter and view tickets without using Outlook client. This application runs on an OWA server and users must login with a Windows account. Their contact information is pulled from the Exchange or Active Directory. The web ticket is structured and puts the information into a new Help Desk ticket field by field. This web application can also be used to view assigned and unassigned tickets.

Another way to use the Web is to create a simple Web form that users and external customers can fill out without logging in. When the form is submitted, a script creates an email out of the web form and sends it to the Help Desk folder. Our email conversion script on the Help Desk folder then converts the email into a new Help Desk ticket.

The advantage to this is that users do not need a Windows accounts. Anyone who can access your Web server can fill out a ticket. The web form can run on any web server. This is a good way to service outside customers. They can come to your Web site and fill out a support ticket, and you will receive it in the Help Desk folder as a new Ticket. The information from the Web form will go into the body of the Ticket (not the individual fields) as field/value pairs. The Web forms rely on the customer to correctly fill out the contact information. They do not query Active Directory or Exchange for the user information.

With these Web forms, external customers have another way to contact the Support team. In Outlook Help Desk, customers have a variety of ways to enter support requests:

They can call in, and the Support staff creates a new Help Desk Ticket in Outlook.
They can email in a support request, which is then converted to a new Help Desk Ticket by the Outlook Help Desk scripts.
They can fill out the Support form on your Web site, which is then sent as an email to the Help Desk folder and converted to a new Help Desk Ticket.

Set up of Support forms

To set up these Web forms, a “Support” form is created as another page in your Web site. It should have the same look and feel as your other Web pages and be integrated into the site, perhaps by a “Click here for Support” link.

The Support page has a form with various fields (you can arrange this anyway you like, from very simple to more complex). The form has a Submit button that creates an email out of the form fields and sends this to the Help Desk folder. We have sample pages to help you set this up. The pages are in SupportForms.Zip (in WebFiles30SP-55.Zip):

support.asp – the Support page

SendMessage.Asp – the page that sends the email

You will need to change lines 14 & 16 in SendMessage.asp:

If Request("Email") <> "" Then

.From = Request("Email")

Else

.From = "support@company.com" ' LINE 14: ANY INTERNAL SMTP ADDRESS

End If

.To = "helpdeskfolder@company.com" ‘LINE 16: SMTP ADDRESS OF HELP DESK FOLDER

The “Any Internal SMTP Address” in line 14 is used when customer does not fill in the email field on the support.asp. It should be the address you want on the email message when the customer leaves it blank, something like helpdesk@company.com

Line 16 is the SMTP address of the Help Desk folder. The folder needs to be mail-enabled and have an SMTP address. Also, it must have permissions set so that Anonymous is a Contributor so external customers can submit emails to the folder.

Modifications to the Support forms

The forms can be used with the slight modification mentioned above, but you probably will want to modify the forms so that they match the format of your Web site. The forms are meant solely as samples to guide your Web developer in how to set this up. With these samples, a Web developer should know what is needed to customize these forms for your situation. Other fields can easily be added so that the email has even more information in it. Also, certain Support pages can be for certain products or certain customers, and with hidden fields, this can be conveyed to the email. When the new Ticket is generated from the email, it will carry this information along. In this manner, some of the support information can be recorded without the user entering it in.

For example, you may have two support sites, http://your web site/support-ProductA and http://your web site/support-ProductB. These go to two different versions of the support.asp. With a hidden INPUT field in the form on support.asp, you will already know when the Ticket is created which product the Support Request is for. That is one example of the flexibility a good Web developer can build into these pages.

Please contact us for more details and assistance on setting up the Web-based Support forms.

Screen Shots of Web-Based Outlook Help Desk 3.0

Logon screen: