CCS SERVICE REQUEST 5.0
Installation
and Administration of the Event Sink on the Exchange Server
For Automatic Conversion of Emails to Tickets – Exchange Server
2010
Crow Canyon Systems, Inc.
Overview
CCS Service Request
Standard and Professional editions include an Event Sink that runs on the
Exchange Server and converts incoming emails into new Tickets. The Event Sink
provides an efficient, automated way to handle support requests coming in by
email.
Users can send in
emails from any account, whether part of the Exchange system or an outside
account, to a Service Area folder. The emails can also come from a web-based
form that sends the data as email. For example, a company’s support site could
include a web form to submit a support ticket. This would be sent as email to
the Service Area folder and turned into a new ticket.
The Event Sink
detects the arrival of new email in the folder and then acts to convert that email
into a new Ticket, while also sending an auto-reply to the user and
notifications to staff if configured to do so.
Attachments
are passed from the incoming email to the new ticket. The sender’s name and
email are looked up in Active Directory and, if found, the contact information
on the new ticket is filled in with the sender’s department, office, and other
data. Emails with “RE:” as the first part of the subject are not processed so
that replies to the Service Area folder are not transformed into ticket.
Mail-enabling a folder and setting email address
Any of the Service
Area-level folders can receive emails, but any folder that will be receiving
emails needs to be “mail-enabled”. Once mail-enabled, the folder will have an
email address. This address can be changed in the Exchange Public Folder Management
Console by accessing the properties of the folder. The folder will also show up
in the Global Address List for Outlook users, unless it is hidden from the
address book, which is done in those same management tools.
If an
email address is in use on another folder or mailbox, it cannot be added to the
folder. The address first has to be removed from the folder or mailbox that
currently uses it, then it can be added to the desired folder. However, there
is usually a lag time when Exchange Server rebuilds the Address Book. It can
take up to overnight for the Exchange Server to recognize the change in
address. In the meantime, senders may get undeliverables
when using this address.
System Service Area
One option in CCS
Service Request 5.0 is to add a “System Service Area” to the system and set it
up to receive all emails. This is in contrast to having users send emails
directly to the individual Service Areas.
If the emails go to individual Service Areas,
each Area would have its own email address, which might not be the desired
setup of the system, as the users would need to know which email address to
use. For internal users, this is not as much an issue, as each mail-enabled
Service Area folder will show up in the Global Address List. The users would
still need to know which folder to choose from the Address List.
With
the System Service Area, the users have one email address to send to or one
folder to select from the Global Address List. The emails arrive at the folder
and are converted to tickets. A “dispatcher” can then review the new tickets
and “assign” them to the appropriate Service Area or simply finish and close
the tickets right in the System Service Area.
Installation
This “Event Sink”
component installs an Event Sink on the Exchange Server. It also installs our Event
Sink Manager tool, which is used to manage options in ticket conversion.
System Requirements:
·
This
installation must be run on an Exchange Server 2010 We
have another installation package for the Event Sink on Exchange 2003 and 2007.
Contact us for more information.
To install:
- Run Email To Ticket Conversion
utility by double clicking on CCSSRTicketConversionSetup.exe. It will popup
an Email To Ticket Conversion wizard as shown below.
- Review the License Agreement and select “I agree”. Click Next.
- Accept the default location or select the directory where the client installation
files will be placed. After selection of client install directory, click
on Next.
- Provide required information.
Exchange
Server Name: Provide fully qualified name of exchange server.
User
Name: Enter the user name that is having owner
permissions on service request and all its subfolders.
Domain
Name: Enter domain name.
Public
Folder Path:
Enter public folder service request path e.g. ‘\\Public Folders\All
Public Folders\Service Request’
Service
Area: Provide list of service area(s) separated by ‘/’.
Click on next will take you
to confirmation screen.
- Click on Next to
install.
- Click on finish to complete setup.
