Web-Based Helpdesks?

Vanbo asks: "My job requires that I be in the field all day, and I don't have the ability to check my voicemail regularly, so I ask people to email me with problems, then I check my mail with Webmail. Lately, I have been thinking it would be much easier if people could post their problems (ala ask slashdot) to a webpage on our mailserver. I don't need something as powerful as slashcode, but just maybe something that allows them to select from pull downs of common problems, and then when they submit it, it could be emailed to me. Anyone, implimented a support system like this? Any draw backs to this approach?" Seems like a novel approach. Does this seem like a good idea to you?

Comments

The only problem..

[X-treme-LLama]

The only problem I would see is the problem with all internet based tech-support. If your computer won't boot, or you can't get online, you are sort of out of luck. But as he said he also has voicemail, so with both the idea is pretty sound. Plus it would be pretty easy to set up. 'e-Support' is a good idea, but it will never fully replace phone support, especially for novices.


I Haven't Lost My Mind -- It's Backed Up On Disk Somewhere

Doh...

[YoJ]

My computer isn't working, better go to the.............. webpage? DOH!

-Nathan

Freshmeat!

[quadra]

Check freshmeat! I've tested out several systems listed there. Most are PHP/MySQL scripts..
so they are easily customized.

ASP based Help Desk

[hv]

I've written a simple help desk tracking system in ASP. It's nothing too complicated... and I never got around to finishing the reporting features, however it is great for keeping a paper trail of all the requests that come into the helpdesk, and a history of tasks performed to solve the issue.

It is all setup for some in depth reporting, and it's ASP so I don't claim it.

I'd be happy to post it for interested parties. Just contact me at my email... remember to nuke the spam proofing before you mail me.

Lot's of solution.

[Cedric C. Girouard]

I'm facing the same issues right now, and trust me, it's not the nicest field to play in. Basically, you have four options : Get commercial off-the-shelf solutions, get some open source solution (IRM and PHPHelpdesk jumps to my mind right now.), hire a developper to make one custom fit, or make one yourself.


Now, on the the debunking of my own affirmation (Trust me, I've done 4 weeks of research on that recently).

1- Commercial off the shelf : I dont know how big a user base you'll be dealing with, but since you seem to be alone, I'll assume under 250 users. The cheapest "helpdesk" commercial solution you can get with web based problem reporting goes around 5000$. And you'll have to setup your own MS SQL / MS NT / IIS to support it.

2- Open source: IRM is nice, PHPHelpdesk seems promising, but unless you have extensive MySQL / PHP / Apache experience, I recommend you stay away from them. They are poorly documented, and even tho the end result is nice, they seem a bit "unfinished".

3- Getting someone to develop: Now, that's my best option so far. For under 5000$, I'll have someone develop a simple set of forms + reports + agent based on our Domino server architecture. Meaning I get an already enterprise supported platform to build on, some scripting I can understand, web-based user forms, and something that can grow. The best thing is that we plan to open source the scripts once we're up and running.


4- Developping the bugger yourself: Well. This one I crossed right off. If you're anything like me, you're already overloaded with supporting your users, and dont have much free time to start hacking a helpdesk together.

That being said, my opinion is to go for option 3, find some nice person that will custom-fit a solution to your needs, and make it usable for you. That way, you get support, working solution in no time, and expansion possibilities. You dont need / cant afford / dont want to support the cheapest of the "off-the-shelf" solution out there. Trust me. Mail me if you want to discuss this some more.

There are MANY resources out there.

[BigEd]

Check out this page for a list of most if not all of them. It has synopsis, and reviews.

RT, Keystone, and php Helpdesk would be good starting points.

Re:The only problem.. And another.

[mazur]

The biggest problem with most users is, that they only tell you, at first contact: "It doesn't work!" in a frustrated and aggravating, accusing tone (You can convey tone in writing, too). If they do tell you what it is that's not working, they almost never fail to leave out all the relevant details like where they were working from, what they were doing exactly and what the precise error message was. So you always need to be able to contact them, to probe them further, otherwise you're up shit creek with a paddle, and you don't even know what country you're in, let alone which way the shore is. Not unlike when the customer left his telephone number on the off-hours semaphone, some time back, whithout specifying the area code. I could only ignore it.

What I'm trying to say is: if you start such a thing, be very very sure they'll leave a valid and rapid mode of contact, and urge them to give you a full description of the actual problem. Make it clear in big letters, that if you can't contact them, they're the ones up shit creek, with that paddle, and that you won't shower them should they get out.

Stefan
"Microsoft follows standards, much like fish follow migrating caribou." Paul Tomblin, in the monastery,