Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

An Automated Support E-Mail System?

Posted by Cliff on from the helping-you-help-others dept.

qm_37 asks: "I work for a small software company with a growing customer base. Our current support desk system has worked well for us in the past, but is going to become very unwieldy if it has to grow any more than it already has. We're looking for a more automated system that will do things like filter and direct incoming support e-mails to the support worker assigned to that task, assign and track support issue numbers, and give us a nice searchable database of previous customer issues. We've looked at various solutions ranging from commercial software packages to PHP/CGI-based server scripts, and nothing has really grabbed our attention. We have also considered writing our own system, but the trade-off is that we need to find the time to do it. Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this? Which route do you think we should take for our support system?"

4 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. RT by Door-opening+Fascist · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'd recommend RT from Best Practical. I use it with a Postgres backend and Apache/Sendmail on the front-end, and it works beautifully. It does everything we (and you, it sounds like) need it to do, with plenty of added flexibility if you need it. Check it out.

  2. Re:lots of options.. by RabidMonkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can attest to RT being great ... worked for an ISP that used it. emails would automatically open tickets and assign them to queues based on keywords. when tickets were updated (either through the web interface or by email on our blackberrys) it could (at our choice) email the user back to let them know.

    best of all, it's free.

    --
    We emerge from our mother's womb an unformatted diskette; our culture formats us. - Douglas Coupland
  3. Request Tracker (RT) by Christopher+Cashell · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As a number of other people have mentioned, Request Tracker (RT) is probably just about a perfect fit for your needs. I use it for a similar (but internal) setup, and it works like a charm. I'm currently using it on a Debian/Woody box with Apache, PostgreSQL, and Qmail.

    Especially considering it's free (GPL), I don't know many better solutions.

    --
    Topher
  4. Re:Remedy by SplasPood · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Speaking as someone who's used remedy, and tried to support a customized platform based around it.

    STAY AWAY. STAY VERY FAR AWAY. Hire some college kids to code you a nice replacement in PHP or something.. You'll be happier.

    Just my 2 cents.