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Software for Technical Support Tracking?

Posted by Cliff on from the better-than-sticky-notes dept.

Wehesheit asks: "I work at a large department store which sells computers. As the *sole* technician I have to handle all the customer techwork (virus scanning, spyware, upgrades etc..), and for the most part I get along just fine but recently my co-workers have expressed a difficulty in 'knowing whats going on' in the techroom. I am wondering if the Slashdot community knows of any software which will enable me to track work I am doing for each customer and allow myself, and other employees, to pull it up easily while add notes such as 'bob called and said put in 512mb RAM'. Currently we use sticky notes which I'm sure everyone can imagine is not very trackable or reliable. Having incident numbers I can print off and put on machines would be excellent, so if a machine is marked done in the software my co-workers can match the number, print off the worknotes and give the customer the machine. Also, I have to be able to do this for $0 which means freeware. Any ideas?"

6 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Request Tracker by KagatoLNX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, it can be ugly at times and there are certainly some rough edges, but Request Tracker will probably do the trick.

    Mind you, you'll probably need a Linux or BSD server running Apache, PHP, and an SQL engine (MySQL or PostgreSQL, we use Postgres).

    Look at http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/.

    --
    I think Mauve has the most RAM. --PHB (Dilbert Comic)
    1. Re:Request Tracker by jgaynor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bahhh ya beat me to it. My vote goes for request tracker. We replaced Remedy (read: $15,000/yr in support costs) with RT (read: free with a good geek) and have had relatively few issues.

  2. Keep it simple by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You're one overworked guy, so forget about a proper trouble-tracking system -- you don't have time to take care of it. You just need a set of web pages that you and the people you support can browse and edit without a lot of hassle. In other words, a Wiki

  3. Email. Seriously by benhaha · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is what I do. All telephone messages I take for other people become email messages.

    If it's something that other people need to know about, I email them.

    If it's something I need to know about, I send myself an email. When it is done, I mark it as read, so the unread count acts as the Todo count.

    Cheers,
    Ben

    --
    NO ID: BEING FREE MEANS NOT HAVING TO PROVE IT
  4. Re:...Or the Task Tool in Outlook by Godeke · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Your best option depends on the resources you have available. If you have a PHP/MySQL capable web server Mantis can be a lifesaver. Simpler to set up than Buzilla, more structured than a Wiki. I don't recommend the 1.XX releases yet, get the latest of the downlevel (0.19.2 as I write this). Although there will be some nice features in the next release, it is still in Alpha.

    If it probably a hair more than a single person needs, but it allows all of the things you described to be done. The other idea (using a wiki) also requires PHP (or some scripting language) and a database anyway: if you are going there, go for a complete solution. On the other hand, we also use a wiki for static documentation purposes. Nothing beats a wiki for hammering out "how to" and "FAQ" type documents.

    If you can't do a web based solution, I suggest simply following the recommendations of another here: use your mail client's "todo" system. It won't be shared (unless you have Outlook+Exchange, in which case, share your todo list) but it keeps things nicely organized: better than post-it notes.

    --
    Sig under construction since 1998.
  5. Re:I've got one that I wrote myself by Fade_to_Blah · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How does this help the poster?