Slashdot Mirror
Ticket Tracking and Customer Management?
An anonymous reader writes "Like many Slashdot readers, I'm sure, I run a small side business doing IT consulting in addition to my day job. I'm looking for a good open-source ticket tracking system that I can run under Linux, preferably one that also has some customer management features. I'd like to be able to maintain a separate record for each job, along with time tracking, work logs, and information about the customer. Much of what I see on Sourceforge is, as usual, pre-pre-pre-alpha with no actual code. Does anyone have any suggestions for a project that might fit my needs?"
at least, that's what Merrill Lynch uses.
Been using RT as a ticket tracker at a few places I've worked at. Works well.
Sigs are for Terrorists.
A bit of shameless self promotion (since I am the lead developer), check out Eventum.
It might not be the perfect fit for you, but it is stable and customizable. Right now it is lacking built in customer management features, instead it relies on a Customer API to integrate with other systems. Right now I am working on integration with Sugar CRM but do not yet have an ETA on when it will be released.
Postgresql. You may need to do some minor work customizing it....
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
This question has come up before, and I usually answer the same way. RT: Request Tracker is a good place to start. It is a Perl+Apache+MySQL based open source solution. The first few times you install it can be tricky. Find a good and current how-to.
I have since moved away from RT and now use an in-house designed system. But I still give it two thumbs up.
I implemented trac at my workplace as a change control and task management system. We use it for both internal projects as well as billable work, with a number of custom fields for supporting our quoting system and quality control. The built-in Wiki also doubles as our IT documentation repository, all in one easy to access location.
It is extremely extensible, and anything not readily available can be easily created. It didn't take much time to learn the class and data structures and I've modified existing plugins and written a few of my own to support our needs.
JIRA runs under Linux. It is not open source, but the cost of the application and support is well worth it. I believe it is free to use for open source projects. They also provide the full source code, which has allowed us to heavily customize the application. When I started evaluating issue tracking systems this page proved to be rather useful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ticket- tracking_systems.
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. --Denis Diderot
Definitely thumbs up for RT.
We are on a mission at the company where I work to replace all email / attachment based work management with it.
You'd be amazed how far you can push RS using the concepts of owner, status, subject line, journaling, parent child / depends on depended on by tickets, auto-notification, attachments etc. all built in.
If you think you need more structured data, you should at least see how far you can get prototyping it first in RT, using its minimal custom fields but also its custom views.
Most ERP / CRM don't have the kind of infinite flexibility of workflow you can achieve using the features listed above. They do however have structured data.
Check out Vtiger, it's a really nice CRM and also has ticketing features.
hmmm.
We've been running it for 2 plus years now, have 100,000 plus tickets, and it's quite fast. We did have to add an index recently when coming back to All Tickets view and many of us have a lot of queues.
I see others have had issues / bad experiences. Our shop has some very experienced Oracle guys and someone who, so far, has been able to make it do everything we've wanted it to using Perl mods. (auto assignment based on subject contents, custom fields, etc.).
Maybe other tools are easier when you don't have this kind of support.
We are using it also for project management and in conjunction with Twiki; it's quite effective to create an RT ticket and link it to a wiki page, instead of uploading attachments. This way we end up creating a web FAQ / history and have RT all at once.
Trac is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects. Trac uses a minimalistic approach to web-based software project management. Our mission is to help developers write great software while staying out of the way. Trac should impose as little as possible on a team's established development process and policies.
It provides an interface to Subversion, an integrated Wiki and convenient reporting facilities.
http://www.osticket.com/
It works well; I use it integrated with Help Center Live
appleguru.org
Take a look at http://www.stonekeep.com/keystone.php
:)
Opensource, non-alpha, many many users active, still being supported and worked on.
(Obdisclaimer. I wrote it.
Event Management Solutions : http://www.stonekeep.com/
wow .. all he found was "pre pre pre alpha alpha alpha"
.. RT Open source , even has commercial support if you want.Ive been using RT in many forms for at least 10 years now. I remember it back in the late 90s.
.. remedy is another that pops into my mind.
t racking_systems
the author did not do a very hard search.
First and for most
And then of course there is JIRA. This may be more for dev work. Most places ive been used RT for anything that MIGHT face the customer and the areas that had 'issues' and 'projects' that would end up closing at some time. But JIRA was used by the devs for bug tracking and coding projects.
of course there are a lot of others
Seriously though. How could you have enough experience and knowledge to run your 'side business' and never have run into either of these projects in your travels. Where have you really worked that they have not used a ticketing system ? Or perhaps you are fresh out of school. But even fresh out of school. I would think that even the dorm network operators would have used SOME sort of ticketing system that you would have been exposed to , if even from the 'customer' side.
If your google-fu is so weak as to have not found these , then I fear for your customers.
there is even a nice wiki page comparing all the products..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_issue_
RoundUp (which is Python based) is a great system..
Its self contained.. a GREAT email interface.. easy to setup and easy to extend.
All the other replies are pointing out great "ticket tracking" software, but I think that is the easy half of this request. I too have searched for what the original submitter is searching for. The key thing that is missing from the existing offerings is hour and work logs. Put simply, at the end of a ticket we need how much to bill the client for. Integrated invoicing would be awesome.
if its web based..no you don't need it to run under windows. Its why god invented virtual machines. Web based means the back end should be completely transparent to the users and it doesn't matter if its run on a gerbil strapped to a hamster chasing a toaster.
I'd be careful of gerbil/hamster based backends. There's always that one sysadmin whose just too interested...
Your ad here. Ask me how!
You can have features, windows, and running. Choose two.
Whoever tagged this post as "doyourownwork" is an asshole who has no understanding of the way The Internet and it's online communities work. For any question that gets posted on Slashdot, there are dozens if not hundreds of Slashdot readers who want to know the answer. I wouldn't be surprised if 20% of the Slashdot community is running some kind of business that might have a need for a ticket tracking and CRM software setup. Many Slashdot readers are also very friendly, so while a person could easily spend hours researching a question like this, it's far more effective to come to Slashdot and benefit from the experience of it's users.
So to all the douchebags who criticize people who ask questions on Slashdot: FUCK YOU.
This isn't a bad package it works under linux and allows you to have different levels of users. Your customers are able to look up their tickets to watch the progress of resolution. (If you allow it)
http://www.phpsupporttickets.com/
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
I read through a lot of the comments and saw so many mentions of enterprise level ticket tracking and development management. You actually asked for a ticket tracking for IT sidework. I use Mojo Helpdesk. They have a free plan, 30 day free trial for their pay plans and gives you a central location to track open issues and receive reedback from clients.
Hope this helps.
http://www.project-open.com/
It's an all in one ticket tracker, CRM, timesheet, project management (including GanttCharts), WIKI, form, full-text-search, etc. and it includes financial management. So you can create invoices directly from the time you spent on tickets and projects.
The downside: It uses TCL and AOLServer instead of PHP and Apache.