Help Desk Software from LBE

Help Desk Software with Windows, Web and E-mail interfaces

Creating a new helpdesk Job

There are a number of entry fields on this page, we will go through each of these in turn:

Job id

This is a unique identifier for each Job and is generated by the system. It cannot be edited. Because we are creating a new Job, this number is not shown.

Customer/Dept/Contact

Each job must be assigned to a particular Customer Contact. Contacts belong to Customer Departments which in turn belong to Customers. You will see either a text box for you enter a full or partial customer name or a drop down list displays all the available values for you to select from, depending on your Personal Preferences. Just to the right of the drop-down list is a button which will be marked with a '+' to add a new item to the drop-down or 'Search', to select a Customer Contact. Click this button now.

+ button
A dialog box will be displayed which will prompt you for a new entry in the format 'Customer/Department/Contact' (dependent on the Organization Structure you have selected. In this case, you must supply all three values, separated by a '/' character. Type the following: 'My New Customer/All/Ms. J Smith' then click the OK button. The new value will be displayed in the drop-down list.

When we submit this Job for update, this will create a new Customer called 'My New Customer' with a new Department called 'All' and a new Customer Contact called 'Ms. J Smith'. If either the Customer name or Department (for that Customer) already exist it will just create a new Customer Contact.

Search button
A new window will open and display the Customer Contacts. Either click the "Select this record" link or click the link to create a new Contact, first.

Job Status

Either 'Open', 'On Hold' or 'Closed'. Leave it set to the dafault of 'Open'

Priority

Select a Priority from the drop-down list. Essentially this is just another classification for your helpdesk jobs, and should be used to determine the importance of each Job. You can add a new Priority by clicking the '+' button. If you change the Priority, the system will ask if you wish to reset the target date/time to the calculated value for that Priority.

Which Asset do you think the problem relates to?

This is an optional entry. You can assign this Job to a particular piece of equipment or software etc. Each Asset belongs to a Customer. You will see either a text box for you enter a full or partial asset number or a drop down list displays all the available values for you to select from, depending on the setting you have made in your Personal Preferences. Just to the right of the drop-down list is a button which will be marked with a '+' to add a new item to the drop-down or 'Search' to select an Asset.

Insert Problem & Solution from Knowledgebase?

This will display a popup window which allows you to search the knowledgebase and optionally insert the values from a record.

Problem

This is where you describe the nature of the Problem which has led to the creation of this Job.

To Do

Use this as a reminder for any outstanding actions you need to take.

Solution

If the Job is completed, you should enter a brief description as to how it was solved. This is important as may enable Operators to solve similar Jobs in the future.

Notes

Use this to record any other information about the Job, e.g. machine setup. When you save, these Notes will be transferred to the Job History (see later).

Custom Fields

There are two Custom Fields, which you may have renamed from the Maintenance page. These are provided so that you can store information which is particular to the way you run your business.

Actioned at

Enter the date and time this Action was carried out. The system defaults to the current date and time at the web server which may or may not be the same as your time, depending on your geographic location.

To be completed by

This is the target completion date and time for the Job. The default value is determined by the default Priority and your Working Hours (see later).

Who carried out this Action?

Select the Operator who carried out this Action from the drop-down list. The selected value defaults to the name of the operator currently logged in, but may be changed if e.g. you are Actioning this job on behalf of another operator. You can add a new Operator by clicking the '+' button.

Pass this Job to Operator

It may be that another Operator needs to deal with this Job next, if so, select their name from the drop down list.

Time spent (this action)

You can keep track of how much time is spent on each Job by entering a value in these fields. Whatever is entered will be added to the running total for the Job. The system will automatically increment this value every minute. If you have the appropriate privileges, you can edit this value - at which point the auto-increment will cease.

Cost spent (this action)

This allows you to cost each Job, you might use this to keep track of e.g. the cost of any spares used in a repair job. The entered value will be added to the running total for the Job.

E-Mail Fields

These check boxes determine who e-mail is sent to and the contents of the e-mail.

If the Customer Contact box is checked, the Customer Contact this Job is assigned to will be included in the recipients.
If the 'Pass To' Operator box is checked the Operator selected in the 'Pass this Job to Operator' drop-down list above will be included in the recipients.
If the Preview Message before sending is checked, you will be given a chance to edit the message before it is sent. For the purpose of this tutorial, make sure this box is checked.

Cancel Button

If you decide not to update, click the Cancel button. The Job will not be updated, and any new values you added to the drop-down lists will not be sent to the database. If you are Actioning an existing Job, it will also clear the 'Currently Opened by' indicator on the Job, so that other Operators can see that no one else is working on it.