HelpDesk Wish List

JeremyDallas · 01-25-2006, 06:36 PM

Ok Guys...the helpdesk PM is all ears for new suggestions. He has come to us from a competitor and knows this space well. Please map out your top requests for the helpdesk product and we'll see what we can do.

Thanks!

Nick · 01-25-2006, 11:33 PM

Excellent!

Hopefully he'll get a chance to see some of the ideas that have been discussed around here.

Mike · 01-26-2006, 12:48 AM

wow... this is a great opportunity... and a can of worms! Did we lose Dave J?

-We need to be able to make more customizations (add/rename fields) through the UI. They should build each item into a unique "class" or "object" so that all forms can be designed as needed. Example, I should be able to drop the "calendar" object into any form and give it a name and a purpose in any of the forms.

-Automation rules are nice, but aren't quite the same as multi-task incidents like you can create in remedy where several items are assigned to several individuals and the incident isn't closed until all are complete.

-When searching for incidents or viewing them in queries, closed incidents should have a different color so they can be identified at a glance.

-Workflow workflow workflow. Everything in Altiris should be able to automatically create/update a helpdesk incident without notification policies.

-Right click > create incident?

-There should be downloadable "skins" like the LCARS skin that is used in the SE demo kit. They could even open up a community where people could upload and trade "skins" to really tweak and customize the HD UI.

that's all I can think of now. I'll probably have more later.

Mike · 01-26-2006, 02:08 AM

...also the cabinet files required for viewing the winuser console should be placed in some sort of "agent package" that could be deployed via the Altiris agent. When a user doesn't have rights to install controls, this is a big issue. In the past I have had to create MSI packages for this and deploy them via swd solution and this doesn't always work correctly.

daveram · 01-26-2006, 10:19 AM

Just starting to work with helpdesk, I am not sure if I am missing a couple of things but I would like to see the following,
1. Assign users to a queue (Security)
Right now, unless I am missing something, any user who is not locked into one queue, can retreive an item from any queue?
2. Easier Customization

JeremyDallas · 01-26-2006, 10:21 AM

Dave J is still with us, just in a different role. Great suggestions...some of these you might be seeing soon, others who knows. Once we can talk about the upcoming changes later this year (summer time possibly...no promises) I'll make sure to post what's included.

At first I thought the skins/community would be a pipe dream, but now I like the idea; people could trade custom forms they have built as well. Maybe we'll see a HelpDesk Juice community (www.altiris.com/juice if you don't know what I'm talking about).

I think spellchecker is a good one. Helpdesk employees in a lot of companies have moved from just having to be technically savy to actually having to be business men. I think spelling well is just a natural movement. But rememeber, if you have the Google Toolbar you can leverage their spell checker right now!

Nick · 01-26-2006, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy_Dallas

But rememeber, if you have the Google Toolbar you can leverage their spell checker right now!

Google Toolbar = C++ Runtime Error

Mike · 01-26-2006, 10:55 AM

a juice community is a great idea. It could really get people pumped about Altiris helpdesk which in the not-so-distant-past was one of Altiris's lame-duck solutions. The current helpdesk is pretty competitive.

There have been some good suggestions in the "enhancement request" forum in the past as well like bday noting that bulletins can't be prioritized. Same goes for Queries.

I'll second the notion that there needs to be some better security with the option to tie incident security to your queue.

A worker should be able to be tied to multiple queues instead of all or one as well.

dominique · 01-26-2006, 07:40 PM

Hello,

- A differentiation by color or field between what the user is saying, the helpdesk is doing, the technician is doing.

- similar incident: it is in the usage of the quick incidents but the quick incidents should be detailed to keep the relations with all incidents similar specially for the solution done, the team involved, etc...

- reminder of past due tickets

- easier links to other Altiris Modules

first thoughts... let see next

Dom

peegee · 01-27-2006, 03:53 AM

The possibility to define different colors for different lookup values.
I.e.
If priority = high --> Color of priority field: red
If priority = normal --> Colorof priority field: blue

Currently we are missing such a dynamic console very much. It would help a lot if the incident view could have colors depending on status and priority of the ticket.

cybi99 · 01-27-2006, 05:11 PM

Implement Problem and change management in the helpdesk module.

dominique · 01-27-2006, 06:39 PM

Hello,

List of Custom Items find in the Helpdesk module (not known by the standard installation).
This list could be usefull before upgrades, repair, etc...

Thanks,
Dom

stevo_3 · 01-30-2006, 04:56 AM

- a connector for analyzing email templates to create new incidents
for example:
<NAME> STEVE
<LASTNAME>X
<LOCATION>
he can read this in by mail assign in function of the body the right contact
person

- keep the incident title when updating an existing ticket (add the body of the
mail to the comment of the incident...

Greeetz

Steve

RonKo · 01-31-2006, 04:52 PM

I agree that Change Management should definitely be a part of any advancement with the Help Desk solution. More and more companies are moving that direction (especially after Sarbanes - Oxley).

Mike · 02-01-2006, 06:24 PM

Here's a good one and a feature that some of the competition offers:

We need a simple method to mark a worker as "unavailable" or "out of the office" with a date of return mechanism rather then manaully creating complex routing rules to clean out their inbox while they are gone.

JeremyDallas · 02-03-2006, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick

Google Toolbar = C++ Runtime Error

Sounds like an ID10T error...

mattjefferson · 02-03-2006, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deus_1978

...also the cabinet files required for viewing the winuser console should be placed in some sort of "agent package" that could be deployed via the Altiris agent. When a user doesn't have rights to install controls, this is a big issue. In the past I have had to create MSI packages for this and deploy them via swd solution and this doesn't always work correctly.

Actually, I would like to see the ActiveX controls for winuser gone. That is one of my biggest gripes with the product. You can do nice interactive web applications (ie AJAX) without activex controls.

jpkishere · 02-03-2006, 02:59 PM

Don't use the helpdesk version, but eval'd it about 1.5 years ago..

In my personal opinion, I dislike all web-based versions... Would have purchased it if they had a "fat-client" available -- web is just to slow for us.. I think it is important to have a web available, but just wasn't a good fit for us..

Also, when we looked at it, the $$ to create new assets (or get a license to create the assets) was way out of line..

Do people here like the web-based better than fat client?

RonKo · 02-03-2006, 03:25 PM

I agree, I am not a big fan of Web based versions of stuff like that. I prefer a fat client. Of course, we use Heat, so I would take just about anything else, including using Excel or Word cause Heat is NOT Good!

Mike · 02-04-2006, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deus_1978

-Automation rules are nice, but aren't quite the same as multi-task incidents like you can create in remedy where several items are assigned to several individuals and the incident isn't closed until all are complete.

I spoke too soon. Automation rules are awesome and they accomplish this exactly. Some might like to see a seperate "multi-task" incident type like you see in magic or remedy, but thismmodel accomplishes this same objective. Use the "push status" inheritence type on child incidents that are spawned by the automation rule to see for yourself.

JeremyDallas · 02-09-2006, 06:59 PM

Down with the fat clients!!! Light-weight web clients are where it's at...with proper design and coding of course.

jpkishere · 02-09-2006, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy_Dallas

Down with the fat clients!!! Light-weight web clients are where it's at...with proper design and coding of course.

I still disagree.. Poll doesn't have alot of responses but..

My view of this is that web stuff is still to slow, where I work enter at least hundred tickets a day into our helpdesk software.. We support 2500 PCs with 4 people - I don't want to spend more time entering a ticket then in the time it takes me to fix the issue.

I would probably agree with larger more traditional helpdesk roles, web based is fine.. on that note, I would probably change my vote to I'm greedy and wan't both -- heavy users could use fat client, more casual users would be better sutied for a webclient..

Maybe a newer client w/ ajax support might appease me, but I am not 100% sure..

=)

JeremyDallas · 02-12-2006, 10:56 PM

How slow are we talking? Do you have good hardware, proper arrays, memory configuration, SQL 2000 enterprise or SQL 2005, etc?

I think speed issues now mainly come from the wrong hardware, bad configurations, and/or lack of proper maintenance...not to say that Altiris can't make speed improvements (which they are working on).