Administering Enterprise HelpDesk

Creating projects and generating Web views for those projects.

Creating Enterprise HelpDesk user accounts and assigning users to groups so you can control access to features and projects.

Creating Projects and Generating Web Views

A database of issues (and their revision histories).

A database of definitions, which includes the queries, sorts, layouts, reports, notifications, fields, and tabs available in the project.

Each Web view is customized to meet the specific needs of a class of users. For example, employees don't need to see all the issues in the project database, just the issues they submitted. And they don't need to see notes and comments entered by help desk staff. The help desk staff, on the other hand, needs access to all the issue information in the project database.

With Enterprise HelpDesk, you can provide separate views for employees and for help desk staff. Each view is accessed through the same Web-based interface.

Views are easy to define using the Web view Editor. Just choose the queries and fields that you want to expose in the view.

Queries determine which issues users can retrieve from the project database.

Fields determine what information users can view and modify for each issue.

To create projects and edit definitions (of fields, queries, reports, sorts, layouts, and notifications), you use HelpDesk Admin, a Windows program. HelpDesk Web Admin is a Web-based tool that allows you to remotely edit some of the project definitions (such as tabs and choice lists).

Administering Projects and Web Views

Managing Users, Contacts, and Groups

Users

All Enterprise HelpDesk users must have an Enterprise HelpDesk user account, which consists of a user name and an optional password. You can use HelpDesk Admin or HelpDesk Web Admin to create and manage Enterprise HelpDesk user accounts.

Groups

Access to features in HelpDesk Admin, HelpDesk Web Admin, and Web views.

Access to projects.

Access to Web views.

Workflow permissions.

You use HelpDesk Admin to create groups, edit group privileges, and assign users to groups.

Contacts

A contact is a person who is not an Enterprise HelpDesk user, but who reports an issue. For example, a guest from another company may report an issue with a computer while they are working on-site. In this case, the guest is the contact, and the help desk analyst who actually enters the report is the submitter.

To create and manage a list of contacts, you use HelpDesk Web Admin or HelpDesk Admin. Web views can also include a Contact button that opens the Users and Contacts dialog box. Access to this dialog box from a Web view is controlled by group permissions, which are defined in HelpDesk Admin.

Tools for Enterprise HelpDesk Administrators

Enterprise HelpDesk provides a set of tools for administering projects and Web views:

HelpDesk Admin for administering projects.

Web View Editor for defining and generating Web views for projects.

HelpDesk Web Admin for administering projects through the Web.

HelpDesk Admin

HelpDesk Admin is a Microsoft Windows application for administering Enterprise HelpDesk projects. For example, you use HelpDesk Admin to:

Create projects.

Customize fields.

Create users and user groups, and define group privileges (access to features and projects).

Define queries, sorts, and layouts.

Define reports.

Define and set up e-mail notifications.

You can install HelpDesk Admin on any machine running Microsoft Windows, including your Web server. Typically, you install HelpDesk Admin on a single system from which you manage Enterprise HelpDesk.

To start HelpDesk Admin:

On the Start menu, point to Programs and then click PC-Duo Enterprise. Point to HelpDesk and then click HelpDesk Admin.

Web View Editor

Web View Editor is a Microsoft Windows application that you use to create Web views for your Enterprise HelpDesk projects. Web views are Web-based applications that provide access to Enterprise HelpDesk projects through a Web browser.

You can install the Web View Editor on any machine running Microsoft Windows, including your Web server. You do not need to install the Web View Editor on all client machines. Typically, you install the Web View Editor on a single system from which you customize and generate your views.

In addition to installing the Web View Editor on any system where HelpDesk Admin is installed, you must install the Web View Editor on your Web server.

To start the Web View Editor from HelpDesk Admin:

To start the Web View Editor from the Start menu:

On the Start menu, point to Programs and then click PC-Duo Enterprise. Point to HelpDesk and then click Web View Editor.

HelpDesk Web Admin

HelpDesk Web Admin is a Web-based administration tool. It allows you to perform additional administrative tasks over the Web:

Add and edit users and contacts.

Define workflow rules.

Create new tabs.

Set up choice fields.

Enable e-mail notifications.

To start HelpDesk Web Admin from HelpDesk Admin:

To start HelpDesk Web Admin from the Start menu:

On the Start menu, point to Programs and then click PC-Duo Enterprise. Point to HelpDesk and then click HelpDesk Web Admin.