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Enterprise User Manual

Chapter 36

HelpDesk - Using Web Views

A Web view is a Web-based application for tracking and managing issues that allows you to access the issues in a Enterprise HelpDesk project. Web views provides cross-platform support and support for distributed teams.

Web views allow employees and help desk staff to view the status of existing issues, submit new issues, and edit existing issues from around the world.

Your Web views may not look like the ones shown in this documentation. The Web view user interface is customizable, and access to Web view features is controlled by user group permissions.

Each Enterprise HelpDesk project can have multiple Web views. Each Web view can display different issue information. For example, a Web view designed for employees to report issues does not expose as much information as a Web view designed for Help Desk analysts.

Running Web Views

All Web views require you to log on with your user name and password. If you don't have a user name and password yet, ask your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator.

Logging On

To log on:
  1. Start your Web browser and go to the Web view logon page. If you don't know where the logon page is located, ask your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator for the link.
  2. In the Logon Name box, type your user name.
  3. In the Password box, type your password.
  4. Click Logon to display a list of the available Web views.
  5. Click a Project / View to open the Web view.

To log on to another Web view, you must exit and log on again. Depending on how your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator set up the views, you may have to go to a different logon page.

Don't know where to find the log-on page?

Ask your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator for the URL of the log-on page for the Project / View you want to work with.

Want to change your password?

Your default password (if any) is assigned by the person responsible for administering Enterprise HelpDesk. To change your password, click the Password button (if you have access to the Password feature, the button appears at the top of the Web view page). If you don't see this button, ask your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator to change your password.

Forgot your password?

Ask your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator to clear your password and define a new password.

Exiting

Web views are applications, not simple Web pages. Exiting a Web view by closing the browser window can leave the database connections open. This means that your Enterprise HelpDesk license will not be freed until the connection times out.

Until the license is freed, you (and other users) may not be able to log on.

To exit:

Click the Exit button at the top of the HelpDesk Web page. It is highly recommended that you use the Exit button to exit Web views.

Web Views at a Glance

Web View Toolbar

Allows you to set options, get help, and exit the Web view. Depending on your user group permissions, there may also be buttons for generating reports, reviewing the revision history of the current record, adding contacts, and changing passwords.

Web View Toolbar

Summary Toolbar

The Query, Sort, and Layout drop-down lists allow you to run predefined queries, sort the Summary List, and change the layout (columns) of the Summary List.

Summary Toolbar

Ad-hoc Query Editor

Allows you to create ad-hoc queries. For example, you use ad-hoc queries to search for keywords.

Ad-hoc Query Editor

Summary List

Displays all the issues found by the current query. The records are sorted based on the selected sort, and the columns of the summary list are defined by the selected layout.

Click the issue number or the folder icon to view the issue details.

Summary List

Issue

Displays the details of the selected issue. The number of the selected issue is displayed in the Current Issue box. The tabs (Overview, Description, Resolution, Detail, and Contact) allow you to switch between the different tabs defined in the Enterprise HelpDesk project.

Issue

Working with Issues

The bottom section of a Web view allows you to enter, view, and update the details of individual issues.

This color indicates a required field.

This color indicates a field that is automatically calculated or filled in.
Current Issue
Shows the number of the issue selected from the Summary List. To load a specific issue from the Summary List, type the number and press Enter.

For example, if the current query is All Open Issues, you must enter the number of an open issue.

Opens a new issue.

Saves changes to the current issue.

Cancels changes made to the current issue since the last time it was saved.

Prints the current issue. Also allows you to export the issue in a variety of formats, such as Crystal Reports (*.rpt), Microsoft Word (*.doc), Microsoft Excel (*.xls), Rich Text Format (*.rtf), or Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf).

Viewing Issues

The Summary List displays a summary of each issue. To view the full details of an issue, you select it from the list.

To view issue details:

In the Summary List, click the issue number or the folder icon. or type an issue number in the Current Issue box and press Enter.

Submitting Issues

To submit a new issue:
  1. Click New to open a new issue.
  2. Enter all available information about the issue.
  3. Click Save to save the new issue.

If you do not fill in all the required fields, HelpDesk Web prompts you to fill in the missing information.

If you decide not to submit an issue, click Cancel to discard the issue.

Attaching Files to Issues

If you have notes, pictures, and other files that document an issue, you can attach them to the issue.

To attach an ASCII or binary file:
  1. Beside the Attachments field, click .
  2. In the Attachments dialog, click Browse and locate the file you want to attach.
  3. Click Upload File to copy the file to the server. Click Link File to add a link to the file on your local computer.

Viewing an Issue's Revision History

Enterprise HelpDesk maintains a Revision History for each issue. The Revision History is a list of all changes made to the issue after it was first submitted. Each time you save an issue, Enterprise HelpDesk records the changes you made in the Revision History.

To open the Revision History for an issue:
  1. In the Summary List click an issue number, or type an issue number in the Current Issue box and press Enter.
  2. In the Web view toolbar, click History.
    The revision number (Revision column in the Revision History column) increases by one each time the issue is saved. The first revision, which is not shown, is the initial submission of the issue.

Updating Issues

A typical issue is constantly updated during its lifetime, as employees and help desk staff track and follow up on the issue. Depending on your role in the company, you may update an issue by changing its status, assigning it to a help desk analyst, adding notes, or adding resolution information when the issue is closed.

To update an issue:
  1. In the Summary List click an issue number, or type an issue number in the Current Issue box and press Enter.
  2. Edit the issue information.
  3. Click Save to save your changes, or Cancel to discard your changes.

Printing Issues

To print an issue:
  1. In the Summary List click an issue number, or type an issue number in the Current Issue box and press Enter.
  2. Click Print.
  3. Click to print the issue. Click to export the issue.
To print the Summary List:
  1. Click any of the issues in the Summary List.
  2. In the File menu of the browser, click Print.

Exporting Issues

To export an issue:
  1. In the Summary List click an issue number, or type an issue number in the Current Issue box and press Enter.
  2. Click the Print button.
  3. Click to save the issue as either Crystal Reports (*.RPT), Microsoft Word (*.DOC), Microsoft Excel (*.XLS), Rich Text Format (*.RTF), or Adobe Acrobat (*.PDF).

Finding and Listing Issues

You use the Summary Toolbar to generate and format lists of issues in the Summary List. In the Summary Toolbar, the Query, Sort, and Layout lists provide quick access to predefined queries, sorts, and layouts.

The Summary List displays the results of a query as pages. For example, each page may contain 15 results (the actual number of results per page is set by your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator).

To run a predefined query:

In the Query list, click a query.

To sort the Summary List:

In the Sort list, click a sort.

To change the layout of the Summary List:

In the Layout list, click a layout. Each layout displays a different set of columns.

To browse the Summary List:
To change the size of the Summary List:

Click and to increase and decrease the number of visible issues.

To print the Summary List:

Click an issue in the Summary List. In the File menu of the browser, click Print.

To refresh the Summary List

Click the button.

Building Ad-hoc Queries

Use the Ad-hoc Query Editor to build queries that test the value of a single field. For example, you use ad-hoc queries to search for keywords in the Summary field. You can combine multiple ad-hoc queries with And or Or. You can also use And or Or to combine a predefined query with an ad-hoc query.

To define an ad-hoc query:
  1. In the Summary List, click Show.

    Access to the Ad-hoc Query Editor is controlled by user group permissions.

  2. In the Field list, click the issue field you want to search against.
  3. In the Test list, click a query operator.
  4. In the Value field, enter the value you want to search against.
    If you type a search string in the Value box, press Enter to start the search. When you choose a value from the Value list, the search starts automatically. But when you type the search string directly in the Value box, you must press Enter.

    When you change the Test in an ad-hoc query, you must click Refresh to run the new ad-hoc query.

    Text searches are case insensitive.
Combining Ad-hoc Queries

The Retain Query list allows you to combines an ad-hoc query with the previous query (which can be a predefined query from the Query list or another ad-hoc query). Use And to narrow the search and restrict the list of issues. Use Or to broaden the search and expand the list.

Searching for Dates

To search against dates, use the same date format as used by Enterprise HelpDesk to display dates such as Assigned Date. For example, to find all issues submitted in March 2002, use this ad-hoc query: 

 Submitted Date >= 3/1/2002

Searching for Keywords

Predefined queries find broad categories of issues, such as all open issues or all assigned issues. Often you need to find issues based on more specific criteria. For example, you may want to search the Summary, Description, Notes, or Resolution fields for keywords.

To search for keywords in a text field:
  1. In the Summary Toolbar, click Show to show the Ad-hoc Query Editor.

    If you do not see a Show button, then the Ad-hoc Query Editor is not available (because your user group permissions do not include this feature). You can still search the Summary List to check if the issue already exists.

  2. In the Field list, select a text field (such as the Summary field).
  3. In the Test list, select Contains to search for keywords.
  4. In the Value box, type the keyword. The search is case-insensitive (for example, you can type "Query Ed" or "query ed").
  5. Press Enter to start the search.

To extend the search to include another text field, select And from the Retain Query list. Then repeat the above steps to define a query that searches for the same keywords in the second text field.

Another approach to keyword searches is to get a list of issues in the Summary List, and then search through those issues for the keywords. The difference is that instead of searching all issues for the keywords, you search only the issues in the Summary List.

For example, you can run a query to retrieve a list of all open issues, and then search the Summary List for the keywords "query ed".

To search the issues in the Summary List:
  1. In the Query list, click a query.
  2. Click Show to show the Ad-hoc Query Editor.
  3. In the Retain Query list, click And.
  4. Run an ad-hoc query.

    The ad-hoc query is combined with the predefined query.

Searching with Wildcards

The Like, Not Like, and Contains operators support wildcard characters, which gives you considerable flexibility in the specification of search patterns. Using wildcards, you can search for inexact patterns of text in any field.

Wildcard
Matches
*
Zero or more characters. For example:
"*rash*" matches "crash" or "rash"
#
Any single digit (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9). For example:
"##MB" matches "16MB" or "12MB" but not "8MB"
[charlist]
Any single character in charlist. Can include spaces, but not the right bracket (]) character. For example:
"[34]86" matches "386" or "486"
Use a hyphen to specify a range of characters. For example:
"[1-36-9]" matches the digits 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, or 9
To match the hyphen character, the hyphen must be either the first or last character in charlist. For example:
"[-0-9]" or "[0-9-]" match any digit or a minus sign
[!charlist]
Any single character not in charlist. For example:
"[!tb]rash" matches "crash" but not "trash" or "brash"

To search for the wildcard characters * and #, you must enclose them in brackets. For example, to search for an asterisk, use the pattern "[*]".

Generating Reports

Reports help you understand and assess the state of your help desk. A issue tracking system like Enterprise HelpDesk contains a lot of valuable information about the issues handled by a help desk. Reports allow you to access this information, break it down and analyze it, and present it.

Listing reports extract and present subsets of the information entered in the issues.

Custom reports are customized listing reports that present data in graphic formats such as pie charts and bar charts.

To view and print reports:
  1. Click the Reports button.
  2. Click the Listing tab or the Custom tab.
  3. Click the report you want to view, and then click the View button.
  4. Click to print the report. Click to save the report.
To view or print landscape reports:
  1. In the Report Viewer, click Show.
  2. In the Layout list, click Landscape.

Adding and Editing Contacts

A contact is a person who does not have a Enterprise HelpDesk user account, but who reports issues. For example, issues can be reported by guests or contractors who are not Enterprise HelpDesk users.

When you submit an issue, you select a contact from the Contact list. By default, the Contact list includes the name of all HelpDesk Web users. To add other names to this list, you use the Contact command.

To add a contact:
  1. In a Web view, click Contacts.
  2. Click Add and then click Contact.
  3. Enter the contact information and click Apply.
  4. Click Apply to save the information.
To edit a contact:
  1. In a Web view, click Contacts.
  2. In the list of contacts, click a contact, then click Edit.
  3. Edit the user information and then click Apply. Click Cancel to cancel the changes.
    Disabling a contact has no effect.

Setting Options

To set the heights of the Summary List and Issue:
  1. In the Web view toolbar, click Options.
  2. Enter a percentage value for either the Summary List or the Issue (Details). The other value is automatically calculated.

The percentages indicate the amount of vertical space used by the Summary List and the issue.

The percentages add up to 100%, but this does not mean that the Summary List and issue take up the entire browser window. The percentages divide the available vertical space between the Summary List and the issue (a certain amount of vertical space is reserved for the other elements of the Web view).

Sending Change Notifications

When you submit or update issues, Enterprise HelpDesk can notify other team members of your changes by sending email messages. These messages are known as notifications.

The type of events that can trigger notifications include:

The actual events that trigger notifications are determined by your Enterprise HelpDesk administrator.

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