]po[ Helpdesk

hive_module_itsm

(Please click on the hexagons for more information)

The Helpdesk package is an incident and change management system.  It can be used to keep track of interaction by clients and providers in Service Level Agreements (SLA), as a central place for client requests to be captured and starting point for the provider response and continual tracking until the request issue has been resolved.  These operations fall under the category of "ticket management", and the Helpdesk has a wide range of functionality, having the ability to closely track Incidents such as Bug or SLA Requests, or Change, such as Feature, Training, Purchasing, etc., Requests.

                                                                         Screenshot show a list display of all the Helpdesk "tickets" currently on the system.

Bar charts for quick Status Overview:

Configuring Ticket Workflows and Default Queues

Once a ticket has been created, the helpdesk checks information associated with the ticket type in order to determine:

• The workflow to start for this ticket and
• The default queue for the ticket.
  

 To configure the default workflow please go to Admin -> Categories and select "Intranet Ticket Type". Please observe the following two fields:

• im_categories.aux_string1 - ticket workflow. If this field contains a valid workflow_key then the corresponding workflow is started for the new ticket.
• im_categories.aux_string2 - default queue. This field serves to define the default queue for the ticket, if the user hasn't choosen a queue manually.
  

The logic that uses "im_categories.aux_string2 - default queue" and classifies a ticket is included in the PL/SQL procedure "im_ticket__classify". This PL/SQL routine should be called by the first Transition of the ticket's workflow.

Here is how you can check if im_ticket__classify is called for your workflow:

1. Check the workflow_key for your ticket type in Admin -> Categories -> Intranet Ticket Type
2. Go to Admin -> Workflows and choose the workflow that corresponds to the workflow_key.
3. In the workflow page click on "graphical process editor".
4. Click on the very first transition of the workflow
5. Click on the (actions) link of the first transition.
6. Please write "im_ticket__classify" (without the double quotes) in the field "Enable PL/SQL proc" and press "Update". All other fields can be blank.
   

 With this setting, now try to create a new ticket with a Ticket Type that is associated to your workflow.

Classifying Tickets

Classifying tickets in helpdesk operations refers to determining a type, a position in a global issue hierarchy and other operations.

In ]po[, this operation is implemented by the PL/SQL function "im_ticket__classify" which is located in the /packages/intranet-helpdesk/sql/postgresql/intranet-helpdesk-create.sql file.

You can take the existing im_ticket__classify as a template to add your own business logic. Withing the im_ticket__classify, you have access to all user specified information about the ticket plus information on the ticket environment such as the SLA, information about the customer etc.

Assigning Tickets to Queues and Users

In ]po[, there are many different ways to assign a ticket to a user or groups of users to provide you with maximum flexibility. Here are some of the options:

• Assigning a ticket to a specific user:
  The Helpdesk provides an im_ticket.assigneee_id field that allows Helpdesk staff to assign the ticket to a specific person to take care of it.
  
  
• Assigning a ticket to a "Queue":
  A queue refers to a specific group of people. You can create new Queues using profiles.
  The Helpdesk staff can either assign a ticket explicitely to a queue. As an alternative, the im_ticket__classify procedure can be used to assign a ticket to a queue, depending on context information such as the ticket type, the associated configuration item or other context information.
  
  
• Using the Petri-Net Workflow:
  Sometimes a ticket needs to be processed by different "queues" during its lifetime. For example, a first "quote" stage could be assigned to pre-sales personal, while execution would depend on the type of ticket, and the customer himself should finally sign-off the ticket.
  In these complex cases you can use the full power of the built-in Petri-Net Workflow to configure your ticket workflows.
  

References

Maturity

• Active and Stable
  

Related Object Types

• Ticket
  

Related Modules

• Service Management 

Package Documentation

TCL Libraries

tcl/intranet-helpdesk-procs.tcl
tcl/sourceforge-import-procs.tcl

TCL Procedures

im_helpdesk_home_component		Returns a HTML table with the list of tickets of the current user.
im_helpdesk_new_ticket_ticket_rel		Marks ticket_id as a duplicate of ticket_id_from_search
im_helpdesk_related_objects_component		Returns a HTML component with the list of related tickets.
im_helpdesk_related_tickets_component		Replaced by im_helpdesk_related_objects_component
im_helpdesk_sourceforge_tracker_import_sweeper		Loads the RSS contents of a SF tracker and inserts the ticktes into ]po[.
im_helpdesk_ticket_queue_options		Returns a list of Ticket Queue tuples suitable for ad_form
im_helpdesk_ticket_sla_options		Returns a list of SLA tuples suitable for ad_form
im_navbar_tree_helpdesk		Creates an <ul> ...</ul> collapsable menu for the system's main NavBar.
im_navbar_tree_helpdesk_ticket_type		Show one of {Issue|Incident|Problem|Change} Management
im_package_helpdesk_id		Returns the package id of the intranet-helpdesk module
im_ticket::add_reply		Add a comment to the ticket as forum topic of type "reply".
im_ticket::audit		Write the audit trail
im_ticket::check_permissions		Check if the user can perform view, read, write or admin the ticket
im_ticket::close_forum		Set the ticket forum to "deleted"
im_ticket::close_workflow		Stop the ticket workflow.
im_ticket::internal_sla_id		Determines the "internal" SLA: This SLA is used for handling meta-tickets, such as a request to create an SLA for a user.
im_ticket::new		Create a new ticket.
im_ticket::new_from_hash		Create a new ticket.
im_ticket::next_ticket_nr		Create a new ticket_nr.
im_ticket::notification::get_url
im_ticket::notification_subscribe		Subscribe a user to notifications on a specific ticket.
im_ticket::notification_unsubscribe		Unsubscribe a user to notifications on a specific ticket.
im_ticket::set_status_id		Set the ticket to the specified status.
im_ticket::update_timestamp		Set the specified timestamp(s) to now()
im_ticket_action_close
im_ticket_action_close_delete
im_ticket_action_close_notify
im_ticket_action_duplicated
im_ticket_navbar		Returns rendered HTML code for a horizontal sub-navigation bar for /intranet/projects/.
im_ticket_nuke		Nuke (complete delete from the database) a ticket.
im_ticket_options		Returns a list of Tickets suitable for ad_form
im_ticket_permission_read_sql		Returns a SQL statement that returns the list of ticket_ids that are readable for the user
im_ticket_permissions		Fill the "by-reference" variables read, write and admin with the permissions of $user_id on $ticket_id
im_ticket_project_component		Returns a HTML component to show all project tickets related to a project
im_ticket_status_assigned
im_ticket_status_canceled
im_ticket_status_cantreproduce
im_ticket_status_closed
im_ticket_status_customer_review
im_ticket_status_deleted
im_ticket_status_duplicate
im_ticket_status_frozen
im_ticket_status_internal_review
im_ticket_status_invalid
im_ticket_status_open
im_ticket_status_outdated
im_ticket_status_rejected
im_ticket_status_resolved
im_ticket_status_waiting_for_other
im_ticket_status_wontfix
im_ticket_type_bug_request
im_ticket_type_change_ticket
im_ticket_type_feature_request
im_ticket_type_generic_problem_ticket
im_ticket_type_idea
im_ticket_type_incident_ticket
im_ticket_type_nagios_alert
im_ticket_type_permission_request
im_ticket_type_problem_ticket
im_ticket_type_project_request
im_ticket_type_purchase_request
im_ticket_type_report_request
im_ticket_type_sla_request
im_ticket_type_telephony_request
im_ticket_type_training_request
im_ticket_type_workplace_move_request

SQL Files

sql/postgresql/intranet-helpdesk-callbacks.sql
sql/postgresql/intranet-helpdesk-create.sql
sql/postgresql/intranet-helpdesk-drop.sql
sql/postgresql/intranet-helpdesk-notifications-create.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.0.2.0-3.4.0.3.0.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.0.6.2-3.4.0.6.3.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.0.7.4-3.4.0.7.5.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.0.8.1-3.4.0.8.2.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.0.8.4-3.4.0.8.5.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.1.0.0-3.4.1.0.1.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.1.0.5-3.4.1.0.6.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.1.0.7-3.4.1.0.8.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.4.1.0.8-3.5.0.0.0.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-3.5.0.0.1-3.5.0.0.1.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-4.0.0.0.0-4.0.0.0.1.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-4.0.0.0.1-4.0.0.0.1.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-4.0.2.0.0-4.0.2.0.1.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-4.0.2.0.1-4.0.2.0.2.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-4.0.2.0.5-4.0.2.0.6.sql
sql/postgresql/upgrade/upgrade-4.0.2.0.6-4.0.2.0.7.sql
sql/postgresql/workflow-feature_request_wf-create.sql
sql/postgresql/workflow-sla_request_wf-create.sql
sql/postgresql/workflow-ticket_generic_wf-create.sql

Content Files