December 2006 Volume 10, Number 4

Why You Should Check Out
ExpressDesk Helpdesk

By Sandy King, Product Manager

The January 2006 release of TurnOver Version 5.4 marked a major milestone in TurnOver’s evolution – the completion of its transition to Eclipse-based technology. The redevelopment of TurnOver over Eclipse brings several benefits to its users. It ensures complete interoperability with WDSC, faster delivery of significant enhancements, simplified setup and maintenance, and improved usability.

Previously, each TurnOver module, including Helpdesk, had its own individual client/server (C/S) interface. If your role required Helpdesk in addition to other functionality, you had to open multiple TurnOver applications. With this new release, all TurnOver functionality is consolidated into a single, Eclipse-based client. No matter how many TurnOver modules you use, you can now access all of them through a single client.

In addition to simplifying access to all functionality, Eclipse technology allowed us to add several significant features to TurnOver's new Helpdesk module, known as ExpressDesk Helpdesk. These features, listed below, are not available through the older C/S version. Like C/S Helpdesk, ExpressDesk Helpdesk is licensed separately.

Enforced Workflow

In the new client, you can define a specific workflow and assign it to a Helpdesk project, and the new ExpressDesk Helpdesk will enforce it. If you are using the C/S version of Helpdesk, workflow rules are ignored. (See the “TurnOver 5.4 Supplemental Memo to Users” dated June 2006 for details about enforced workflow. The document is available on our customer support site.)

ExpressDesk Email Integration

This new feature manifests itself as Monitored Mailboxes that automatically receive incoming emails and convert them into TurnOver tasks. This feature is not available in the C/S version of Helpdesk.

Pre-defined Filters

Figure 1: Pre-defined task filters are unique to the new ExpressDesk Helpdesk module.

In ExpressDesk, the Helpdesk Projects subsystem comes with a set of pre-defined filters that show Open Tasks, Closed Tasks, and All Tasks. Additional pre-defined filters are also included for Open Tasks, as shown in Figure 1. You can search the tasks associated with any filter for a particular string. None of these pre-defined filters are available in the C/S Helpdesk seat.

Pinned Views

With the latest TurnOver release, the new Eclipse-based client supports a feature called “pinning.” Instead of being replaced with the next view you open, a pinned view remains open until you either un-pin it or deliberately close it. Another advantage of pinning is that pinned views are automatically reconnected and refreshed when you close and reopen the client. This can be especially useful if, for example, you always want to have a list of tasks handy for a particular project or requester.

Requester Subsystem

In ExpressDesk, the Requester subsystem includes several pieces of additional functionality over C/S Helpdesk. First, ExpressDesk lets you pull up tasks by an individual requester or company, as well as search those tasks for a particular string. For example, if Requester A (or Company A) calls to discuss a JDE issue they phoned in two months ago, you can easily pull up all tasks for Requester A that include the string JDE and review them. In C/S Helpdesk, you can only pull up tasks by individual requester, and then you need to perform searches as a second step.

When you view tasks for a particular company or requester, ExpressDesk Helpdesk offers you many more filter options for those tasks than does C/S Helpdesk.

ExpressDesk also lets you open lists of tasks in a table (Details) view, such as all tasks for a particular requester or company. Once you’ve opened the table view, you can click an icon to obtain time sheet entries for all of the tasks (for example, to see how much tech support time Requester A has used). You can export the data in these table views to the clipboard with the click of a button. You can then paste the data into spreadsheets, word processing documents, or email messages for use in further analysis or communications.

With ExpressDesk Helpdesk, you can subscribe to a particular requester or company so you will be notified whenever a task associated with that requester or company is entered or changed. This important feature can help you manage situations that call for special attention.

Link Multiple Files in One Step

With the new ExpressDesk Helpdesk, you can attach multiple files to a task in one step. In C/S Helpdesk, you must link items to a task one at a time. Imagine if you have six files to link to a task (job logs, screen prints, spooled files). This activity requires six steps in C/S Helpdesk, but you do it in one step in the new Eclipse-based client.

Fast, Detailed Searches

Searching through tasks is much faster in ExpressDesk, and the number of records is not limited. You can conduct Boolean searches over a number of tasks and also conduct a search within the details of a particular task. None of this is available in C/S Helpdesk. Also in ExpressDesk Helpdesk, you can search through the details of a particular task for a specific string. (You can search forwards and backwards, and with or without case sensitivity.) This is especially handy for tasks with long details. This function is not available in C/S Helpdesk.

Try It!

TurnOver's new Eclipse-based client represents an exciting new generation of Helpdesk functionality. Because its capabilities far exceed the previous generation, no further enhancements will be made to C/S Helpdesk, and this older module will be discontinued with the next release of TurnOver. I encourage you to give ExpressDesk Helpdesk a try. I’m sure that once you experience its features, you’ll be hooked!

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