Tested Applications - HelpDesk 3.4.9

Overview

The following application has been tested with the PHP/Perl Application Server. The information regarding it is listed for your convenience and does not indicate that MOREnet promotes, endorses, or supports any of the listed applications. During testing, MOREnet testers made notes regarding installation and running of the application which it was felt would be of interest or use to members. This information is provided for your convenience.

HelpDesk 3.4.9

Installation of HelpDesk, version 3.4.9, consisted of downloading the application, unzipping it, and then using FTP to upload it to a selected directory. Following this, the online configuration utility included in the application was used to do the initial configuration, during which the initial HelpDesk administrator accounts were created.

After installation, the site administrator will need to log in and create catagories and various other initial properties before users can start using the application. All of these catagory and properties fields in the database are blank to start with. Users attempting to submit problem tickets and/or requests prior to the admin filling in the needed catagories and properties, will receive application error messages and may think the application is broken.

Noted during the installation were a couple places in the installation documentation where the instructions do not match the actual filenames and directory folders found in the application. These discrepencies are noted below.

The licensing for HelpDesk should be read and noted. In brief, the application is licensed free for use but does not allow re-distribution. Modification of the application code is allowed for your own use, but you may not alter nor remove any logo's or copyright notices.

Version 3.4.9 was chosen for test installation as it is the current production version at the time of this testing. Version 3.5.0 Beta is available, but as with all software, it is generally not advised to place beta software on production web sites.

Installation Notes

Download HelpDesk from http://www.helpdeskreloaded.com/download-customer-support-help-desk-software.php.
You will need to read and agree to the Disclaimer/License Agreement.

Save the downloaded file to a temporary directory and then unzip.

In the unzipped/extracted folder, find the 1stReadMe.txt file. Note that unzipping has created two additional empty folders both named 'hd349' and a 'HelpDesk' folder. The 'HelpDesk' folder is the one which contains the application files.

Follow the instructions in the 1stReadMe.txt file, noting the following...

• After unzipping, the actual files to upload will be found inside the \where\you\unzipped\to\hd349\hd349\HelpDesk\ folder. You do not need to upload the first or second 'hd349' folders, just the 'HelpDesk' folder and all of its contents.
   
• With the kinetic Service PHP/Perl Application Server, you do not need to enable write permissions. Ignore the instructions regarding changing write permissions.
   
• At the point where the instructions say to open a web browser and go to "/helpdesk3??/install.php", it was found that this file does not exist. Assuming you uploaded the files to your web site's ./www/HelpDesk/ directory, use the following URL:

  http://[your-web-site-name]/HelpDesk/install/

Online Configuration Notes

"Step one"

The information you will need on this page will have been given to you when your organization's web site was enabled with the PHP/Perl Application Server add-on.

It is recommended that you set a "database prefix". This is a short set of letters that will be pre-pended to all tables created by the HelpDesk program. (For the test installation, we used HDAPP ). If you have other applications using database tables, you should use a prefix.

"Step Two"

Enter your initial admin accounts and make sure "Administrator" is selected for "User Type". Note that more administrator accounts can be added later and you do not need to enter user accounts just yet. Considering that users will encounter application errors until the catagories and properties have been set up, you may want to only create Administrator accounts at this time.

Remember to fill in the "Helpdesk From Address" field at the bottom of the page. Email notifications of new support request submissions will be sent to the email address entered here. Additionally, other emails which the application sends out will have this email address listed as the 'From' address.

Once the Administrators are submitted, you are returned to the main HelpDesk page. To continue, you will need to log in using one of the Administrator accounts just created.

Completing Setup Notes

At this point, don't forget to use FTP to delete the below listed files. Note that the documentation in the 1stReadMe.txt file does not clearly list the actual location of these files.

• ./www/HelpDesk/install.setup.php
• ./www/HelpDesk/process.php
• ./www/HelpDesk/accountsinject.php
• ./www/HelpDesk/accountsetup.php

Before starting to use HelpDesk, you will need to first create catagories and fill in various other items. Most all of these will be found under the "HelpDesk Control" heading, and are preceeded in the titles by the word "Manage".

Once these are filled in and/or populated, you will then be able to start using the HelpDesk software. Otherwise, a lot of the drop-downs and check-boxes required for users to submit items will be blank.

Additional documentation, for both Users and Administrators for HelpDesk can be found online at:

http://www.helpdeskreloaded.com/help-desk-documentation-and-information.php.

HelpDesk Resources

• Support Page: http://www.helpdeskreloaded.com/help-desk-documentation-and-information.php
• Online Support Forum: a href="http://www.helpdeskreloaded.com/HelpDeskBB/" target="_new">http://www.helpdeskreloaded.com/HelpDeskBB/

Download from: http://www.helpdeskreloaded.com/
HelpDesk is free for usage and released under a limited license.