What are Organizations, Departments and Locations in IssueTrak?
Posted by MikeWright on Nov 3, 2009
Every now and then I get asked about some of the basic objects in IssueTrak. Most of the questions revolve around the Organization, Departments and Locations. So in the next couple of paragraphs, I will attempt to clear away some of the fog and make the view a little clearer. Now remember, while Organizations are required, Locations and Departments are optional features, so they do not have to be used in an IssueTrak site.
Let’s begin with the Organization. An organization is simply the company where you work. I work for IssueTrak, so when a User record is created for me, we add the Organization “IssueTrak” to my profile. As a member of the IssueTrak Organization, every issue I enter will be submitted under the IssueTrak Organization. In a site that has only one organization, that may not be important, but in some sites we use many Organizations, so their importance is greatly enhanced. Other Organizations could be customers of IssueTrak, companies who have bought our products or services and who need to report issues to us. This is how the IssueTrak support site is set up. Each of our customers has an Organization record created in the Support site and their user records then have their organization associated to it. This provides a way for us to know what customer Organizations are submitting issues to us and allows us to report on it. Additionally, we can limit the view of the issues to members of the submitting organization only. By using internal Organizations, a checkbox parameter on the Organization record, we can filter the view of a user to only issues submitted by others in their Organization. So users who work for Customer A can see all issues submitted by other Customer A users, but not see issues entered by users in the Customer B’s Organization.
Now let’s look at Departments. A Department is a work unit in a company. For example, the Sales Department sells products and services while the Payroll Department processes payroll and handles payroll issues. By associating a Department to a user on their user record, we will then be able to see which department has submitted the issues, as well as which departments have been assigned the issues. Many times a manager needs to know what Departments are submitting issues to his department. Other times, it is important to assign an issue to a Department. If the issue has to do with payroll, we assign the issue to a user who is associated to the Payroll Department and now IssueTrak can report on the issues that are assigned to that Department. There are also times when we need to assign to a specific Department and split the work in the site. Usually we do not want users of the Sales Department to view issues that have been assigned to the Payroll Department. By checking the internal checkbox parameter on the Department, we can filter the view of the issue to only members of the Department of the Assigned User on the issue. This gives us the capability to use IssueTrak for multiple Departments separately within one site.
A Location is generally defined as the place where a user works, for example Central Office, Warehouse, Store 14049. Each user can be associated with a Location just like an Organization or a Department. The Location information will fill into the issue automatically at submission just like the Department and Organization. This tells us where the issue is being reported from, allowing us to dispatch personnel to the correct location, or just report on issues coming from a particular location. Unlike Department and Organization, a location can be changed when the Issue is submitted, allowing a user to be associated with a home location, but report issues at another location. Locations cannot be used to filter Issues like Departments and Organizations.
IssueTrak allows you to choose whether Departments and Locations are used in your site. Each site is different according to what you want to accomplish. Some examples of typical setups are listed below.
IssueTrak used as an internal Help Desk at a company: One Organization, no Departments or Locations
IssueTrak used for IT Help Desk and Facilities Management at a company: One Organization, two Departments and no Locations
IssueTrak used in a school district for IT Help Desk: One Organization, many Locations for each school within the district
IssueTrak used for IT Helpdesk and Facilities Management at a school district: One Organization, two Departments, many Locations
IssueTrak used for Customer Support at a company: One Organization for the Company and an Organization for each customer
IssueTrak used for Internal Support and Customer Support: One Organization for the Company and an Organization for each customer, two or more Departments
IssueTrak used for Customer Support of multiple customers with multiple locations: One Organization for the Company and an Organization for each customer and a location record for each customer location.
IssueTrak used to support a large multi-Department, multi-Location Company: One organization for the company, multiple Departments, and multiple Locations
IssueTrak 9.0 Expands Beyond Help Desk to Track Issues Throughout the Organization
Posted by Elysa Dickinson on Aug 21, 2009
Virginia Beach, VA (August 21, 2009)―IssueTrak, an internationally recognized leader in issue tracking, help desk and customer service software, has released IssueTrak Version 9. The new version includes a number of features that give customers the ability to customize IssueTrak for uses outside the company’s traditional stronghold of help desk and customer service departments.
“More and more of our customers are using IssueTrak in innovative ways – to track issues in facilities maintenance, accounts payable, human resources or purchasing,” said Hank Luhring, CEO of IssueTrak, Inc. “Once they start using it, they just want to do everything in IssueTrak. These new features make it much easier to use IssueTrak in departments across the enterprise, wherever it is important to keep issues from falling through the cracks.”
With Version 9, customers can create customized issue screens for various departments and types of requests. If someone selects “Human Resources” as the type of issue they need to submit, they then see a screen designed specifically for human resources issues. If they select “Purchasing” instead, they see a completely different screen that prompts them to fill in fields relating to purchasing.
Using customized screens like this removes a lot of confusion for the person submitting the issue. Instead of having to answer questions that are not relevant, he or she sees a form that asks only for the information that particular department needs for that specific type of issue. This saves frustration for the end users and simplifies the resolution process for the department.
Other customization features in IssueTrak 9.0 include the ability to define the terminology that is used for issue subjects, types, projects, locations/regions, and the knowledge base. Menus can include links for easy access to other websites, such as the company’s Intranet. Custom fields of various types can be added to issue, user and organization fields, and defined as required or private.
Version 9 also includes a number of other improvements and enhancements, including:
- Management Dashboard: Users can now display open issues by subtype, location, region and severity on the dashboard and home page.
- Home Page: Users can choose to use the Summary, As Submitter, Assignee or Next Action reports on the My Issues screen as their home page.
- Login History: The last login date and time can display on the user’s home page, with a link to login history. User login attempts and login history can be viewed on each user’s record.
- Email Distribution List Default: An email can be sent automatically to a distribution list when new members are added.
- Billing Module Line Items: When adding billing module line items to issues, labor hours can be subtracted from service contracts.
- Enhanced Documentation: IssueTrak’s documentation now includes more examples, recommendations and best practices.
Pricing and Availability
IssueTrak 9.0 is available now. Customers who are using the hosted (Software as a Service, or SaaS) version of the software have already been upgraded. Customers who are running the software on their own servers can download the upgrade at http://support.issuetrak.com. Upgrades are free to all customers with current support and maintenance contracts.
About IssueTrak
IssueTrak develops, sells and supports issue tracking software. First released in 2000, its signature software package has become a robust platform for internal and external customer support, IT help desk, workflow management, and issue tracking throughout the enterprise. The 100% web-based software is currently used by more than 1,500 companies in 34 countries, and across 54 major industry groups. Based in Virginia Beach, VA, the company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Inc 500, Inc 5000, and Deloitte Technology Fast 500.
More information about IssueTrak is available at 1-866-ISSUETRAK or www.issuetrak.com.
IssueTrak integrates with smart cards, including Common Access Cards (CAC)
Posted by Elysa Dickinson on Aug 14, 2009
Over the years, IssueTrak has welcomed a number of government and defense customers. Due to their recent demand for Common Access Card (CAC) and smart card integration with IssueTrak, we are excited to announce successful implementation of CAC and Smart Cards authentication at several customer sites. IssueTrak’s government, military and defense contractors can now easily authenticate their users and sign in to IssueTrak using their CAC and Smart Cards.
How much data can you afford to lose?
Posted by mike1messina on Mar 16, 2009
The question of “How much data can you afford to lose?” is one we must answer when we setup a backup and maintenance plan. Data management is important in whatever business you are in. We feel compelled to mention a few recommendations to consider when addressing your own data concerns.
The most important aspect of any data maintenance plan is data backup. One must consider server backups as well as database backups. For server backups, we do recommend at least one backup per week is sent off-site for disaster recovery purposes. When implementing a server backup plan, make sure that all of your critical data is being backed up. For IssueTrak this means both the database and the website directory. This should be done at least once a week or more frequently depending on how much data you can afford to lose.. File system backup is especially important for IssueTrak due to the attachments, kb attachments, and embedded images.
When considering the plan for your database, there are many factors to consider. One nice thing about Microsoft SQL Server is that when installing it, you can choose the option of installing the SQL Maintenance Plan Wizard. In many cases by simply following the defaults in this wizard, your SQL maintenance plan will be setup and ready to go. If you prefer to do things manually, the greatest focus for SQL would be on regularly backing up your database and maintaining your transaction logs. When considering the plan for your transaction logs, consider shrinking and truncating your logs. In both cases, this can be done by setting up a SQL job at a frequency that you have determined. One other important setting for transaction logs is restricting the transaction log growth size. This setting is very important as without this setting, your log will grow really large.
Once your backup plan is setup and everything is working as it should, you will need to have a plan to regularly verify that the backups are running and operational. With SQL, you can verify that the database backup is good by setting up a test database and restoring the backup to this test database. This plan should also be monitored and updated periodically as priorities and resources may change. As your use of IssueTrak increases, disk space also needs to be part of your plan. On the database side, your database continues to grow with every new issue, note, user, organization, asset, audit, or survey along with the storage needed for backups and log files. On the web server, it is also important to consider the space needed for attachments, scheduled reports, kb attachments, embedded images in addition to the website files.
We do have a couple of great features within IssueTrak which assist with archiving data. This is done through the ability to archive issue audits and the ability archive asset audits.
As you can see, taking care of your data can be a very complex process with many factors to consider. The above information is merely a guide with some things to be considered while examining the way that you handle your data. We would recommend that you consider evaluating your plan frequently to determine if any changes need to be made. When evaluating your own maintenance plan, it is important to always remember the 5 Ps. Proper planning prevents poor performance. As stated earlier, any of us looking at setting up or reviewing our own maintenance plan need to ask the big question: “How much data can you afford to lose?” as this will help us determine the best path forward.
Tackling HTTP 500 Error Messages
Posted by mike1messina on Jan 29, 2009
When troubleshooting any Web application, there are times where you may receive a generic error message like HTTP 500. While this may be “friendly,” it is not informative.
HTTP 500 is a generic error message that Internet Explorer sends for many different reasons, and it is not helpful for debugging and troubleshooting. Unfortunately, the HTTP 500 message causes grief to those unfamiliar with troubleshooting Web applications.
If you want to see the specific error message and troubleshoot the root cause of the issue, it’s as simple as updating a setting within the browser. From Internet Explorer, simply go to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced.
Then go down under the “Browsing” category and uncheck the option labeled “Show friendly HTTP error
messages.” This option will be checked by default.
Once this option has been selected, the real error message will come up when the Web page is refreshed. From this point forward, debugging your Web application will be much easier.
For a complete list of HTTP status codes, please refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes.
Chemung County: Creative IssueTrak(ing)
Posted by tubbco on Oct 3, 2008
Chemung County’s IT Department has been using IssueTrak for about a year now, and we love it! Our technicians use it to track all IT related issues that arise. Unfortunately, our IT department had several “issues” of its own that needed to be resolved.
A little background to start us off. I have been a Computer Programmer/Systems Analyst for Chemung County for 25 years. I have been using a rapid application development tool called Clarion (www.softvelocity.com) since 1991. I have used this tool to create many Windows based applications to fill departments’ needs.
Problem 1 was that we needed a way to track our mileage (for reimbursement) when we went on service calls to other county departments. We were just keeping track of it manually using an Excel Spreadsheet.
Problem 2 was that we never knew which technicians were in the office, who was on a service call, who was off that day, or who was gone for the day. “Do you know where Steve is”? “Is Dan working today”? “When’s Dave coming back from vacation”?
So what? What does this have to do with IssueTrak? Well, let’s look at it one problem at a time.
PROBLEM 1: One day I happened to have one of those rare brainstorms when it suddenly came to me. Why not use IssueTrak to keep track of the mileage associated with each issue? Why not? What I did was set up a User Defined table with a list of all the destinations with the mileage for the trip.
NPS and the Ultimate Question
Posted by Hank on Oct 1, 2008
At a past HDI conference, I listened to a presentation on Net Promoter Score (NPS). It is an intriguing idea — companies that do well on a one-question survey have better customer relations, grow faster and are more profitable than other companies in the same industry that don’t score as well. Companies using NPS include General Electric, Dell, Intuit and American Express.
Sometimes the NPS question is referred to as “the Ultimate Question”. The question is: How likely would you recommend us to a friend or colleague? (on a 1 to 10 scale, where 10 is extremely likely) Based on how this question is answered, a score is calculated that takes into account promoters (high scorers) and detractors (low scorers). For details, take a look at www.netpromoter.com.
Our Customer Care Manager, Chris Thompson, is tasked with contacting customers, asking the NPS question, and following up to address any concerns customers might have. For example, Chris went through a period where several customers gave us a score of less than 10 because our report writer could not produce some of the reports they wanted. Chris organized a conference call between those customers and LaDonna Beauregard, our Vice President of Development. Based on that call, LaDonna increased the number of fields available for reporting.
We find that using the NPS methodology serves as a mechanism for us to unearth problems that we might not hear about otherwise. It also gives us a baseline to see if we are improving over time or not. As we grow, it is a challenge to maintain the same level of quality customer relationships when we were much smaller. NPS is one tool we use in our efforts to stay in touch with our customers.
SEO for Help Desk Software
Posted by webguy on Aug 28, 2008
“Help Desk Software” is a particularly hard term to rank for in the search engines. The competition is fierce and getting harder and harder to get results on the front page of Google. With the great help of my superior at IssueTrak, we finally managed to reach the first page of Google about 8 months ago. We paid attention to the best practices of SEO and put great text/content on the front page. We also paid attention to the number of back links to the IssueTrak web site. Not to mention a lot of researching the competition. That’s how we made it.
And from there, reaching the front page of Google, you think we could stop and breath a sigh of relief and spend some time congratulating ourselves and reveling in our Google glory; but, not so much. If anything, the pressure is turned up to KEEP us on the front page. There are only 10 coveted spots on the first page and MANY companies trying to SEO their page just right to get you “knocked off” so they can “step in”.
At the time of this writing, we are number 7, out of roughly 7,030,000 results for the term “Help Desk Software“. Not too shabby… But by no means any reason to rest.
Welcome to helpdeskblogging.com!
Posted by admin on Jul 30, 2008
If you are seeking information about the help desk or customer support industry, you are in the right place. This blog was created to be a source of information and knowledge sharing for the help desk industry. Members of this industry, from support analysts to CIO’s, are encouraged to share their ideas and seek information about new tools, resources, common issues, processes, news and more on this blog.
Please register and contribute posts and comments as often as you would like. Keep in mind, all content should be generally related to the help desk or customer support industries.
We look forward to hearing what you have to say and are excited to help you share your thoughts with others. Get started by registering and then write a post or add a comment to an existing post.
ITIL: Setting the Record Straight
Posted by Douglas Christian on Jul 29, 2008
In a recent Help Desk industry newsletter Douglas Christian, IssueTrak COO tried to dispell some of the myths about ITIL. Here is the first part of his article…
ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library and represents a collection of best practices aimed at delivering business value from IT service management. According to the UK’s Office of Government Commerce, ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management worldwide. That being said, there is still a lot of confusion around ITIL. I often hear from companies that are looking to purchase an ITIL certified application so that their company can comply with the ITIL standard. This statement contains two widely held myths.
The Truth About ITIL
Because ITIL is a best practice, and not a standard, compliance is not an attainable goal. The best one can hope for is to implement processes that are consistent with ITIL best practices. Service management standards do exist. ISO/IEC 20000 is an international standard on IT service management. ITIL is closely aligned with this standard and can be used to help companies that wish to comply with the ISO/IEC 20000 standard.
Applying Best Practices
ITIL offers certification for individuals who wish to demonstrate their knowledge in the various aspects of ITIL. A number of us at IssueTrak are ITIL certified. ITIL does not offer a certification for applications. There are third parties that attempt to verify that an application will support one or more ITIL best practices. This third party verification is often misrepresented as ITIL certification. ITIL is meant to be adapted to meet the needs of your business. Because each ITIL implementation will look a little different, flexibility is an important consideration when evaluating an application to support an ITIL implementation.
At IssueTrak, we focus on ease of use, and flexibility. Because of this IssueTrak works great for tracking issues of all kinds. We don’t mind if they are called incidents, problems, or change requests.
Creating Value
If you are trying to get more value from your IT service management function, ITIL is a great place to start. ITIL covers a lot of ground and is best tackled in pieces. Where you start is up to you. A logical starting point for me is incident management, problem management and change management. The return on investment for these processes can be high. They are easily measured and can be used to build momentum before tackling the heavy lifting in processes like configuration management, capacity management, and SLA management.
Implementing an application isn’t enough to get you to an ITIL end state. A successful IT service management strategy hinges on the effective application of people, processes, and tools. (In that order) Start with sharp people and invest in them so they have a solid understanding of both their technical responsibilities and the business you are in. A systems administrator should understand the impact of taking down the order entry system for maintenance at the end of a quarter.
Next, take a look at your processes. An effective process accomplishes the end goal in a way that can be measured. The measurement allows for improvement. Common measurements include speed, accuracy, customer satisfaction and cost. ITIL won’t lay out a process for you to follow, but it will provide a description of what the process should accomplish and the key performance indicators to watch along the way. The processes should be tailored to meet your business. Molding your business to meet a cookie cutter process might be tempting but could have negative side effects.
Once you have the right people and effective processes in place, it is time to consider a tool to help you execute that process. The tool you chose should enable your processes without getting in the way. It should be flexible, powerful and easy to use. Also, look for reporting features that make it easy to track and report on your progress. IssueTrak has been designed with these ideas in mind and is a great place to start your search.
ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark, and a Registered Community Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. IT Infrastructure Library® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce.