Help Desk Software

Whether you currently track support requests on paper or spreadsheet, or have help desk solution that is no longer adequate for your current needs, we invite you to take a look at our Novo Help Desk Software which enables you to provide a cost effective Intranet or Internet help desk support environment.

		Managing  Requests  with the Novo Help Desk. The Novo Help Desk is just one of the applications  included in the Novo Customer Support Suite. View the video to see how effectively requests are managed within the help desk software tool.

The Novo Customer Support Suite combines our Help Desk Software with our very powerful, full featured Novo Knowledge Base Software enabling you to provide customer self help, different levels of internal support documentation and more. 

Help Desk Software Features & Benefits

• Reduced Support Staff Time: Customers/End Users can easily submit a support request through your web site or company Intranet/Extranet.  These requests are automatically added to the Help Desk ticket queue, reducing the number of inbound support calls and eliminating the ticket creation process by your help desk support staff.  Of course, your support staff can manually add help desk tickets as well.  Through the help desk, customers/end users can also track the status of their request through your web site.

• Organize & Track Requests Across Departments: Flexible Help Desk Software Management allows each department or group within your organization to manage their own support/request/project queue.  Global managers can view/manage all queues through the help desk.

Select a Feature To View, or Scroll to View All. Easy Configuration/Web Based Operation Select Ticket Features Powerful Admin Dashboard Automatic Email Notifications End User Ticket Submission Attachments Flexible User Roles Configurable Ticket Queue Work Flow System Time Management Tracking User Defined Fields Powerful Knowledge Base  Custom/Business Rules   PC Inventory Module MS Active Directory Integration Asset Mgt. Integration Automatic Email to Ticket Processing Flexible Reporting Web Services (API) Internationalization SLA/Ticket Escalation Database Support     Accessibility/USA Section 508

• Completely Web Based Online Customer Support Software - only a Web Browser is needed to administer & use the system 

• Easily Accessible on your Corporate Intranet or Web Site

• Industry Standard Architecture (MS SQL Server, ASP/ASP.Net)

• In-House & Hosted (ASP) Customer Support Software Editions available

• No Additional Hardware Required (can typically be installed on existing servers)

• Utilizes Existing IT skills with minimal need for re-training

Powerful Admin Dashboard

• Admin Dashboard - fully customizable portal dashboard for at-a-glance viewing of lists and managing reports. Drag and drop components 
  allow you to quickly and easily arrange and sort 
  the dashboard to each administrator's personal  preferences. 

End User Ticket Submission/Management (Enterprise  Edition)

• Search Knowledge Base Articles - allows end users to search in Knowledge Base articles before submitting a ticket (requires Customer Support Software Suite Enterprise Edition - see below)

• Submit Tickets - allows end users to submit a ticket directly into the Help Desk Ticket Queue (with email notifications - see below)

• Manage Tickets - allows end users to review ticket status, add notes and attachments and close tickets

Flexible User Roles (Enterprise Edition)

• User Roles Management - allows customizable user roles so you can define what your users can and cannot do.  

• Multi-Department Ticket Management - allows Help Desk Tickets to be managed at the department level.  Each department can create and manage their own  tickets.

Work Flow System (Enterprise Edition - Optional Module)

• USE: Many requests require multiple people in various departments to either approve the request (i.e. a change to a server configuration) and/or complete specific tasks related to the request (i.e. tasks related to hiring a new employee). The Novo Work Flow System provides a flexible method for automating AND keeping track of these tasks.
  BENEFIT: Improvement in quality and control of information systems (Change Management), improved response time to requests involving multiple people, and reduction of time spent keeping track of multi-step requests.

• Predefined & "On the Fly" Work flows: Ability to create  flexible work flows from a list of predefined tasks you setup or "on the fly" as help desk tickets are being added.

• Completion/Approval Paths: Ability to define work flows with various completion/approval paths.

• Rules Based Auto Assignment: Ability to automatically assign predefined work flows to Help Desk Tickets based on flexible business rules (i.e. when a ticket is added to a particular category).

• Auto Email notifications: Email notifications are automatically sent to the appropriate person or group when tasks are completed or rejected.

• Work Flow Task "Queue": Empowers managers to view pending task status, assignment, predecessor relationship and deadlines (with color coded due dates for past due, current, future).

• Company-wide Work Flow Tasks – ability to involve admin users, end users and even external partners in Work Flow Tasks. Note: In some cases the Automatic Email to Ticket module below may be required (i.e. for end users/partners that do not have web access to the software)

User Defined Fields (Enterprise Edition)

• Empowers Help Desk Managers with the ability to customize fields available in a ticket request form to their specific needs.
• Provides the ability to add multiple fields and determine their position on the ticket form.
• Improves customer response times (support reps have more information and are able to resolve issues faster). 
• Improved reporting capabilities that result in better problem analysis.
• Ability to add multiple fields to Tickets, Accounts and Contacts

Custom/Business Rules (Enterprise Edition)

• Flexible Business Rules - for auto assignment of tickets, auto notifications, etc.

• Multiple AND/OR Conditions & Actions - ability to configure rules based on various field dependencies and perform multiple actions (i.e. update status, reassign, email alerts, etc.)

• Rules Logging - ability to configure log events for each rule

• Ability to Route Inbound Emails to a Particular Support Queue (requires the optional Automatic Email to Ticket Module below) – automatically route incoming emails to different support teams or departmental “queues” based on the email address it was sent to (i.e. hr@... goes to the HR Queue, it@... goes to the IT Help Desk queue, etc.)

Active Directory /LDAP Integration  (Enterprise Edition - Optional Module)

• Maps Active Directory Groups to Departments and Roles - providing single sign on and easier user administration

• End User Active Directory Authentication & Search - single sign on for corporate end users.  Also allows searching Active Directory for End Users when Help Desk staff add tickets.

• Built in User Authentication - complete built in User Management if Active Directory is not used 

Automatic Email to Ticket Processing  (Enterprise Edition - Optional Module)

• Monitors an email account and automatically adds/updates a ticket from the email message.

• Support for Multiple Email Accounts – POP, IMAP and Microsoft Exchange

• Work Flow Task Management (Requires optional Novo Help Desk Work Flow Module) – ability to complete Tasks via email

• Remote Mobile Technician Support – ability for support technicians to be able to update tickets via Email Smart Tags

Web Services (API) (Enterprise Edition - Optional Module)

•  Integrate Novo software with 3rd party software applications - allows our help desk software to be integrated with your existing software

SLA/Ticket Escalation

• SLA Management - Associate end users/customers into service level groups (account types)

• Business Rules - Create service level related business rules for each service level group

• Escalation - Auto escalate/re-assign tickets to another person or team

• Notifications - Auto email notifications (i.e. to a pager/mobile phone) to appropriate Help Desk personnel/management if a ticket is not responded to or closed within the defined time period.

• Logging/Reporting - Define service level log events as informational, warning or failure allowing report generation on failures and near failures. Generate charts of SLA performance

Select Ticket Features (Enterprise Edition)

• Ticket Templates - create customized Ticket Templates, allowing you to create simple to complex ticket entry forms.

• Ticket Copy - ability to copy/save a ticket and its related information

• Memorized Tickets - ability to memorize repeatedly used tickets to speed ticket entry

• Recurring Scheduled Tickets - ability to schedule memorized tickets to automatically generate tickets for routine tasks

Automatic Email Notifications

• Confirmation Receipt To End Users/Customers - an email is sent back to the end user or customer that submitted the ticket to confirm its receipt.

• New Ticket  Submissions - Help Desk administrators can be notified via email of new tickets submitted by end users or customers

• Re-routing of Tickets - Help Desk/Technical staff are notified when a ticket is re-assigned to them.  A link in the email takes them right to the ticket. 

• SLA Failure - when the time to review a ticket has passed without action, notifications are sent to the appropriate management/supervisory personnel

Attachments

• Quick Attachments - easily add attachments (i.e. screen shots of error messages, etc.) to a help desk ticket.

Robust, Easily Configurable Ticket Queue

• Flexible Ticket Queue - Easily enable/disable columns to display

• Priority Colors - Priorities are associated with a color making prioritization quick and easy.

• Ticket Filtering - each user can define their own preferred view of the tickets by applying multiple filters

• Clean, Straightforward Layout - for ease of use 

Time Management

• Punch In/Punch Out Ticket Time Tracking - The  help desk software tracks cumulative time spent on  a ticket.

• Ticket Due Date-  Due date feature shows deadlines for ticket completion. 

• Business Hours & Holidays - ability to define business hours to be used in ticket management

Robust Knowledge Base Integration (Requires the  Customer Support Software Suite)

• End User Self Help - provides a web self help system to end users/customers allowing them to answer their own questions within the help desk, which reduces call volume

• Quick and Easy Knowledge Capture - intuitive interface allows Help Desk and other staff to quickly create a formatted and categorized Knowledge Base article

• Quick Knowledge Base Search on Ticket Problem - 1 click problem/issue search of the Knowledge Base as a Ticket is being added/edited

• Knowledge Base Article to Ticket Linker - with just 3 clicks you can link a Knowledge Base article to a Help Desk Ticket.  This is then available to end users and/or 2nd/3rd level technicians to reduce troubleshooting time - it shows the articles that have already been reviewed

• Ticket to Knowledge Base Article Creation - allows you to quickly create a Knowledge Base article from a Ticket Description/Resolution

PC Inventory Module (Enterprise Edition - Optional   Module)

• Software Inventories - shows a list of software installed on end user's PC 

• Hardware Inventories - shows a list of hardware components installed on end user's PC

Asset Mgt. Integration (Requires the Asset Management Software)

• Asset Types - allows multiple types of assets (i.e. PCs, laptops, servers, PDAs, Cell Phones, network equipment, office equipment, etc.) 

• Custom Asset List Views - each admin user can configure his own asset list view (i.e. the columns to display, list filtering and sort order). 

• Attachments - any type of file (i.e. scanned purchase orders, warranty information, service agreements, drawings, MSDS sheets, pictures, technical specifications, etc.) can be attached to an asset. An asset can have multiple attachments. 

Reporting

• Metrics On Demand - ability to configure drill down charts and graphs

• Built-in Reports - numerous standard pre-built reports included 

• Flexible Reporting capability - Our Help Desk Software identifies monthly/yearly trends by various metrics and facilitates root cause analysis (identifying problem areas)

Internationalization

• Multi-Lingual Support - supports the ability to add/manage computer help desk tickets in different languages.  Utilizes the same system for providing global customer support.

• Time Zone Configuration - allows Help Desk staff in different time zones to add/view ticket dates/times adjusted for their time zone.  

• Improved navigation via keyboard

• Improved capability for screen readers

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 Express Edition (with Advanced Services)

*  Note. The Help Desk Software box is graphical and doesn't represent actual packaging. The Novo Solutions Help Desk Software is downloadable with licensure.