Project Three For Project 3, you will use an online electronic ticketing help desk product, and then compare that product to the LBE Helpdesk software that can be downloaded from the following link ht

For Project 3, you will use an online electronic ticketing help desk product, and then compare that product to the LBE Helpdesk software that can be downloaded from the following link http://www.cusweb.com/lbe-helpdesk-educational-download.html (Links to an external site.). You are more than welcome to download and try the LBE Helpdesk product, but that is not required. (Since the LBE Helpdesk must be installed on a computer, it would be difficult to manage for any students using shared computer facilities.)

You will be using a free web-based product called jitbit. In order to utilize the free interface, you will need to register with a name and email address. If you prefer to not reveal your own identity, I would suggest you set up a free email account at some provider such as gmail.com. You can use that email only for this project. While you must enter a full name, it can be a name you make up for this project (it does NOT have to be your name!) Make sure you remember the email account you use, as you will need to check this for the correct login information. Each help desk ticket you create in the system will generate email to the account, so I strongly suggest you create an email account just for this application.

You will complete Project 3 using the free edition of the software available at:

http://www.jitbit.com

Choose the free trial edition (it will be good for 21 days). The registration screen should look like the image below. You will be prompted to continue. (Make sure to check your email at the email address you registered with. There will be instructions there on how to log in again if you need to).

Project Three For Project 3, you will use an online electronic ticketing help desk product, and then compare that product to the LBE Helpdesk software that can be downloaded from the following link ht 1

Take some time to explore the system. The first time you click each of the tabs (Tickets, Knowledge Base, Assets, Reports and Administration), you will be given a short walk-through. The screen when you first access the system should look like:

For this project, you will need to accomplish several tasks in the system. At various times, you will be acting as both the help desk agent and the customer. In order to complete the tasks, you will also need to do some research outside the system. Think of a question a customer might submit to a help desk. Then use a search engine to try to find a good resource for the problem. Think of a way to summarize the solution, and make note of the URL where you found it.

You will submit a word processing document for this assignment, and you will need to include screen shots of your work in the jitbit system. Take a screen shot (screen capture) of that ticket (you can do this by holding down the “Control” key and pressing “Print Screen” on a windows system.) Paste your screen shot into a Word document at the times you are directed to do so.

Step One: Add an entry to the knowledge base. Click the knowledge base tab, then click the “New Article” button at the lower left. In the subject line, include the problem you chose to research. Within the body of the entry, add the URL of the resource you found about this resource. Click the arrow next to the “Select Category” box to choose an appropriate category. Before you submit the request, take a screen shot of the screen, and paste this into your word processing document. When that is finished, submit the new knowledge base entry.

Step Two: Enter a ticket. For this step, you will pretend you are a customer of the company, who is having difficulty with whatever problem you researched for this assignment. Click the “Tickets” tab, and click the green “New Ticket” button in the upper right portion of the screen. For the subject line, use the problem you chose to research. In the body, put a brief description of the problem from the customer’s viewpoint. In the category, use the drop down arrow to choose the same one you used for the knowledge base entry. Use the drop down arrow next to the priority box to set the priority to critical. Take a screen shot before submitting, and paste this into your word processing document. Submit the ticket.

Step Three: Reply to a ticket—enter canned response. You should see the ticket on the screen. Click the “reply” section. (If you do not see the ticket, choose the tickets tab and view all tickets. Then click the one you just entered). Click the “Canned Responses” drop down, and choose “add new”. Include the solution you researched. In the name box, use the name of the problem you researched. Put a brief description of the solution you found in the body. Before you save the entry, take a screen shot and paste this into your word processing document. Then click Save.

Step Four: Reply to a ticket—insert knowledge base entry. With your reply still open, click on the “Insert KB link” button. Click on the category you choose when you created the knowledge base entry. Choose the knowledge base entry you created in step one to insert the URL associated with your research. Then wait a minute or so, and then click “canned responses” again. Click on the entry you just saved to insert it into the reply. Take a screen shot of the reply, and paste that into your word processing document. (Warning: sometimes it takes a minute or so for the entries to become live in the knowledge base, so be patient with this step.) Add any other information you feel should be in the reply, and then click the blue reply button. Then click the “Close Ticket” button. Feel free to create as many tickets as you want until you feel comfortable with the system, but it is not required to create more than this one.

Step Five: View a report. Click the Report tab. Click the technician statistics option. Click the name you logged in with. Take a screen shot of the report and paste it into your word processing document. Think about how a manager could use this information if there were multiple help desk agents.

Step Six: Compare to LBE HelpDesk. Browse through the other information available about the jitbit system. You can find out more about the full featured options at jitbit.com. Compare the system to the “LBE Helpdesk” system described in Chapter 6. In your word processing document with the jitbit screen shots, include your overall impression of the system as compared to LBE HelpDesk. Make sure you include (at a minimum):

What features of LBE Helpdesk do you feel are not present in this system, and would be useful additions?
Do you feel this free software would be an adequate help desk system for a small company?
Explain why or why not.

Make sure you add your name at the top of the word processing document. Save the Word document as “Project3name” with your last name replacing the letters “name”. Submit this as an attachment to the assignment box for Project 3.

Spelling, grammar, and content will all influence your project grade.