The End User Interface
End users submit requests via the http://support.ifas.ufl.edu website, aka "Ask the IFAS Help Desk". This interface requests that the user select one from a number of problem categories. The category picked automatically becomes the "Topic" of the ticket. This topic can be changed later when the consultant works on the ticket.
There are text boxes where the ticket initiator enters their Gatorlink username or UFID. If they don't know their UFID, they can look it up through a link. The user is also asked to enter their contact phone number and e-mail address along with a brief description of the problem. There is currently no method within this system for an end user to attach files (screen shots, etc.). If the user e-mails the problem to the IFAS Help Desk rather than by using Ask the IFAS Help Desk, the Help Desk consultant will enter a ticket on their behalf. Such e-mail would be the only current method for a user to assist the consultants by attaching supplementary materials.
Note: The UF system does have a crude method for a consultant to store and associate such materials with the ticket, but this is not available to IFAS currently. An e-mail to the UF Help Desk automatically creates a ticket using the e-mail subject as the ticket topic; this is not being done currently for IFAS.
Should the user have a problem pertinent to the UF system rather than to IFAS, there is a link to the UF Help Desk client screen.
Controlling Ticket Assignment and Notification
The Remedy system has been modified to allow OU administrators to control the assignment and notification of tickets created by their own users. This may now be done via the web interface at http://remedyassign.ifas.ufl.edu. To use this site, you must logon with your ufad\if-admn credentials. From there you find your GatorLink username, select it, and are given the various routing options which you may control.
By default, the IFAS Helpdesk is assigned all tickets. If you wish, you may pick a single administrator (some units have more than one) to receive those. If that is done, any tickets your users generate will be assigned to that administrator. E-mail notification is always made to whoever is assigned the ticket. No matter who is assigned (either the Help Desk or some other administrator in your group) you may elect to receive an e-mail notification whenever one of your clients creates a ticket.
The assignment and notification can be changed at any time. You may find this useful, for example, when you go on vacation. If you want to be part of the Remedy ticketing system, please investigate the above sites and familiarize yourself with them. IFAS IT will be requesting that all incoming issues be resolved using the Remedy system.
The Remedy Ticket Form
If you are creating a ticket for a user, the ticket isn't actually created until you follow through with one of the various options on this page. A new ticket is displayed in a form that has many options. One of these is required, that being the "Supported Service" option. This corresponds to the category radio buttons on the end user ticket request form, but provides a much finer granularity in categorizing the issue. If you select the "General Topics->Projects" entry, the ticket will be taken out of the general Help Desk queue and placed in the Projects Queue. This provides a way of keeping track of internal issues separate from end user issues. There are fields where the consultant can enter information pertinent to the problem, including a drop-down list box for OS and text fields for "Software" and for the "Problem Account Username". The "Problem Summary" field is blank on a new ticket, but this is where the ticket topic would be on an existing ticket and where you can modify that topic to make it more descriptive of a particular problem.
It is not readily apparent from the interface, but many of the items at the bottom of the form represent mutually-exclusive choices for methods of handling the ticket. (Note: this is likely the weakest and most confusing portion of the interface currently.) You may do one of the following at any given time:
- Assign
This drop-down list box includes the Gatorlink usernames of available consultants (i.e., IT support folks within IFAS). Adam was asked if those could be listed by actual name rather than Gatorlink username; he believed that was possible and said he would look into doing that. You can use this field to assign/re-assign a ticket to a particular support person for resolution. That person will get an e-mail notifying them of the assignment. Note that anyone can reassign any ticket to anyone else.
- Refer
This drop-down list box allows you to refer a problem to a group outside of IFAS. Currently, this list includes: CNS Net Services, CNS Open Systems Group, Active Directory Support, and the UF Bridges Help Desk. For some reason, the "Refer Ticket" button is not grayed out prior to selecting the target--this is inconsistent to the more logical button inactivation which is implemented in the "Assign Ticket" function in the line above and should likely be fixed.
- Refer by e-mail
This text box allows you to type in an e-mail address or list of e-mail addresses in order to refer the problem to someone who is not in the "Refer" list.
- Send e-mail to client
This button is used when you have resolved an issue and is the method for notifying the client of that. The ticket is then closed by default, but you may indicate that you wish it left open by using the checkbox given here. This is also where the "Client Kudos or Complaints" field (wherein I believe kudos is misspelled) comes into play; those are not sent to the client, but are kept for internal use.
Other options available include:
- Save the ticket
This button is used after using the consultant interface to modify the information within the ticket, when you want those changes saved.
- Mark the ticket as pending
This button is used when you have just gotten a new ticket and you wish to indicate that a solution is in the process of being formulated.
- Close the ticket
This button is used when you are completely done and want to close the ticket.
- Send the ticket to UF Help Desk
This button assigns the task to the UF Help Desk and would be used for problems outside our purview.