OSU Helpdesk: A Cost-Effective Helpdesk Solutionfor Everyone

摘要

Over the last several years many attempts have been made to obtainrncommercial helpdesk software for the University. In each case therninitial investment and recurring costs far exceeded availablernfunding.rnThe OSU Helpdesk project was launched in January 2003 byrnInformation Services’ Technology Support Services unit. Interestrnfrom a myriad of Colleges and Departments quickly expanded thernscope of the project with the goal evolving into a modular, OpenrnSource helpdesk solution that can be utilized by anyone.rnAt the heart of OSU Helpdesk is a powerful call tracking systemrnbased on The Mozilla? Organization’s Bugzilla? bug trackingrnsoftware. The core features include secure logon, web and emailbasedrnticket entry, and powerful query and report tools. The callrntracking system is linked to a searchable knowledgebase, built onrnSupport Information Tracker, and a calendar, based onrnWebCalendar. Inventory and Service Level Agreement modules arernplanned for the 4th quarter of 2004 and early 2005 respectively.rnIn this paper we will discuss the various modules that make up OSUrnHelpdesk, how we leveraged Open Source software to jump-startrndevelopment and how the project has fostered collaboration within arnvery decentralized institution. We close with the current status of thernproject, lessons we’ve learned and links to our demonstration site,rnsource code, and documentation.