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CNS Help Desk System
e-mail interface The NMHU ITServices now has a help desk system that allows users to enter problems or requests for assistance, review the status of jobs submitted, and look in the knowledge base to see how similar problems were solved. The Help Desk system has two interfaces. Once problems are reported, the ITServices uses the system to track jobs and get the problems resolved. The only difference between the user interfaces is which is most convenient for the user when reporting a problem or making a request. One interface is through an Internet browser that provides complete access to all the features of the system; the other is an e-mail interface that permits users to enter problems and track progress. This document describes the e-mail interface to the Help Desk system. Terminology: The Help Desk System refers to work orders, problems, or requests that it is tracking as "Jobs". In the past CNS has referred to requests as "Work Orders" but this software calls them Jobs. They are the same thing. People who work on jobs submitted to the Help Desk system are operators and people who request jobs are referred to as "Users" or "Guests". Each Job has a Job ID. You should make note of the Job ID number and use it when talking about a job you have questions on. To communicate with the e-mail interface of the CNS Help Desk System, you send mail to [This address is not listed in the global address list.] The action taken by the Help Desk system depends on what you enter in the "Subject" line of your message. Please just send a simple e-mail without backgrounds or advertisements for other products. This is an automated system and those things waste bandwidth and might confuse the software trying to process your request. The system should respond to your request within about 5 minutes of your sending it an email. The system recognizes three types of incoming mail: Subject line is "New Helpdesk" Subject line is "Helpdesk xxx Progress" Subject = "Helpdesk xxx" The body of message not blank The Job will be updated, with the text you entered in message added to the Job History. Note: Type only what's shown between quotes. Do not include the quote marks. In all cases, LBE Helpdesk Mail-in server will respond to the user with an e-mail telling them how their e-mail was processed. If your e-mail has an attachment, it will be added to the job. Let's take a look at an example: 
You will receive an acknowledgement from the system in less than 5 minutes (if not please call to report that problem-help desk e-mail is not replying). Be sure to note the Job ID (2921). 
Making a change to the job. The message is not blank, therefore it is added to the job. 
The helpdesk acknowledges your addition to the job: 
At any point you can check the status of your job. Note that the message is blank but we have included the job ID in the subject line: 
The response to this request would have this text: Below is the latest status on helpdesk Job 2921 JOB ID: 2921 ++++++ CUSTOMER INFORMATION ++++++ NAME: NMHU +++++++ DEPT. INFORMATION +++++++ DEPARTMENT: ITServices ++++++ CONTACT INFORMATION ++++++ CONTACT NAME: GK Test CONTACT E-MAIL: testgk@nmhu.edu ++++++ JOB HISTORY FOLLOWS ++++++ JOB CREATED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:00 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk TO COMPLETE BY: Tue 08-Jul-2003 13:00 CATEGORY: Upgrade software PRIORITY: Medium PROBLEM: My Pc is still using Windows 98 and I would like to upgrade to Windows 2000 as soon as possible. The PC is located in Donnelly Basement G03. We have backed up all the information from the PC and will restore the data after it is returned to us. We also need it to have the Office 2000 Suite installed. It is currently not being used but we are starting a big project on the 20th and will need this PC ready to go at that time. Gene King Office: Donnelly Basement G03 (8-5 M-F) Phone 454-3539 Contact Patsy at 3168 if I am not available. email testgk@nmhu.edu PASSED TO: Not Assigned JOB ACTIONED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:03 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk ACTION NOTES: We have a licensed copy of Fortran that also needs to be installed on this computer. In the background, the ITServices will pickup the job, schedule it and complete the work. As a result you may see messages like this (notice the last line shows who it was assigned to - the link at the beginning of the job requires access to the Internet Browser version of the helpdesk software which is currently not documented.): Your helpdesk job has been updated/created: This is a direct link to the helpdesk job: http://its.nmhu.edu/cnshelp/jobsel.asp?pn=1&qm=STD&sm=FULL &jc=ALL&idx=0&val=2921&page=gstlogin.asp&loginid=testgk@nmhu.edu JOB ID: 2921 ++++++ CUSTOMER INFORMATION ++++++ NAME: NMHU +++++++ DEPT. INFORMATION +++++++ DEPARTMENT: ITServices ++++++ CONTACT INFORMATION ++++++ CONTACT NAME: GK Test CONTACT E-MAIL: testgk@nmhu.edu ++++++ JOB HISTORY FOLLOWS ++++++ JOB CREATED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:00 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk TO COMPLETE BY: Tue 08-Jul-2003 13:00 CATEGORY: Upgrade software PRIORITY: Medium PROBLEM: My Pc is still using Windows 98 and I would like to upgrade to Windows 2000 as soon as possible. The PC is located in Donnelly Basement G03. We have backed up all the information from the PC and will restore the data after it is returned to us. We also need it to have the Office 2000 Suite installed. It is currently not being used but we are starting a big project on the 20th and will need this PC ready to go at that time. Gene King Office: Donnelly Basement G03 (8-5 M-F) Phone 454-3539 Contact Patsy at 3168 if I am not available. email testgk@nmhu.edu PASSED TO: Not Assigned JOB ACTIONED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:03 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk ACTION NOTES: We have a licensed copy of Fortran that also needs to be installed on this computer. JOB ACTIONED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:06 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk ACTION NOTES: We also have a licensed copy of Pascal to install. JOB ACTIONED: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:10 ACTIONED BY: Gene TO COMPLETE BY: Tue 08-Jul-2003 13:00 CATEGORY: Install Software ASSIGNED TO: Gene [Message:email_job_open_contact.txt] Finally your job is completed and you might receive an e-mail like this: Your helpdesk job has been closed: JOB ID: 2921 ++++++ CUSTOMER INFORMATION ++++++ NAME: NMHU +++++++ DEPT. INFORMATION +++++++ DEPARTMENT: ITServices ++++++ CONTACT INFORMATION ++++++ CONTACT NAME: GK Test CONTACT E-MAIL: testgk@nmhu.edu ++++++ JOB HISTORY FOLLOWS ++++++ JOB CREATED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:00 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk TO COMPLETE BY: Tue 08-Jul-2003 13:00 CATEGORY: Upgrade software PRIORITY: Medium PROBLEM: My Pc is still using Windows 98 and I would like to upgrade to Windows 2000 as soon as possible. The PC is located in Donnelly Basement G03. We have backed up all the information from the PC and will restore the data after it is returned to us. We also need it to have the Office 2000 Suite installed. It is currently not being used but we are starting a big project on the 20th and will need this PC ready to go at that time. Gene King Office: Donnelly Basement G03 (8-5 M-F) Phone 454-3539 Contact Patsy at 3168 if I am not available. email testgk@nmhu.edu PASSED TO: Not Assigned JOB ACTIONED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:03 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk ACTION NOTES: We have a licensed copy of Fortran that also needs to be installed on this computer. JOB ACTIONED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:06 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk ACTION NOTES: We also have a licensed copy of Pascal to install. JOB ACTIONED: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:10 ACTIONED BY: Gene TO COMPLETE BY: Tue 08-Jul-2003 13:00 CATEGORY: Install Software ASSIGNED TO: Gene JOB ACTIONED: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:16 JOB COMPLETED: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:16 ACTIONED BY: Gene STATUS CHANGED TO: Closed [Message:email_job_closed_contact.txt] If you try to add to a closed job you will get something like this: Failed to update Job Id 2921, for the following reason: Error occurred whilst: Checking to see if Job is closed SaveJob Error no.-2147220993: This job is closed and cannot be updated. Please contact your local administrator if this problem persists. ******************** Original Message: Subject: HELPDESK 2921 Adding a comment line to a closed job. ******************** You can also check on the status even after the job is closed. It looks similar to the other status you saw before: Below is the latest status on helpdesk Job 2921 JOB ID: 2921 ++++++ CUSTOMER INFORMATION ++++++ NAME: NMHU +++++++ DEPT. INFORMATION +++++++ DEPARTMENT: ITServices ++++++ CONTACT INFORMATION ++++++ CONTACT NAME: GK Test CONTACT E-MAIL: testgk@nmhu.edu ++++++ JOB HISTORY FOLLOWS ++++++ JOB CREATED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:00 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk TO COMPLETE BY: Tue 08-Jul-2003 13:00 CATEGORY: Upgrade software PRIORITY: Medium PROBLEM: My Pc is still using Windows 98 and I would like to upgrade to Windows 2000 as soon as possible. The PC is located in Donnelly Basement G03. We have backed up all the information from the PC and will restore the data after it is returned to us. We also need it to have the Office 2000 Suite installed. It is currently not being used but we are starting a big project on the 20th and will need this PC ready to go at that time. Gene King Office: Donnelly Basement G03 (8-5 M-F) Phone 454-3539 Contact Patsy at 3168 if I am not available. email testgk@nmhu.edu PASSED TO: Not Assigned JOB ACTIONED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:03 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk ACTION NOTES: We have a licensed copy of Fortran that also needs to be installed on this computer. JOB ACTIONED AT: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:06 ACTIONED VIA: E-mail from testgk ACTION NOTES: We also have a licensed copy of Pascal to install. JOB ACTIONED: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:10 ACTIONED BY: Gene TO COMPLETE BY: Tue 08-Jul-2003 13:00 CATEGORY: Install Software ASSIGNED TO: Gene JOB ACTIONED: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:16 JOB COMPLETED: Tue 01-Jul-2003 13:16 ACTIONED BY: Gene STATUS CHANGED TO: Closed If we can do anything to improve the documentation to make it easier to understand or if you have any questions or comments about the CNS Helpdesk System please contact |
