IT Support Tracking? 3

[kjv1611]

My situation:
[ul][li]Small company (60 employees)[/li]
[li]Two person IT department (soon to be one - me)[/li]
[li]No IT tracking system[/li]
[li]All Windows shop (outside iPhones and at least one iPad)[/li]
[li]I have been tracking items I complete without effort/time level detail in MS Excel (with process/reference type documentation in MS OneNote)[/li]
[li]Handful of servers (2 physical, several virtualized)[/li]
[li]Handful of network switches[/li]
[li]Internal (ancient) phone system[/li]
[li]Two office locations, 90% employees at main location where I am located, other few a couple hours away[/li][/ul]
I am considering introducing the possibility of instituting an IT tracking system to help me manage everything. I'm sure there are pros AND cons to the idea, but I so far think the pros outweigh the cons.

Can anyone point to a situation they have been involved in or are aware of where going from no ticketing system to using a ticketing system was more bad than good?

Can anyone give a solid argument for one particular tracking system over another? I've seen SEVERAL names mentioned online. A couple that caught my attention so far are SpiceWorks (free version) and FreshDesk (also free version)

One additional thought is that I would like a way to have at least some tracking of requests that involve external contractors. For instance, I discussed with management here our options for times when I'm out on vacation for say a week or more. I can pretty much guarantee something will break when I'm away. For that, a cloud-based/web-based tool might be better, but then SpiceWorks could be better if Internet is down, but not internal network.

Thanks for anything anyone can share,



"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[gbaughma]

Spiceworks.

Network monitoring, help desk system, super easy to manage and administer.


Just my $.02

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

 

[kjv1611]

I really like this part you mentioned: super easy to manage and administer.

Thanks for the suggestion.

The other IT person used it once or twice to check on some software, but said it wasn't always 100% accurate. I figure it's worth making use of if it helps me keep things better organized (help desk).

I'm definitely going to try to go that direction - SpiceWorks - or some other tool - if at all possible.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[goombawaho]

I can't comment on specific systems, but it's human nature you're going to have to fight. You need management backing that people "MUST USE THE NEW TICKETING SYSTEM". Here's what happens when you go from no system to a system.

With no system, I used to get post-it notes on my monitor, voice mails, emails, requests in the bathroom and even people yelling across the office at me that they had a problem. So.... chaos, basically.

Management needs to allow you to enforce that everybody needs to submit a ticket to get support. It will make people mad in the short term because people don't want to go to the extra effort and they like to tell you they need support while you're standing at the urinal (because it's quick and easy). People got mad at me when I started saying "put in a request, put in a request" like a parrot.

Having a system is great for documenting what you actually do all day. We never really had a proper system, but I would document all my daily activities in a Word document along with who it was for and how long it took. You would be amazed at how your day is pi$$ed away, who are your big time wasters, etc. when it's all written down. But this is most important to show management that you're not sleeping in the server room and that you may actually need help if things are getting overwhelming.

If you have documentation, you can say, "look, it's just too much for one person" or people will just have to get used to long wait times.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[kjv1611]

Thanks for sharing - site was down for a moment earlier when I tried to post back.

Right now, the "no system" works OK, but mainly because I'm documenting like crazy with other tools:
Outlook Tasks for keeping track of upcoming to do items
Excel for keeping some semblance of tracking requests and completions (including some bits of how/what I did for reference the next time)
OneNote for most detailed documentation (some still in Word, some in plain text documents, but most in OneNote)

All that works better than you might expect, but I still think a tracking system would be better. I'd replace Outlook tasks and Excel for the most part and have a better setup.

Is it pretty easy with SpiceWorks to setup a custom landing page perhaps with a FAQ section or something, so users can occasionally correct their own issues if minor enough?

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[Andrzejek]

I would also add to goombawaho post (from programmer prospective, not from PC support) - ask for details in the ticket. I often get a request: I need a report to help me with my work. That's all. Who are you? And where do you work? And what do you do? It takes me a whole number of e-mails, phone calls, meetings, etc. just to find out what they need. It would be nice if they would give me an example of what they need, even with a bogus data. Users have to give me this information one way or another, it would be just nice not to be dragging those 'secrets' out of them kicking and screaming over a long time period.

Or it may be just me... :-(

Have fun.

---- Andy

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

 

[goombawaho]

No - that sounds very reasonable!!! I used to get requests like, "my computer is crap" or "need software to do my job". It's a good thing I didn't have a hammer in my desk or I would have corked somebody.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[holdmusic34]

Freshdesk is an online cloud based tool.
Service Ledger if you a have many techs on the road.

Gunpoint 132 and Bush.Cover's code three