"Help Desk" software

[irbk]

My company currently uses Numara Track-it to keep track of computer/software inventory, create Work Orders, track problem PC's etc.
Our contract with Numara is about to expire and we are intrested in shopping around for different help desk software.
So here is the question. What help desk software does your company use to keep track of inventory, create WO's, etc? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it? Would you recomend it?

Thanks for your input.

 

[SjrH]

I've used quite a few in the places that i've worked -
Remedy, Assyst, Gemini, Sunrise, Supportworks, Blue Flag etc.. Each has its own good and bad points, and most have far more features than many environments will ever need.

A lot depends on how much your willing to spend!

Of all the above, I would recommend Supportworks (hornbill.com) as its fairly easy to use, (perhaps because it looks and feels like outlook!). Gemini's traffic light system to monitor SLA's was great, don't know if its still around anymore. And Remedy seems popular in large corporate environments.


[small]Listen to those who know, believe in those that do[/small]

 

[Johnthephoneguy]

helptrac.com is an easy to use and set up help desk program also.

 

[irbk]

We are a small time shop (200 or so users, 2 IT people) so SLA isn't very important to us. What is important is some kind of automated asset discovery/update inventory tool. (Our current instalation of Track-IT we use almost exclusivley as an inventory system and hardly ever use the actual work order "help desk" section of the software) Second to that is Work Order creation and tracking. Supportworks looked like a bit more then what we were looking for. I have not looked at Gemini or Remedy yet. Helptrac.com was a bit too expensive.
Thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming!

 

[kmcferrin]

I am at a similar sized company, with a much larger IT department, and we use an open-source application called Reuqest Tracker (RT). It's a pretty decent work order ticketing system, and it does just about everything that you could want it to. And since it's open source, if there's something that it can't do you can always add the functionality yourself.

It doesn't include an asset-tracking/management system, but the reality is there are very few Helpdesk/Work order systems that do include that functionality. Track-It is probably the biggest/best known system that also supports inventory. If you are unhappy with Track-It then my suggestion would be to look for an inventory application that meets your needs (SMS, BelArc, etc) and then get a separate system for work orders that meets your needs. If you try to get one system that does everything, your options will be much more limited than if you picked two separate products. Also, with separate products you can guarantee that you'll get all the functionality that you want/need on both applications, whereas with a combined app you'll probably be stuck with a good inventory system with weak work order functionality, or vice versa.

 

[gbaughma]

At work I use HEAT

http://usinfotel.com/heat_helpdesksoftware.php

However, at home (for wireless support), I use

http://www.inet-sciences.com/

Tech+Center. It's easy to use, and runs on ASP, has a knowledgebase, etc.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[profunctional]

I looked into an open source solution like RT to keep costs low, but you mentioned that it does not have asset tracking. If we create a trouble ticket, we want to be able to link that ticket to the computer that is having a problem. We need to keep a history of all the problems that it has had for future reference. Are there asset management add-ons?

Thanks kmc

 

[kmcferrin]

Apparently there is an add-on available that does asset tracking, called Asset Tracker. Check it out here:

http://atwiki.chaka.net/

 

[Sympology]

We use Ahinderance, sorry Assyst. Hate it....

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[ceh4702]

You could approach this from a Fixed Asset Accounting persective. Maybe some product that also tracks the warranty and the parts warranty tracking. We have a roll-your-own mainframe COBOL product, but we are going to another product, but it is part of a large expensive Education ERP product made by Datatel.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Auger282]

We use Alloy Navigator

http://www.alloy-software.com/

inventory.. asset tracking.. client and web helpdesk.. it does it all

 

[profunctional]

Thanks for the recommendation. Somebody on the tech support forum recommended

http://www.mhelpdesk.com.

I am trying out their free version and will report back. So far I like it a lot. Hey Auger, can you pm me how much alloy cost?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Auger282]

well its not cheap... about 2500 for the enterprise version... 300 for audit licenses .. and a yearly maintenance of 1k a year

but it does it all.. plus we have an online help desk..
works like a charm

 

[myersjc]

Check out Maximo from MRO software(

http://www.mro.com),

They were just bought out by IBM. We use them for our manufacturing asset tracking and we have Assyst by Axios systems for our IT stuff.

Assyt has got to be the most worthless piece of software I have had the displeasure of using.