What's New in Desktop Helpdesk v4

General:

• Re-designed main window with tree view showing major components of the system for easy access.
  
  
• Supports MS Sql Server and Oracle in addition to MS Access databases.
  
  
• Access database now Access 2000 format - will still work with previous Access 97 format database.
  
  
• Cascading deletion of records e.g. deleting a customer will delete all departments, contacts, jobs etc. Previously you had to delete all related records first before deleting the master record.
  
  
• Specify organization type that you are supporting and the system adapts. E.g. if you are dealing with internal customers only, select "Single Customer, Multiple Departments" and the system will hide references and input fields related to Customer in most windows.
  
  
• Choose to use drop-down lists or search boxes for selection of e.g. Customers, Assets etc. Choosing search boxes will speed up the loading of most windows, as the system does not need to populate the drop-down boxes with long lists of items.
  
  
• Define macros which can be used to quickly insert standard text or scripts. Macros may be published to allow other operators to use (but not edit) them .
  
  
• Hide/Disable records (e.g. Customers) without deleting them.

Customers:

• Specify an expiry date for a support contract.
  
  
• Specify a maximum number of new Jobs for a support contract.

Data views:

• Specify columns to be shown and their order.
  
  
• Show as a grid (list) or as individual cards.
  
  
• Specify font, color, background color, alternate color rows, gridlines.
  
  
• Specify conditional formatting e.g. show all overdue jobs in bold red 12 point
  
  
• Pre-defined filters - e.g. show only jobs assigned to me. Each view remembers its assigned filter.
  
  
• Design your own filters.
  
  
• Define preview rows which show more detail for each record.
  
  
• Define multiple views for the same data (e.g. Jobs).
  
  
• Publish your views for other operators to use (but not amend).
  
  
• Define a view to be used as a template when creating new views.
  
  
• Drag and drop grouping of data.
  
  
• Full print preview and printing of data views.
  
  
• Export to text or html.

Jobs:

• Can now put a Job 'On Hold'
  
  
• Open in View mode without having to Action the Job.
  
  
• Display the History without Actioning the Job.
  
  
• Link files to Jobs - useful for e.g. screen dumps of error messages.
  
  
• Auto-escalation of a Job's priority - controlled by specifying a 'hours overdue' value for each Priority at which point Jobs will this Priority will escalate to the Priority with the next highest sequence. 'On Hold' Jobs are not escalated.
  
  
• Can disable the 'Reset target date?' question when changing Priority
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• Complete control over what Customer/Dept/Contact address information is included in the History.
  
  
• Link Assets to Contacts, so that on the Action Job window you can choose to display only those Assets linked to the selected Contact.
  
  
• When Action a Job, can choose to show a Job Sheet for this Job - useful if your engineers are working on-site. Previously one could choose any report at this point - this was rationalised as we have changed the reporting mechanism and the Job Sheet was the most useful for this purpose.
  
  
• Optionally close any child Jobs when closing a Parent Job.
  
  
• Individual Action Notes now stored in Operator Activity as well as in the Job History
  

Reports:

• All reports are generated as html files - allowing you to easily publish them to a web site.
  
  
• Most reports are now bar charts.
  
  
• Same reports as in the Web Helpdesk.
  
  
• You can continue to use external reporting tools, however these cannot be integrated into the system.

E-mail:

• Now supports Eudora

Operators:

• All operator preferences are now stored in the database, not on the machine, so your preferences can follow you around if you move machines.
  
  
• Automatic log out after specified period of inactivity.
  
  
• Optionally allow operator to see only those Jobs assigned to them.
  
  
• Licensing is now per concurrent user - i.e. for each simultaneously connected user. (just like the Web Helpdesk).
  
  
• Operator can change their own password without needing "Edit Operator" privileges.

Windows:

• Open multiple windows of the same type - each showing a different view if required.
  
  
• Optionally remembers all open windows so that they are re-loaded the next time you log in.