I work in an IT Department and at the moment I'm having some trouble finding a Help Desk solution. We need something that we can log tickets with the employee's in the company who run into problems with their computers. We also need to be able to show statistics on these issues to see how were doing. We also would like to be able to log projects we are working on so if some one comes up to us asking why we haven't finished what they needed done we can show them what we've been busy with on an updated project list. We've looked at HelpSTAR and unfortunately at the moment our CEO has turned down our request to purchase it. Is there any other piece of software similar to HelpSTAR? I've looked at ilient which is the closest thing I have found but there's a bug in it where if you access a certain page you can't access any other links from the left hand navigation menu. So any help is greatly appreciated. The software can be free/open source/etc or if you are unable to find anything of the sort such as that we are willing to pay for something. Thanks!

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I would be curious to know why your CEO denied your request for HelpSTAR. If it was price, you will have difficulty finding a less expensive software. TrackIt might suffice. It would also depend on how many license seats you require...HelpSTAR is designed for a mid-range (1 - 10,000 employees) size company...TrackIt for a smaller co...Remedy/Magic for larger than 10,000...hope this was helpful.

If your not worried about costs, Altiris is pretty advanced. We use that, and have removed a few other collections of software as that does it all (deployment/helpdesk/audits/licensing & software monitoring etc) This is good, but licensing is a bitch.

I haven't used any other helpdesk software other than Altiris and Ilient, and some Isreli one I can't remember the name. Ill edit when I remember later

We used to use TSD Magic and we also have the 800 pound gorilla of Help Desk, aka Remedy but the one we actually use in my shop is the custom Siebel Help Desk my engineers built. Took them about a week. A good chunk of functionality is out of the box

Perhaps HelpMaster Pro (www.helpmasterpro.com).

Advanced template-based system that is good for helpdesk, bug tracking and client relations. Has desktop + web + auto email ticketing and can be configured for ITIL. Heaps of reports to track which issues you're currently dealing with.

Cost effective too!

Rod.

there is loads of software out there. I used free stuff, like bugzilla and WInventory

My company uses HelpSpot. We've only been using it for a few months and we're only 200-300 employees, but it works great for us with the functionality you're looking for and then some. Can't recall pricing off the top of my head, but it must have been reasonable or our Execs wouldn't have OKed it.

http://www.userscape.com/products/helpspot/

Bugzilla is good. Opensource too

Do you have a development team in-house? If so, would it not be feasible for them to look into developing one designed purely for your company?

At least as times change, they can keep it updated at minimal cost...

Jonifen has a good point, best way to keep down cost and your department is one of the MOST expensive in the company. so saving cost will be in line with management. but here at my company we use Alloy navigate, very easy to use, comes with asset tracking, help desk ticket, work order, there is also remedy. how large is your company. thats one factor you have to consider to make these purchases.

In my old job, I created a simple one using MS Access 2000. It was for an office of about 12 people though, and it wasn't entirely busy, so Access worked well. Had it been for many more people, I would've been stuck as they (like most companies) were reluctant to spend money, but didn't understand that they sometimes need to speculate to accumulate.

They don't realise that Help Desk & Problem Management applications don't grow on trees! :)

I've used REMEDY and Bugzilla, and Bugzilla was easier.

and you can customise bugzilla easialy for your needs due to source code

www.helpdesksoftware.com.au have a simple and easy to use help desk software solution. If you're after something that is easy to install and use without the fuss, give this one a go.

Try Kayako Support Suite
www.kayako.com

Owned license $499, hosted $19.95

It has so many feature, runs on linux, windows

Remedy (at least as implemented where I am employed) is HORRIBLE, the helpdesk staff here do nothing but complain about it all day long. I thank my stars that I really only have to use it to close the odd ticket.

As an internal bug tracker we have implemented zenTrack. The price (opensource freeware) is right, support is OK from forums but there's no tech to call at 3am if things break. I don't know about it's scalability though.

Please tell about Help Desk solution?

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