main guide - help desk softwaresupport.nethelpdesk.com/pdf/main/nethelpdesk-main-guide-e7a6.pdf ·...

Main Guide Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/contact

Net Help Desk Limited – NetHelpDesk-Main-Guide-e7a6.docx of 358

CONTENTS

MANUAL INSTALLATION OF WEB INTERFACES

END-USER WEB INTERFACE

AGENT WEB PORTAL ACCESS

LAUNCHING NETHELPDESK FOR THE FIRST TIME. .............................................................................................. 67

UNDERSTANDING NHSERVER ...................................................................................................................... 79


INTEGRATION OPTIONS AND SETUP ............................................................................................................ 196


ARCHIVING IN CHUNKS

INSTALLATION OF MICROSOFT SQL SERVER DATABASE USING INSTALLER – EXISTING ACCESS INSTALL

Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact

- Document Continued -



An overview Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



AN OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION TO NETHELPDESK PLEASE READ THESE BEFORE PROCEEDING. This is a simple Q&A section that will help you to understand the simplicity of NetHelpDesk, and how our product differs from so many others on the market. Don’t worry! These are written in a high-level, non-technical perspective, so regardless of your background, NetHelpDesk is as accessible to a non-technical person, as it would be to a very technical one! WHAT IS NETHELPDESK? NetHelpDesk is an ITSM ITIL-aligned Help Desk Software product produced, supported, and owned by a UK company, to an international customer base. Anyone who needs to track anything related to their business and their customers, in any industry, can use NetHelpDesk. Whilst the main basis of the product is a ticketing system, the product goes far beyond this, essentially allowing our customers to run their business from one product. WHAT IS NETHELPDESK’S MAIN STRUCTURE? NetHelpDesk is a Windows Application (NetHDClient.exe) that can be installed in any Windows environment, such as a Server, with a shortcut pointing to it. A data link file with .udl extension name, sits between this and the database, to tell the application which database to connect to.

OK. SO DO I NEED TO INSTALL IT ON MY PC/LAPTOP? It’s not compulsory. If you have NHD installed on a server, all you need to do, is place a shortcut to NHD on your local workstation. The shortcut will be created during the setup. You can install it on your PC/Laptop when first investigating the product, as this may be easier. It’s very easy to migrate your configuration during testing to anywhere you like. This guide shows you how. IF I PUT IT ON A SERVER, IS ANYTHING INSTALLED ON MY PC/LAPTOP? Once you place the shortcut on your workstation, NHD will take some key files and place copies of these in a location you select, when first launching from the shortcut. One of these files is the NetHDClient.exe. You will only need to do this once, and any updates on the server will copy the latest files locally for you. Just double click the shortcut, and NHD takes care of the rest. DO YOU OFFER A HOSTED OR SAAS VERSION? Yes, we do. Install the product locally, and configure during the trial, to make sure NHD has functionality you require. Then, after trialling the product, let us know that you want us to host for you, and we’ll make all the necessary arrangements for you.


WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN THE HOSTED / SAAS VERSION? There aren’t any. All of the same functionality is made available to all customers, regardless where they chose to install the product. If you’re concerned something may not work post-migration to NHD, just speak with anyone in the NetHelpDesk teams, and they can advise accordingly. WHAT IS NHSERVER.EXE? NHServer is a separate application that runs alongside NetHelpDesk, and processes things such as e-mails in and e-mails out, creating Calendar appointments out of NetHelpDesk into your Exchange Calendar, importing Inventory Data from your Assets, and so on. This needs the .udl file we mentioned before too, to connect to the database with all your information in it.

DOES NHSERVER NEED TO BE RUNNING AND SCANNING ALL THE TIME THEN? Yes, it does. However, we know that this isn’t always practical. So we give you guidance in setting up a scheduled task, that opens NHServer, scans and then it will shut itself down. It can do this even if you’re logged off of the server, and will do this on a regular basis. WHAT ELSE IS INCLUDED? We include everything the product has to offer, as standard. That includes the Web Portal for Customer/End Users and one for your Agents/Support staff, Billing integration, Calendar integration, Asset Management, Order Processing, Supplier Management, Quotations and many, many more. WHAT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN THE TRIAL VERSION THEN? Up to 5 “Agent” logins for your support staff, and up to 1,000 Requests. That’s it. We’re happy to give you more licences and requests, if needed. Just ask anyone at NetHelpDesk for this, it usually take 5 minutes or less to sort this for you. It’s no trouble at all. WHAT SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE DURING THE TRIAL? We offer the same unlimited support during the trial that you would receive if you do decide to go ahead and purchase. We want you to be fully comfortable with NetHelpDesk before committing to us. Put out Support Team to the test, and they will show you the premier support we strive for. IS THERE A SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT WE CAN HOLD YOU TO? Absolutely. The SLA forms part of our standard Terms and Conditions of Business, which you can sign with us, so we all know where we stand. You can also lock down ongoing maintenance costs for longer periods when you sign the agreement. Just ask us.


WHAT DOES IT ALL COST? The only thing we charge for, in relation to the program, is the named licences for your team, to log into the product. In other words, each person who works on resolving calls/tickets/requests needs their own named account. All prices are available on our website: nethelpdesk.com/prices and we can send you a free, no-obligation quotation if you like, and we work with most currencies. Everything else is included. We also offer professional services, site visits and much more. DO CUSTOMER/END-USER LOGINS TO THE WEB PORTAL INCUR ADDITIONAL COSTS? Not at all! We only charge for the main application licences, as you will see from our website. WHY IS A WEB DEMONSTRATION NECESSARY? It’s the fastest way to find out if NetHelpDesk is the right product for you and your team, which is as important to us, as it is to you. Our Sales team are not pushy, never pressurise, and available for your every question. We want you to be fully comfortable with NetHelpDesk before committing to us. IT TICKS MOST BOXES, BUT THERE ARE A FEW TWEAKS NEEDED? Then please feel free to let anyone at NetHelpDesk know. Our Development team are happy to look at improvements to the product, and usually happy to do these quickly and free of charge when an order is placed! In the unlikely event that any costs would be incurred, these will be clearly indicated to you, so you can make the right business decision for you and your team. WE FEATURE MATCH ALL OF OUR COMPETITORS. Challenge us for what you need! Twitter: @NetHelpDesk #ChallengeNHD IT ALL LOOKS A BIT COMPLICATED TO ME. I HAVEN’T GOT TIME. If you unsure how to do anything in NetHelpDesk, please ask anyone at NetHelpDesk to assist you. We are here to make sure you get the best out of the product. Our Support Team are technically competent in the entire product, but we are all trained to be able to teach anyone, regardless of technical ability, and do so calmly and patiently. We work on a philosophy that there’s no such thing as a stupid question. Be succinct about what you’re experiencing, and we will help you in no time at all. SOME USEFUL LINKS? nethelpdesk.com/links will take you to our web page with web shortcuts for quick access to information. These include guides, web pages (that explain things too), and so on. Simple. Straight forward. Uncomplicated. All the things we aspire to be, making your life easier to get on with your role. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/prices

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/links



HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW OF NETHELPDESK There are several interfaces of NetHelpDesk: AGENT ACCESS

Interface Access Method

Windows Program Shortcut on Microsoft Windows PC, Laptop or Surface, or using 3rd party web-enabling Technology, Macs or any Web Browser.

iPhone App and iPad App iPhone or iPad

Android App Android Smartphone/Tablet or BlackBerry

Windows Phone App Windows Phone

Agent Web Portal Any Web Browser

CUSTOMER / END-USER ACCESS

Interface Access Method

End-User Web Portal Any Web Browser

Rich Text into NHD E-mail on any platform

Facebook Post Facebook on any platform

Tweet Twitter on any platform

The main Windows Program has 3 basic components:

NetHDClient.exe The main component, or “Front end”, the user interface you will see.

.udl file A data link file, usually called NetHelpDesk.udl, which tells the .exe file the database to connect to.

SQL Database The information store, or “Back end”, where all your calls etc. are kept.

The installer you downloaded from our website will handle everything for you. However, if at any time you experience anything that doesn’t work as expected, anyone at NetHelpDesk is on hand for your every question. Let us know if you need any particular special assistance outside of our standard business hours, and we’ll arrange this for you. There’s no such thing as a stupid question!


If you ask, it’s because you don’t know. Our teams are trained to answer your questions, and if they don’t know themselves, they know the specialist in our teams who does! This guide will take you step-by-step through the simple installation of NetHelpDesk and its interfaces. It is recommended that NetHelpDesk is installed onto a server for a fully functional, centrally installed multi-user trial. Just speak with anyone at NetHelpDesk to discuss options available. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS NetHelpDesk, like any new software, will seem a bit daunting at first. We’re here to simplify the process for you, and once you get started, you’ll see just how simple it is. Have a good think about your current needs, maybe with your teams in a brain-storming session.

What works well within your existing processes and help desk software? What is annoying, causes inefficiencies, and time consuming? What would be a really great feature to have?

Tell us at NetHelpDesk, and we’re sure that we’ll have it already. If not, we can add it in for you! If you don’t tell us, or ask us, you’ll never know! So many of our competitors make promises to deliver things that they fail to. We’re not the same, so please talk to us about any concerns you may have at any time. The following guide is meant to be a lead in to some of the features of NHD. It’s by no means exhaustive, as we are adding new features all the time. The Main Configuration section of NetHelpDesk can be accessed by clicking the N button and clicking Setup. We look forward to discussing your requirements with you. Let’s get the basics completed, and out of the way, to get to the more interesting features. Organisation First thing is first. Let us get your company details and logo into NetHelpDesk to use on the stationery, such as prints of request details, quotations invoices, and so on. Multitenancy Multitenancy is the term given to a type of software "architecture" where a single instance of the software's database runs on a server, but serves multiple organisations, or 'tenants'. If it is just your organisation using NetHelpDesk, skip this part, and move onto the next option. Sections

1. Will the support staff need to be separated into distinct groups/teams? These are our “Sections”.

For example: First Level, Second Level, HR, Maintenance, IT and so on.

2. Do you need multi-tenancy setup that restricts certain users to certain Customers and information, but access to others? If so, go back to Basic Administration.


Agents

1. Will your Agents need notifications when:

a) New requests are generated? b) A request is assigned to them? c) SLA timeframes are coming up/breached? (where applicable)

2. What access level would you like your support staff to have?

3. Is there anything specific that you don’t want them to have access to?

4. If they are all on your domain, do you want NetHelpDesk to auto-log them in?

5. What Notifications do you want them to have?

6. Will they be Admin Users, basic Agent Users, or a mixture of both roles?

7. Will they use individual signatures, or one generic one?

Incoming E-mail

1. Do you need NHD to poll a mailbox/multiple mailboxes, and pull all e-mails in as requests?

2. If so, are you able to run the POP3 service on your mail server?

3. Do you want to set-up a new mailbox for testing, then use this after going live?

4. Do you have an access to an account you can use, which has full administrator access to your mail server? Similar to a BESAdmin account for BlackBerry setup etc.

Outgoing E-mail

1. Do you want to send e-mails to your end users, send notifications to your Agents and/or log requests to your Suppliers using e-mail?

2. Is one mailbox enough, or do you wish to send e-mail out from multiple mailboxes in

NetHelpDesk?

3. Would you like different mailboxes for different areas, and use different stationery, signatures and so on?

- Section Continued -


E-mail Templates Everything that NetHelpDesk sends out as an e-mail, can be reworded and designed as you would like, with all your own unique appearance and identity. Some e-mail templates to consider:

1. New Request Logged (ID 1 & 2) This template can be used to send an auto-response e-mail back to the call originator when a request is logged via NetHelpDesk.

2. Request Update (ID 11 & 12) This template can be used to send notification to the call originator when notes have been added to their Requests.

3. Request Closed (ID 14 & 15) This template can be used to send notification to the call originator when their issue has been resolved, and the Request has been closed.

4. Agent Update (ID 32 & 33) This template is the format of Agent notifications regarding calls and updates to calls. Request Types Think of these as forms to be completed by end-users and Agents to raise requests.

1. Which fields would end-users need to complete when submitting requests via the web portal? (e.g. Summary, Details, Category)

2. Which fields would your support staff need to complete when creating requests manually

via the windows application? (e.g. Summary, Details, Category)

3. Are these different to the ones for you Customers? i.e. are their fields hidden for them, but not for you?

4. Do you wish to have dynamic fields (where one populates based on another’s selection)?

5. Are any custom fields required? You can have unlimited number of custom fields, and

different ones for different forms. Social Networking

1. Do you want to create tickets from a company Twitter account(s), and respond from NHD?

2. Would you like Facebook Posts on your page(s) to create tickets, and be able to respond to them in NHD?



Actions Action buttons are customisable, down to text label and picture, order they appear, and information captured.

1. Any existing buttons you wish to modify? Text label, picture, options, e-mails, and so on…

2. Any new buttons you want to add?

3. What can be added to make your team’s lives easier, and streamline your help desk? Statuses We’ve set some standard sensible statuses, but you can add all of your own, and remove our suggestions.

1. What status values are relevant?

2. Will status value help drive further actions and escalations? Categorisation

1. What Category Groups do you require?

2. What Category Values within those groups are required? Up to 2 additional levels of sub categories values can be added as well, if required.

Users

1. Do you have a list of Customers, their Sites and their End Users you wish to bring into NetHelpDesk?

2. If not in Excel, check with anyone at NetHelpDesk for one-click import facilities from

leading products in our industry, for quick migration.

3. Are there specific fields of data you want to store at the Site Level?

4. Do you want to group your Customers by an additional top level, i.e. by geographic location, language spoken, contract type, and so on?

Active Directory

1. Are all your users listed in Active Directories that you have constant access to, and want to bring these into NetHelpDesk using the containers you have specified within them?


Self Service Portal

1. Do you require your end-users/customers to log and view calls via a web portal?

2. Is so, do you have Internet Information Services (IIS) installed ready for this to be set up?

3. What would you like your end-users/customers to be able to do/not do via this web portal?

Time Recording

1. Do you want to make Time recording mandatory for your teams?

2. Do you want them to capture travel time as part of their time recording processes? Service Level Agreements & Workdays

1. Is tracking response times to requests necessary?

2. Is tracking resolution times of requests necessary?

3. Will calls need to have different priority levels assigned to them? (e.g. High, Medium, Low)

4. If so, what timescales will need to be assigned to each one?

5. Will you need specific Customer SLAs (so e.g. a Level 1 priority call may have different timings associated with it, depending on the Customer or support contract purchased etc.)

6. What are the normal working hours for answering calls? Are there more than one set up of

working times for different teams? Calendar and Scheduling

1. Would you like to add appointments to requests that sync with Agent or central Calendars in Outlook?

2. If on your Exchange, do you have an access to an account you can use, which has full

administrator access to your mail server? Similar to a BESAdmin account for BlackBerry setup etc.

3. If on Office 365 or Google Calendar, do you know the login details to configure?

4. Have you read the Calendar guide, and followed what this user needs to have access to?


Request Templates

1. What calls are generated over and over again, that could be pre-populated into Templates for your Agents to use quickly?

2. What do these tasks involve, and who will they be assigned to?

3. Are there multiple tasks that need to be linked to a larger project?

4. Will these tasks have “to-Do” lists with actions that must be followed?

Request Handling

1. Would you like NetHelpDesk to send reminder e-mails to your end users, to remind them that you are awaiting further information to answer their request?

2. If they do not respond, would you like NetHelpDesk to close these requests automatically

after a certain time frame, and e-mail your end users?

3. When requests are closed by your Agents, would your end-users to confirm that the call can be closed, or reopen if necessary?

Surveys

1. Would you like to ask your end users to complete a certain closure procedure, such as completing a survey via NetHelpDesk self-service portal, and capture the data?

Approval Processing

1. Are there sequences of Approvals that need to be actioned before starting certain tasks?

2. Is there a group of Agents (Change Advice Board or CAB) that needs to approve certain tasks, in a certain way?

3. Are there certain criteria that needs certain advanced approval handling?

Auto Assign Rules

1. We all have team members that have strengths in areas that others do not. Would you like to automatically route calls of certain criteria to certain members of your team, or to another team as a whole?



Workflows

1. Will there be particular workflows that need to be followed on requests of all types, to generate steps of actions to be carried out, before moving onto the next?

Auto Request Scheduling

1. What tasks need to be added to automatically generate on a schedule?

2. Will they need similar considerations to the request templates section above? Qualifications Matching

1. Would you like to record Agents’ qualifications in NetHelpDesk to help you determine the best person to assign a request to, based on their skill set?

Custom Objects

1. What new tabs and data fields would you like to add into NetHelpDesk that is specific to your company or industry?

2. Are any custom fields required? You can have unlimited number of custom fields, and

different ones for different forms. Reporting

1. What reports would you like to run from Data contained in NetHelpDesk?

2. What type of areas would the reports cover, and what will the reports look like when they are generated?

a. What will the column labels be? b. What time parameter will be used to call this data? c. What data would you like to purposefully exclude from this data, or specifically

include? d. Who should not be able to view these reports, or their data?

Contracts

1. What type of contracts do you sell to your Customers?

2. What are the billing methods?

a. Pay As You Go (Pay as they go along)


b. Pre-Pay (Pay for a bank of requests/hours, and use as they need, then top up) c. Pre-Pay Recurring (Automatically top up their bank of requests/hours) d. Fixed Price (Pay set amount each billing period, use it or lose it).

3. Are there different contracts for different types of calls, such as Request Types,

Categories and/or Charge Rates that affect how the Customer is billed?

4. Do you need to specify Customer overriding charge rates, so that Customer is charged differently to the majority of others?

Billing

1. Will you require NetHelpDesk to inject data into a billing report, so your Accounts team can process invoices to your Customers?

2. Do you use an Accounts software that integrates with NetHelpDesk (QuickBooks or Sage,

KashFlow or Xero)?

3. Do your Customers have different contracts, and you bill them in different ways for different things?

Projects

1. Do your Teams wish to use NetHelpDesk for tracking Projects, for budget and time analysis?

2. Will they be basic projects, or quite advanced? Opportunities

1. Do your Sales Team wish to use NetHelpDesk for tracking potential sales leads, and revenue opportunities?

Asset Tracking

1. Will your teams need to track assets of your Customers or End-users?

2. What types of Assets will you need to track, and what type of data about those Assets would you like to record?

3. Do you use a remote access program that you would like to integrate with NetHelpDesk?



Quotations

1. Will any of your teams need to raise quotations, whether separately or from requests, for physical and/or service items that you sell to your Customers or End-users?

Sales Orders

1. If your Customers accept the quotation, will you need to track the Sales Orders, whether separately or from requests?

2. Will you not use Quotations, but need to track the items that you use on a call, for

expenditure or billing purposes?

3. Will you consign items to the Sales Orders, to record when those items are with the Customer, and turn them into Assets for Asset tracking?

Purchase Orders

1. Will you need to track Purchase Orders for items you don’t have in stock that you need to order in, or for items you don’t provide directly to your Customers or End users?

2. Would you like to add in all your Suppliers details, Contract information and Service Level

Agreement timing, so that you can assign calls to then, and track calls against their SLAs?

3. For any physical items, will you need to send consignment note details out with the item? Suppliers

1. Do you have a list of Third-party Suppliers, their details and contracts that you need to import, so that you can track, and log calls to them for tracking?

2. Do these Suppliers have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that you need to put into

NetHelpDesk for it to track their effectiveness? Services

1. Do you use products like MAXfocus to monitor data backups, virus checks etc., which produce notifications to you and your team(s) throughout the day/week/month?

2. Would you like to track their statuses separately from requests, and raise requests only on

failures/pauses etc.?



ANY SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS? NetHelpDesk has a plethora of additional functionality already built in, and we can show you where it is, and how to use it. Please feel free to discuss your Company’s requirements with anyone at NetHelpDesk, and we will be happy to work with you to explore possible solutions. This guide will help you to make sure that the time you spend setting up our software will be efficient, and the last process you ever need to go through relating to a help desk software. As always, our teams are on hand for your every question, so feel free to call on us at any time. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




ITIL & NETHELPDESK The ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) was originally created by the CCTA, a part of the British Civil Service. It is a series of books and guidelines that contain procedures and frameworks for managing reliable IT services. NetHelpDesk deals with the following core topics in the ITIL as shown below: Incident Management "Incident management aims to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and minimise the adverse effect on business operations, thus ensuring that the best possible levels of service quality and availability are maintained." Multiple Incident Request Types, with rule-defined assignment to Agents, tracking of all actions, clearance and return to service. Easily linked to lead Problem requests, with overview of incidents and their status. Problem Management "Problem management aims to resolve the root causes of incidents and thus to minimise the adverse impact of incidents and problems on business that are caused by errors within the IT infrastructure, and to prevent recurrence of incidents related to these errors." Multiple Problem Request Types, multiple incidents can be linked to a single problem request as root causes. Update multiple incidents from the main problem request, reference and update knowledge base of known problems and solutions is maintained. Change Management "Change management aims to ensure that standardised methods and procedures are used for efficient handling of all changes. A change is an event that results in a new status of configuration items, is cost-effective, and enhances business process, with minimum risk to infrastructure." Requests for Change (RFC) can be requested, tracked, approved, progressed and reported on in a forward schedule of changes report. Account for justification, impact, risk, back-out, communication, and testing plans, with definable field and release control data, for thorough reporting. Project Management "Project management is the process of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals in daily problems. A project is a designed to produce a unique product, service or result with defined beginning and end"



Nominate parent request types, organised separately, create parent Project requests from templates, with automated child requests, assigned to different team members, update and close all child from parent, associated time and money budgets, display actual money and time spent. Supplier Management "Supplier Management obtains value for money from suppliers and contracts. It ensures that underpinning agreements align with business needs, and Service Level Requirements. Allows overview process of identification, evaluation and management of suppliers." Store all Suppliers, underpinning contracts and service level agreements, priorities, descriptions and timings for response and resolution, contact details and notes history, with Supplier portals, e-mail templates, Accounts ID for Purchase Orders, contract reference, descriptions and effective dates. Financial Management "Financial Management comprises the discipline of ensuring that the IT infrastructure is obtained at the most effective price (which does not necessarily mean cheapest) and calculating the cost of providing IT services so that an organisation can understand the costs of its IT services." Items advanced costing analysis with AVCO, FIFO stock control, labour time, service costs, billing, charge rate, contract, combination billing, recurring items, and much more with NetHelpDesk's built-in extensive Billing module, that integrates with QuickBooks, Sage and KashFlow too. Service Desk Management "Service Desk is primarily associated with the Service Operation lifecycle stage. Tasks include handling and life-cycle management of incidents and requests, and providing an interface for other ITSM processes, whether local, central or virtual." NetHelpDesk provides a single, centralised data store for IT infrastructure and end user information and processes requests from end users made by telephone, e-mail or web interface. It can be used by Service Desks on site with your customers, or centrally in a contact centre. Service Asset and Configuration Management "Primarily focused on maintaining information and relationships about assets required to deliver a service. The management and traceability of every aspect of a configuration, from beginning to end, identification, planning, change control and management, release and maintenance. Assets of any kind can be stored in customisable groups and types, with endless custom details fields to capture and store data manually and automatically, with full reporting capabilities, plugins from any type of remote monitoring or control software you may use.



Release and Deployment Management "Release management focuses on the protection of the live environment and its services through the use of formal procedures and checks. Proper control ensures the availability of licensed, tested, and version-certified software and hardware, which functions as intended." Control releases of software, recording release description, and notes, projected release date, independent release statuses and releaser, attached requests affected by the content of the release, and communicating changes in effect within release to end-users via their incidents. Service Catalogue "Maintains and produces a Service Catalogue, and ensures that it contains accurate details, dependencies and interfaces of all services made available to customers." A Service catalogue can be maintained, and the operational status of each service can be either automatically or manually updated and downtime reported upon. Errors can create an incident, or existing incidents linked to outstanding requests, and assigned by Categories. Service Level Management "Provides continual identification, monitoring and review of the levels of IT services specified in the Service-level agreements (SLAs). Ensures arrangements are in place with internal IT support-providers and external suppliers in the form of agreements and contracts respectively." Service Level agreements can be set up and conformance examined and reviewed. Setup one general for everyone, or Customer or Supplier specific ones, customised, monitored and reported on from the one interface. Event Management "The process that monitors all events that occur through the IT infrastructure. It allows for normal operation and also detects and escalates exception conditions, creating incidents, tracking activity to resolution, and legacy data for overview analysis." Any program that produces e-mail notifications based on an event can be integrated into NetHelpDesk, and overview of status checked. Specify exception conditions to create requests based on the activity, and report on full history of events however you require. Availability Management "Targets allowing organisations to sustain the IT service-availability to support the business at a justifiable cost. The high-level activities realise availability requirements, compile availability plan, monitor availability, and monitor maintenance obligations." Oversee the reliability, maintainability, serviceability, resilience and security of IT components from multiple angles in NetHelpDesk, whether Asset, Service, Supplier Service or Event management driven, to analyse component's ability to perform at agreed level over a period of time.


An organisation that uses ITIL has staff that are aware of ITIL concepts and that use procedures based on the ITIL framework. It is the staff that carry out their roles in an ITIL compliant way. The staff are the assisted in working in an ITIL compliant way by NetHelpDesk which allows you to record and process information in an ITIL consistent structure. USING NETHELPDESK REQUEST TYPES In NetHelpDesk there is the core concept of a request. This is used as the basis for recording and tracking incidents, problems and change requests. A request is usually associated with a single user at a site or an unspecified user known as the 'General User' at each site. There are several types of request: Requests from end users can be reports of faults with an existing service. These are incidents which are given a seriousness level and other categorisation as required. An SLA fix by date is calculated and tracked. Actions taken by the Agent assigned to the request are tracked. The final clearance is recorded and can be used to create a knowledge base entry. Incidents may have a root cause and so can be linked to a problem request. Related incidents can be found and cleared in one action when the root cause or problem request is cleared. The final clearance is recorded and can be used to create a knowledge base entry End users can also submit RFC, requests for change, and these can be tracked, evaluated by a change manager or change advisory board, and approved or rejected. Approved changes can be scheduled and a list of pending changes can be seen by anyone that needs to. Any changes to the infrastructure can be recorded in the change log. OTHER REQUEST TYPES The following additional request types extend the ITIL framework to fit better within a commercial environment. They are optional. Other request types can be defined if necessary to match your procedures. Installation requests - these are explicit requests describing the installation of new hardware or software. The to-do list/check lists tab of the request screen can assist in making sure that all of the steps are known to the Agent whose job it is to do the installation. Pre-defined checklists improve the quality of repeated installations. Quotes requests - these are requests to track the process of providing a quote to an end user. It is unnatural to call these 'incidents' or 'problems', so a new request type has been defined for them. Advice / Other Requests - These type of requests can be used when the above types do not seem appropriate.



BS15000 AND ISO 20000 STANDARDS BS15000 is a 'Code of Practice', which describes "the best practices of service management processes". Further, it "represents an industry consensus on quality standards for IT service management processes". Your organisation can be externally audited to demonstrate BS15000 compliance. You would document your procedures and show that they are being followed. The way in which you use NetHelpDesk would form part of the documentation, e.g. your incident logging procedure, or your change management process. The data within NetHelpDesk would enable you to demonstrate that the procedures are being followed reliably. BS15000 has now been published as an ISO standard: ISO 20000.



Installing NetHelpDesk Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact

http://nethelpdesk.com/contact


INSTALLATION OF NETHELPDESK (INSTALLER) BEFORE YOU START There are three main components when setting up NetHelpDesk;

Component 1 Installing the NetHelpDesk folder, with contents for the general user interfaces.

Component 2 Installing the Web Interfaces (End-user and Agent and Smartphone).

Component 3 Installing a SQL Server instance for the NetHelpDesk database.

Before starting the install, some basic things to check:

1) Choose where you want to place the NetHelpDesk folder. The default is the root of the C:\ Drive, but it can be stored anywhere you prefer.

2) The Web Interfaces do not need to be installed on the same server as NetHelpDesk. If you

have a dedicated Web server, you may want to use that location, detailed in this guide.

3) Whichever you choose, three things need to be set in your environment before setting up the web interfaces:

a) IIS Manager v7.0 or above is installed on the machine.

b) The IIS has the CGI Module enabled.

c) .net Framework 3.5 is installed on the machine.



IIS MANAGER To check if you have IIS installed, or to add it in, go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Features On or Off CGI MODULE To check if you have the CGI module as part of the IIS install, go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Features On or Off > Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services > Application Development Features. If you cannot see the web server role service initially, scroll down, and also make sure the ASP role service has been added to change size limit permissions.



.NET FRAMEWORK 3.5 Most new Windows environments will already coming with .net Framework 4.0, but unfortunately, this is doesn’t include previous .net Framework versions. You will still need to install 3.5 as well. It may already be installed.

Server 2008

Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features On or Off > Server Manager. Click Features > Add Features > .net Framework 3.5.1 features. No restart is required.

All Other Windows Environments

Go to: http://www.nethelpdesk.com/dotnet.zip and download the installer file. This installer is from the Microsoft Website. Check the MS website for updates, if required. No restart is required.

Example of Features Select Screen in Server Manager Once IIS with CGI Module and .net Framework 3.5 are installed, the web interfaces can now be setup.

Component 1

Similar to the Web Interfaces, the SQL Server database does not need to be installed on the same server as NetHelpDesk. If you have a dedicated SQL Server, you may want to use that location, detailed in this guide. If you already have a version of SQL Server on the server that you are installing NetHelpDesk onto, you may want to use an existing instance, again detailed in this guide.

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/dotnet.zip


USING THE INSTALLER To install NetHelpDesk, do so in a place that is central for multiple users to access, like a server. NetHelpDesk does not need to be installed on each machine.

Component 1

1. Go to the folder where you have downloaded the nethelpdesk.zip folder to.

2. Right click on the zip folder, and extract the files to a location you are happy with.

3. In the NetHelpDesk folder that is extracted, right click on the NHDsetup.exe file, and run as

a local Administrator.

4. The InstallShield Wizard will open, and prepare for installation. Click Next when asked to.

5. Choose where to install the program to. The default is C:\NetHelpDesk. Click Next.

6. Click Install. Please wait the InstallShield Wizard installs NetHelpDesk. This may take several minutes.

7. Click the “Launch the program” checkbox and then

Congratulations! You have installed Component 1 of NetHelpDesk! Wasn’t that easy?

8. When completed, a shortcut to NetHelpDesk and NHServer will have been placed onto the

Desktop of the Server/Workstation you have installed component 1 of NetHelpDesk on. These shortcuts will point to the Server or Workstation name, or Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path, rather than “the C drive”. This allows the shortcut to be put onto other Workstations, so others can trial NetHelpDesk with you.

9. If the installer fails to share the NetHelpDesk folder itself in the location you specified, it will be a local machine privileges issue with your permissions. Ensure that the installer was installed as an administrator and you right clicked to “Run as Administrator”.

10. Otherwise, all being well, the installer will continue, and this is described below.

- Document Continued –


INSTALLATION OF WEB INTERFACES USING INSTALLER After Component 1 is completed, which creates the basic NetHelpDesk folder structure, a message appears asking if you would “like to setup the web portal”, which is:

Component 2

With the Web Interfaces, you have several options:

Option W1 Click “Yes”, and use the installer to very quickly setup the web interfaces using IIS v7.0 or newer on the same machine as Component 1,

Option W2 Click “No”, and install the web interfaces on a different machine, such as a dedicated web server.

Whichever option you decide, ensure that the elements in the “Before You Start” section above have been completed before proceeding.

OPTION W1

1. Click Yes in the installer.

2. The installer will create the web interfaces on the same server that NetHelpDesk is

installed on.

3. If this fails, go back to the “Before You Start” section, and ensure everything is done as specified, or contact the NetHelpDesk Support Team.

4. When completed, the installer will then tell you the path to your web portal via your browser. An example path used to access to web interfaces internally is:

\\localhost:8099

5. By default, the web interfaces will only be available internally to your network. To make

external, see details in this guide.


If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with anyone at NetHelpDesk.

- Section Continued –


OPTION W2

1. Click No on the installer, and setup the web interfaces manually, as detailed in this guide.

Please note: We recommend that before installing component 3, you bear in mind to

install Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio alongside the SQL Server Instance. This will help with any troubleshooting issues encountered in the future.

A free edition of Database Tools and Management Tools is available for

download on the Microsoft website. This is recommended for queries and so on. Alternatively, you can access copies of SQL Management Studio 2008 R2 via our links below:

32 Bit: nethelpdesk.com/sqlms32 64 Bit: nethelpdesk.com/sqlms64


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlms32



INSTALLATION OF MICROSOFT SQL SERVER DATABASE USING INSTALLER After components 1 and 2 are completed using the installer, a message appears to tell you that NetHelpDesk needs a SQL Server database. This is:

Component 3

Here you have three options:

OPTION SQL1 Say “Yes”, and use the installer to create its own SQL Server Instance on the same machine as Component 1 is installed on, with a pre-packaged SQL database and shortcuts already configured for you.

OPTION SQL2

Say “No”, and use an existing SQL Server instance on the same machine as Component 1 is installed on, or a different machine, perhaps a dedicated SQL Server, and manually import the NetHelpDesk database, and manually create/adjust shortcuts.

OPTION SQL3 Say “No”, and create a new SQL Server instance on another machine, perhaps a dedicated SQL Server, and manually import the NetHelpDesk database, and manually create/adjust shortcuts.

Go to Start > All Programs on the machine to see if Microsoft SQL Server is already installed before proceeding. If it is, and you may want to add the NetHelpDesk database to this existing instance as per Option SQL 2, you can do this manually using the instructions below. We do recommend a separate instance though, as it helps us when supporting you, to keep everything separate.

OPTION SQL1

1. Click Yes, and allow NetHelpDesk to extract its pre-packaged SQL Server Express package

from Microsoft.

2. The defaults for the instance are:

a. A SQL Server instance called “NETHELPDESK”, b. Inside that instance a database called “NetHelpDesk”, and c. The SQL Server Administrator (sa) account will be set for you, with a default

password given to you on the screen.



3. If, for any reason, this is unsuccessful, contact of the NetHelpDesk Support Team, who are trained to assist with your needs.

4. Alternatively, you may wish to use the other options with manual installation instructions

below. To use OPTION SQL2 or OPTION SQL3, click No and decide which one option is the best for you. Then proceed as necessary, using the relevant part of this guide.



INSTALLATION OF NETHELPDESK (MANUAL) If you wish to install NetHelpDesk Components 2 and 3 manually, for whatever reason, this part of the guide will take you through the necessary steps. When Component 1 has completed, it places files ready for the manual setup that it also uses as part of the installer. All the installer does is automatically do what we will now show you manually how to do. We recommend starting with Component 3, and then going back to do Component 2. MANUAL INSTALLATION OF MICROSOFT SQL SERVER DATABASE SOME IMPORTANT NOTES As per the instructions in this guide, there are two options if not using the installer for the database:

OPTION SQL2

Say “No”, and use an existing SQL Server instance on the same machine as Component 1 is installed on, or a different machine, perhaps a dedicated SQL Server, and manually import the NetHelpDesk database, and manually create/adjust shortcuts.

OPTION SQL3

Say “No”, and create another SQL Server instance on another machine, perhaps a dedicated SQL Server, and manually import the NetHelpDesk database, and manually create/adjust shortcuts Whichever option you choose:

1. NetHelpDesk supports all versions of SQL Server from Microsoft, version 7 onwards. We merely use examples below, and our NetHelpDesk Support Team can assist if you get stuck.

2. If Microsoft SQL Server is not yet installed on the machine you choose, it is best to use

our installer, detailed in this guide.

3. If the SQL Management Studio tool is not yet installed either, a free edition of Database Tools and Management Tools is available for download on the Microsoft website. This is recommended for queries and so on. Alternatively, you can access copies of SQL Management Studio 2008 R2 via our links below:

32 Bit: www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlms32 64 Bit: www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlms64




4. NetHelpDesk recommends that you do not use Windows Authentication for SQL Instances. Use SQL Server Authentication instead, using a SQL Server Administrator or “sa” account. The sa account will automatically have full access to the instance you are using, and the databases within that instance. Using the “sa” login credential will ensure everyone on your domain can access NetHelpDesk without issue.

5. The installer will create its own “sa” account for its own SQL instance for you. However,

when manually setting up, if you are unaware of the “sa” login credentials, or not sure if one has been created, speak with your SQL Administrator about this account. Alternatively, the NetHelpDesk Support Team can assist with getting this resolve for you.

6. If using an existing instance of SQL Server, and did not setup a ‘sa’ account, the user login

you use must have full access to the instance.

7. Some customers are not comfortable using the same sa credentials. You can create another account, or use a separate instance. We can help with all of this. The important thing is the high level of access to the NetHelpDesk DB.

USING A PRE-EXISTING SQL SERVER INSTANCE

OPTION SQL2

If the SQL Server instance is pre-existing, it will need some configuration checks before restoring the NetHelpDesk pre-configured database to it. SQL SERVER MANAGEMENT STUDIO Launch SQL Server Management Studio, and login using a high level access login to the instance. If the “sa” account exists, you’ll need to be able to log into the instance with it. When logged in:

1. Right click on the Instance name at the top of the treeview, and select Properties.

2. In the “Select a page” options, select Security and ensure that server authentication is set to SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode.

SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION MANAGER Launch SQL Server Configuration Manager. Screenshots of steps follow.

1. In SQL Server Services screen, check the SQL Server Browser’s Start Mode, and if set to Disabled to Automatic. This is changed in the “Service” tab in the Server Browsers properties, accessed by double clicking the entry.


2. In SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for (INSTANCE NAME) and double click the TCP/IP protocol name, and on the Protocol tab, set Enabled to Yes.

3. In IP Addresses tab, scroll to bottom of list and under IPAll; ensure:

a) TCP Dynamic Ports is Blank (not zero).

b) Ensure a unique TCP Port is specified, such as 14331. Click Apply to save.

4. Go back to SQL Server Configuration Manager > SQL Server Services > Restart the SQL

Server Service for your instance for changes to take effect.

5. If you have Firewall software (Windows or 3rd Party software) running on the Server, add an exception/incoming rule to allow TCP Port 14331.

6. Go to the “Manually Restoring a NetHelpDesk Database into a SQL Server instance” in this

guide.





INSTALLING A NEW SQL SERVER INSTANCE MANUALLY

OPTION SQL3

The SQL Server instance will be new, and it will need some configuration checks before restoring the NetHelpDesk pre-configured database to it. You have several options available to you also:

SQL Server Full:

If you have a full version of SQL Server you wish to install, NetHelpDesk supports all versions of Microsoft SQL Server, version 7 onwards. We merely use examples in this guide, and the NetHelpDesk Support Team can assist if you get stuck.

Alternatively, in the …\NetHelpDesk\SQL folder, there are two applications included with NetHelpDesk Component 1, and they are versions of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express ready for you to use, which comes with a 10GB database size limit.

Use either 32bit of 64bit, depending on what System Type Operating System you have on the machine the instance is to be installed on.

1. Launch the relevant application, and the SQL Server installer will begin.

2. Installation Type should be a New Installation.

3. Accept defaults until the Instance Configuration screen, and specify the Named instance and Instance ID. The Installer would call these both NETHELPDESK, but the default is SQLExpress. Whatever you choose, it doesn’t matter to the program, but make a note of what it is called, as you will need this later.


4. Accept defaults until the Database Engine Configuration screen, where we recommend that you:

A. Select Mixed Mode (SQL Server authentication and Windows authentication), and,

B. Specify an appropriate password for the default SQL Server System Administrator (sa)

account, and,

C. If you must use Windows Authentication, add the users to the SQL Server administrators list who will have unrestricted access to the Database Engine.

5. Continue until the Instance has installed, and the SQL Server installer confirms that it completed successfully.





SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION MANAGER As before, in the OPTION SQL2 steps, you will need to make some changes in the SQL Server Configuration Manager. Screenshots of steps follow.


2. In SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for (INSTANCE NAME) and double click

the TCP/IP protocol name, and on the Protocol tab, set Enabled to Yes.



b) Ensure a unique TCP Port is specified, such as 14331. Click Apply to save.

4. Go back to SQL Server Configuration Manager > SQL Server Services > Restart the SQL Server Service for your instance for changes to take effect.

5. If you have Firewall software (Windows or 3rd Party software) running on the Server, add

an exception/incoming rule to allow TCP Port 14331.

6. Go to the “Manually Restoring a NetHelpDesk Database into a SQL Server instance” in this guide.





MANUALLY RESTORING A NETHELPDESK DATABASE INTO A SQL SERVER INSTANCE Whether selecting Option SQL2 or Option SQL3, a database for NetHelpDesk to use will need to be added to the instance of SQL Server. NetHelpDesk uses this database to store and retrieve data and configuration to the main NetHelpDesk interfaces. In the \\…NetHelpDesk\SQL folder, we have included a pre-configured blank NetHelpDesk database file for you to use, called NetHelpDesk.bak. This file is suitable for use in SQL Server v2005 onwards. However, if this is missing, or the folder not present, please go to www.nethelpdesk.com/sqldb for more .bak files. Please note: At this point, you will need to have SQL Server Management Studio

installed to be able restore the database .bak file into the SQL Server instance.

You can use any version of SQL Server Management Studio to access the

instance, as long as the version is the same or newer as the SQL Server version that is installed.

If at any time you get stuck, or you’re unsure how to proceed, please speak

with a member of the NetHelpDesk Support Team. TO RESTORE THE .BAK DATABASE:

1. Open SQL Management Studio, and log into your instance using your “sa” or relevant high level access account.

2. Right click on Databases and left click Restore Database.

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/sqldb


3. In the Destination for restore section, in the To database field, enter a name for the database (e.g. NetHelpDesk).

4. In the Source for Restore section, select From device, and set the path by browsing using the ellipsis button.

5. Click Add on the Specify Backup screen.

6. Navigate to the NetHelpDesk.bak file downloaded in Step 1 above

(e.g. …\NetHelpDesk\SQL\NetHelpDesk.bak). Click OK.


7. Ensure the checkbox in the Restore column is selected.

8. Click OK, and then click OK. Again.

9. Once completed, the database will be ready to connect to. CONFIGURING A NEW UDL FILE FOR USE WITH SQL SERVER With Option SQL2 or Option SQL3, the data link file, which links the NetHelpDesk interfaces to the SQL Server database, will need to be updated. The data link file is called NetHelpDesk.udl, and one is automatically created and configured for you if following the installer. If not, you will have to do this manually. To achieve this:

1. In the …\NetHelpDesk\Win folder, a sample SQL compatible UDL file called SQLServer.UDL can be found.

2. Copy this file and paste into the root of the …\NetHelpDesk folder, and rename it to be

called NetHelpDesk.udl.

3. If one already exists, replace that existing file with this one.


4. Double click the file to launch the OLE DB Core Services program to edit.

5. In the Connection tab, specify the name of the server or the IP address, followed by “,14331” or whatever TCP port number you have specified in the Configuration Manager previously.

6. We strongly recommend that you Use a specific username and password, and use the ‘sa’

account mentioned previously.

7. If you must Use Windows NT Integrated Security, make sure that the users connecting have full access to the SQL Server instance, similar to the ‘sa’ account mentioned previously. If not, the connection will not work.

8. Select the SQL database created above, whether upsized or empty.

9. Test the connection, and you will see the confirmation screen below.

10. If the test does not succeed, switch off the firewall on the server, to ensure this is not

blocking connectivity.

11. Any other errors will be mostly due to permissions issues with the login(s) you are using. If using the “sa” account, these rarely, if ever, happen.





CREATING NEW SHORTCUTS MANUALLY To use the NetHelpDesk Windows Interface, a shortcut is needed, and manually created if using the installer. If setting NetHelpDesk up manually, you will need to configure this manually. If there is a NetHelpDesk shortcut in the root of your …\NetHelpDesk folder, these can be amended as necessary.

1. Right click > Properties to amend. The shortcuts must have the following in order to be used:

a) The target line must point to the location of the NetHDClient.exe.

b) Immediately after this, the path of the NetHelpDesk.udl file needs to be specified.

c) Both of these must be pointed to the UNC path, so rather than C:\, it will be labelled

\\(Server name)\.

2. Make sure that you give the new shortcut to your teams internally, so that they can access it when they need to, following full migration.

Please Note: The NetHDClient.exe, the web interfaces, and the database can all be

situated in three different places, two different places, or altogether in one. As long as the shortcut, and the NetHelpDesk.udl files point to right locations, NetHelpDesk will launch without issue.

3. Also make sure the NHServer has a shortcut configured similar to the main client one.





MANUAL INSTALLATION OF WEB INTERFACES When Component 1 has completed, it places files ready for the manual setup that it also uses as part of the installer. All the installer does is automatically do what we will now show you manually how to do. A brief reminder of the pre-configuration steps for Component 2: IIS MANAGER To check if you have IIS installed, or to add it in, go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Features On or Off. CGI MODULE To check if you have the CGI module as part of the IIS install, go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Features On or Off > Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services > Application Development Features. If you cannot see the web server role service initially, scroll down, and also make sure the ASP role service has been added to change size limit permissions.

If using a separate server for the Web Interfaces, simply copy the …\NetHelpDesk\Web folder and place on the new server in a folder of your choice. Carry out all steps here on that server.


.NET FRAMEWORK 3.5 Most new Windows environments will already coming with .net Framework 4.0, but unfortunately, this is doesn’t include previous .net Framework versions. You will still need to install 3.5 as well. It may already be installed.

Server 2008

Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features On or Off > Server Manager. Click Features > Add Features > .net Framework 3.5.1 features. No restart is required.

All Other Windows Environments

Go to http://www.nethelpdesk.com/dotnet.zip and download the installer file. This installer is from the Microsoft Website. Check the MS website for updates, if required. No restart is required.

Example of Features Select Screen in Server Manager

Once IIS with CGI Module and .net Framework 3.5 are installed, the web interfaces can now be setup. For Component 2, there are a few more steps to take once the above is confirmed completed: Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/dotnet.zip



Manual Web Interface Configuration

1. If the IIS has a Default website, and the server has not been used before for websites, this can be deleted. The default website is put in place by Microsoft. It is not needed to use IIS and/or the web interface for NetHelpDesk.

2. Open up IIS Manager, under Sites node, create a new website called NetHelpDesk, setting the path of your web files folder chosen during initial setup. (e.g. \...NetHelpDesk\Web).

3. If you have deleted the Default website above, you can specify a port of 80. This is the default for IIS websites.

4. If there are other websites installed in IIS, you will need to give the NHD web interfaces their own unique portal. The installer uses port :8099 by default. You can choose another if you prefer.

ISAPI and CGI Restrictions

5. In the IIS Manager, click on the top tree node that has the name as your server, then click on the icon for ISAPI and CGI Restrictions in the right window. If you cannot see this icon, please go back to the pre-configuration steps above relevant to your IIS version.

6. In ISAPI and CGI Restrictions, add the path to the following files:

a. wb2.nhd b. webstats.exe


c. NetHDWebServiceB.exe …and check the box to allow execution path to execute.

7. Once completed, the executables that govern the web interfaces will be in place. Without them, the web interface would never work.

8. Then, click on the website itself, and configure the following:

9. The Default page list will need to have wb2.nhd added to the list for the website to work. Handler Mappings

1. Click on Handler Mappings. On the right of the screen, click the link Add Module Mapping.

2. Add a new module mapping with the following: Request path: please type *.exe Module: please type CgiModule Executable (optional): PLEASE LEAVE THIS FIELD BLANK. Name: please type Choose a sensible name.


3. Click OK.

4. Add another one as follows:

Request path: please type *.nhd Module: please type CgiModule Executable (optional): PLEASE LEAVE THIS FIELD BLANK. Name: please type Choose a sensible name.

These add a handler to the website itself, to tell IIS to treat the *.exe and *.nhd files as CGI programs, and not just as a downloadable files. Windows Authentication – Auto-login for Internal Users Only

1. Click on Authentication, and ensure Anonymous Authentication is set to disabled, and Enable Windows Authentication.

2. If not present, open up Server Manager, expand the Roles node. Click the Web Server (IIS)

> Add Role Services. Add Windows Authentication under the security node. This may require a reboot of the server, so if NHD is on a shared server, you may wish to schedule this.

3. In NetHelpDesk, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Self Service Portal > Allow Windows Authentication.

4. Select “Use end user’s network login name on logon screen instead of full user name” and

deselect “Use end user’s e-mail address on logon screen instead of full user name”. What this will do, is allow the end-user to be automatically logged into their account using their account they use to authenticate against your domain. If their Windows Username is specified in their end-user account in the NHD treeview, and they have authenticated on the machine they are logging in on with the same name, this will allow them to login without any further credentials. User Access Levels To run a website in IIS, nominate a user who will have full access to the web site files and grant them the correct access. The standard IUSR account is perfect for this. In IIS:

1. Highlight the website name, and on the right hand side under Edit Site, click Basic Settings.

2. Click Connect As button, and choose the Specific User option and specify the IUSR

account.


3. Right click on the Website Name and check the Security Tab. Check this user has full access.

Virtual Directories

1. Now create 2 virtual directories directly under the site, one called “Attachments” and one called “KBAttachments”.

2. To do this, right click on the site name in the Tree Node, and click Add Virtual Directory…

3. The alias for each one should be “Attachments” and “KBAttachments” respectively, and the physical path pointed to the NetHelpDesk folder > Reports > and their corresponding folders.

Attachments Size Limit IIS automatically sets the size limit of file attachments. To edit, go to the website level, double click on ASP, and under limit properties. Maximum Requesting Entity Body Limit – Set usually to 200,000. Change to at least 2,000,000. Have you changed NetHelpDesk’s Default Folder Settings? Attachfile.asp

1. In the Web folder is a file called attachfile.asp. This file contains a path to the Reports folder.

2. If you have changed the default installation folder, this will need to be modified to your

chosen location. E.g. (E:\Program Files\NetHelpDesk\Win\Reports).


Cnetweb.ini

1. The Web program log folder is called Logs.

2. It is specified in an .ini file in the Web folder called cnetweb.ini.

3. If you have changed the default installation folder, this will need to be modified to your chosen location. E.g. (…\Program Files\NetHelpDesk\Logs). Setup is now complete.





CONNECTING WEB INTERFACES TO THE NHD DATABASE For the web interfaces to be meaningful and useful, they need to be connected to your NetHelpDesk database. Standard Installation If using the installer on the same server, this is done for you. The wb2 application that drives the web interface looks for the NetHelpDesk.udl file in the folder above its install location. So, in the standard installation using the installer, wb2 is found in the …\NetHelpDesk\Web folder, and so looks to the root of the …\NetHelpDesk folder for NetHelpDesk.udl. Web Interfaces Installed on Different Server If the web interfaces are installed on IIS on a different server to the main NetHelpDesk install location, you will need to tell the web interfaces how to connect to the database. In this case, you will need to take a copy of the NetHelpDesk.udl file and place in the …\NetHelpDesk\Log folder (specified in the cnetweb.ini file) and rename the file to be: NHDatabase.udl. END-USER WEB INTERFACE When browsing to the web interface in IIS, the very first page is for your end-users. The default is for the end users to use E-mail addresses and Passwords given to them by you. If your end-users are inside your domain, and you are using LDAP / Active Directory integration, you may want them to be automatically logged in. To do this:

1) Change to Windows Authentication in the setup as detailed in this guide.

2) In NetHelpDesk, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Self Service Portal > Allow Windows Authentication.

3) Select “Use end user’s network login name on logon screen instead of full user name” and

deselect “Use end user’s e-mail address on logon screen instead of full user name”. To set up End-user access to this web interface, see the relevant section of this guide. It is important that you decide how to create your users in NetHelpDesk, before setting up their web access. To customise the web interfaces, see the relevant section of this guide. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




CUSTOMISING THE WEB INTERFACES After creating the web interface using the setup details in this guide, you may wish to tailor the main template that we provide to be more in keeping with your own web themes, corporate colour schemes and so on. You may want to have more than one portal, have it customised per client once they are logged in, and so on. All is possible in the NetHelpDesk setup. AN OVERVIEW Customising the web portal now it is setup is very easy to do. We offer a sensible template for you upon install, but you can customise this very quickly and simply. The ability to setup multiple web interfaces straight away is available immediately, and very easy to configure if using the example template we provide. Alternatively, a good HTML editing program and/or someone proficient in HTML can customise the portal quickly to look however you want. The functionality in the main program injects data from the database onto the HTML pages using $variables. Wherever the program finds a $variable, it populates the relevant data. How the page looks is irrelevant for the functionality. The Web Portal runs from files in the …NetHelpDesk\Web folder, and uses the wb2.nhd file, and 4 HTML pages:

Notloggedin.html Loggedin.html Request.html Loggedintech.html

IMPORTANT: The Web Interfaces are constantly evolving, and we have new skins

available for anyone to use. Speak with anyone at NetHelpDesk today about how we can help you.

HOW DOES THE PORTAL DISPLAY DATA FROM THE DATABASE? The portal displays data from the database using $variable strings. To help you understand this type of functionality, we’ll give you a simple step-by-step of points.

1) You have set up the website in IIS using the guide above. This means that there is a functional web portal ready to be accessed by your End-users.

2) The default document in that website was not an .html file. Instead it is wb2.nhd.

3) That wb2.nhd file opens up the notloggedin.html page, and where it sees $transaction, it

knows to display the login boxes for the NetHelpDesk database. So, This allows a great amount of flexibility to design your very own web portals for your end-users. If you have an existing portal access that your end-users are used to using, this too can be linked to our web portal functionality.


There are two types of access available; one for your End-users and one for your Agents. You can have multiples for each group, as well as different URLs, different themes and levels of access to data.

1) Once the end user has logged into the portal, to the loggedin.html page, and where the wb2.nhd file sees $transaction, it knows to display the requests for that user’s access level set in the database.

2) Once the end user has clicked to view a request, they see the request.html page, and the

where the wb2.nhd file sees $faultid, it knows to display the request number, $status for the request’s status and so on. How the HTML page looks around these $variable strings, and how you stylise the page with the .css style sheets, is completely up to you.

CUSTOMISING THE WEB PORTAL PAGES There are two approaches to customisation: We use the login page below as an example:

1. Edit the existing notloggedin.html page using a HTML editor program, ensuring $transaction is kept on the page. The text that is put in place of the variable strings has font and colour properties, as defined in the style sheet nethd.css in the ‘Web’ folder.

Use an existing page from your company website, save as notloggedin.html and insert the $transaction string wherever the login form should appear.

2. An easy way to use an existing page from your website is to open the page in Internet

Explorer, and File > Save As > Webpage Complete selecting the ‘Web’ as the destination. Then, edit the HTML file once in place.

Here is a list of the menu variables that can be used:

$LINKTONEWTICKET New Request

$LINKTOACTIVETICKETS Active Requests

$LINKTOCLOSEDTICKETS Closed Requests

$LINKTOALLTICKETS All Requests

$LINKTOSHOWONETICKET Show One Request

$LINKTOLISTASSETS Show all Assets

$LINKTOBYSTATUS By Status

$LINKTOFAQLIST FAQ Lists

$LINKTOFAQSEARCH Search FAQ

$LINKTOSLASUMMARY Contract Summary

$LINKTOMYSETTINGS Preferences


$LINKTOSEARCH Search by Area/Client and E-mail Address

$LINKTOSITEDOCS Displays Documents for Site

$LINKTOLOGOUT Logout

Here is a list of the menu variables exclusive to Tech Logins:

$LINKTOMYTICKETS Shows requests assigned to login

$LINKTOSETTINGS Agent Settings

$TECHLINKTONEWTICKET New Request for Agent View

$LINKTOKNOWLEDGEBASE Searches whole KB not just FAQ Lists.

$TECHLINKTOTICKETS Shows All Requests with Filters

$LINKTOHOLIDAY Agent Holiday Time

Changing the Website Logo and Smartphone Logo To update the web portal logo quickly, and easily, the file is called logo.jpg, and is stored in the \Web folder of the NetHelpDesk installation. To update the Smartphone logo, please place the logo in the \Web folder, and rename applogo.jpg. If you wish to keep the NetHelpDesk logo, there is no need to do anything, as this is the default setting with the application. Setting the Global Web Announcement Before your End-users log into the Web Portal, you can set a Global Web Announcement to notify them of something that affects your business, which they may need to know. This could be notifying of a public holiday in your area, if you service a global Customer base, and so on. To set this:

1. Go to File > Set Global Web Announcement, and choose the Standard Messages group.

2. You will then be able to specify an announcement that appears on your Web Portal and click OK.

3. Then, browse to your web portal to see the update.


CUSTOMISING THE REQUEST VIEW In the ‘Web’ folder, there is a HTML file called request.html, and this is the main request view for the web portal. The variable strings that are not required, can be removed, as necessary. Additional Variable Strings can be added to display information on the request.html page:

$AllFields All fields

$area Area

$assignedto Assigned To

$category2 Category 2

$category3 Category3



$ccto CC to

$devname Asset Name

$equipmenttype Asset Type

$estimate Estimated Resolve Time

$fixbydate Fix By Date

$labelassignedto User Definable Label

$labelcategory2 User Definable Label




$labeldateoccured User Definable Label

$labelreportedby User Definable Label

$labelsection User Definable Label

$labelseriousness User Definable Label

$labelsitename User Definable Label

$labelSymptom User Definable Label

$labelusername User Definable Label

$LastActionDate Last Action on Request’s Date


$planneddate Planned Date

$requesttype Request Type

$responsedate Respond By Date

$ResponseTime Estimated Response Time

$site Site Name

$SLAHoldStatus SLA on Hold or Released

$SLAholdtime Time on SLA Hold

$supplier Supplier Name

$suppref Supplier Reference

$takenby Request Taken By

This list isn’t exhaustive, so please speak with one of the NetHelpDesk Support Team if there is a field you wish to have populated that is not listed above.



AGENT WEB PORTAL ACCESS There will be an option below the standard login boxes for your Agent Login, which says “Login as a Agent”. The login box name changes to “Agent Login Name”. You will see that the URL is slightly different too. For the Agent logon screen, it has added “wb2.nhd\?f=login” in the address bar. To hide the link from the main end-user login screen, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Self Service Portal > Untick Hide Login as End user/Agent Link. Please Note: Whilst the Agent Web Interface has a different URL for use with a regular

web browser on your device, it is not the URL used for the smartphone access. For the smartphone URL, use the end-user URL instead (see separate guide for this).

The screens once you login are different for an End-user, compared to a Agent. The easiest way to tell the difference during testing is the 6 drop-down menus in Agent login. They only appear for an Agent, and not for an End-user. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




SMARTPHONE APPS The smartphone apps are available from their relevant store, and free to download and use. If you used the installer, the access to the smartphone is already available to you. Use the End-users URL and not the Agent’s and you will connect fine. If you didn’t use the installer, and want to start using the smartphones, you will need to set this up manually. CONFIGURING THE SMARTPHONE APPS ACCESS MANUALLY If you have installed NetHelpDesk using the installer, the smartphone apps will be accessible using the same URL that your end-users use. Please read the launching the apps section of this guide. If you have had to manually configure the web portal, you will need to manually configure to allow the smartphone apps to connect to your database. To do this:

1. Download the mobile app service from www.nethelpdesk.com/mobileappfiles

2. Extract this .exe from the zip folder, and place into the web folder (Default C:/nhweb or C:/NetHelpDesk/Web) on the server that NetHelpDesk is installed on.

3. Add this executable to the ISAPI and CGI restrictions list within IIS.

4. At Server level > ISAPI and CGI restrictions > Add > Browse to the nethdwebserviceB.exe

file and check ‘Allow Extension Path to Execute’

5. You will now need to set up a handler mapping for this executable. At the website level > Handler Mappings > Add Module Mapping >

6. Delete any other *.exe handler mapping for NetHelpDesk at web site level

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/mobileappfiles


7. Add a new handler module mapping at WEB SITE level

Request Path: *.exe

Module: CgiModule

Executable: LEAVE BLANK

Name: NHDCGI

8. Right click on the site > Explore.

9. Open up the web.config file located in the Web folder (Default C:/nhweb or C:/NetHelpDesk/Web)

10. Inside should be a sub section called <handlers> that is where you will see the handler

mapping you just created. The line should look like this:

Example of the web.config file as it is now.

11. Add the following to the end of the Handlers line:

allowPathInfo=”true” />


12. Restart the Web Site and you are ready to go.

13. When you launch your app, make sure you use the End-user URL, and not the Agent portal URL.





LAUNCHING THE APPS When launching the apps, you will experience the following, regardless of which format you use.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE ON NHD VERSION 8.04 or NEWER TO ACCESS THE APPS. Important things to bear in mind:

If you are using your Web Portal for internal purposes only (supporting End-users internal to your company), then you can use the Web Portal and the apps internally only. Your smartphones will need to be connected to the wireless access of your Local Area Network (LAN).

If you wish to use the Web Portal externally from your LAN, for example, when out on the

road, you will need to make the Web Portal accessible externally from your network. This will involve opening up the port of your website in IIS to the outside world.

Once this is achieved, you will be able to access the apps using your 3G/4G connection

when outside of your LAN, as well as the wireless when in the office.

If you wish your end users to type a nicer user-friendly URL, instead of an IP address in their web browser, then you can purchase these yourselves from any provider. All you need to do afterwards is change the DNS record on their dashboards to point to the IP address and port of the web portal, and this will update. Our web portal is no different to any other website.

To test whether the smartphone app will connect to your database, go to the browser on

your phone, and connect to the web portal. If the login screen comes up, and the initial setup configuration for the smartphone apps detailed in this guide is completed, then you should be able to login without issues.

To do so, please go to the iTunes Apps Store (iPhone), Google Play (Android) or BlackBerry

App World for the latest app download. Logging into the app

1. In the main Application Setup screen, specify your NetHelpDesk Username. This is not necessarily your Windows Username, and if you use Windows Authentication to access NetHelpDesk, it won’t be this, unless you specifically specify the username and password manually in NetHelpDesk.

2. To find your NHD Username, open up the main Windows application, and go to N > Setup >

Main Configuration > Agents > Edit > General Tab to see this:



Where to find your Username and Password

3. Make sure to include http:// or https://, as necessary in the URL specification.

4. If you have used a port other than :80 in IIS, you will need to specify the port number at the end of the URL.

e.g. http://support.nethelpdesk.com:8099

5. Once you log in, you will start seeing the information download from the database of the Windows application, to your local database stored on your smartphone.

If you do not see this countdown begin, and the screen “hangs” on downloading Assets, then either:

1. The web portal is not configured to allow the apps to work yet. Please see this guide.

2. Or, the URL specified is not correct. Make sure to use the End-user URL, not Agent.

3. Or, the apps are being run on a network that the portal has not been given access to. Should you need any assistance, please contact our Support team: nethelpdesk.com/contact

INSTALLATION OF NETHELPDESK COMPLETE

Whether Manual or using the installer, the NetHelpDesk installation is completed. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact





Launching NetHelpDesk for the first time. Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



When launching NetHelpDesk for the first time, it will confirm to you that this is the first time NetHelpDesk has been opened. Check to ensure that:

1. The program launches on the server it is installed on, and

2. Also launches using the shortcut you have placed on your local desktop. If it launches successfully, the following message will appear in front of the NetHelpDesk splash screen.

It will confirm to you that the folder locations have been set to the UNC path of the server NetHelpDesk is installed on. When opening NetHelpDesk or the NHServer Program, it is important that they connect to the database. A brief reminder of the basics of the NetHelpDesk structure:

When launching either program, you should see the following flash up, albeit very quickly, to confirm that the program is indeed connecting to the database. If it does not appear, the product may open but no data pulled through.

If you are trialling NetHelpDesk, the following screen will appear:


The trial has only two limits attached to it:

a) Limited to 1,000 requests, and b) Limited to 5 Agent Logins.

If you need to increase these number, speak with your Account Manager. The idea of the trial is to set it up exactly as you intend to use moving forward. If you purchase NetHelpDesk, we simply give you licence files, and the product is activated as it is. No new setup is necessary. Once you have logged in, the first screen you will encounter is the “Setup Interview”, which takes you through the configuration of NetHelpDesk. Follow the onscreen instructions to setup the basics of NetHelpDesk. Please note: These interview questions are designed to start the NetHelpDesk setup,

and can all be configured later. If you wish to just see the main screens and have a quick play with the product, click Next until finished. When asked to proceed to the Main Setup Screen, click No and continue to the main screen without issue.





INITIAL INTERVIEW SETUP ORGANISATION TYPE AND SCREEN NAMES Chose the organisation type, essentially whether you are supporting internal users, external users or a mixture of both. If a mixture of both, select Network Support Company, as your internal end-users will be another “company” that you support. Screen Name selection also allows you to change some key terms within NetHelpDesk. Our defaults are displayed, but these can be changed:

Label Alternatives

Request Ticket, Job, Work Order, Enquiry, Incident, Issue, Requirement, Call…

Agent Staff, Supporter, Engineer, Advisor, Specialist, Analyst, Consultant…

Supplier Vendor, Dealer, Merchant, Affiliate, Partner, Manufacturer, Wholesaler…

ORGANISATION DETAILS The organisation details will be used throughout NetHelpDesk, and so populating these now will save time in the future. You can also upload a logo from your local/network drives. FEATURES Select the main areas of NetHelpDesk features you would like to utilise. This can be amended later, so don’t worry if you’re unsure which ones you will be using first of all. The options here should be self-explanatory, but should you be in any doubt, or want to discuss what is possible, please speak with anyone in our team. We all want you to get the most out of the product, so if unsure, click Next and we can come back to this. However, if you know what you need to utilise, select away. You don’t need to hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard, just select or deselect the options with a single click of each choice. TICKETING FEATURES Regardless of which one of the options you choose in the main features, NetHelpDesk is a ticketing system at its core, so the next screen gives you options for just ticketing features. These can enhance your ticketing management, and relieve some of the admin burden that you currently face. We want you to be as streamlined as possible, so you are maximising your efficiency as you move forward.


Again, if you are unsure, please speak with anyone in our team. You can always come back to this at a later stage. OUTGOING SMTP MAIL To send notifications to your team of “Agents”, or to use NetHelpDesk to communicate with your End-users, you will need to specify the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP details. SMTP is purely for sending, and does not influence incoming mail at all. You can come back to this later by clicking Next, but if you want to use this straight away, then you can do by entering information here. There may be some pre-configuration needed before this will work. Please note: If you are using multiple mailboxes, don’t worry. Go to the main

configuration area to enter these details, and skip this initial interview stage. As you add more mailboxes in the main configuration, you will have the opportunity to override these default SMTP settings below the mailbox settings you are adding, so that each new mailbox uses its own account for sending e-mails.

Sending E-mails from NetHelpDesk Pre-configuration All mailboxes, regardless of which ones you choose to use, will use Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP for sending e-mails. The standard port for SMTP is port 25. To ensure that NetHelpDesk can send e-mails, you will need to make sure that:

a) Your mailbox is configured to allow NetHelpDesk to send e-mails from it. b) Add in a main SMTP account settings to the Mailbox section of NetHelpDesk. c) Ensure that the NHServer program, described above, is running a scan.

At any time, if you struggle with the mail settings in NetHelpDesk, remember that our Support team are here to help you. PLEASE NOTE: Setting up outgoing and incoming e-mail in NetHelpDesk is no more

complicated or different to setting them up in Microsoft Outlook. If you can send and receive e-mails from Microsoft Outlook rich client (Not Webmail or equivalent), then you will be able to in NetHelpDesk.

Sending E-mails via Office 365 or Public E-mail Provider (e.g. Gmail, Outlook.com etc.) If using an Office 365 or a Public E-mail Provider account, there should be no problems adding the SMTP account settings into NetHelpDesk, and using them straight away.


In Office 365, log into your account using the Outlook Web App, and go to Options > Settings for POP,IMAP & SMTP Access. The details you need are in there. If using Transport Layer Security (TLS), the standard port for sending e-mail is 587. Sending E-mails via Exchange Server 2008/2012 Mailbox To send e-mails using SMTP via a mailbox on your local Exchange server, you may need to add a Receive Connector. This prepares your Exchange for receiving requests to send e-mails from the server that NetHelpDesk is installed on. To add a Receive Connector to your Exchange Server:

1. On the Exchange Server, open your Exchange Management Console > Server Configuration > Hub Transport.

2. At the bottom half of the screen, the Receive Connectors tab will display.

3. On the right, click the option New Receive Connector.

4. Give the Connector a name (e.g. NetHelpDesk)

5. Select Custom and then click Next.

6. On the Local Network settings screen, accept the defaults and click Next.

7. Under Remote Network Settings, remove the default IP range.

8. Add the specific IP address of the machine that is running the NHServer program. Click

Next. PLEASE NOTE: We have found that entering a range of IP addresses does not work as you

would expect, whereas a specific IP address does.

9. On the New Connector screen, click New button to continue. Click Finish.

10. Right click on the newly created Remote Connector, and select Properties.

11. On the Authentication tab, ensure that the only box that is checked is the Externally Secured checkbox.

12. On the Permissions Group tab, ensure that only Anonymous Users and Exchange Servers

are checked and click OK.

13. Click OK to save your Receive Connector settings.


Adding SMTP account settings to NetHelpDesk

1. Put in the name of, or the IP Address of, your SMTP Server into the first field.

2. If the port for sending e-mails via SMTP has been changed on your Exchange from the standard port 25, you can specify that port here. Please speak with your Exchange Administrator. The standard TLS port is 587.

3. Enter the From/Reply Address of the mailbox that will be used to send e-mails from.

4. If the mailbox uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) then check the checkbox. Ensure that the correct port is specified previously for this option.

5. If you have to specify specific login details in order to send from that mailbox, then

specify those here as well. Some mailboxes do not have this switched on, so again, speak with your Exchange Administrator to verify.

6. Specify a test address to send a test diagnostic e-mail to. Ensure that the account is external, rather than internal, to ensure there will be no issues moving forward.

Once you click OK, NetHelpDesk will be setup to send e-mails out from this default address. If NetHelpDesk experiences any issues sending from this address, the Exchange or Mailbox you are using will return a standard error message to NetHelpDesk. If using Exchange, those will be listed here. If external, please consult your external e-mail provider. Common SMTP Error Messages 535 Error: Authentication failed The username and/or password specified in the settings are incorrect. Please check. A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. Usually that the incorrect SMTP port has been specified in the settings. The default is 25 for SMTP. If you are using TLS/SSL Setup, the default is 465.



Unable To Relay Ensure you have setup the Receive Connector as specified above. You need to configure your Exchange server to allow messages to be sent onward as needed. See Google for details of mail relaying. e.g. http://www.msexchange.org/pages/article.asp?id=54 Unrecognized Auth Type Remove Username and Password from the SMTP settings. Make sure SMTP details are in NetHelpDesk OR NHServer, and not both. Make sure these two are in place, and then shut down NHServer, and then restart NHServer. Cannot make connection as the target machine actively refused it Right click on the NHServer.exe and on the compatibility tab, ensure that it is set to run as Administrator. If this is greyed out, it’s either already set on, or restricted by, the accounts you are logged on the machine with. 502 Error: Command Not Implemented Use TLS checkbox has been checked in the NetHelpDesk settings, but is not configured on the mailbox, or the mailbox you have entered does not exist at all. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




INCOMING MAILBOX To have NetHelpDesk create requests from e-mails in a mailbox, enter the details of the mailbox NetHelpDesk will poll. PLEASE NOTE: Before setting up NetHelpDesk to create requests from incoming e-mails,

please be aware that when adding the ‘incoming mailbox’ feature, any e-mails currently sitting in the root of the Inbox, will be pulled into NetHelpDesk and created as requests. Any e-mail notifications switched on will be sent to Agents and End-users.

You may wish to create a unique mailbox for testing purposes before

adding your existing support desk e-mail address. If you do create a new one, please ensure all is setup correctly in Exchange

or alternate, and perform all the usual checks to make sure this is an active mailbox. You may need to log into mailbox to complete setup if in Exchange. Speak to our Support team if you get stuck, or need any guidance with this.

Receiving E-mails into NetHelpDesk There are several options when receiving e-mails from your Mailbox(es) into NetHelpDesk. OPTION 1 - Using Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) protocol – recommended

a. Microsoft Exchange, or

b. External Mail Provider OPTION 2 - Using Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) Profiles

c. Microsoft Exchange, or

d. Microsoft Office 365 If you are using a mailbox on an Exchange Server, we strongly recommend running the POP3 service on your Exchange Server. It is far less likely to cause issues during the setup process. Receiving E-mails using POP3 Service OPTION P1a: Microsoft Exchange Pre-configuration

1. In the Exchange Console > Server Config > Client Access > POP3 > Properties > Authentication > Plain Text only.


2. On your Exchange Server, you will need to go into Services, and ensure that:

a. Microsoft Exchange POP3 Service is running, and it is… b. Set to Automatic.

3. If it is already running, restart the POP3 Service.

All POP3 Options Ensure that the mailbox is setup correctly, and maybe send and receive some test e-mails before adding to NetHelpDesk to ensure you’re happy that everything is working. PLEASE NOTE: There is still some old stigma in the IT industry attached to POP3 Service

that it is not safe. However, this is not the case at all. We have huge corporations using POP3 Service without any issue or risk.

Receiving E-mails using MAPI Profiles If it is preferred not to use the POP3 Service, then you can use MAPI profiles method.

1. Make sure that machine where NetHelpDesk is installed does not have the MAPI CDO Client installed. If it is, uninstall, and restart the machine before proceeding.

2. On the machine which will be running the NHServer program, go to Control Panel > Mail >

Add Profile and enter the information required to access the mailbox being used for incoming e-mail.

3. Now open Microsoft Outlook and connect with this profile.

4. You may be asked to enter credentials. Enter the correct password and click Remember Password.

5. Exit Outlook. Then, start populating the incoming mailbox details:

1. Specify the Mailbox Type, and the name or the IP Address of the POP3 Server.

2. If the port differs from the standard 110 port, please specify it here also. If using an Office 365 e-mail account, and use TLS, the default port for this is 995

3. If using TLS/SSL protocols on the mailbox, select the checkbox provided.

4. Specify the Username and Password of the account you wish to poll e-mail from.

5. Also specify a Request Type that you would like NetHelpDesk to create requests using e-

mails.


This is essentially the form it fills out to create a request. These can be changed, amended, renamed and so on at a later stage.

Common Incoming Errors Messages from your Exchange and Mailbox – What They Mean Unable To Relay This may be accompanied by a blank e-mail. By Default, Exchange 2007/2010 will not allow other software to relay for sending e-mails. Configure your SMTP server to allow messages to be sent onward as needed To allow NetHelpDesk to send e-mails through the exchange server you need to add a receive connector as detailed in this guide. Also, you can read many articles by running a Google search for details of mail relaying Invalid SLA workdays definition The SLA group or Priority specified on the request that has an action being processed, is no longer available. Go into N > Setup > Main Configuration > Service Level Agreements and check that the SLA defined for the site involved in the e-mail is valid, and that the priority number is still specified. SMTP Unrecognised Authorisation Type When trying to send e-mails from NetHelpDesk, error log tab displays a SMTP Unrecognised Auth Type error. Remove the Username and Password from the SMTP settings, specified in either NHServer or in the main program under N > Setup > Main Configuration > Incoming E-mail. Shut down NHServer, and then restart NHServer. NHServer Connecting to SMTP - Target Machine Actively Refused When trying to connect to the SMTP Server to send e-mails, the target machine actively refuses the connection. Right click and run NHServer as an Administrator. If this does not resolve, set up the mail settings in Microsoft Outlook with the same details you have put into NetHelpDesk, to make sure this works ok. MAPI_E_FAILONEPROVIDER Error If you receive the MAPI_E_FAILONEPROVIDER error while trying to list the FQDN for a particular mailbox it will be due to a permissions issue. The user which is logged into Windows does not have the required permissions to access the mailbox in question. Test retrieving the FQDN's by logging into the machine which runs the NHServer scan as the user who has access to the mailboxes. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




DATABASE IMPORT If you have ever used a software like NetHelpDesk before in your organisation, you may have existing data you wish to migrate from that database. If you have not used a software like ours before, you may have all your information in spreadsheets. If you have an Active Directory of all the users you wish to import, you may want to sync this with NetHelpDesk. Choose which option you would like, and click Next. Once you click Finish, you will be taken to the Main Configuration screen, so you can start looking further into those options you chose.



Understanding NHServer Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



AN OVERVIEW The E-mail and Attachments, Calendar, Auto-Inventory, Services, Escalations and Alerts, Reports Schedule, Auto-Request Schedule, Scheduled Maintenance, and any XML integration are all processed outside of the main NetHelpDesk interface, in a program called NHServer. The NHServer program must be running a scan for any of the above functionality to work. There are several ways this can be achieved, most popular using the Scheduled Task functionality that comes with Microsoft environments. However, you do not need to use all of these features to use NHServer, and don’t need to use any at all to enjoy the wonderful benefits of the main NetHelpDesk interface. When launching the NHServer program, you should see the following flash up, albeit very quickly, to confirm that the program is indeed connecting to the database. If it does not appear, the product may open but no data pulled through.

E-MAIL PROCESSING The e-mail processing procedure is part of the NHServer program. It scans the mailboxes you define on the mail servers of your choice. In the initial setup interview, you may have configured a primary SMTP mailbox for outgoing e-mails, and primary POP3/MAPI mailbox for incoming. Typically, NHServer processes all mailboxes specified in the main Windows Interface. It polls the specified mailboxes for any e-mails sitting in the root of the Inbox as requests in NetHelpDesk. Once it has processed, it moves the e-mail automatically to the Deleted Items, so it does not process it again. Those e-mails in folders from the Inbox are not processed at all, and are ignored. To add more than the primary mailbox setup in the initial interview, go into N > Setup > Main Configuration > Incoming Mail / Outgoing Mail to specify more than one mailbox. Details of how to do this are in this guide. Due to this process, in the beginning, it is useful to create a specific e-mail address for this function, and not one used for many other purposes. Even if you don’t use one already, an e-mail address such as [email protected] would be useful, to give to end-users moving forward. End users would then send their requests and problems to this e-mail address, and the NHServer interface would then scan the mailbox associated with that e-mail address, to retrieve and process messages, and create requests.


How NetHelpDesk determines how to handle incoming e-mail

1. The subject and body of the e-mail are used to create the Summary and Details parts of a new request in the database.

2. Attachments are processed and displayed in the request in their own separate tab. These attachments can either be stored in a folder that has the name of the request ID, or in the database itself.

3. The e-mail format is rich text, so any embedded images remain in the e-mail body, and displayed as intended in the request. They are not stripped from the main e-mail body.

4. The e-mail address of the sender is the first thing to be matched in the NetHelpDesk user

list. Each NetHelpDesk user has multiple e-mail address fields on the User Details screen. If an exact match is found, the new request is logged against that end-user’s account.

5. It may be that you don’t know the contact details of every user at the Customer, but you

do know their domain names, at the site level, you can specify in the E-mail matching tab the domain name of the company, including multiples if necessary. All requests will then be assigned to the General User at that site. If specified in more than one site, it will assign to the first site it matches.

6. If no match is found, then you can choose to allocate all of the unmatched e-mails to a

selected site. By default, there will be a Client and Site called Unknown when you install NetHelpDesk. All of the unmatched e-mails will go to that site’s General User. This can be changed in NHServer, on the Config 2 Tab. You can also choose which user name at that site should receive the e-mails.

7. Optionally you can create new NetHelpDesk users for unmatched e-mail addresses. They

will be created under the site which you have selected by the rules above. When the user


is created you can choose to just use the 'name' part of the e-mail address, or to use the whole e-mail address as the user name.

8. Optionally the e-mail is acknowledged and the user informed of the request id. This can be

turned off at the user level on the Customer or End-user details screen.

9. Confirmation Messages are also optionally sent for requests that are entered via the Windows client. If the checkbox 'confirm by e-mail' is ticked on the new requests screen, then the NHServer program will send an e-mail to the user confirming his request.

10. The content of the message is controlled via the 'E-mail Templates' option button in the

setup screen of the main NetHelpDesk program.

11. The Agent that the new request is assigned to is controlled separately for the e-mail interface. New requests that are entered via the Windows Interface and the Web Interface are assigned based on settings in the Windows interface new requests setup screen.

12. The requests can be assigned to one Agent, a section using Unassigned Agent, or you can

choose to assign them based on the Area/Client for which the request is based.

13. Each Area/Client can have a primary and secondary Agent. You can choose to assign requests to that Agent. You can also choose to be notified of any requests for that Area/Client.

14. Optionally you can have specially formatted e-mails that don’t become new requests.

Instead they can update the status of services, transfer files and contain details of a remote users inventory details. See e-mail rules for more details.

15. There are also Automation of Assigning rules, which allow e-mails to be assigned based on specified criteria.





SETTING UP NHSERVER AS A SCHEDULED TASK It may be preferred to run NHServer as a repeating scheduled task (e.g. every 5 minutes), to ensure continued scanning following a Server reboot. This will not require a ‘logged in’ session. The fundamental points for setup are as follows. Values are examples:

Name: NHServer

Security Options: Run whether user is logged on or not

Run with the Highest Privileges

Trigger: Once

Daily: Current date, at 00:01

Repeat: Indefinitely

Stop if Longer than: 1 hour

Task To Perform: Start A Program

Program/Script: e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\NHServer.exe

Add Arguments: e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl once

SEPARATE CALENDAR SYNC IN NHSERVER Certain organisations who use NHServer heavily to process e-mails and appointments, and have NHServer set up as a scheduled task, may wish to separate out the e-mail sync from the calendar sync, and scan each separately, on a separate schedule. NHServer uses an .ini file to store information and changes specified to help run a scan. Any changes you make to this part of the program will be stored in this .ini file. Splitting the two processes out into separate tasks will mean creating a separate .ini file for the Calendar scan process, so the NHServer processes each look at their own .ini file. To do this:

1. On the server that NetHelpDesk is installed on, go to the …\NetHelpDesk\Win\Configs folder, or installation folder if different.

2. In the Configs folder will be a file called NHServer.ini.


3. To separate the processes out, create a copy of this file into the same location, and rename the file to NHServerCalendar.ini.

4. In the …\NetHelpDesk installation folder will be a shortcut for NHServer. Take a copy of this shortcut in the same area, and rename to shortcut to NHServer Calendar, so that you have two shortcuts to NHServer, but can determine easily between the two.

5. Right-click on your new shortcut, and select Properties.

6. The Target line will show as the path to NHServer.exe followed by the path to the udl file. The .udl file tells the program where to store information for the database.

Within NHServer, the clever programmers at NetHelpDesk have specified 6 parameters that can be used after the .exe path in the target line, to run different items of NHServer in different ways. You don’t need to know the other parameters here, you just need to know that if they are not being used, you specify the word blank to tell the program to ignore that parameter.

a) The .udl file is the first (1st) parameter.

b) The .ini file is the fourth (4th) parameter. So, at the moment, without any changes, after the path to the NHServer.exe file, there should already be a space, followed by the NetHelpDesk.udl file specification.

e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\NHServer.exe C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl


In the example above, we have put C:\, however, yours will have the Server name in its place.

7. After the path to the .exe file, and then the .udl file, specify the word blank twice.

e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\NHServer.exe C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl blank blank

8. After the last blank, add the path and name of the new config file as the fourth parameter.

e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\NHServer.exe C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl blank blank C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\Configs\NHServerCalendar.ini

Whilst it is on two separate lines above, it will be all on one line in the target line itself.

Alternatively, if you move the new .ini file to the Win folder, you just need to specify the filename, rather than the full path. Either way, the properties must be able to find both files for this to work.

9. Click Apply and then OK to save your changes.

10. Now, launch the NHServer program, not the new Calendar one you have just created.

11. Select the Config2 – Features tab, deselect the Enable Calendar Synchronisation option.

12. Click Save Settings and close the program. The settings for your e-mail sync have been

completed, and stored in the NHServer.ini file.

13. Now launch your new shortcut for NHServer Calendar shortcut, and select the Config2 – Features tab.

14. We need to have settings now that are the exact opposite of the ones above. The scan

above will handle those other settings, so we are safe to deselect any that are selected in the previous screen.


15. Also, the Enable Calendar Synchronisation selection needs to now be selected, to ensure that this instance of NHServer configuration settings just relates to the Calendar synchronisation, and not the e-mail.

16. Click Save Settings and close the program down.

17. You will now have 2 NHServer shortcuts configured, one for E-mail Processing, and the

other for Calendar Synchronisation. SETTING UP A NEW SEPARATE NHSERVERCALENDAR SCHEDULED TASK If you are running NHServer as a scheduled task, it is now possible set up a new scheduled task for the NHServer Calendar Sync the same way as creating the original task for NHServer.

1. In the arguments, add the path to the NHServerCalendar config file as the fourth parameter, much like the shortcut above.

e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\nethelpdesk.udl once blank nhservercalendar.ini

or

e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\nethelpdesk.udl once blank

C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\Configs\nhservercalendar.ini

2. If you are using Office 365 for e-mail or calendar appointments, you will need to add the sixth parameter to use the MAPI NT Service.

e.g. “C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl once blank nhservercalendar.ini blank MAPINTSERVICE

or

e.g. “C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl once blank

C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\Configs\nhservercalendar.ini blank MAPINTSERVICE Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




UNDERSTANDING E-MAIL TAGS In N > Setup > Main Configuration > Incoming E-mail, you can configure what NetHelpDesk uses as a "tag". "Out of the box" NetHelpDesk used square brackets [ ] rather than rounded brackets ( ), as rounded brackets are more common in every day communications. It is important that they be something not often used. NHD will then go along the subject line, from the left until it reads the first open square bracket [ and then reads everything that comes after it until the first closed square bracket ] and marks what is in between as the request number. So, in the example above, if the subject line includes [ID:00125478], it will log the update for request 124578. If this was (ID:00125478), it would not update the existing request, but would create a new one, as the bracket is not what is configured in NetHelpDesk. Please check the tags, and ensure that they are not the same. Otherwise, NetHelpDesk will indeed create a new request. UNDERSTANDING THE NHSERVER TABS Incoming E-mail Log Tab Shows a list of all incoming e-mail messages, auto-requests and service status messages. In here, you can double click the entry for details. There is an option to clear the list, if you are running checks. Also includes a mailbox scan activity log for analysis if an error occurs. Incoming Message Details Tab Shows the content of e-mails as they are processed, and a detailed log of the last message processed. POP3 Diagnostics option available if using POP3 settings in NHServer, and Service Diagnostic to test service messages without needing to send e-mails. Messages Sent / Activity Tab Shows the e-mails that are being sent by NHServer, using the necessary SMTP settings for the mailbox or mailboxes that are being utilised. Any error messages in here will also be available in the Error Log tab, and will need investigation. Services Tab Shows the status of the services as they are being processed by NHServer, and also the activity log, to show any issues that arise through the integration with other products. Auto Inventory Tab Shows a list of unprocessed Auto Inventory files, with details of the last one processed, and option to run again, or view the files. This is only useful if using NHInventorizor, and not any other product.


Error Log Tab Shows all errors that occur in NHServer processing in all areas. All issues in this log will need to be addressed. Any issues that require assistance, please contact our Support Team. Sending Diagnostics Tab A testing area to ensure that the settings being used with NHServer are set up correctly, such as sending a test diagnostic e-mail to the mailbox of your choice. Config 1 Tab This is the old settings place to set the POP3 parameters for incoming requests. This was moved into the Main Program under N > Setup > Main Configuration > Mailboxes, allowing more than two mailboxes to be configured, and other mailbox connection methods outside of POP3. However, if you prefer, in this tab it is possible to scan up to two POP3 servers for incoming e-mail. To scan just one mailbox, leave the second server fields blank, and deselect the Scan Enabled checkbox. Put the name of the POP3 server at your site, and a username and password that is allocated by your POP3 Administrator to the e-mail account. Set the SMTP parameters for outgoing e-mails from the escalator, the acknowledgements of users’ requests, communications from requests, Agent notifications, and so on. This will be the name of the SMTP server that you connect to for sending e-mails. Set the address which you wish the e-mail to appear to have come from. If the SMTP server requires that you authenticate before sending an e-mail enter the username and password too. Config 2 Tab: Set the values required for the new requests that are created from incoming e-mails, such as who they assigned to, the way that unmatched e-mail addresses are handled, and so on. Having set these, tick the check boxes that enable the functions you require in the 'features and settings boxes'. If you are unsure of the correct values for the parameters it is sensible to check the boxes one at a time and verify that the function is working as expected. The check boxes are: Enable incoming E-mailed Request Scan Scans the mailboxes for new messages. Enable sending of Agent alerts via SMTP E-mail Sends out e-mail messages to Agents using the default SMTP settings. Enable sending Agent alerts via Tray Icon Messages Send messages to Agents via the Pop-up tray icon program. This program must be running on the Agent’s PC. Also configure each Agent to say which type of messages to send. Enable sending of confirmation and action E-mails to users Allows e-mails to be sent to End-users when sent from an action, or confirmation e-mail for a new request is sent.


Enable sending of confirmations for incoming E-mails to users Sends the confirmation e-mails to End-users who have e-mailed in requests. Can be switched off at Site or Area/Client level, if mixed environment needed. Import XML files as New Requests Allow data sent from XML to log new requests in the database. Accept and store incoming attachments Allows incoming e-mail attachments to be stored in the folder structure defined in Options > Setup > Advanced System Settings > Folders, or in the DB, if required. Store raw incoming e-mails for debugging Allows the raw e-mails to be stored as temp files in the \NetHelpDesk\Win\IncomingE-mail folder for debugging and checking purposes. Log high level of diagnostics Increases the amount of logging information that is collected when errors occur from NHServer. Clear Log Boxes Each Scan Each time NHServer runs a scan, it will clear the log, so you only see the most recent errors. Create Auto / Recurring Requests Processes and creates auto requests at the appropriate time from Options > Setup > Advanced > Auto requests. Refresh Auto Inventory Data Processes the incoming inventory text files for use in the Config 3 - Auto Inventory tab. Create Scheduled Maintenance Requests Creates requests for Assets that have a maintenance date, and frequency set in their Asset Details fields. Ignore CC'd e-mails sent to the helpdesk Allows NHD to ignore an e-mail if it is CC’d to the mailboxes being polled by NHD, rather than sent directly to it. Force HTML conversion of incoming e-mails If an e-mail comes in in HTML format, NHD will try and identify this, and remove the HTML. If it is not being detected, you can force the conversion using this option. Delete POP3 Messages that create errors If an incoming e-mail causes errors, then it can be re-processed later and thus create a loop which generates many requests. This option allows e-mails that cause errors to be deleted, rather than re-processed at a later date.


Do not scan for Overdue Alerts If you have Agent Notifications set up to be told when requests are overdue, this checkbox will stop this from happening to every Agent that is affected. Print Maintenance Report each day Allows a report to be created each day of outstanding maintenance requests. Set to No by default. Timeout for POP3 connection, in seconds The POP3 connector can be set to timeout, if it can’t reach the POP3 server. Timeout for Pop-up connection, in seconds The Pop-up connector can be set to timeout, if it can’t reach the PCs to notify them. Log Files Folder Allows setting of location where log files of errors in NHD or NHServer are stored. Ignore if Date Occurred is less than: Will ignore e-mail processing on all requests that occurred before the date set. Useful if importing legacy data into NetHelpDesk that you do not want e-mails sent out for. CONFIG 3 TAB: This screen defines the optional auto info/PC inventorizing feature. It is only relevant if you are using this feature, and not any others. Our Support team are available to assist with anything you may need.



Migrating to NetHelpDesk Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



MIGRATING TO NETHELPDESK ONE CLICK MIGRATION FROM ANOTHER PRODUCT So many Customers and their users are moving to NetHelpDesk from other systems, that we have decided to make it all even easier for them and for you too! We offer simple migration from the following systems:

ConnectWise ManageEngine Vivantio Amber Cat Richmond Systems SysAid SalesForce AutoTask House on the Hill

Better still, migration from these systems are all included as standard, at no extra charge! And our Developers cannot wait to add more just like these, so tell us which system you use, and we will make it happen for you! The data you can bring across includes:

Customers Sites Users Items Actions Requests Notes Suppliers Sales Orders Agents

Giving you a better help desk solution for your business, with the minimum of hassle. If you go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Database Imports. Should you need any assistance, or should the import not work as expected, please speak with our support team, who will be able to remote in and complete with you.



IMPORTING EXISTING DATA USING EXCEL SPREADSHEETS With NetHelpDesk, you can import all of your existing data using our pre-formatted Excel spreadsheets. Some of these spreadsheets can be tailored to include the fields you need. Template spreadsheets are available in the Win folder of your NetHelpDesk installation or can be downloaded from:

nethelpdesk.com/importxls Instructions on use are contained inside the files themselves. The files have instructions on how to use them inside the documents. There are a lot of customisable fields What you can import from the spreadsheets:

Once the preformatted spreadsheets are populated with your data, open up NetHelpDesk, and go to Tools > Import and select the relevant option for your import. Validate to test the data first.


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/importxls


Initial Configuration and Setup Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



CONFIGURING NETHELPDESK The Main Configuration screen initially opens once you have completed the initial interview. The screens that appear should be self-explanatory, and help you build up the features you are using. Your selections that were selected in the initial interview will be available here, and you can always add more features by clicking the Add Features button. On the left hand side will be the area, with a brief description of what the area covers. There is also a link to a separate guide for that area. All of those guides are included in this main guide, but are available separately for easy and quick access. If you are unsure at any time, speak with our team to discuss your options, and what you are trying to achieve. This configuration is to help you to start using NetHelpDesk straight away, setup how you intend to use it moving forward. Simply click Close to go to the main screens of NetHelpDesk. All of these are available at any time from the main screen’s main menus. ADD FEATURES Click on the selection so that the entry turns from white to a light shade of blue. You can select as many options as you like, and can come back anytime you want to add more. Some prefer to keep it simple, and just add a few. Others like to add everything in to see what’s available. The choice is yours. Click the Right arrows to move the selection into your “Basket” and click to highlight and click the Left arrows to remove the selection from your “Basket”. Click Continue to move to the Main Configuration screen. MAIN CONFIGURATION Once you have selected the features you wish to review and edit in your Main Configuration, the features are available to configure in order. All of these features are included as standard, and are available to you with no extra costs for these modules at all. Use if you want to, or don’t if they are not relevant to you. The “Configure” button on the right hand side allows access to that area to configure. As you progress, and save new options, the screen will ask you if you wish to mark the item as complete. If not, the box next to the area will turn yellow, to show quickly that it is still incomplete. If so, the box next to the area will turn blue, to indicate that the area is completed.


At the top of the screen is a progress bar. As each section is completed, the progress bar will move along with you, and indicate the percentage of items covered. At any time, you can exit the basket by clicking Close or the X in the top right hand corner, or clicking ESC on your keyboard. Any settings to that point will be saved still. The links the guides remain on these screens, and can be downloaded and saved, if required. They are also included in this main guide. These guides are constantly being updated, so it is best to just use NetHelpDesk to access the files. They will always be there. LIST ALL FEATURES The List All Features button presents all the options in NetHelpDesk alphabetically ordered. As the product evolves, more and more will be added here. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




ORGANISATION When first installing NetHelpDesk, you can input into your version your company details, main address and so on, including the Logo. This information will then be replicated throughout the product, such as in Print Request Details, Quotations, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders and so on.

Name The name of your organisation or establishment. If many companies under one umbrella company, specify the top group.

Address Postal Address, usually the Head Office if large organisation, or place where people should send written correspondence.

Phone The main switchboard number to contact your organisation.

E-mail Main E-mail address. For larger organisations, this may not be relevant.

Website Main web page that your End-users should use.

Logo Upload a copy of your organisation logo to replicate throughout the program.


MULTITENANCY NetHelpDesk can optionally be used by several companies sharing the same database and Agents. This is useful if your company offers different types of service under different identities. Your company may be both an ISP and a Network support company, for example. NetHelpDesk calls these different “organisations”, and allows you to have different web sites and e-mail address and e-mail templates for each organisation. Incoming requests can be given to the correct organisation, and Agents can be linked to an organisation. Clients can be linked to an organisation and in this way you can restrict which clients each Agent can see. You may have an external consultant that needs access to one client. You can set up a different organisation for that client and only allow the consultant access to that one organisation and its client. In N > Setup > Main Configuration > Multitenancy, you define each organisation: For each organisation, you can define which clients are dealt with by the organisation, and the Agents that belong to each organisation. You can do this in bulk using the buttons on the screen above. Or you can set each one manually on the client details screen and the Agent details screen. Each organisation can have its set of messages. You also set the e-mail address that e-mails come from for requests dealt with by this organisation. INCOMING E-MAILS BY ORGANISATION You can create additional mailboxes that are scanned for incoming e-mail. You then decide which organisation they are linked to.

WEB SITES BY ORGANISATION Each organisation can have its own web site and appearance. Just copy the current web site to a new folder and adjust the cnetweb.ini file to define which organisation requests will be linked to if they are logged via the web. In this example, cnetweb.ini in the nhweb folder contains three lines:

c:\nhlogs


NEWMENU 2

The third line defines that organisation number 2 is to be used for new requests. AGENTS BY ORGANISATION Each Agent can be defined as working for one or more organisations. If they work for all, use the unrestricted check box. N > Setup > Main Configuration > Agents > Permissions. CLIENTS / AREAS BY ORGANISATION Each client can be linked to one or more organisations. The screenshots below show where these are edited in the main program. Right click on Client/Area > Edit Client/Area > Access Permission / Organisations tab.



SECTIONS Sections allows you to organise your Agents into groups or teams. It means that you can restrict what areas of requests that they get to see, so that they do not get distracted by the work of other teams. For example, you may want your Network Team to only look at calls assigned to the Network Team, and not the Development Team, and so on. This functionality is also incredibly useful when reassigning requests, so when the section is selected, only the Agents associated with that section will then appear, rather than a list of everyone. You can use one Section for everyone, or multiples as required. The choice is yours.

1. Use Sections to segregate your Agents into departments or teams. This will allow you to separate calls, and allow Agents to only see and manage calls assigned to their Section.

2. You can do this in the Permissions tab of Agent account settings, as described before.

3. You can have as many sections as you would like.

4. If you edit the value of a Section, this will update existing requests with the new value. It

will not update in the permissions tab for each Agent. You will need to go back and edit these.

By default, we have suggested the types of sections that you may wish to use. These can be added to, amended or deleted as applicable to your organisation.


AGENTS Example Agent Accounts will already be setup; a) Administrator and b) Agent.

1. The quickest way to add accounts is to use these example accounts as templates.

2. Double click on an example Agent Account to configure basic global options for this type of account before you use these as templates.

3. These tabs contain advanced features, which are pre-set to sensible options. You can

tweak desired options per Agent at a later stage. Brief information for you:

TAB NAME BRIEF DESCRIPTION

General Main setup options for the Agent.

Notifications, Escalations and Alarms

Configure what the Agent is notified about, and how.

Web Interface What the Agent can see on the web portal.

Permissions Security permissions and section access for Agent.

Features Visible Switch features on and off for each login account.

E-mail Signature Add Agent-specific signature ($signature)

4. To duplicate the example accounts, click the Agent account you wish to replicate.

5. Click Add a New Agent Using the Selected Agent as a Template.

6. Complete the four fields, as per the screenshot. Click OK.

7. The original account will have been duplicated, but with the User ID, Password, Network Login ID and E-mail Address specified in the previous step.


8. If any Agents leave your company, you can “Disable Login – No Licence Used” on the general tab. This keeps their name against calls, but deactivates their login.

9. You cannot delete a Agent once requests are assigned to them, whether open or closed.

Once the account is used, it needs to remain.

10. You can tweak desired options per Agent at any time after it is created. Agent Notifications and Escalation The escalation facility will regularly scan the NetHelpDesk database, and can inform Agents of various events that have taken place, so that they can react to them. For example if a new call is logged, becoming overdue or cleared, you can choose to inform all Agents of this event in a number of different ways. Alternatively, you can just inform the Agents in that section, or just the individual Agent initially assigned to the request. Also, you can choose to be informed of changes in service status such as a network link failing or virus alert being issued by your virus checking software. (Requires Service Status module to be configured.) There is a program called NHServer.exe located in the NetHelpDesk programs folder that needs to run in order to carry out the escalation process. It scans the database at the frequency you choose. You can run this on a server or a workstation and leave it running minimized on the task bar. There are six ways of notifying Agents: E-mail, Pop-up, Tray Icon, Sound, Web Message and SMS.

A) E-mail - An e-mail message is sent to the Agent detailing the event. The Agent uses his e-mail program to view the message, and reply as necessary.

B) POP-UP/Tray Icon / Sound - A tool tray icon can be made to change colour, beep or pop-up a message box when an event occurs. The message pops up on a designated PC for each Agent and requires the tool tray escalatorclient.exe program to be running. It uses port 6711 to communicate with the PC.

C) Web Message – Displays a message at the top of the LoggedInTech.html page so that the Agent can see when they are logged into the Agent Web Portal.

D) SMS – Send the Agents a text message to notify them of a NetHelpDesk event straight to their phones, especially useful if they are in a poor internet connection area.

The type of action that occurs is defined for each Agent using the Agents setup screen above. A fine degree of granularity can be set to try to control the level of messaging, which can be intrusive and counterproductive if not set at an appropriate level. Each Notification type is grouped into 3 areas. Each one supersedes the previous one, so ensure only 1 is selected for any notification type.


“Assigned to Me” “Assigned to my Section”

“All” i.e. If for New Request, you selected “Assigned to Me” and “All”, and you receive a new request assigned to your Agent account, you will receive 2 e-mail notifications in your e-mail program for the same ticket. Not only are your calls under “Assigned to Me”, they also come under “All”. If you selected all 3 of the options above, you would receive 3 notifications for the same ticket. Make sure you only select 1 of the 3. You can optionally choose to send notification messages to a Primary Agent, a Secondary Agent or an Account Manager at the Area/Client level. Edit the Area/Client and go to the Informative E-mails tab to configure which Notifications get sent to which Agent. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




INTEGRATING WITH E-MAIL OVERVIEW With NetHelpDesk, the option to convert incoming e-mails into requests is available as standard. The interface has full 2-way threading, meaning all user replies and Agent communications will be automatically recorded in the existing request. Setting up e-mail with NetHelpDesk allows:

Public Notes added to calls to be sent to end users as e-mails.

Notification e-mails to go to Agents regarding their requests.

Receive e-mails from end users, to create new requests or update existing ones.

Send end users automatic e-mail notifications, e.g. for new requests, updates to requests, or closed requests.

Allows any service status monitoring or remote management software, which produce e-

mail notification updates, to record against Site Service entries, and generate requests on failures.

PLEASE NOTE: Setting up e-mail for sending and receiving in NetHelpDesk is similar to

setting up e-mail for sending and receiving in Microsoft Outlook. If you experience any issues with setting up e-mail in NetHelpDesk, try putting your account details into Outlook. If you can get the settings to work in Outlook, they will work in NetHelpDesk.

NHSERVER To process e-mails in and out of NetHelpDesk on an on-going basis, the NHServer program needs to be open and running a repeating scan. Without this program running, the e-mails will not process. If you prefer to set this up as a Scheduled Task, instructions are below. This will open up the NHServer program, run a scan once, process all e-mails, and then close itself down again. It will do this at regular intervals, and run even if you log off of the server that you have NetHelpDesk installed on. If you need any clarification or any assistance with any of the mailbox configuration, please feel free to contact our Support Team who can help with anything you need.


OUTGOING SMTP MAIL To send notifications to your team of “Agents”, or to use NetHelpDesk to communicate with your End-users, you will need to specify the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP details. SMTP is purely for sending, and does not influence incoming mail at all. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Outgoing Mail.

Please note: If you are using multiple mailboxes, don’t worry. As you add more incoming

mailboxes, you will have the opportunity to override these default SMTP settings below the mailbox settings you are adding, so that each new mailbox uses its own account for sending e-mails.

Sending E-mails from NetHelpDesk Pre-configuration All mailboxes, regardless of which ones you choose to use, will use Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP for sending e-mails. The standard port for SMTP is port 25. To ensure that NetHelpDesk can send e-mails, you will need to make sure that:

a) Your mailbox is configured to allow NetHelpDesk to send e-mails from it. b) Add in a main SMTP account settings to the Mailbox section of NetHelpDesk. c) Ensure that the NHServer program, described above, is running a scan.

PLEASE NOTE: Setting up outgoing and incoming e-mail in NetHelpDesk is no more

complicated or different to setting them up in Microsoft Outlook. If you can send and receive e-mails from Microsoft Outlook rich client (Not Webmail or equivalent), then you will be able to in NetHelpDesk.


Sending E-mails via Office 365 or Public E-mail Provider (e.g. Gmail, Outlook.com etc.) If using an Office 365 or a Public E-mail Provider account, there should be no problems adding the SMTP account settings into NetHelpDesk, and using them straight away. In Office 365, log into your account using the Outlook Web App, and go to Options > Settings for POP,IMAP & SMTP Access. The details you need are in there. If using Transport Layer Security (TLS), the standard port for sending e-mail is 587. Sending E-mails via Exchange Server 2008/2012 Mailbox To send e-mails using SMTP via a mailbox on your local Exchange server, you may need to add a Receive Connector. This prepares your Exchange for receiving requests to send e-mails from the server that NetHelpDesk is installed on. To add a Receive Connector to your Exchange Server:

1. On the Exchange Server, open your Exchange Management Console > Server Configuration > Hub Transport.

2. At the bottom half of the screen, the Receive Connectors tab will display.

3. On the right, click the option New Receive Connector.

4. Give the Connector a name (e.g. NetHelpDesk)

5. Select Custom and then click Next.

6. On the Local Network settings screen, accept the defaults and click Next.

7. Under Remote Network Settings, remove the default IP range.

8. Add the specific IP address of the machine that is running the NHServer program. Click

Next. PLEASE NOTE: We have found that entering a range of IP addresses does not work as you

would expect, whereas a specific IP address does.

9. On the New Connector screen, click New button to continue. Click Finish.

10. Right click on the newly created Remote Connector, and select Properties.

11. On the Authentication tab, ensure that the only box that is checked is the Externally Secured checkbox.


12. On the Permissions Group tab, ensure that only Anonymous Users and Exchange Servers are checked and click OK.

13. Click OK to save your Receive Connector settings.

Adding SMTP account settings to NetHelpDesk

1. Put in the name of, or the IP Address of, your SMTP Server into the first field.

2. If the port for sending e-mails via SMTP has been changed on your Exchange from the standard port 25, you can specify that port here. Please speak with your Exchange Administrator. The standard TLS port is 587.

3. Enter the From/Reply Address of the mailbox that will be used to send e-mails from.

4. If the mailbox uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) then check the checkbox. Ensure that the correct port is specified previously for this option.

5. If you have to specify specific login details in order to send from that mailbox, then

specify those here as well. Some mailboxes do not have this switched on, so again, speak with your Exchange Administrator to verify.

6. Specify a test address to send a test diagnostic e-mail to. Ensure that the account is external, rather than internal, to ensure there will be no issues moving forward.

Once you click OK, NetHelpDesk will be setup to send e-mails out from this default address. If NetHelpDesk experiences any issues sending from this address, the Exchange or Mailbox you are using will return a standard error message to NetHelpDesk. If using Exchange, those will be listed here. If external, please consult your external e-mail provider.


Common SMTP Error Messages

535 Error: Authentication failed The username and/or password specified in the settings are incorrect. Please check. A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. Usually that the incorrect SMTP port has been specified in the settings. The default is 25 for SMTP. If you are using TLS/SSL Setup, the default is 465. Unable To Relay Ensure you have setup the Receive Connector as specified above. You need to configure your Exchange server to allow messages to be sent onward as needed. See Google for details of mail relaying. e.g. http://www.msexchange.org/pages/article.asp?id=54 Unrecognized Auth Type Remove Username and Password from the SMTP settings. Make sure SMTP details are in NetHelpDesk OR NHServer, and not both. Make sure these two are in place, and then shut down NHServer, and then restart NHServer. Cannot make connection as the target machine actively refused it Right click on the NHServer.exe and on the compatibility tab, ensure that it is set to run as Administrator. If this is greyed out, it’s either already set on, or restricted by, the accounts you are logged on the machine with. 502 Error: Command Not Implemented Use TLS checkbox has been checked in the NetHelpDesk settings, but is not configured on the mailbox, or the mailbox you have entered does not exist at all.



INCOMING E-MAILS INTO NETHELPDESK To have NetHelpDesk create requests from e-mails in a mailbox, enter the details of the mailbox NetHelpDesk will poll. PLEASE NOTE: Before setting up NetHelpDesk to create requests from incoming e-mails,

please be aware that when adding the ‘incoming mailbox’ feature, any e-mails currently sitting in the root of the Inbox, will be pulled into NetHelpDesk and created as requests. Any e-mail notifications switched on will be sent to Agents and End-users.

You may wish to create a unique mailbox for testing purposes before

adding your existing support desk e-mail address. If you do create a new one, please ensure all is setup correctly in Exchange

or alternate, and perform all the usual checks to make sure this is an active mailbox. You may need to log into mailbox to complete setup if in Exchange. Speak to our Support team if you get stuck, or need any guidance with this.

There are several options when receiving e-mails from your Mailbox(es) into NetHelpDesk.

OPTION P1. Using Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) protocol – recommended


b. External Mail Provider

OPTION P2. Using Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) Profiles


b. Microsoft Office 365


If you are using a mailbox on an Exchange Server, we strongly recommend running the POP3 service on your Exchange Server. It is far less likely to cause issues during the setup process. Receiving E-mails using POP3 Service OPTION P1a: Microsoft Exchange Pre-configuration

4. In the Exchange Console > Server Config > Client Access > POP3 > Properties > Authentication > Plain Text only.

5. On your Exchange Server, you will need to go into Services, and ensure that:

a. Microsoft Exchange POP3 Service is running, and it is… b. Set to Automatic.

6. If it is already running, restart the POP3 Service.

All POP3 Options Ensure that the mailbox is setup correctly, and maybe send and receive some test e-mails before adding to NetHelpDesk to ensure you’re happy that everything is working. PLEASE NOTE: There is still some old stigma in the IT industry attached to POP3 Service

that it is not safe. However, this is not the case at all. We have huge corporations using POP3 Service without any issue or risk.

Receiving E-mails using MAPI Profiles If it is preferred not to use the POP3 Service, then you can use MAPI profiles method.

1. Make sure that machine where NetHelpDesk is installed does not have the MAPI CDO Client installed. If it is, uninstall, and restart the machine before proceeding.

2. On the machine which will be running the NHServer program, go to Control Panel > Mail >

Add Profile and enter the information required to access the mailbox being used for incoming e-mail.


3. Now open Microsoft Outlook and connect with this profile.

4. You may be asked to enter credentials. Enter the correct password and click Remember Password.

5. Exit Outlook. Then, start populating the incoming mailbox details:

1. Specify the Mailbox Type.

2. Specify the name or the IP Address of the POP3 Server.

3. If the port differs from the standard 110 port, please specify it here also. If using an Office 365 e-mail account, and use TLS, the default port for this is 995

4. If using TLS/SSL protocols on the mailbox, select the checkbox provided.

5. Specify the Username and Password of the account you wish to poll e-mail from.

6. Also specify a Request Type that you would like NetHelpDesk to create requests using e-

mails. This is essentially the form it fills out to create a request. These can be changed, amended, renamed and so on at a later stage.

7. Test if you know the mailbox has e-mail in it to check for.



POLLING THE MAILBOX Now that both outgoing and incoming e-mail has been configured, there are two final steps:

1. The NetHelpDesk Server Program is called NHServer and manages the main interactions coming in and going out of the main NetHelpDesk Windows application. Open the NHServer program, and click Scan Once to make sure that scanning the mailbox is successful for incoming and outgoing. You may wish to set up some test e-mail scenarios prior to this.

2. Tabs to check: Error Tab. If any issues arise, this is the first place to check.

3. If all ok, check the Incoming E-mail Log tab and the Messages Sent/Activity tab.

4. If all ok, click Start Repeated Scan to turn this feature on, and the button will stay Stop.

PLEASE NOTE: For NetHelpDesk to import e-mails on an on-going basis, NHServer needs

to be open and running on the same server that NetHelpDesk is installed on, and the Start Repeated Scan option turned on.

Read the part of this guide that refers specifically to NHServer.

5. If an authentication error appears, complete the Username and Password fields in N > Setup > Main Configuration as well, and retry the previous step.

6. If all is well, check the Message Sent / Activity tab to see the e-mail has gone.

7. If you are still unable to send an e-mail, the most likely cause will be security software or

firewall configuration blocking connectivity on Port 25. You could use Telnet to try to connect to the SMTP server directly.



Common Incoming Errors Messages from your Exchange and Mailbox – What They Mean Unable To Relay This may be accompanied by a blank e-mail. By Default, Exchange 2007/2010 will not allow other software to relay for sending e-mails. Configure your SMTP server to allow messages to be sent onward as needed To allow NetHelpDesk to send e-mails through the exchange server you need to add a receive connector as detailed in this guide. Also, you can read many articles by running a Google search for details of mail relaying Invalid SLA workdays definition The SLA group or Priority specified on the request that has an action being processed, is no longer available. Go into N > Setup > Main Configuration > Service Level Agreements and check that the SLA defined for the site involved in the e-mail is valid, and that the priority number is still specified. SMTP Unrecognised Authorisation Type When trying to send e-mails from NetHelpDesk, error log tab displays a SMTP Unrecognised Auth Type error. Remove the Username and Password from the SMTP settings, specified in either NHServer or in the main program under N > Setup > Main Configuration > Incoming E-mail. Shut down NHServer, and then restart NHServer. NHServer Connecting to SMTP - Target Machine Actively Refused When trying to connect to the SMTP Server to send e-mails, the target machine actively refuses the connection. Right click and run NHServer as an Administrator. If this does not resolve, set up the mail settings in Microsoft Outlook with the same details you have put into NetHelpDesk, to make sure this works ok. MAPI_E_FAILONEPROVIDER Error If you receive the MAPI_E_FAILONEPROVIDER error while trying to list the FQDN for a particular mailbox it will be due to a permissions issue. The user which is logged into Windows does not have the required permissions to access the mailbox in question. Test retrieving the FQDN's by logging into the machine which runs the NHServer scan as the user who has access to the mailboxes. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




SETTING UP NHSERVER AS A SCHEDULED TASK It may be preferred to run NHServer as a repeating scheduled task (e.g. every 5 minutes), to ensure continued scanning following a Server reboot. This will not require a ‘logged in’ session. The fundamental points for setup are as follows. Values are examples:

Name: NHServer



Trigger: Once


Repeat: Indefinitely

Stop if Longer than: 5 minutes


Program/Script: e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\NHServer.exe

Add Arguments: e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl once

UNDERSTANDING E-MAIL TAGS In N > Setup > Main Configuration > Incoming E-mail, you can configure what NetHelpDesk uses as a "tag". "Out of the box" NetHelpDesk used square brackets [ ] rather than rounded brackets ( ), as rounded brackets are more common in every day communications. It is important that they be something not often used.


NHD will then go along the subject line, from the left until it reads the first open square bracket [ and then reads everything that comes after it until the first closed square bracket ] and marks what is in between as the request number. So, in the example above, if the subject line includes [ID:00125478], it will log the update for request 124578. If this was (ID:00125478), it would not update the existing request, but would create a new one, as the bracket is not what is configured in NetHelpDesk. Please check the tags, and ensure that they are not the same. Otherwise, NetHelpDesk will indeed create a new request. NHD will then go along the subject line, from the left until it reads the first open square bracket [ and then reads everything that comes after it until the first closed square bracket ] and marks what is in between as the request number. So, in the example above, if the subject line includes [ID:00125478], it will log the update for request 124578. If this was (ID:00125478), it would not update the existing request, but would create a new one, as the bracket is not what is configured in NetHelpDesk. Please check the tags, and ensure that they are not the same. Otherwise, NetHelpDesk will indeed create a new request. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




E-MAIL HASHTAGS E-mail hashtags allow your Agent users to add actions to their e-mail notifications to send back to NetHelpDesk, and carry out work without being in NetHelpDesk. This is incredibly useful if you are offline, and your Techs want to reply to e-mails, but don’t currently have access to the smartphone apps for some reason. At the very end of the subject line, without any spaces being used, immediately add the hashtag to carry out the action. A list of available hashtags are as follows:

# Description Where Example

#F Sets “From” address to e-mail address following #F

Subject Line #[email protected]

#A Assigns ticket to tech name Subject Line #AIan

#C Closes ticket Body #C

#P Adds private action Body #P

#T Adds time to action Body #T1.5#

So, for example, if the subject of the e-mail is:

Re: Need help with Calendars – Issues within Outlook [ID:0065125] By adding #ASean to the end:

Re: Need help with Calendars – Issues within Outlook [ID:0065125]#ASean This will assign the call to Agent name “Sean”, and the body of the reply will be added to the reassign action note in the main interface. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




E-MAIL TEMPLATES E-mail Templates in NetHelpDesk come predefined with sensible suggestions, in the “Standard Messages” e-mail template group. If you are to use more than one mailbox in NetHelpDesk, or want to use Customer-specific templates for Customers that differ from the others, it is possible to add more E-mail Template groups. To add more, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Advanced Settings > Lookup Codes > Message Group Names and add more. NetHelpDesk will duplicate the standard messages into the new group, which you can then tailor as necessary. The E-mail Templates allow advanced request communication processing, by predefining the look of e-mails before they are sent out, and include ticket relevant information. Here is an example of the Request Acknowledgement e-mail template we’ve suggested for you:

The $variables in the body of the template are recognised by NetHelpDesk as needing be populated with that data and into the e-mail body. The $DATEOCCURED for example, will include the date that the request was logged into the NetHelpDesk database. The $FAULTID will be populated with the Request ID number, and so on.


The e-mail templates are Rich Text formatted, so you can customise the text according to your needs, and add embedded images into the body, such as signatures, and so on. Here is an example of how that template above will appear to the end-user in their mailbox:

To edit e-mail templates:

1. Click N > Setup > Main Configuration > Outgoing Mail > E-mail Templates to configure.

2. NetHelpDesk has many e-mail templates that can be configured to include text and images that you need to send out, as well as populate data from the database through variable strings.

3. As you will see in the screenshot, each e-mail template has three sections: Description,

Subject, & Body.

4. Into each of these sections, you can add or amend any text as necessary. The Body is in Rich Text format, so can include embedded images, such as your company logo.



5. The four main e-mail templates to focus on are:

Message Description IDs

New Request Acknowledgement: 1

Action E-mail: 11

Closure E-mail: 14

Agent Notification E-mail: 32

6. In any of these sections, it is possible to add “Variable Strings”. These strings allow for

relevant information to be pulled from the database, and into the e-mail. E-MAIL TEMPLATE VARIABLE STRINGS

Variable String' 'Variable Description'

$ACCOUNTNUMBER Site Account Number

$ACTIONEXTRAINFO Extra information about action

$ACTIONOUTCOME For actions - the action/outcome field

$ACTIONTIMETAKEN Time taken on action

$ACTIONTRAVELTIME Travel time

$ACTIONWHEN When action was done

$ACTIONWHO Who did the action

$ALLACTIONS A Table Containing All Previous Public Actions

$ALLFIELDS Listing of all Field Values for Request

$APPROVALOUTCOME Approval Outcome

$AREA Customer Name

$AREASITE Area and Site name

$ASSIGNEDTO Display Name of Agent Assigned to Request

$ASSIGNEDTOUAD Windows Username of Agent Assigned to Request

$AUTOLOGIN Link to Allow User to Log into Web Portal Automatically

$CATEGORY2 1st Category Field

$CATEGORY3 2nd Category Field

$CATEGORY4 3rd Category Field

$CATEGORY5 4th Category Field


$CF All custom fields

$CLEARANCE Note Added at Closure

$CLEARTIME Time Taken to Close Request

$DATECLEARED Date Request Closed

$DATECREATED Date Request Created

$DATEOCCURED Date Request Logged (This is used for SLA Calculations)

$DATEREPORTED Date Request Reported (Date Occurred could be different)

$DELIVERYADDRESS1 Delivery Address Line 1



$DELIVERYPOSTCODE Delivery Address Postcode

$ELAPSEDHRS Time in Working Hours Between Date Opened and Closed

$ESTIMATE Estimate of Time Needed to Resolve the Request

$FAULTID Request ID Number

$FDELIVERYCONTACT Delivery Contact

$FIXBYDATE Target Fix By Date

$INVADDRESS Invoice address as one variable

$INVENTORYNUMBER Asset Number

$INVOICEADDRESS1 Invoice Address Line 1



$INVOICEPOSTCODE Invoice Address Postcode

$NETWORKLOGIN Network Login Name

$PASSWORD Password

$PLANNEDDATE Scheduled Date Planned to Progress the Request

$REPORTEDBY Person Who Reported the Request

$REQUESTTYPE Description of the Request Type

$RESPONDBYDATE Target Respond By Date

$RICHACTIONNOTE Action Note field in rich text format

$SATISFACTION Last Part of URL link to the Satisfaction Survey web page


$SATISFACTIONE-MAILTEXT Satisfaction e-mail text

$SATISFACTIONWEBLINKTEXT Text and web address link to Satisfaction Survey

$SECTION Section the Request Belongs to

$SERIOUSNESS Priority ID

$SERIOUSNESS2 Priority Description

$SIGNATURE Agent Signature (Last Tab of Agent Setup)

$SITE Site Description

$SLADESCRIPTION Description of SLA of the Request

$STATUS Status of Request

$SUPPCLEAR Date Supplier Resolved Issue

$SUPPDATE Date Request Logged to Supplier

$SUPPFIXBYDATE Date Supplier to Fix By

$SUPPREF Supplier Reference

$SUPPRESPONDBYDATE Date Supplier to Respond By

$SYMPTOM Request Summary

$SYMPTOM2 Request Details

$TAKENBY Person Who Logged the Request

$TITLE End User Title, e.g. Mr

$TOTALTRAVELTIME Total Travel Hours Logged Against Request

$USERCONFIRM Last Part of URL needed to link to the User Confirmation.

$USERCONFIRME-MAILTEXT User Confirmation e-mail text

$USERCONFIRMSATISFACTION Last Part of URL to link to the Confirmation and Survey.

$USERCONFIRMSATISFACTIONE-MAILTEXT

Satisfaction and user confirmation e-mail text

$USERCONFIRMSATISFACTIONWEBLINKTEXT

See End-user Surveys Setup.

$USERCONFIRMWEBLINKTEXT See End-user Surveys Setup.

$USERE-MAILADDRESS For e-mails to users - e-mail address

$USERNAME Username (End User)

$USERNAME User name




SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS AN OVERVIEW Tracking Service Level Agreement (SLAs) timings is incredibly important to retaining existing business. Even if you have no SLAs in place with your end users, we recommend setting up an SLA in NetHelpDesk, to keep an eye on tracking of response and resolution. An SLA in NetHelpDesk is a group of:

1. Priority Numbers 2. Descriptions of those Priorities. 3. Timings associated with:

a. Response Times b. Resolution Times

Those SLAs will need to be applied to Work Days, so that SLA timers are only counting time during your working hours, and not tracking time when you are not in the office. WORK DAYS Within each SLA, whether editing existing ones or adding new ones, you will need to specify which work days and hours the timings are applied to. There’s no point having the time ticking, when the call arrives 5 minutes before you go home! To begin defining Working Day Details, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Service Level Agreements > Workhours.


A. Give the description for your working hours that best describes it.

B. If all of the working days have the same working hours, tick here to save time.

C. Alternatively, specify the Start of and End of Day Times.

D. Specify whether Friday, Saturday or Sunday are workdays.

E. Add General and Public Holidays too. The two examples we provide are guidelines. ID 1 is for a general working week, ID 2 is for a 24/7 team. These can be tailored to suit your organisation, add more if you like, or remove the one you don’t need. By doing this, you can ensure that your SLA timings only apply to the times someone is in the office, and accurately reflect the SLAS that you have in place with your Customers. NetHelpDesk is clever enough to handle multiple working days within the same organisation, against different groups of priorities, descriptions and timings. You can assign workdays to the Agent Logins as well, and each individual Agent can have a unique selection. Edit the Agent’s account to see this option. SLA SCOPE Before defining SLAs, it will be important to decide whether you need:

1) One SLA group of timings for all Customers. or

2) Alternatively, a different SLA group of timings specified at the Site Level for each Customer/Area.

To choose, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Service Level Agreements > SLA Scope.

If you select Option 2, the first SLA in the SLA list will still apply to all Customers/Areas, unless overridden at the Site Level. To change, in the tree view, go to Client/Area > Site > Right Click > Edit Site & Services > General Tab.


DEFINING SLAS Whether using one SLA or multiple SLAs, response and/or resolution times will need to be specified. We offer several examples with the standard setup, which you can tailor as needed for your organisation. Add as many SLA’s as are needed. If you have Suppliers with SLAs, you can also input these, and when calls are passed to them, their timings can be monitored as well. Let’s edit ID 0 – Our Example SLA 1

A. Rename the SLA to whatever you like.


B. Apply the relevant working hours, as needed.

C. Add notes to the SLA, regarding what it is used for, who it applies to, and so on.

D. Specify the Priority Numbers, their Descriptions and Timings (as described further on).

E. If you wish to reset the response time every time an end-user updates a request, click here.

F. Allow the end user to specify when to auto release the SLA hold.

Expanding on point D above, it is important to specify what the priority numbers are, what their description is, and what are the response timings, and/or resolution timings associated with them. Whether you use “1, 2, 3, 4 and 5”, or “2, 4, 6, 8, and 10”, or “1,2,3,4,5,6,9,13,99”, it honestly doesn’t matter. As long as it means something to your team, then it can be used!

A. Set a Priority Number, and a relevant description of the priority. Whatever you like.

B. Specify a colour for the Priority Number box in the main view.


C. Specify a Response Target Time for that priority number. If not generally used, set to the Resolution Target Time.

D. Specify a Resolution Target Time for the priority number. If not generally used, set to 999

days.

E. If you would like your Agent users to add a reason when calls breach, request here. SLA ESCALATIONS There are three escalation notifications that can be enabled for your Agents, to notify when timings are reaching certain criteria. The Service Level Agreements above will need to be specified in order to be used. To define escalations, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Service Level Agreements.

1. 1st SLA Notification Warning Level 2. 2nd SLA Notification Warning Level 3. SLA Breach. (100% of time used, will be sent to anyone with escalation 1

notification)

You can specify the % marker for the 1st and 2nd SLA levels. Our standard setup has the 2nd SLA Notification Warning Level set to 0%, so it is not used. Some Customers activate this, setting it to 90% etc. Please see the Agent Notifications section to switch on being notified when these times are reached. SLA HOLD REMINDERS When replying to requests, perhaps asking for more information from the end-user, the SLA timer will go on hold. The timers will not need to be counting time as the request is no longer in the Agent’s remit, but instead the End-users. Requests that remain open for a while can fill queues with requests that are no longer a priority, are forgotten about, or are resolved.


The SLA Hold Reminders and Automatic Closure Settings allow for reminders to be sent to end-users for requests that are on SLA hold, and awaiting further information. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Service Level Agreements to configure.

Set the time frame that NetHelpDesk will send a reminder e-mail to the end user, and repeat at the same interval until automatic closure.

Set the time frame that NetHelpDesk will automatically close requests, and send an

automatic closure notification to the end-user. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > E-mail to edit the relevant templates associated with this feature:

a) SLA Hold Reminder Message and

b) Request Closed Automatically. New SLA Colour Usage In our latest versions of NetHelpDesk, we have changed a fundamental part of the SLA’s use of colour on the main screen, in an effort to make working on calls easier. After this update, you may notice that where the text was coloured before, the text is black. Where the background was white before, it is now the colours of the text previously. If you have kept the default colours from NetHelpDesk install, this may be hard to read. To change these colours, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Service Level Agreements, and click on the icon that looks like a pencil next to the option you wish to change. You can then “Define Custom Colours” and use the slider to make the colours lighter. Then ensure you click OK to save all changes until you are back to the main screen. To opt out of this new feature, simply go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Requests and uncheck the Set Background colour for main screen list. “RESPOND” BUTTON IN REQUESTS Once a request is logged, from the Time and Date occurred capture, the SLA timer begins working towards the first SLA timer, the “Response” timing. When an end-user submits their enquiry, they are sent an acknowledgement e-mail with the request ID, so that they can track all actions on the request. It sits in the queue, and as far as the end-user is aware, no one person is assigned to their request in order to resolve the issue.



Why not set response time automatically when the request is logged in NetHelpDesk? When the request appears in the NetHelpDesk queues, it may be “unassigned”, and a Agent may be spending time working on another call. Why not set response time automatically when I e-mail the end-user? The Agent may work on the request for several hours without sending a physical “response” to the End-user, either by telephone or e-mail. They could be adding internal memos of notes. The Respond button is the Agent’s way of saying, “I can deal with that. I am now responsible for this request.” The Respond button will change three areas; the Assigned To, the Status, and the SLA timings (if being used). When they click it will be down to your internal processes, as what constitutes an actual “response”.

1. It allows the Agents to look at their workload and prioritise, as well as removing from other

Agents, so duplicate work is not carried out.

2. A response E-mail template can also be used to send to the end user, to let them know that a Agent is now working on their enquiry.

3. Alternatively, by adding any other action, the request will prompt to say that the call has yet to be responded to, and ask whether you would like to use this action as the response.





CATEGORISATION Throughout NetHelpDesk is the ability to categorise elements, such as requests, Area/Clients, Assets, Items for Sale and so on. Categories are not only a great way to organise your help desk, but also useful for granular reporting with meaningful statistics. CATEGORIES FOR REQUESTS For Requests, there are four category groups, which you can label and edit as much as you would like. The values allow for up to three levels, and the useful example we use in our demonstrations is Install Hardware PC. Install is the first level. What type of install? Hardware, software? Then, what type of Hardware? PC, Monitor, Printer? And so on. NetHelpDesk offer sensible suggestions, but all types of businesses in all types of industries utilise NetHelpDesk’s powerful functionality for a variety of different reasons. How you setup categorisation throughout is up to you. To illustrate this a bit more, the following table shows how each word creates a new level.

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Development > Bug New Feature Install > Hardware > PC Router Server Network Software

e.g. If you put in a category value Install Hardware PC, this would give you a three level category structure.

1. This translates into a new request page option for your Agents having options to choose

from, to categorise the request.

2. At the Request Type level, it can also be made available to your end users via the End-user Web Interface, so they can choose as well.

E.g. When a Agent is creating a New Request, and selects a Request Type of Incident; the Category field will appear, with a drop down menu.

3. If you want all four category groups available, you can make them available at the Request

Types section.

4. Another place to edit your Categories list is in the Requests > By Category Tree view.


5. At the Client/Area level, it is also possible to restrict certain category selections for that Area/Client, whether that be requests taken by your Agents, or input by end-users via the web interface.





CATEGORIES FOR AREA/CLIENTS Organising your Area/Client treeview can help to sort the people you support into areas more digestible or relevant for your teams to evaluate. We offer additional top levels to organise the Area/Client treeview, as well as colour folders to categorise them within that top level, if required. Even if the top level is not utilised, folder colour can be.

1) To switch on the Top Levels, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Users > Show an Additional Top Level

2) Right click on the Area/Client level to edit the folder colour.

CATEGORIES FOR ASSETS The Asset Groups help to organise your Asset Types into separate categories. This is detailed in the Asset Management part of the guide, but is important to know that these are nothing more than ways of categorising or organising your Asset Management area to be easier to use and report on in a more granular way. CATEGORIES FOR ITEMS The Items Groups help to organise your Item Types into separate categories. This is detailed in the Item and Stock Control Management part of the guide, but is important to know that these are nothing more than ways of categorising or organising your Items to be easier to use in quotes and orders, and to report on in a more granular way. In Items, they are referred to as “Top Level” type.



REQUEST TYPES WHAT ARE REQUEST TYPES? Think back when NetHelpDesk and technology existed, and your team used pieces of paper to have forms to complete, based on what type of request was being recorded. Each form would capture information specifically tailored to the type of request, so a support request would maybe include the piece of equipment affected, or a complaints request could capture the person complaining’s availability, or a sales enquiry would capture when an item needs to be implemented by, and so on. What does NetHelpDesk offer? NetHelpDesk gives you “Request Types”, and each one represents that paper “form”, and you can tailor what is captured in each one. There is no limit to the number of Request Types that can be specified, and controls available to make certain forms available only to Agents internally, and not end-users via the web portal, or if they are available, what fields appear within that form to the end-user. Each Request Type comes with the ability to be called whatever you like, and have a set of pre-defined defaults for that type of Request. These can then be specified in features such as Auto Requests. We offer an introduction to the ITIL framework within NetHelpDesk, the standard setup required for an IT service desk. These are only suggestions, and NetHelpDesk will use whatever you specify. All pre-existing request types can be edited and new ones added and deleted, as necessary. ITIL and Request Types We go one step further with ITIL as well, where you can specify multiple request types as one ITIL request type, and still be ITIL compliant. So a Support, Sales and Accounts Enquiry can be set as “Incidents” and linked later to their relevant “Problem” request, and so on. NetHelpDesk offer an ITIL consultancy as part of the suite of services. Speak with your Account Manager for more information. The purpose of request types essentially, is set default values for a request, and to control which fields are visible in a new request (including Custom Fields). To setup Request Types, click N > Setup > Main Configuration > Requests. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




1. In each Request Type, a set of details can be specified within it, such as: a) Sequence it appears in the list. b) Individual request type description. c) ITIL request type category (if being used). d) Whether it is visible in lists to your Agent Users. e) If it is visible to your end-users via their web interface. f) Keep the Account Manager informed if that request type is created. g) Is an Opportunity form, and so kept separate in the Opportunities area. h) Is a Project form, and so kept separate in the Projects area. i) Whether the form is available from the smartphone apps. j) Start an Approval process automatically when the request is raised. k) Override all charge rates on actions added to those requests of this type. l) Specify a Calendar colour, to separate easily in the Calendar view. m) Set the status after an end-user adds an update to those types of requests. n) Set the status after an end-user reopens a closed request of this type. o) Choose whether this request type can be reopened or not after closure. p) Have a separate report layout for this type of request. q) Automatically BCC specified e-mail address(es). r) Override the e-mail sent to Customer at the Client/Area level. s)

2. In each Request Type, a set of defaults can be specified within it, such as: a) Initial Status b) Priority c) Section and Agent d) Category from Category Group 1 e) Category from Category Group 2 f) Category from Category Group 3 g) Category from Category Group 4 h) An overriding Mailbox i) An overriding SLA group j) An overriding Workflow procedure.

3. It is also possible to specify users in your database who will receive closure e-mails when

calls of this request type are closed. This can be useful if you wish to include people in your company who are not Agents, but are still involved with supporting your external end-users.

4. Specify status values that are restricted to this request type, particularly useful when

using the Request Types with Opportunities or Projects.

5. Each Request Type also has its own fields that can also be configured, by clicking Field List and Custom Fields button in the main menu, or the request type defaults page itself.

6. By default, any fields that are dragged and dropped from the Available Fields list to the

Fields That Show list are visible to all users.


7. This can be changed by double clicking on the field when in the Fields That Show list.

8. Some fields are specifically for certain functionality, such as Project Time and Money, which should be quite self-explanatory from their descriptions.

Here is a list of available predefined fields, and what they show:

Field Name Description

Summary Main description of the request (Subject of e-mail)

Details Further information about the request (Body of e-mail)

Category Drop down to select choice from Category Group 1

Priority Number order based on SLA Response and Resolution timing.

Section Which Team of Agents to choose from.

Agent Which specific member of team to assign it to.

Send E-mail Send acknowledgement e-mail to end-user.

Asset Which device is associated with this request.

Category 2 Drop down to select choice from Category Group 2



SLA Choose Service Level Agreement group of priorities applies.

Date/Time Occurred Adjust the data of when call is raised (backdating)

Planned Date Specify a date when something next needs to be done by.

Reported By Who reported request, if different from user it’s assigned to.

Estimated Time What is the approximate length of time to complete request.

Show on Web Will end user be able to see this request via the web interface.

Exclude from SLA Opt out of tracking response and resolution times for request.

User Contacted If raised for someone else, are they aware of the request?

Resolution Date Adjust the standard resolution date on the priority.

Fault Code/Class of Fault Specify a list of fault codes to choose from in Lookup Codes

Delivery Contact Who is the contact that Sales orders are sent to?

Delivery Address What is the address that Sales orders are sent to?

Site Which site is affected if different from user’s normal site.

Impact Specify the amount of effect the request has.


Urgency Specify how fast this request is needed.

Company Name Opportunities Field.

Contact Name Opportunities Field.

E-mail Address Opportunities Field.

Address Line 1 Opportunities Field.



Postcode Opportunities Field.

Value Opportunities Field, amount in numeric form.

Conversion Probability Opportunities Field, 0-100.

Opportunity Tel Opportunities Field.

E-mail To List Who is to be included in communications.

E-mail CC List Who is to be included in communications.

Source How was this call raised? By phone, E-mail etc.

Target Date Opportunities Field

Project Time Budget Project Field

Project Time Actual Project Field

Project Money Budget Project Field

Project Money Actual Project Field

9. You can also toggle Advanced Field Visibility in this area. NetHelpDesk is one of few

applications in Help Desk Software that allows this to be done.

10. This means that further fields become available depending on what was selected before. This will apply to all users that can see this field.





CUSTOM OBJECTS - TABLES AND FIELDS NetHelpDesk has lots of functionality, and a high level of customisation to allow the product to be tailored to any type of company, in any type of industry. One of the best features for customisation in the product is the ability to create custom tables, tabs and fields to capture any type of information, in key parts of the software. The areas where new tabs can be created are:

Table Name Description

Request Appear in your Requests (tickets, jobs, work orders).

Area Appear in your Area/Client Details screens.

Site Appear in your Site Details screens.

User Appear in your User Details screens.

Asset Appear in your Asset Details screens.

Contract Appear in your Contract Details screens at the Area/Client level.

Action Appear in your Action details screens within a Request.

Item Appear in your Item details screens for item and stock control.

Supplier Appear in your Supplier Details screens.

The tabs can be labelled whatever you need them to be, so if you want a tab called “Bananas”, you absolutely can do. We don’t mind what you label them, as long as they are relevant to you. Within those tabs, there are multitudes of different types of field data that you can capture.

Field Name Description

Text Provides a single line for data entry.

Memo Provides a multiple lines for data entry.

Drop Down Provide drop down of selections for a single selection.

Listbox Provide drop down of selections for multiple selections.

Date Captures date with full calendar

Time Captures time in 24 hour clock format.

Checkbox Provides a checkbox for confirmation of a question/option.

When you have decided on the types of fields that you would add to those tabs, you can then start adding them to the function of the software you would like to see them.


The one area that is different to the rest of the areas in NetHelpDesk is “Request”. In the Request screens, you can add these fields to be populated by your Agents, you end-users or a mixture of both. You can also have advanced field visibility, where one only appears based on another’s specific input. To start with adding new fields to your requests:

1. Click N > Setup > Main Configuration > Custom Objects to configure.

2. Click Add to start adding to the Request Details screens.

Attribute Description

Field Name: When naming the field, it will always begin CF for Custom Field.

Field Label: This is how it will appear to Agents in the Request Type

Type of Field: Six field types available; Text, Memo, Drop Down, List box, Date, Time.

Hint for Field: Small note to help indicate what field is asking for.

Field Choices: Some options, such as “Drop Down” will need the selections, separated by commas.

Shown on Tab: If more than one tab created, select which one it will be shown in.

ACTIONS Imagine a product that lets you define what action buttons are called, and define what happens when you click them. Now imagine that functionality not costing your business hundreds of thousands in cash. Welcome to NetHelpDesk. Public Actions Visible on the web portal, and any call summaries on e-mails Private Actions Visible only to you and your team internally. Whatever you add into the white box of the action, will be injected into e-mail templates, wherever the $richactionnote variable is specified in the template assigned to that action note. STANDARD ACTION BUTTONS In the product’s standard setup, we have suggested some sensible options for action buttons within requests. THESE ARE ONLY EXAMPLES. YOU CAN ADD, EDIT OR DELETE/HIDE ANY OPTION. E-mail User Qs is a public action, asking the end-user by e-mail for more information, and puts the call on SLA hold automatically if being tracked. It will also appear on the web portal.


E-mail User Update is a public action, informing the end-user by e-mail of call progress, but does not put the call on SLA hold automatically if being tracked. It will also appear on the web portal. Public Note is a public action informing the end-user via the web portal only, and does not send an e-mail. It does not put the call on SLA hold automatically if being tracked. Internal Note is a private action, where you can add notes to the call that are not for the end-users eyes. They will not appear on the web portal, and no e-mail is sent to the end-user. Reassign is a private action, where you can assign the call to another Agent, and add notes of what you want them to see. It will not appear on the web portal, and no e-mail is sent to the end-user. Just these examples give you a small insight into the wealth of functionality flexibility available in NetHelpDesk request management.



CUSTOMISE ACTION BUTTONS Looking at the example above, imagine them changed, relabelled with new features:

You can have NetHelpDesk use Action Buttons that you deem relevant for your business, and change to terminology that your teams will be familiar with. To start looking at the Action setup, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Actions to configure. All action buttons can be configured as needed.

1. Within the action, you can specify default settings for the action, so that repeated use of the action will not add unnecessary laborious administration. e.g. Status after action, default charge rate (if any), whether Send E-mail to User is automatically checked or not, button image and label for the toolbar and so on.

2. On any action screen is the $actionnote field, which allows you to add in notes, and if

sending e-mail to end user, will be used as the body of your e-mail.

3. In addition, on the right hand side of an action, additional relevant information can be captured. These fields can be toggled on or off, so your Agent only captures the relevant info, and doesn’t waste time wondering if something should be captured or not.

4. When editing the action, click Action Screen Field Visibility to toggle this information on

and off.

5. Some actions that are preconfigured in NetHelpDesk from purchase will have some of these fields that are mandatory, and therefore are fixed.

6. If you create a new action, these will become freed to toggle on and off. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




STATUSES Statuses are the easiest way to track whereabouts a request is in its lifetime when open, and being worked on. As with all other parts of the program, NetHelpDesk offers sensible suggestions to be utilised from our years of experience in the help desk software industry. They are the ones our Customers have useful time and again. Some prefer to add more due to the nature of their business, others use very few. The choice remains yours, and you can add, edit or delete statuses as necessary. If editing or deleting, remember that the status will be tracked throughout a ticket’s lifetime. There may be requests that have used a status that when deleted, will not be suitable for audit trails. Better that it is inactivated. If there are open requests with a status, and it is edited or deleted, they too will be affected by this change, and so it is imperative to have thought the change through. If deleting, what will it be replaced with? What will happen to the other requests when it is gone? Simple SQL queries can be run in the database to swap request status around when editing. Speak with our Support team when doing so, should you need assistance. To review and edit/add status in NetHelpDesk:

1. Click N > Setup > Main Configuration > Statuses to configure.

2. You can add many Status Values, and which part of the application they are used in. e.g. Requests, Orders, Items.

3. If you need a status value to appear in multiple areas, such as both Requests and Orders, duplicate status values will need to be created, with their specified “used for” selected.

4. Select a colour if you wish to highlight the status in the main column view. The cell with the status specified will be coloured as you specify. The numeric colour code is displayed in black, so you can judge what the text will look like against the coloured background.

5. There are certain status values that are used in specific parts of NetHelpDesk, such as “With Supplier”, used for logging requests to third party companies.

6. There is also a recurring e-mail setting, which is useful for status used in Sales Leads and

Opportunities for example. If there are leads that are placed in a certain status, they can be sent regular e-mails based on an e-mail template, if required.

7. Statuses can be restricted by Request Type, so if you have a set of status values that you specifically wish to use for Projects, specify them for “Requests” in the Status area, but in the Request Type(s) used for Projects, restrict the status values to only appear on those Request Types. All others will not appear, and the ones you have selected will not appear anywhere else.


8. Setting the status of calls can also be specified at the Action button level, so when the action button is used, the status changes to a predefined setting.

9. The status can also be predefined for when an end-user updates the request with more information, and this is set at the Request Type level also.

10. There are also Quote, Sales Order, Purchase Order, Change Request, Adding New Request, Release, Contract statuses, but these are discussed in their relevant areas for advanced use.





Starting Populating Data Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



END-USERS Setting up end-users to log calls against, and allow them to access the self-service web interfaces, there are several ways of achieving this. If migrating to NetHelpDesk from another product, it will be worth reading the “Migrating To NetHelpDesk” section of this guide, to see if you can reduce your admin, and import users quickly. The following takes you through manually adding Areas/Sites/users and also Active Directory/Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). CREATING A CUSTOMER/SITE/GENERAL USER After the basic set-up, creating Customers, Sites and User levels will be necessary, to log calls against. IMPORTANT: A General User is essential for every Customer and Site, as much activity in

NetHelpDesk is linked to this user. We will create additional users after this section.

There are several ways of populating existing Clients/Areas, Sites and Users. One is using our Active Directory integration, detailed in this guide. Alternatively, it is possible to import Clients, Sites and Users from pre populated excel spreadsheets using the Users part of the main configuration area, or using the import facility from the Tools ribbon on the main screen. Some of these spreadsheets can be tailored to include the fields you need. Template spreadsheets are available in the Win folder of your NetHelpDesk installation or can be downloaded from www.nethelpdesk.com/importxls Instructions on use are contained inside the files themselves. To populate the treeview manually:

1. Right click on the icon of the globe called Areas or Clients, and select New Area or New Client.

2. In the New Client screen, add the name of the Client, the site name and leave the Main

User at Site as General User. These three parts are mandatory at this stage.

3. The Domain Name is also useful for unknown users at that Customer. This will ensure that they are assigned to the Customer, and the General User.

4. All additional information is not essential here, and can be added at a later time.


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/importxls


CREATING A NEW SITE Once the Customer is created, it may be necessary to add different sites. These can specify anything considered second level information. E.g. City, Town, Department etc.

1. Right click on the Customer Name. Select New Site.

2. Add the name required, and here the Main User at Site field doesn’t need to be General User. This will be automatically created whether Main User at Site field is completed, or left blank.

3. Click OK.

CREATING A NEW USER

1. Under each site, creating additional users above and beyond the General User will allow for calls to be assigned to users based on their e-mail addresses.

2. Right click on the Site Name. Select New User.

3. Input the User Name as a mandatory field.

4. All additional information is not essential here, and can be added at a later time. Click OK.





INTEGRATING WITH ACTIVE DIRECTORY / LDAP To synchronise or import user details from an LDAP directory, such as Active Directory (AD):

1. Set the default LDAP import query string in N > Setup > Main Configuration > Active Directory. This string will be used as the default for any new sites.

2. There is a LDAP/AD Field Mapping button that can help you populate this field. You may need to engage the input of the person maintains your AD

3. Once done, you can click on the Setup LDAP Sites and Connection button, to map sites to

parts of your AD.

4. How you structure the treeview in NetHelpDesk does not have to necessarily reflect the structure in your AD, but if your AD is well structured and maintained, the import will be straight forward.

5. At the site level, right click and Edit Site and Services and specify the LDAP Import String

and Filter inside [] field query string as required.

6. Click Update, right click on the site level, and then Sync to LDAP.

7. Any users that match the query string will be regarded as being at that site.


8. A screen showing the users allows you to further restrict who is imported, and a LDAP filter can be setup if you need to have more control over which users are imported. This is done as the end part of the LDAP string, and uses square brackets.

9. Put the filter along with an 'and' condition inside [ ] at the end of the string.

e.g.: LDAP://CN=Users,DC=MyADdomain,DC=co,DC=uk[and department='Finance']

10. You can import each site separately, or use the 'LDAP sync all sites' option on the main file

menu. Here is another example of the AD tree and associated LDAP string:

LDAP://ou=guest,ou=hq,ou=sci,DC=adw2k1,DC=co,DC=uk The order of the OU's is important. It is case insensitive. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




LDAP FIELDS The LDAP fields or attributes are matched to NetHelpDesk fields using the LDAP matching table in the setup screen. This allows you to choose how the Active Directory fields are related to the NetHelpDesk fields. The LDAP field names can be found out using the ADSIedit program which comes with Windows. PLEASE NOTE: The label seen in active directory is different to the field name quite often:

LDAP Attribute Example

CN - Common Name CN=Guy Thomas. Actually, this LDAP attribute is made up from givenName joined to SN

description What you see in Active Directory Users and Computers. Not to be confused with displayName on the Users property sheet.

displayName displayName = Guy Thomas. Avoid this attribute if possible, as it can be confused with CN or description.

DN - also distinguishedName DN is simply the most important LDAP attribute. CN=Jay Jamieson, OU= Newport,DC=cp,DC=com

givenName First name

homeDrive Home Folder : connect.

name name = Guy Thomas. Exactly the same as CN.

objectCategory Defines the Active Directory Schema category. For example, objectClass = Person

objectClass objectClass = User. Also used for Computer, organizationalUnit, even container. Important top level container.

physicalDeliveryOfficeName Office on the user's General property sheet

profilePath Roaming profile path: connect

sAMAccountName sAMAccountName = guyt. Old NT 4.0 logon name, must be unique in the forest. Can be confused with CN.

SN SN = Thomas. This would be referred to as last name or surname.

userAccountControl Used to disable an account. A value of 514 disables the account, while 512 makes the account ready for logon.

userPrincipalName

userPrincipalName = [email protected] Often abbreviated to UPN, and looks like an e-mail address. Very useful for logging on especially in a large Forest. Note UPN must be unique in the forest.


Exchange Specific LDAP attributes

LDAP Attribute Example

homeMDB Here is where you set the MailStore

mail An easy, but important attribute. A simple SMTP address is all that is required [email protected]

mAPIRecipient - FALSE Indicates that a contact is not a domain user.

mailNickname Normally this is the same value as the sAMAccountName, but could be different if you wished. Needed for mail enabled contacts

mDBUseDefaults Another straightforward field, just the value to:True

msExchHomeServerName Exchange needs to know which server to deliver the mail. e.g: /o=YourOrg/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=MailSrv

legacyExchangeDN

Legacy distinguished name for creating Contacts. In the following example, Guy Thomas is a Contact in the first administrative group of GUYDOMAIN: /o=GUYDOMAIN/ou=first administrative group/cn=Recipients/cn=Guy Thomas

proxyAddresses As the name 'proxy' suggests, it is possible for one recipient to have more than one e-mail address. Note the plural spelling of proxyAddresses.

targetAddress SMTP:@ e-mail address. Note that SMTP is case sensitive. All capitals means the default address.

showInAddressBook Displays the contact in the Global Address List.





Other LDAP attributes

c Country or Region

company Company or organization name

department Useful category to fill in and use for filtering

homephone Home Phone number, (Lots more phone LDAPs)

l (Lower case L) L = Location. City (Maybe Office)

location Important, particularly for printers.

manager Boss, manager

mobile Mobile/Cell Phone number

ObjectClass Usually User, or Computer

OU Organizational unit. See also DN

postalCode Zip or post code

st State, Province or County

streetAddress First line of address

telephoneNumber Office Phone



NetHelpDesk User Fields for LDAP Sync

User Field Database Field Name

Username Uusername

Title Utitle

Email Address Uemail

Additional Emails Uemail2

LDAP Proxy Email Uemail3

Network Login Ulogin

Work Direct/Extn. Uextn

Work General (set at site level)

Work Mobile/Cell Umobile2

Home Mobile/Cell Umobile

Home Fixed Utelhome

Fax Number Ufax

User Defined 1 Uother1





Notes Unotes

Twitter Screen Name Utwitterscreenname

Disclaimer Matching String Ufacebookid



ISSUE WITH CHILD DOMAINS

1. When logged into one domain, if you try and do an LDAP sync to a child domain, then no users are listed. There is no error message.

2. This is because the default domain context is taken to be the domain into which you are

logged. This can probably be fixed by logging into the child domain.

3. Alternatively, specify the FDQN of the domain in the LDAP string. For example, it is possible to explicitly specify the FDQN of the LDAP server in the string.

So instead of: LDAP://CN=Users,DC=adw2k1,DC=co,DC=uk

You can say: LDAP://adw2k1.co.uk/CN=Users,DC=adw2k1,DC=co,DC=uk

4. Put the child domains FQDN in the string instead to query the child domain.

SETTING UP THE LDAP SYNC AS A SCHEDULED TASK It may be preferred to run the LDAP sync automatically as a repeating scheduled task (e.g. once a week), to ensure continued scanning following a Server reboot, for example. This will not require a ‘logged in’ session. The fundamental points for setup are as follows. Values are examples:

Name: NHDLDAPSYNC



Trigger: Weekly, recur every (choose day)



Program/Script: e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\NetHDClient.exe

Add Arguments: e.g. C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl LDAPSYNC

- Document Continued


Continuing Other Functionality Setup Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



KNOWLEDGE BASE The NetHelpDesk Knowledge Base (KB) allows you to build up a simple, searchable text database of faults and their resolutions that can help in resolving problems that recur. Instead of knowledge being held primarily in your support staff's memories it can be kept in the NetHelpDesk database. If support staff leave, or are sick the knowledge is still accessible. Selected knowledge base entries can be formed into FAQ (frequently asked questions) lists. These can be made available to end users via the web interface. The end users can only search and view entries which are on FAQ lists to which they have been given permission at the area/client level, or to FAQ lists that are flagged as being available to all users. Entries is the knowledge base consist of:

Summary – Plain Text Format

Full details – Rich Text Format

Resolution – Rich Text Format

Created by – Agent Creating Entry

On – Date and time entry is created.

ID number – Number log of when created, to identify in the database.

From Request ID – If used paste new entry for linked Request ID, or free text populated.

Involves Asset Type - Xref to type of equipment

Review details – Date, time and Login reviewed.

Next Due – When the next date is scheduled for the next review of this article.

Attachments – Static documents tied to this particular KB article.

These are stored in the Reports/KBAttachments folder under the id of the KB entry.

Related documents - External Documents, Images and Web Sites



NetHelpDesk also allows external documents, images and external web sites to be referred to. These form part of the knowledge base that support staff can gain organized access to via the system. SEARCHING THE KNOWLEDGE BASE On the main screen when first accessing the Knowledge Base, is the search box facility. The KB is full word indexed, for easy and more granular searching capabilities.

1. Enter the word, or words, you wish to search for and click on search.

a) Words in the first search string have 'or' matching facility, i.e. Help or Desk.

b) Words in the second search string have 'and' matching facility, and is used in conjunction with the first search string.

For example to find entries which have the word "Excel" or the word "Windows" but contain the word ''Server", put:

First Search String: Windows Linux Second Search String: Server

The entries that have either Linux Server or Windows Server in the entries are then highlighted in red, the ones with just one match are highlighted in black.


MAKING A NEW KNOWLEDGE BASE ENTRY

1. Press the 'new entry button' on the main knowledge base search screen and fill out this screen.

2. All of the text fields are searched for the selected text when the search function is chosen.

3. Once a KB entry has been added the 'appears on FAQ lists' button can be used to add it to

a FAQ. Paste New Entry The Paste New Entry functionality only works from requests that have been closed (set to status ID=9). Once in the Closure Details tab of the request, click N > Search > Check KB. Click the Paste New Entry button, and the request’s summary becomes the KB Summary, the request’s details become the full details, and the request’s closure note becomes the resolution. These can be edited and added to, as necessary. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




DICTIONARIES AND SPELL CHECK Throughout the NetHelpDesk Windows interface, functionality includes Spell Check facilities, such as when adding an action to a request. We know that our global customer base will be writing in a multitude of languages, to their End-users. As much as we shouldn't, we have all come to rely on spell check. Because of this, we offer a host of dictionaries in different languages, to be able to spell check in NetHelpDesk. Languages currently available include:

Afrikaans French American English German Australian English Italian Brazilian Portuguese Hungarian British English Norwegian Czech Portuguese Danish Russian Dutch Spanish Estonian Swedish Finnish

If your language is not included above, please contact us to discuss availability. To download and install your dictionary of choice manually (not selected during initial interview):

1. Go to www.nethelpdesk.com/dictionaries.zip

2. Unzip the folder, and extract the .adm file relevant for your language.

3. Copy and paste into the …\NetHelpDesk\Win folder.

4. Rename the American.adm file to be American_Old.adm

5. Rename the .adm file for your language to American.adm.

6. Restart NetHelpDesk, and it will now check your chosen language.

7. It is a learning dictionary, so you can add words to it as you move forward. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/dictionaries.zip



COLUMN FIELD SELECTION AND FILTERS Every one of your team will work in different ways, and along with the queue management options we have, we also allow the individual to choose what they want to see on the main screen. The columns show data from the request, and these can be set globally, or each can have their own individual choices. On the main screen, a "Field Chooser" button is available, to select the columns that will display data. If you tend to use the "By Area/Client" queue, then having Client, Site Name and User Name may not be entirely necessary.

1. Choose the field information you want to see in the columns on the main page.

2. Options include all available fields in a request type, including custom fields.

3. Set global lists, or choose to have your own personalised view.

4. Have multiple global or multiple personalised views set for column choice.

5. Move fields up and down to change order in the view.

6. Fast "Move to Top" button to move fields from the bottom of the list to the very top quickly.


7. Choose a Primary and Secondary sorting

8. Choose to use fields temporarily without amending your saved view. At the top of the treeview, there is also a filter to search for keywords in the Area/Client, Site and User data. This is extremely useful when asking for an end-user's name, typing it, to bring up their account. The same is available at the top of the main request view, to search the Summary and Details of each of the requests for keywords that match. An advanced filter also allows to drill down by Request Type, Date Occurred, Date Closed, Resolution Date and Planned Date, SQL filter used in the data analyser, when the last update was added, and whether the request is open, closed or all requests regardless. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




DOCUMENTS MANAGEMENT That infamous term "paper-free" did not lessen the burden of documentation required for any organisation, and instead of piles of paper, we have folders stocked with files. Having easy and transparent access to these documents, will help improve efficiency and lessen admin burden on your teams. The types of documents that can be added to NetHelpDesk are:

1) Store and access documents that are fixed (such as signed documents that never change).

2) Store and access documents that change (such as policy documents that constantly

change).

3) Store and access documents that are web based (such as Microsoft knowledge articles).

NetHelpDesk can help store any type of file, whether Adobe, Microsoft, Media, Design, Technical and so on. They could be photos, procedures, and contracts; whatever you need. Even if not created in NetHelpDesk, store Quotes, Sales Orders and Purchase Orders. They can be added to the following areas:

A. Site E. Projects B. Asset F. Central Documents C. Opportunities G. Suppliers D. Requests H. Knowledge Base.

A. To list all of the documents against a site, simply right click on the site > List Docs.

B. To list all of the documents against an Asset, simply go into the Asset Details, and click

the Docs button on the right hand side.

C. To list all of the documents against an Opportunity, open the request, and click Attachments.

D. To list all of the documents against a Request, open the request, and click Attachments.

E. To list all of the documents against a Project, open the request, and click Attachments.

F. To populate general documents to appear at all sites as standard, go to N > Setup > Main

Configuration > Global Documents.

G. To list all of the documents against a Supplier, go to the Suppliers Area, double click to access the details of Supplier, go into Contracts Tab, and click “Attachments (X) where X represents the number of attachments. If no attachments exist, the button will say “No Attach.”


H. Use the “List all docs” option in the Knowledge Base to see all documents throughout NetHelpDesk regardless of where they are linked to. Alternatively, go into an entry. Static Attachments and moving documents are available from the bottom right hand menu options.

You can group documents together by creating Document Groups in the Advanced System Settings > Lookup Codes. Also make documents available on Request templates, to follow during procedures and ensure all documentation is available to your team for high auditing quality for ISO etc. It is also possible to make documents available to your End-users via the End-user Web Interface by adding them to the site level. Multiple quotation templates are available to attach standard documents to quotes in one click. See their part of this guide for further details. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




TIME MANAGEMENT There are several ways to record time in NetHelpDesk, to track the work carried out by your team members. Whether it is work on a specific action, the time spent in a meeting, a trip to the Dentist or special project work, with time budgets, they can all be captured in NetHelpDesk. In the main Windows interface, the smartphone apps, the web interface for Agents, or when replying to an e-mail notification, there’s an opportunity to capture time in all of them. As every Agent has their own login, all of the time that they record will directly assign to their profile, so tracking everyone’s time has never been easier. DIFFERENT KINDS OF TIME If you are working in a school, you may just want to capture time spent on actions of a request. If you are a small MSP, you may want to assign a charge rate multiplier to the time spent. If you are any kind of business, you may also want to capture non-billable time alongside the billable, as well as travel time and mileage. There are lots of reasons, and NetHelpDesk takes care of all of them: The different kinds included:

Billable Time Non-Billable Time Travel / Journey Time Holiday Time Meeting Time Project Time Personal Time Timesheet Tracking

ACTION BUTTONS AND TIME All of the action buttons in the requests have the ability to capture time. Whether you use the predefined “out-of-the-box” buttons, or create your own, it is a matter of toggling on the time choices. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Actions > Edit Action > Action Screen Field Visibility Tab and then click the relevant field for the time you wish to capture. If you wish to track Non-billable, travel and mileage, you will need to switch this feature on. Go to N > Setup > Advanced Options > Advanced Request Settings, and switch them on in Miscellaneous section. More advanced Time options are available in the Time Recording section of the Basic Configuration setup screens. These include making time taken on actions a mandatory population before saving an action.


The action time that is recorded is summarised in the request’s main screen in the field called “Time Recorded”. MANUAL TIME ENTRY AND TIMER In each action, you will see a button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen called “Start Timer”. If the automatic timing is switched off, this stopwatch feature allows you to manually start the timer. The counter will appear in the uppermost top bar of the action screen. Carry out the tasks you need to, in order to complete the action, and click “Stop Timer” to complete the timer process. Next to the time input capture boxes on the action, the “Use Timer” field is available. Click this button to pull all time in the action’s timer into the fields, rounding up to the nearest whole minute. At any time, you can overwrite this timer information, or edit as you need to. In the Tools ribbon on the main screen, there is an option to View Stopwatch Timers to monitor which requests have active timers against them, or if any have been left on by mistake. AUTOMATIC TIME LOGGING In automatic time logging, the manual time entry and timer process is done automatically. Read the description above before proceeding. Where in the manual time entry you would click Start Timer, in the automatic, this is done for you. As soon as you click the action button, the timer starts automatically, and appears in the uppermost bar of the action screen. When you click OK, the action button saves you data that you have captured, but also automatically stops the timer, takes any time in the timer, and then adds it to the action time recorded. Each Agent has the option to add this feature themselves. Go to N > My Account > My Settings > Preferences Tab > Start Stopwatch when Action Added checkbox. TIME LOGGING USING HASHTAGS WITH AGENT E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS If your Agents have their e-mail notifications switched on, they can reply to the notifications to add notes to a call, and those notes are forwarded onto the end-user. If the following hashtag is added immediately at the end of the subject line, it will add time to the note in NetHelpDesk as well. This feature is great to use if the smartphones are not being utilised, or if e-mail is preferred by the Agent.

Re: Example subject of the notification#t0.5 The #t signifies that you wish to add time to the note, and the decimal time represents the time


you want added to the note, so 0.5, for example, would be half an hour. The details of the time added will be visible to the end-user via the web portal, if this feature is on. AGENT TIMESHEETS As each Agent has their own login, the time that is added throughout the program is directly linked to their logins. Each one can go to Reporting > Reports > Agent Timesheets to view their own. The Agent Time Logged Summary allows Supervisors of teams to be able to oversee all time entered by login, over a period of time, such as the last month. This is a great tool for assisting teams with time management. Agent Timesheets view by default is restricted to only their own timesheet entries. As an Admin level user, you have the ability to oversee others, and a Agent dropdown appears for you. Against each Agent account, you can also choose whether they are included in the Timesheet Summary E-mail sent to those who have the Timesheet Management e-mail switch on. Those that you do not want included, or not receive this summary can only be changed by Admin users. The time added with a charge rate assigned to it, will appear in the white “hours” boxes. The time added to the “non-billable” fields of an action, Holiday / Other Time usage or No Charge will appear in the “non-bill” column. The timesheet subtotals, and totals hours, percentage recorded, and a target can be set against the percent recorded. Agents will be sent a reminded and Managers will be sent a summary at the times you determine, and these targets will have a direct influence on these.


AGENT “OTHER” TIME Time that falls outside of requests and projects can also be captured, to see a complete overview of time spent within a Agent’s working week. The “Add Holiday / Other Time Usage” button allows the Agent to specify a date from the Calendar, the start time, description, duration and type. The Type drop down menu can be amended and added to, as necessary. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Advanced Settings > Lookup Codes > Time Usage Types. By defaults the options are:

Holiday Meeting Sickness IT Issues (Personal) Project Work (Not captured on request) Dentist Doctor Other

Capture the date, description, duration in hours and type, as the list above. There is also the option to bring in public holidays for your area direct from the web. These days can be added to automatically add to the Agent’s timesheet, so they don’t have to do this. They can also add, change and delete entries as necessary, ensuring they select the entry from the list using the black arrow to the left of the entry. TIME MANAGEMENT VIA SMARTPHONE APPS The ability to capture time against an action on the smartphone app, as well as time entries outside of requests is available from the smartphone apps. The data input mimics that in the main Windows interface above. TIME MANAGEMENT VIA WEB INTERFACE Techs can add their time to their actions, and also holiday/other time usage via the web interface. Wherever they may be, they can log into their account, and add time for time management. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




REQUEST TEMPLATES Populating requests quickly for regularly occurring requests can be a great time saver, and will help the efficiency of your teams. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Request Templates to start populating the templates. With NetHelpDesk, Request Templates have so many features available, that populating requests quickly has never been easier. They are also perfect for a project setup, especially for larger projects, with multiple steps that need to be followed for quality and auditing purposes. See later in the guide for these. If you are going to create templates for parent requests, with child requests attached, start with the child requests first. Then add the child requests to the parent request, whilst you are creating the parent request.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Request Templates.

2. Click Add to create a new template.

3. Specify the Summary and Details fields, and these will populate those fields in the request.

4. Other defaults include: Request Type, Priority, Section, Agent, Category from any 4 of the

groups, Estimate time, Exclude from SLA stats, Show on Web and link to KB Article.

5. The No URLs/Docs button changes to a URL/Docs (1) button, where the number indicates the number of documents attached to the request. Add as many documents as you need, whether static, moving or web-based.

6. Add the “To-Do list” items for this particular request type of all steps that must be

followed. These can be used in the request template, and also in the To Do list tab in requests at a later stage.

7. If adding Child Requests to the template on the Child Requests tab, you can also specify

requests that must be closed before another child request is opened.

8. To use templates to auto-populate new requests, this can be done on the New Request Details screen, using the “Use Template” button.

REQUEST HANDLING For Customers looking for a basic ticketing system, there are a plethora of options in the market. A standard logging system is great for simplicity. However, we know through decades of experience that automatic handling of requests in certain states can dramatically improve efficiency, and increase Customer satisfaction with the service you provide.


In addition to the Request Templates above, NetHelpDesk comes with other features to take your request handling to the next level:

1. Parent/Child Request Relationships

2. Cloning Requests

3. SLA Hold Reminder Procedure

4. Request Closure Confirmation

5. End-user Surveys

PARENT AND CHILD RELATIONSHIPS The functionality in NetHelpDesk allows for “Parent and Child” relationships between Requests. This means that lots of smaller tasks, or “Child” Requests can be linked to one larger “Parent” request, which “in charge” of the “Child” requests. Each of the requests, regardless of whether parent or child, can be assigned to the Agents that are in charge of that request. Each request can only be assigned to one Agent at any one time, but can be reassigned if necessary. The parent request “owner” can update the parent request with notes, and choose to add the same note to the child requests, and also oversee high level status of child requests from within the parent requests using the “Linked Requests” tab. Linking Requests Together

1. On the main screen view, select multiple requests, by using either the CTRL key on your keyboard to select specific requests, or the SHIFT key to select a succession of requests, the same way you would in Windows Explorer.

2. Right click and select “Link Selected Requests”.

3. Enter the Request ID to link to. In other words, which request number are you nominating

as the “parent” of these “child” requests. Don’t worry if it’s one of the requests you have selected. It will then ask you to confirm.

4. Once done, each child request will get a “-c” next to the request ID. The parent request

gets a “-p”.

5. Open up the parent request, and click “Linked Requests” tab to see overview of the child requests.


CLONING REQUESTS Cloning requests can be a fast way to create multiple requests for use in Projects, so we have added this explanation here for those who will find it beneficial.

1. Inside any request, simply go to N > File > Clone This Request.

2. Confirm that it is ok to copy the request’s details, to do list and items issued to create the new request(s).

3. Enter the number of clones required.

4. NetHelpDesk will then make the exact number of duplicates, with an exact replica of the

request you just cloned. CLOSING REQUESTS PROCEDURES An Overview When closing requests in NetHelpDesk, there are several options available to your business. By default, all closed requests require closure notes, but this feature can be switched off, if necessary. PLEASE NOTE: Any response by the End User outside of the parameters specified below

will automatically reopen the request into the Agent’s open calls list. Some example scenarios for when a call is resolved:

A. The request is closed, no closure note is required from the Agent, no e-mail sent to End User.

B. The request is closed, closure notes are required from the Agent, but no e-mail sent to End

User.

C. The request is closed, closure notes are required, and e-mail sent to end user that call has been closed, includes the closure notes added by the Agent and Customer asked to take part in a Customer Satisfaction survey.

D. The request is closed, closure notes are required, e-mail sent to the end user that call has

been closed, and asks the end user if they are happy that a call has been resolved. If so, they respond “OK”. If not, they are asked to tell you why. (Status change based on response, from Pending Closure to either Open or Closed.)

E. Combinations of above.


To make Closure Notes mandatory

1. Go to N> Setup > Main Configuration > Closure Procedures > Must enter note when closing a request.

2. Ensure checkbox is selected.

Pending Closure e-mail procedure If tracking SLA timings, this feature is especially useful; it allows the call to be closed in a timely manner, but asks the Customer to confirm they are happy. NetHelpDesk switches the status from Closed to an alternate monitoring status (e.g. Pending Closure). If no response after a set time, NetHelpDesk automatically reverts the call back to Closed status. If the End User responds with anything other than set parameters (see e-mail templates below), then the call is reopened. PLEASE NOTE: When activated, Agents will still change the status to Closed and

NetHelpDesk handles the process from here. To activate this feature:

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Closure Settings > User Closure Confirmation Settings.

2. Enable End User closure confirmation procedure and e-mails.

3. Change the timings, as necessary.

4. Select a relevant status (e.g. Pending Closure). NetHelpDesk will action this

automatically. No further action from Agents is necessary. E-mail Templates and Variable Strings

1. The Request Closed e-mail templates is ID 14.

2. The Closure Reminder e-mail templates for Pending Closure type requests is ID 38.

3. The Request Closed Automatically E-mail templates for calls closed without end user response is ID 41.

4. To amend, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Outgoing E-mail > E-mail Templates.



Closing a Request Once a call is resolved, and nothing more needs to be carried out on the request, the Agent may simply want to close it. The Close button allows the Agent to complete the call. In this task, the Agent can add closure notes, send a final e-mail to the end user, and assign a charge rate for invoicing, archive the call, so it disappears from view and so on.

1. The e-mail address area will not automatically display.

2. The Send e-mail to user checkbox will be automatically unticked.

3. The Set Status to Closed is automatically ticked.

4. Any notes added on the left hand side rich action note area, will be added to the call after it has closed as closure notes.

5. If deciding to send a closure e-mail to the end user, any response back from the end user

will automatically reopen the request. Looking up Closed Requests, and Reopening

1. Once requests are closed, they will disappear from the main screen view by default.

2. NetHelpDesk will categorise these calls as archived, and regard them as no longer needing further action. However, they are still in the database for future reference.

3. To view these closed calls, the filter on the main screen can be used.

4. Click the green ‘+’ button on the right hand side. This will reveal further filter options.

5. A selection of request ‘states’ can be viewed in the System Status dropdown menu, and

used to access these types of calls (circled in red).

6. Click on the magnifying glass to apply the filter option (highlighted in purple). To cancel any of the filters applied, click on the blue X next to the magnifying glass. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




END USER SURVEYS Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Surveys. You now need to decide whether you want to ask how satisfied the end user is with the closure, whether the end user confirms closure or both. You will also need to decide whether you would like the end user to respond with a reply or by answering the questions on the web portal. Once you have configured your templates following the guide below, the $variables will also need to be added to the ‘Closure E-mail Template’ (detailed below). $SatisfactionE-mailText Include this in your Closure template if you wish for the end user to reply with a number from 1-5 (1 being Excellent, 5 being Very Poor). This template should look similar to below example, the end user is expected to reply with a number at the start ONLY, any other reply from the end user may reopen the request (depending on your setup at Request Type level).

$UserConfirmE-mailText Include this in your Closure template if you wish for the end user to confirm that the request can be closed.


For the end user confirmation e-mails to work, they must also be set up in N > Setup > Main Configuration > Closure Settings > User Closure Confirmation Settings. $UserConfirmSatisfactionE-mailText Include this in your Closure template if you wish for the end user to confirm that the request can be closed and if you also want the end user to reply with a number from 1-5 (1 being Excellent, 5 being Very Poor). Again, for the closure to work successfully the following setup steps must also be taken. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Closure Settings > User Closure Confirmation Settings.

$SatisfactionWebLinkText Include this in your Closure template if you wish for the end user to follow a link to the web portal to answer a survey. For this to work successfully, you will also need to ensure you have the URL of your web portal defined in N > Setup > Main Configuration > Outgoing E-mail > E-mail Templates > Web Site URL.

The $SATISFACTION will create a hyperlink directly to the survey page on your web portal where the end user can answer a number of questions. Instructions on how to set up these questions are included towards the end of this document.


$UserConfirmWebLinkText Include this in your Closure template if you wish for the end user to follow a link to the web portal to confirm closure of a request. For this closure method to work successfully, additional steps must be taken. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Web Interfaces > Ensure that ‘Close Requests – Options’ has ‘Can actually close requests’ checked. You will also need the URL of your web portal defined in N > Setup > Main Configuration > Outgoing E-mail > E-mail Templates > Web Site URL.

$UserConfirmSatisfactionWebLinkText Include this in your Closure template if you wish for the end user to follow a link to the web portal to answer a survey and confirm closure of a request. As above, you will need the correct setup in Options > Setup > Web End Users and the URL defined in E-mail Templates.



CLOSURE TEMPLATE The final step is to ‘Edit Closure E-mail Template’ and to ensure that it contains your choice from one of the above six options. The example below is of a ‘Closure E-mail Template’ to request an end users satisfaction score from 1-5 via e-mail.

Below is the e-mail as the end user will receive it. The highlighted part has been populated from the $SATISFACTIONE-MAILTEXT.

SETTING UP THE SURVEY QUESTIONS There are two different methods to which you can choose to use (either or both is fine).


The first is to use the Survey Check Box Labels/Questions. To set these up, enter the questions into the 5 fields provided (as in image to the left). These will then appear on the web portal survey and are answerable in the form of a check box. These questions will appear for all web portal surveys.

The other option is to setup the Custom Field survey questions. Select ‘Add custom Field Questions to Survey’ and fill in the fields (as displayed to the right). The field name is how the database records this information. The field label is how the question will appear to the end user. You can choose the Type of Field to be text/drop down boxes/multi select boxes/ etc. And the field choices are the end users possible answers. You will also need to ensure that the ‘Shown on Tab’ reads ‘Survey’. The final step is to include these Custom Questions on the Web Portal. This is completed on a ‘Per Request Type’ basis so that you can have specific questions for specific Request Types. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Request Types > Select a Request Type and go to Field List and Custom Fields > Add the field you have just created to the list on the right side to include the question on the survey for this Request Type. PERCENTAGE OF REQUESTS TO SURVEY The final setting to adjust for the Survey setup is to set the percentage of requests to survey. By default it is set to 0% for all Clients/Areas but if you go to End User Surveys and hit ‘Set Percentage of Request to Survey’, you can choose a percentage and hit OK to apply this to all Areas/Clients. You can also set this per area/client on the ‘Informative E-mails/Advanced’ tab of the ‘Client Details’.



SINGLE CLICK FEEDBACK NetHelpDesk can send standalone emails, or closure emails for tickets, with single click feedback embedded. This could be used to send out an email campaign, and monitor responses or to ask for feedback on the closure of tickets, for example. SINGLE CLICK RECONFIGURATION To ensure that the correct web portal will be used for the feedback, you will need to check that the URL specified at N > Main Configuration > Email > Email Templates > Web Site URL is correct. This should match the URL that takes your end-users to your support portal. If this is not yet setup, go to nethelpdesk.com/webportal for further assistance. SETUP FOR STAND ALONE EMAIL: The next step is to setup the Email Template to ensure that the hyperlinks will be added to the email.

1. Go to N >Main Configuration > Email > Email Templates and select one of the User Definable Email Templates (these are from 103 to 127).

2. Up to four images can be added with the feedback functionality. To do this find four

images that you wish to use, and copy and paste them onto the email template.

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/webportal


3. Each picture can then be set as a hyperlink, pointing to a $variable specifically for this feature. These are:

a. $FEEDBACK1 b. $FEEDBACK2 c. $FEEDBACK3 d. $FEEDBACK4

4. Once the template is ready, you can then use this email template when using the Mass E-

mail feature. See the main guide, or nethelpdesk.com/massemail for the guide to this feature.

5. On this screen you can use the ‘Use SQL for To address’ box to send to a large number of

e-mails to end users. For more help with this functionality, or if you are unfamiliar with SQL, contact our support team, or use the Data Analyser Repository to download a suitable report.

SETUP FOR CLOSURE EMAIL: To setup for Automatic closure emails to include the single click feedback:

1. Go to N > Main Configuration > Surveys and set the default percentage to send these e-mails to. You can also set this on a per Client basis, on the Client Details screen.

2. Choose a default Request Type for feedback.

3. Choose whether to allow Anonymous logging of feedback or not.

4. Setup the feedback web portal screens (this is done using HTML).

To include the feedback on the closure emails:

1. Go to $SatisfactionWebLinkText (this is an email template) and add four images.

2. Each picture can then be set as a hyperlink, pointing to a $variable specifically for this feature. These are:

a. $FEEDBACK1 b. $FEEDBACK2 c. $FEEDBACK3 d. $FEEDBACK4

3. Press OK when completed.

4. Go to ‘Edit Closure Email Template’ and add the variable $SatisfactionWebLinkText to this

template towards the end of the email.

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/massemail


Now, when a closure email is sent out, the $variable $SatisfactionWebLinkText will then be converted to the email template with the images present.

This will depend on what percentage has been decided to send Survey emails. When not applicable, NHD will leave the $variable blank instead.





QUALIFICATIONS MATCHING If you have certain categories of work that require specific types of skill set from your team, it is best to only assign people in your team with the relevant qualifications for the job. In IT, it wouldn’t be useful to send a telephone engineer to a server issue, or a dessert chef to go and make hors d'oeuvres. By creating Qualification lists, and assigning categories to them, and then listing against your team what qualifications they have, NetHelpDesk can help you pick the correct person for the job the first time. To switch this function on:

1. Go to Options > Setup > Advanced Request Settings > Miscellaneous and enable the checkbox called Enable Qualification Matching.

2. Once completed, go to the Advanced Features tab, and click Qualifications.

3. The Qualifications list will display, and if no one has tried editing this before, the list will be

empty initially.

4. Click Add and give the Qualification a description. Here, we have use the example of a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) who may be needed to assist with training on Microsoft products, where necessary. It doesn’t need to be a formal qualification. It can be anything you need to help run your business.

5. Click Add Category to start adding a list of categories of tickets that you would like to associate with this particular skill set. Here we added Training as a basic example.

6. Once you have a qualification, and the categories associated with it, NetHelpDesk will then need to know which Agents are associated with the qualification.

7. Go to the Basic Setup tab, and click Agents. If the terminology for Agents has been changed,

this option will be labelled differently. Examples used by other Customers include, Engineers, Support Staff, Workers, Employees, Operatives, and so on.

8. Edit the relevant Agent account, and go to the Qualifications tab.


9. Click Add and the list of Qualifications added in the previous steps will now be available.

10. Once all are added, click OK > Exit > OK to save your new choices.

11. If a call has a category assigned to it that matches those specified in the Qualification, when you go to reassign the call, it will place an *asterisk to beginning of their name, so they appear at the top of the list.

12. Now the ticket can be assigned to someone who can train users, rather than someone who

cannot. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




APPROVAL PROCESSING AN OVERVIEW NetHelpDesk can create approval processing for requests. In your organisation, you may need different types of approval for different types of call. An Approval Process can be started at: Request Level Automatic approval process from when the request is created. Action Level Within an existing request, an Approval Process can be manually started. A request can be approved in seven (7) ways in NetHelpDesk:

a) By an individual Agent Account. b) A Group of Agent Accounts (Change Advice Board or CAB). c) One pre-defined End User for a site. d) By request’s End User. e) A “Department Head” for an Approval Department. f) Approver chosen when starting process g) Approver determined by Rules.

Option e) allows for someone to approve a process for multiple sites, whereas option c) allows for someone to approve a process at just that one site. CREATE AN APPROVAL PROCESS

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Approvals > Approval Processes.

2. Click Add, and add a sensible Description.

3. You can now add a step, or multiple steps if required, for the process.

4. If using a multiple step option, NetHelpDesk will work down the list sequentially, according to the sequence number specified in each step.

5. Click Add Step.

6. Select a Sequence Number. (Number 1 is the first step that will be followed and so on…)

7. Select from the options available, the Approver will approve this step:

8. Select whether to inform the Agent of the Outcome by e-mail.

9. Select whether to inform the End User of the Outcome by e-mail.

10. Choose a Status if Approved (as necessary).


11. Choose a Status if Rejected (as necessary).

12. Click OK.

13. Add additional steps as required, using the steps above.

14. Click OK when complete. APPROVAL BY CHANGE ADVICE BOARD (CAB) If an approval process is to notify a group of Agents, instead of just one Agent, the CAB option is available.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Approvals > Change Advice Boards.

2. Click Add.

3. Add a sensible description.

4. Specify the number of approvals required.

5. Available Agent Accounts display in the right hand column.

6. Highlight an Agent and click Add button to add the Agent to the Member of Board column.

7. This Change Advice Board will now appear in a drop down menu in the Create an Approval Process steps above.

APPROVAL BY DEFINED END USER At each Site level, one End User can be defined under each Site that can approve as part of an approval process.

1. Right click on the selected End User under the site level.

2. Go to the Advanced Tab.

3. Select the checkbox This user can approve Change Requests.

4. This user will then be the nominated approver for any approval process invoked for calls by any user’s request at their site, where the “Defined End User” option has been selected.

5. If more than one End User has this option checked under one site level, NetHelpDesk will

pick the first user with this option checked alphabetically in that Site User list.



APPROVAL BY “DEPARTMENT” HEAD A “Department” can be created that allows one End-User to be nominated as the “Head of Department”. This feature doesn’t necessarily refer to a Department within your organisation, or your Customer’s organisation. It merely allows one person to be nominated as the “Head Approver” for users over multiple sites.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Users.

2. Select the checkbox Use Departments and change the label, if required. Click OK.

3. Now go to Requests – Current View on the main screen. Department is now a selection. (click on another view such as Assets/Devices and back again to refresh, as necessary)

4. Right click on the Department Top Level and select New Department.

5. Add “Department” name and click OK.

6. Now you have a “Department”, you need to:

a. Nominate a “Head of Department”, and b. Add people whose requests will be approved by that Head of Department during

any approval process where “Department Head” approves.

7. Both of these options can be done by right clicking on a User account, Edit User > Advanced Tab > Department Details and selecting the Department.

8. Nominate only one user as the Head of that Department. If more than one End User has

this option checked, NetHelpDesk will pick the first user with this option checked in the main tree list.

APPROVAL PROCESS RULES NetHelpDesk allows you to set option rules that can be used in an approval process. The first rule in the sequence that matched the values that you choose is used.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Approvals > Approval Process Rules. Click Add.

2. You can add a rule, or multiple rules if required. If using a multiple rule option, the first rule in the sequence that matched the values that you choose is used.

3. Select a Sequence Number. (Number 1 is the first step that will be followed and so on…)

4. Select a Field Name to check against. Add a Field Value to match. Use an asterisk* as a

wildcard to match any.

5. Choose just one type of Approver, and click OK.


AUTO ASSIGN RULES Auto Assign Rules can be used to route requests automatically to a particular person, or group of people and affect the status based on a set of criteria. You can have as many rules that you like, and NetHelpDesk will go through them starting at the first rule, and if not matched will move to the second rule, then the third rule, and so on.

A) This allows you to set the precedence of the rule, or the number of order for NetHelpDesk to check the rule. If the precedence is 10, it will be the 10th rule NetHelpDesk checks, if it is 17, it will be the 17th rule and so on.

B) This area is where you determine the criteria for the rule to match against.

PLEASE NOTE: It is important to remember that the criteria specified here works on an

“And” basis, not “Or”. So, everything specified in this area must ALL be matched in order to be routed through to the details specified in section C.

C) Specify here the Agent to assign the request to, if the rule is matched. If you wish to

assign to a group of Agents, specify the Agent as “Unassigned” and the Section as the relevant group.


WORKFLOWS Integrating work flow procedures is an excellent way to improve efficiency and streamline your support desks. NetHelpDesk offers a multitude of options to help your teams with their workload, and ensure a higher quality of work, especially when being audited. Integrating your work flows and processes that you and your team follow is important, so we make NetHelpDesk incredibly flexible, to work around how you currently work. Create workflows for requests, so that only certain action buttons appear on the ticket at the start, and that certain action button has pre-determined defaults to force a workflow. These include:

Status after Action. Charge Rate. SLA on Hold. SLA Released. Start an Approval Process. Set Default Agent. Set Default Agent. Auto include CC e-mails. Set a Default User. Use E-mail Template. Sequence in button order.

Workflows are easy to setup, but powerful to use. To do so:

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Actions and Statuses.

2. In Actions, start adding action buttons that you need to use in the workflow process.

3. Ensure that these new action buttons have the Available in all workflows button

unchecked.

4. Once all actions are created, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Workflows.

5. On the Workflow list, click Add to start a workflow.

6. Give the workflow a name, i.e. New Laptop.

7. Add notes on how the workflow is used, and why, if necessary.

8. Click Add Step to start adding the stages of the workflow.

9. Once the steps are in place, highlight the first step, and click View Step Actions.

10. Add the action buttons to the step, in the relevant order.


11. Click OK to save the workflow. The workflow can now be specified at the Request Type level, to start that workflow when a certain type of request is raised. The great thing is that each action can have its own set of defaults, such as:

Status after an action is completed. Set default Charge Rate. Whether the action has a specific system use, such as Set Planned Date. Ensure the Action button uses a specific e-mail template on the communication. Make the SLA hold checkbox automatically selected. Make the SLA release checkbox automatically selected. Hide the action from the end-user. Set default billable hours. Set default non-billable hours Start and Approval Process Set default Section Set default Agent. Give Button own unique name, sequence appearance, and picture icon.





AUTO REQUEST SCHEDULING Create automatic or reoccurring requests for your team to work on, specifying the information you need to appear prior to it being auto-generated. The following fields of information can be predetermined before the request is auto-generated.

Summary (Subject Line). Details (Main body). Request Type. Category. Priority. Section. Agent. Estimate Time to be taken. Exclude from SLA Stats. Show End Users via Web. Assign to KB Article. Generate on a schedule. Specify time on selected days of the week or a day of the month, or once a year. Link Child Requests with separate defaults. Link to Assets for easy tracking. Add To-Do Lists on Parent and/or Child Requests.

To use Auto Requests:

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Request Scheduling to setup the Requests.

2. If you are to create Parent and linked Child requests, start with the Child requests first, and the Parent request should be created last.

3. Once configured, the request that leads the group of requests, the Parent, needs to have a

scheduler specified. This does not need to be replicated on the Child Tickets. These will auto create anyway as part of the Parent’s schedule.

4. The Auto Request can create at a set time on selected days of the week, or specified day

of the month, or specified day of the year.

5. Link the request to an Asset in the Scheduler, or utilise the Additional Linked Assets tab.

6. Set the Site and the User at that site that the request is to be generated against. If not needed against a named user, use the General User at the relevant site.





REPORTING Within NetHelpDesk, there are multiple ways to carry out reporting, and the scope of what you can report on is essentially endless. Whether you are using the Data Analyser program in NetHelpDesk’s general user interface, the Export List To Excel feature, the dashboards and overview reports, or you are using a third party software like Crystal Reports or SQL Server Report Builder, if NetHelpDesk has data in it, you can be assured that is possible to report on it in many ways. Our team offer basic report writing as part of your Maintenance package, but more complex requirements are available at an hourly cost. Speak with your NetHelpDesk representative for further details. For those with more advanced SQL experience, to understand more about how the data is structured, go to www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlgraphic for an overview of SQL query fields. UNDERSTANDING THE DATA STRUCTURE IN NHD SQL DATABASE To help your Database Analysts (DBAs) to understand the structure of your NetHelpDesk database, we have created the following document to help point the right direction. This list is meant as a starting point, and is by no means definitive. These are not the entire catalogue of data in NetHelpDesk. If data is stored in the database, it can be reported on.

Date Occurred Faults.dateoccured

Client/Area name Area.aareadesc

Site name Site.sdesc

Site Address Info.idata (Ikind=s inum=site number iseq=site field id)

Site Telephone Number Same as site address

User Name Users.uusername

User Telephone Number User.uextn (also umobile, ufax)

Caller's Reference Faults.faultid)

Inventory ID Device.Dinvno (unless you are referring to an asset field, then it will be the same as below)

Make Info.idata (Ikind=d inum=site assigned to number)

Model Info.idata (Ikind=d inum=site assigned to number)

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlgraphic


Agent Assigned To Faults.Assignedtoint (but this is an integer matched to Uname.unum)

Category Faults.Category2 (also category3.category4.category5 and 2,3,4,5 in the db =1,2,3,4 in NHD)

Status Faults.status (integer matched to tstatus.tstatus)

Priority Faults.seriousness (NOT Faults.priority)

Responded Date and Time Faults.fresponsedate and Faults.fresponsetime

Summary Faults.symptom

List of Actions on call Actions (matched to Faults with faultid)

Our Support team are available to assist with anything you may need. DATA ANALYSER The Data Analyser functionality in NetHelpDesk allows for any type of reporting on data recorded in the database that you may ever need. If the data is in NetHelpDesk, you can report on it. It uses SQL Queries to pull information from the database and presents it in a usable layout allowing you to filter the data in a number of different ways. Although it would be beneficial to possess a SQL background, a knowledge of SQL is not necessary to use this extremely powerful tool. There are a number of simple queries that allow you to create a variety of reports. For more advanced reporting, SQL knowledge may be needed. In the main screen, go to the main ribbon called Reporting, and you will see the Analyser options. VIEW DATA ANALYSER PROFILES A suite of pre-written reports are already available to all Customers to choose from. If it was part of your example database when you first started looking at NetHelpDesk, at the very least you should have the two Reports available, called “Actions” and “Tickets”. If these aren’t available as part of your install, and you are an Admin user, these can soon be added in for you. Please speak with our Support Team to get these reports. As we move through the guide, we will add to this list, and many more are available from our team.


UNDERSTANDING DATA ANALYSER USING EXISTING REPORTS Double click, or single click to highlight, and click ‘View’ or ‘Edit’. This will take you straight to the report data, and will display whatever was selected the last time the report was saved. From here, you can see the additional tabs, and the first one is labelled Report. If you click on the SQL String tab, a SQL statement has been configured to create the basis that the profile will work from. This goes into your database, asks it for information, and the SQL database will return information based on the query or statement. In this example, we will look at a specially created report called Tickets, which uses a customised SQL View called Request View. Starting on the Field Selection tab, choose the fields you would like to include on your report.

1. To add a field to the report, select it, and click the > symbol.

2. To remove, select and hit the < symbol, or click << to remove all fields.

3. Click >> to add all fields. Next, go to the Reporting Period tab, and choose the period you would like to select data from. When choosing, ensure that a 'Date Field' is chosen on the right hand side. The reporting period must be selected from a date field. If your query has produced one or multiple date field data, you can select the field most relevant to your reporting period. For example, if you wanted to look at calls opened in the last month, compared to the call closed in the last month, these would be two very different data fields, producing very different results. This functionality flexibility allows for very powerful reporting at the click of a button. Next, select a relevant data filter if you like, the data to Include or Exclude certain data from the total data produced. For example, you can select to Include only a certain Customer, or to Exclude a certain Agent, and so on. Go to the Reporting Period tab, and click Add New Filter. TYPE OF FILTER Include Only include rows that match this filter. Exclude Do not include rows that match this filter. If the choices in the database are alphanumerical values, the filter may give you a list to check from. In the first example below with Request Types, this filter will only include requests with the Request Type of Incident.


If the choices are purely numerical values, the filter may give you a further rule type that relates to a numerical value. In the second example below, with Hours Used, this filter will Exclude requests with less than 10 hours. PLEASE NOTE: If the filter recognises that you are selecting a date field, it will ask you to,

instead, use the Reporting Period tab instead, to control the dates used in the profile.

You can add more than one filter per profile. Be mindful that if data doesn’t display that you would expect, it may be due to a filter, or data requested does not exist that matches the filter. RESTRICTING ACCESS TO YOUR REPORT.

1) The Access Restrictions tab allows for certain reports to be restricted from certain users. This may be used for sensitive information, such as revenue or time logged, and so on.

2) If you do restrict a report, make sure to add yourself first of all. If you are not added to the

list, even you won’t be able to run the report! Once you have made the desired changes to the report, click Update Report to view your report. ADDING A VISUAL REPRESENTATION The Chart tab allows a visual representation of the data in your report. Depending on the type of report you are creating, the Update Report button may need to be used before continuing. At the bottom of the chart tab, you will need to specify what two parameters the visual representation will use, such as Customer Name and Hours Used. To the right hand side of these axis, specify labels or titles for this data. It is also possible to specify how to order the data, and whether the data will be ascending and descending. Some combinations will use data that is not suitable for visual representations, and so may not load. Please clarify with any of our NetHelpDesk representatives should you need any help with the section of the data analyser reporting quite. GROUPING YOUR DATA To group by one of the columns in the report:

1. Right click the column header, then click Group by this Column. To produce a Total/Average at the base of the grouped column:


1. Right click another column/columns

2. Click Show Group Total for this Column or,

3. Click Show Group Average for this Column. To undo the groupings:

1. Click Ungroup at the bottom of the main report screen. ORDERING YOUR DATA To order by a column in the report:

1. Click on the column heading. Your data will be ordered in descending order.

2. Click again to order in ascending order. REORDERING COLUMNS IN VIEW If the order that the columns appear in do not correspond with your preferences, they can be reordered by clicking and dragging to a new location. You do not need to be grouping to do this.

1. Click and hold on the column header you wish to relocate.

2. Slide the column in the direction required, and 2 green arrows will appear, to show the new location of the column, once you stop holding the column header.

EXPORTING DATA INTO EXCEL Once your report looks how you need it to, to export the data into an Excel spreadsheet, click the Save to Excel option at the bottom of the main Data Analyser Screen. Choose the location to save the report, as you would any other Microsoft Office file. SEND ATTACHED TO AN E-MAIL To send as a one-off e-mail:

1. Click Send Now Via E-mail.

This will queue an e-mail with the report attached to be sent via NHServer, like any other e-mail you send out from NetHelpDesk.


To send as a part of a regular e-mail schedule:

1. Click Scheduled E-mails.

This will schedule an e-mail to be sent along with the report at a chosen regular interval.

2. Specify the e-mail addresses to send to, the Subject and Body, as you would any other e-mail.

3. Specify the schedule that you would like to send the e-mail.

E.g. Midnight, every first Monday of the month.

e.g. the 15th of every month.

…and so on. You may build in as many e-mail schedules that you would like per report.



CREATING YOUR OWN REPORT Before creating your own report, please read the section above to understand how the analyser works. Once the SQL query is written, the sections above show you how to use it. This part of the guide is to help you to create the query that will produce the profile that you can adapt. A good place to start for actions or ticket reports is using the SQL String: SELECT * FROM REQUEST_VIEW Or SELECT * FROM ACTION_VIEW These are user-friendly ‘Views’ that access popular field names, and combined with the data filters, will create many of the reports that NetHelpDesk are asked for every day.

1) Click Add.

2) On the SQL tab, the SQL query of the database of NHD needs to be written, such as the examples we recommend using above.

3) You can copy and paste SQL from another report to play with, add from a Config profile, or anyone with SQL experience will be able to query anything using this extremely powerful tool.

4) For anyone who wants to understand the basic database structure of NetHelpDesk, if they go to www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlgraphic, a graphical representation of the DB structure is available.

For more complex reporting, a fair amount of SQL knowledge will be needed, if creating reports yourself. If you are a technical novice, and/or don’t have the SQL database knowledge resource available in your own organisation, the NetHelpDesk Support Team can assist with your simple report requirements, as part of your existing maintenance contract or subscription. If the report is incredibly complex, we can create reports, charged by the hour. Simply ask the team for a quotation. DATA ANALYSER SQL CONFIG If the SQL query will be used in a multitude of reports, you can build the basics of the profile here. If there are pre-existing reports in your database that use a SQL query that you would like to use to produce other reports quickly, copy and paste the SQL query from those reports into this area.

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlgraphic


1) Add in a detailed description of the query, to separate it from others.

2) In the SQL field, add in the SQL query required. This query could be as simple as Select * from faults. It could be more complex.

3) Click OK to save.

4) Build as many basic SQL Config profiles that your organisation would need. Once your report is created, there are some further options that you may wish to look at below.



Integration Options and Setup Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



INTEGRATING WITH CALENDARS NetHelpDesk is able to automatically create calendar appointments for three events;

A. When a job is scheduled, using the Set Planned Date action, an appointment can be created using the planned date field and the estimated duration field within the request.

B. When any action is added, NetHelpDesk can create an appointment using the Action Done

At and Action Time Taken fields in the action that is being added.

C. When an appointment, or multiple appointments, are created against a request, for one or multiple Agents.

OUTLOOK CALENDAR APPOINTMENTS USING MAPI PROFILES MAPI profiles can be used for the Calendar integration feature. Previous configurations using the FQDN strings to connect are still possible, but profiles is easier to setup and maintain. Creating the MAPI Profiles

1. Make sure that the machine where NetHelpDesk is installed does not have the MAPI CDO Client installed. If it is, uninstall, and restart the machine before proceeding.

2. On the machine that will be running the NHServer program, go to Control Panel > Mail >

Add Profile and enter the information required to access the mailbox of the Agent who you want to create appointments against.

3. Now open Microsoft Outlook and connect with this profile. You may be asked to enter

credentials. Enter the correct password and click Remember Password.

4. This will need to be done for each mailbox you want to create Calendar appointments in, and bring existing appointments from their Exchange calendars.

5. Then go back to the NetHelpDesk main Windows application, and go to N > Setup > Main

Configuration > Agents and put the MAPI profile name against each Agent’s account, as necessary.

6. If you wish to use Agent specific settings to control whether the program will create

appointments or not, please specify when it is required for NetHelpDesk to create an appointment for the Agent.

7. Change the NetHelpDesk.udl file path to have ‘(Path to udl) ONCE BLANK BLANK BLANK MAPINTSERVICE’ for this to work with a scheduled task.



Option Description

Never Will not ever create an appointment in Outlook Calendars, even if they are present in NetHelpDesk Calendar.

Always for Appointments For any request that has a ‘planned date’ set, an entry will be created every time in the Agent’s Calendar that is assigned to the request.

Ask Will prompt for permission before adding an appointment from the NetHelpDesk Calendar into the Outlook Calendar.

Calendar Integration Configuration Now the Agent accounts are connected to their MAPI profiles, NetHelpDesk knows where to put their individual Calendar Appointments outside of NetHelpDesk. We now want to switch the feature on, to complete the setup configuration.

1. Now, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Calendars / Scheduling.

2. The screen looks busy, but information for this area is important, so will need to be followed carefully, to understand how it will all come together.

3. Choose Exchange, if you are working with MAPI profiles, or Google Calendar, as

necessary.

4. Select When to Create an Appointment, from the drop down menu:

Option Description

Never Will not ever create an appointment in Outlook Calendars, even if they are present in NetHelpDesk Calendar.

Always for Appointments For any request that has a ‘planned date’ set, an entry will be created every time in the Agent’s Calendar that is assigned to the request.

Ask Will prompt for permission before adding an appointment from the NetHelpDesk Calendar into the Outlook Calendar.

Use Agent Level Setting Will use specified option setting from the Agent’s account.


5. To create appointments for any action, (using action date and action time taken fields), ensure to check the Show Checkbox – Automatically creates a Calendar Entry for Actions option, to allow the “Add to Calendar” button to show on all actions in NetHelpDesk.

6. Import Agent Appointments from Exchange and show in Calendar checkbox allows for

anything in the Agent’s personal calendar to be pulled into NetHelpDesk. If the appointment is marked as private, the time will be marked in NetHelpDesk with the term “Data unavailable” as it is restricted from view.

7. Select how many days in the past, and in the future, to bring into NetHelpDesk on a

calendar sync, which is run during a typical NHServer scan.

8. Extra Details section is there for backwards compatibility. It’s not preferred to use this for new users.

9. The option to send e-mails from NetHelpDesk to Agent’s specified e-mail addresses is available, which can be useful if you have a central team co-ordinating Engineers, for example.

10. Estimate – Default Value allows for a specific amount of time to be automatically allocated to a Calendar entry that is added as an appointment.

11. Today’s Planned Requests has a colour scheme chooser, so you can in the calendar view the entries that have been automatically generated as part of a schedule.

12. The NetHelpDesk Calendar Display allows you to set the working days’ time and active time, in much the same way you can with Microsoft Outlook.


13. The Appointments Interface – Calendar Format allows control of what information goes from the appointment and/or request, into the Calendar entry in the external Calendar.

CALENDARS AND SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS To help organise teams and individual Agent’s time can be a thankless, laborious task, and if you have ever used Excel spreadsheets to manage this, you will be all too aware of the importance, but logistics of the managing a team’s time. NetHelpDesk goes the extra mile to make your lives easier, by having a central calendar function. Each Agent login has its own calendar, and calendar colour.

Example Individual Agent Calendar View

The central calendar feature can separate out each Agent’s calendar, or can group all of the entries into one group calendar. The option to set the number of days to appear, time intervals on the calendar, and to include pertinent data are available from the main Calendar screen. To make it even better, NetHelpDesk can interact with your calendar or calendars that are used outside of NetHelpDesk, such as on Exchange in their individual Outlook accounts, Google Calendar, or Office 365 calendars. It will intelligently push data out to the calendars, adjust external calendar based on changes in NetHelpDesk, and push to NetHelpDesk any changes made in the external calendar.



PLEASE NOTE: NetHelpDesk works with “Appointments” in Calendars, not “Meetings”. Whilst the appointment can go into several calendars at once, it is not meant to invite people to via e-mail, similar to that used in Microsoft Outlook. It will still use reminders with pop-ups.

Example of Grouped Agent Calendar View

SETTING UP NETHELPDESK TO PROCESS CALENDAR ENTRIES Please refer to the Integration with Calendars section above, in this guide. The setup is simple, but will require some basic technical knowledge to link with your existing Calendar setup. Should you need any assistance, our support team are available to make it as hassle-free as possible. The usual issues with Calendar integration are related to permissions, so it is advisable to have someone technical available. CREATING AN APPOINTMENT IN A REQUEST. If available, there is a tab within each request view called “Appointments/Tasks”. The view shows:

1. The subject of the appointment. 2. The start date. 3. The start time. 4. The end date. 5. The end time. 6. The drop down for assigning the appointment to a Agent. 7. The Note section for the appointment. 8. Complete Status.


Whether it’s an appointment to visit your end-user, or a task you wish to schedule to remind someone to action something, this is the feature that makes all this possible and more. By clicking on the buttons, you reveal functionality, and the button icon will go red. This is so you can cancel the functionality inside the appointment/task.

Before clicking buttons for additional functionality

After clicking buttons for additional functionality

RESCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS/TASKS The entry on the NetHelpDesk Calendar has two options to adjust the entry if necessary. In the screenshot, the blue box highlights the left hand part of the entry. There is a faint line just slightly in from the edge. Hover over this until you see arrows pointing in four directions. This allows you to move the whole appointment.


In the screenshot, the red box highlights the bottom part of the entry. Hover over this until you see an arrow pointing in 2 directions. This allows you to adjust the end of the appointment, either lengthening or shortening the appointment, as necessary.

Alternatively, if you have integrated your calendars with those in your Exchange mailboxes, or Google Calendar, NetHelpDesk will update the appointment should you move them in those areas. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




FACEBOOK INTEGRATION If your company has a company Facebook page, NetHelpDesk can manage that Facebook page for you, and create requests from any posts on that Facebook page. AUTHORISING NHD WITH A FACEBOOK PAGE When using the Facebook integration for the first time, the Agent setting up the integration will be asked to log into Facebook, using an account that has administrative rights to the company page you wish to utilise. Once NetHelpDesk has been authorised as an app on Facebook, no further logins are required, and the Agent can carry on using the integration without the need to re-login. To authorise NHD:

1. Click on either:

a. The Facebook button on the main screen Tools tab, or b. The “Not Logged In” caption on the Statistics pane.

2. The Log Into Facebook form will appear, with fields for User Account and Page.

3. The first time this screen appears, the dropdowns will be empty.

4. Select Add New Account.

This will take you to an OAuth web-login form.

PLEASE NOTE: If the page doesn’t load, the page may be blocked by your browser settings,

or by your IT team e.g. via a proxy. The website: “https://www.facebook.com” will need to be either added as a

trusted site, in your Internet Explorer settings, or speak with your IT team about allowing this web address through for this process.

You will also need to ensure that cookies are enabled in Internet Explorer.

5. Log into Facebook using an account that has administrative access rights to the page you wish to manage.

6. Upon successful login, the following screens will require you to grant access for

NetHelpDesk to access some Facebook features.

7. Accept these, and you will be taken back to the initial login screen, with your authenticated user account in the User Account dropdown, and all the pages that you can manage in the Page dropdown.


8. Select a page from the dropdown.

9. Select Log In to manage the page you have selected from the drop down.

10. To get NetHelpDesk to log you into this page on start-up, check the Log me into this page automatically checkbox.

When logging in again in future, you will only need to select the User Account and Page from the dropdowns, as this information is saved in the database. COMMUNICATING WITH NHD THROUGH FACEBOOK Once you are logged into your Facebook page, there will be two screens where you can manage the page; the main Facebook screen, and the Mini-Feed in the Statistics Pane. MAIN FACEBOOK SCREEN

Main Facebook Screen

1. In the top right hand corner of the main screen, the screen name of the page you are currently logged into, is displayed. Clicking here will allow you to select another page to log into.

2. The Tagged Posts and Page Posts labels are also buttons, which allow you to toggle between the two options.


Tagged Posts will show any posts by other users on the pages wall.

Page Posts will show your own posts or status.

3. Type a post or status and send it to Facebook from here.

4. These are your most recent posts. The Facebook user’s name is shown.

Right click > Edit user > Advanced Tab > Social Media. Specify a user’s ID.

If the Facebook User ID is matched to a user in the NetHelpDesk database, this will show the Area/Client, Site and User instead.

5. View or add comments on a post using the View Comments or Comment links. Selecting

this will display a screen with the comments history on that post.

6. Use the Create Request button to create a NetHelpDesk request using the Facebook post.

This will use the default request type for New Tickets. To check what yours is set to, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Requests.


If a post already has a request linked to it, it will instead show the Request ID. Double clicking the number, will open the request. Further comments from your company or from the end-user, will be automatically added to the request as actions.

7. The number of posts shown can be adjusted here.

8. The Refresh Now button will force a refresh of this screen. However, the feed will update

automatically whenever the list on the main screen in NetHelpDesk is refreshed. Requests created by Facebook posts will behave exactly the same way, as any other standard requests in NetHelpDesk When replying to any request created from a Facebook post, the action screen will automatically have a checkbox at the bottom of the action screen saying Post on Facebook. When enabled, whatever you write in the notes field of the action, will post the reply as a comment, on the Facebook post that the request was created from. Any comments on posts that have been turned into requests, will be automatically added to the request as an action, the next time the Facebook feed refreshes. FACEBOOK MINI-FEED The other way to utilise the Facebook integration is to use the Mini-Feed found in the Statistics Pane, available on the right hand side of the main screen. If you cannot see yours, go to View Ribbon > Statistics Pane.

1. This is the screen name of the account you are currently logged into. Clicking here when not logged in will allow you to log in.

2. This is a mini-version of the main grid on the main Facebook screen. Double clicking will open the comments on the post.

3. This is a shortcut to open the main Facebook screen, discussed previously. To create request from a Facebook post, you will need to use the Create Request button in the Main Facebook Screen grid. Please see the previous section.



TWITTER INTEGRATION If your company has a company Twitter account, NetHelpDesk can manage that Twitter account for you, and create requests from any posts on that Twitter account. AUTHORISING NHD WITH A TWITTER ACCOUNT When using the Twitter integration, due to the restrictions imposed by Twitter themselves, you will need to log into the Twitter account should you wish to use it. To log in:

1. Click on either the: a. Twitter button on the main screen Tools tab, or b. The “Not Logged In” caption on the Statistics pane.

2. This will open an OAuth web-login form where you be prompted for the Twitter Username

or e-mail, and the password.

3. Enter the credentials for your company’s account, and select Authorise app. You will then be given a verification code.

4. Before closing this screen, copy this code into notepad, as you will need to enter this code

in NetHelpDesk to grant NetHelpDesk access to the account.

5. Once copied, close this form and another screen form will display, asking you for this code.

6. Paste the code into the box to grant access to NetHelpDesk. NetHelpDesk will now have access to the authenticated Twitter account until NetHelpDesk is closed, or until the session expires. If either of these happen, the Agent will need to re-authenticate the account. PLEASE NOTE: If the OAuth web login form doesn’t load, the page may be blocked by your

browser settings, or by your IT team e.g. via a proxy. The website: “https://www.twitter.com” will need to be either added as a

trusted site, in your Internet Explorer settings, or speak with your IT team about allowing this web address through for this process.

You will also need to ensure that cookies are enabled in Internet Explorer. The Twitter feed screen will then appear, showing all the latest mentions and tweets.



COMMUNICATING WITH NHD THROUGH TWITTER Once you are logged into your Twitter page, there will be two screens where you can manage the page; the main Twitter screen, and the Mini-Feed in the Statistics Pane. MAIN TWITTER SCREEN:

1. In the top right hand corner of the main screen, the screen name of the account you are currently logged into, is displayed. Clicking here when not logged in, will allow you to log in.

2. The Mentions and Tweets labels are also buttons, which allow you to toggle between the

two options. Mentions will show any Tweets by other users that have mentioned your Twitter account name in, e.g. @NetHelpDesk. Tweets will show your account’s own Tweets.

3. Type a tweet here (standard Tweet 140 character limit) and send it to Twitter.

4. This table will show your most recent mentions or tweets. The Twitter user’s name is

shown with the screen name next to them.


Right click > Edit user > Advanced Tab > Social Media. Specify a user’s Twitter name. You don’t need to specify the ‘@’ sign. If the Twitter screenname is matched to a user in the NetHelpDesk database, it will show the Area/Client, Site and User instead.

5. Use the Create Request button to create a NetHelpDesk request from a mention in Twitter.

This will use the default request type for New Tickets. To check what yours is set to, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Requests.

If a tweet already has a request linked to it, it will instead show the Request ID. Double clicking will open the request. Further tweets from your company or from the end-user, will be automatically added to the request as actions.

6. The number of tweets shown can be adjusted here, and the Refresh Now button will force

a refresh. However, the feed will update automatically whenever the list on the main screen in NetHelpDesk is refreshed. Any new tweets will appear highlighted blue.

Requests created by Twitter posts will behave exactly the same way, as any other standard requests in NetHelpDesk When replying to any request created from a Twitter post, the action screen will automatically have a checkbox at the bottom of the action screen saying Send Tweet. When enabled, the 140 character limit appears, and whatever you write in the notes field of the action, will then tweet a reply on the Twitter post that the request was created from. Any further tweets in that conversation will be automatically added to the request as an action, the next time the Twitter feed refreshes. TWITTER MINI-FEED: The other way to utilise the Twitter integration is to use the Mini-Feed found in the Statistics Pane, available on the right hand side of the main screen. If you cannot see yours, go to View Ribbon > Statistics Pane.

4. This is the screen name of the account you are currently logged into. Clicking here when not logged in will allow you to log in.

5. This is a mini-version of the main grid on the main Twitter screen. Double clicking will open the tweets on the request.

6. This is a shortcut to open the main Facebook screen, discussed previously. To create request from a Twitter mention, you will need to use the Create Request button in the Main Twitter Screen grid. Please see the previous section.



- END OF DOCUMENT -


INTEGRATING WITH QUICKBOOKS AN OVERVIEW NetHelpDesk can be used to create sales invoices in QuickBooks for:

Services (e.g. Time entered onto a request by a Agent) Items (e.g. Any chargeable goods/units, such as hardware or software) Recurring Billable Items (e.g. antivirus renewals, domain name hosting etc.) Fixed Price Contracts (e.g. Your Customer pays a fixed amount for service you provide)

If you would like to get NetHelpDesk to produce an invoice directly in QuickBooks, you must install the Intuit foundation class libraries. INSTALLATION OF QB INTERFACE FILES (MANDATORY) MANDATORY STEP: To use QuickBooks integration, please download and install the following onto every PC/Server that will be used for syncing with QuickBooks: US/CA & UK Versions up to and including 2007: www.nethelpdesk.com/qbfc5.zip US/CA & UK Versions from 2008 onwards: www.nethelpdesk.com/qbfc6.zip Australian and New Zealand versions from 2008 onwards: www.nethelpdesk.com/qbfc10.zip Now that these are installed, NetHelpDesk can now communicate with your version of QuickBooks. In the following steps, we have used the sample company file from QuickBooks Pro 2012 of a Landscape Gardening Company, and imported the sample data into an empty NetHelpDesk database. Once you understand these simple steps, you can move forward into more advanced features of the integration. QUICKBOOKS DATA SYNC/IMPORT WIZARD (For Customers who wish to import data from QuickBooks into an empty database) If you have details in QuickBooks that you would like to import into a blank database used by NetHelpDesk, you can use the Data Sync/Import Wizard. The following data from QuickBooks can be imported: Customer Name, Customer Addresses, Customer Telephone Number, Customer Domain Name (for incoming e-mail matching). Customer Accounts ID, Service Items, Non-Service Items.


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/qbfc5.zip




PLEASE NOTE: This process can be used for the initial data import, as well as an on-going synchronisation. This part of the integration is Read Only, and will only read the data from QuickBooks and import into NetHelpDesk. It doesn’t write any of the above data back into QuickBooks at any time.

To carry out an import/sync:

1. Make sure you have QuickBooks open and running on the same PC as NetHelpDesk. The first time you carry out a QB sync, QB must be logged in as an administrator in order to grant NHD the proper access rights

2. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing.

3. Check Use QuickBooks for Invoice Processing checkbox

4. Select the version of QuickBooks being used from the drop down menu.

5. Click Sync Customers/Items from 3rd Party Accounts button.

6. NetHelpDesk will ask if OK to import Customers and Items from QuickBooks / Sage. Click

Yes.

7. QuickBooks will ask for what permissions to give NetHelpDesk to access the QuickBooks data. Select as necessary.

8. The number of items processed from the Items List in QuickBooks will display.

9. NetHelpDesk will ask you “Would you like to set Customer address details in NetHelpDesk

to the address details in QuickBooks”. Select as necessary.

10. The number of customers processed from QuickBooks will display.

11. NetHelpDesk will ask you “When adding actions in NetHelpDesk, do you need to be able to select a QuickBooks Service item for the time to be billed against?” Select as necessary.

12. The number of Service items processed from QuickBooks.

13. In the following steps, if you do not intend to use these charge rate codes, select an

Accounts ID you know has a zero rate.

14. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Choose Item to use for Periodic/Contract Charge. Select as necessary.

15. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Remote

Support.

16. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: On-Site Support.


17. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Remote Support.

18. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Travel.

19. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Mileage.

20. Import is now complete. However, please read to the end of the section.

PLEASE NOTE: In the unlikely event you encounter any errors, or screens do not appear as

you expect, please contact out support team. There is a high probability it will take just minutes to fix.

21. Make sure on the Billing tab, in the Tax Codes section, that the last column QB Tax Code

matches the codes in QuickBooks Sales Tax Code List. If not, manually edit these. Click OK.

22. If your Customer list does not display straight away, you may not have a main screen

refresh set. Change the current view to another filter selection, and then back to By Client/Site.

PLEASE NOTE: If there is an e-mail address against the Customer, the domain name is now

mapped across to the site incoming domain field (used for matching unknown users from that company.

UNDERSTANDING HOW NETHELPDESK INVOICES IN QUICKBOOKS In the following example, there are 2 ways to display the information we enter in a QuickBooks Invoice:

a) Grouping Request Actions by Charge Rate, or b) Creating an Invoice Item per action.

By default, NetHelpDesk groups Request Actions together by Charge Rate. i.e. If you have 10 actions against a request, and you only have 5 charge rates specified, e.g. On Site Support, Remote Support, Travel, Mileage and Miscellaneous, the most lines you will have in your QuickBooks invoice against a request is 5 (one for each charge rate used). If you only used 3 charge rates in the request, the most you will have are 3 lines in your QuickBooks invoice, and so on. To create an Invoice Line item per action, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing and select the Create Invoice Line Items per action checkbox. Click OK.



UNDERSTANDING WHERE INFORMATION ON QUICKBOOKS INVOICE IS PULLED FROM IN NETHELPDESK Pay As You Go

Quantity Item Code Description Price Each



Quantity Number of Hours and Minutes in Action Open up a Request > Add an Action > Add Action Note > Add Hours and Minutes Taken > Select applicable charge rate > Click OK.



Item Code QuickBooks Item Code N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Global Charge Rates (Amounts, Descriptions and 3rd Party Accounts Item Codes) > Select a Charge Rate from the list > Edit Charge Rate Description > 3rd Party Accounts ID:



Description Information on line item. N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Global Charge Rates (Amounts, Descriptions and 3rd Party Accounts Item Codes) > Select a Charge Rate from the list > Edit Charge Rate Description > 3rd Party Accounts Desc:



String Variables for Billing Description in NetHelpDesk with QuickBooks

$FaultID Request Number

$Symptom Request Summary

$Symptom2 Request Details

$Clearance Closure Note

$AssignedTo Agent Assigned to Request

$DateOccured Date Request Logged

$DateCleared Date Request Closed

$username End user name

$faultid Request ID number

$actionnote Action note

$actiontech Agent who added note

$actionstarttime Time action logged in 24HR format, e.g. 14:00

$actionduration hrs:mins entered against the action, e.g. 1:30

$actionendtime Time action finished in 24HR format, e.g. 15:30

$crlf Puts carriage return, to start a new line.



Price Each Price of 1 whole unit. N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Global Charge Rates (Amounts, Descriptions and 3rd Party Accounts Item Codes) > Select a Charge Rate from the list > Edit.



Fixed Price

Quantity Item Code Description Price Each Quantity Number of Billing Period Units. Usually 1 for Fixed Price Billing.



Item Code QuickBooks Item Code N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Accounts ID Codes > Item Code to use for Periodic / Contract Charge:



Description Information on line item. N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Accounts ID Codes >Periodic Charge Description.



Price Each Price of 1 whole unit Right click on Customer > Edit Customer > Billing Details Tab > Add Contract > Period Charge Amount.



Recurring Billing

Quantity Item Code Description Price Each

Quantity Number of Billing Period Units. Right click on Customer > Edit Customer > Recurring Billing Tab.



Item Code QuickBooks Item Code Items > By Device Type > Recurring Items > Right click on group > New Item > Accounts ID Description Information on line item. Items > By Device Type > Recurring Items > Right click on group > New Item > Main Description Price Each Price of 1 whole unit Right click on Customer > Edit Customer > Billing Details Tab > Add Contract > Period Charge Amount.



CREATING INVOICES FROM NETHELPDESK IN QUICKBOOKS Now that you have your Customer and Item details in NetHelpDesk, let’s produce a sample invoice with some actions with time, and some items issued, so you can see information from a NetHelpDesk request being injected in a QuickBooks invoice. Creating a Sample Request to Invoice

1. Choose a Customer, and create a New Request in NetHelpDesk against one of the users, e.g. Right click on a User’s Name, and select New Request.

2. Make a note of the Customer you have used, as this will be needed later.

3. Add a Summary for the call, and some brief Details, and click Add Request.

4. Add some actions, maybe 2 or 3, against the request, and associate a different charge rate

for each one.

5. Add a few Items as well to the Items Issued tab.

6. Now Close the Request, add some closure Notes, and some final time.

7. The request will disappear from the main screen, as NetHelpDesk assumes that no further Agent action is necessary. If you need to review, use the main screen filter by clicking on the green + button in the top right hand corner of the main screen.

8. Now that a request has been created, you will want to see what NetHelpDesk does with the data. So, now we run a standard Billing and Invoice Routine.





STANDARD BILLING AND INVOICING ROUTINE WITH QUICKBOOKS PLEASE NOTE: This routine injects information straight away into QuickBooks. Select a

“Trial Run” if you want to test everything is ok first, which will not update QuickBooks.

1. Click Billing in the main screen, and click Accounts Interface.

2. Any errors that appear will be directly linked to the setup. You will need to read the

messages, and follow their instructions.

3. The Accounts Interface and Create Invoices Selection Screen will appear.

4. Select what the invoice creation is for. It can be one, several, or all, depending on your requirements.

5. Update database choice allows you to choose whether to run a test trial run of the

processing, which will produce the billing report for you to check. Alternatively, you can update the database of QuickBooks with the data in NetHelpDesk. If you need to review all transactions before running a test, it is recommended to have a review process in place. See relevant section of this guide.

6. Choose which Clients to bill, and by default, it will select All Clients. If you have existing

data in NetHelpDesk from an import, NHD will not know what has been billed previously, and what has not. Please speak with our Support team to guide you through this process.

7. Sync to the 3rd Party Accounts checkbox is the last check to ensure you’re happy to go

ahead, then click OK.

8. NetHelpDesk will then ask if ok to continue. Click Yes. PLEASE NOTE: QuickBooks will need to be running for the transactions to synchronise.

9. “OK to Process: X Accounts Transactions?” Click Yes.

10. Reminder to have QuickBooks running now in order for it to work. Click OK.

11. NetHelpDesk will then confirm the number of transactions processed successfully. Click OK.

PLEASE NOTE: If any transactions are not processed correctly for any reason, view the log

file to see errors. These errors are usually regarding missing information, and easily resolved. Speak with the support team to guide you through these.

12. If all ok, you do not need to view the log file now, so click No.

13. Your sample invoice is now in QuickBooks.


For more detailed information on how NetHelpDesk integrates with your third party accounting software, and how to utilise the powerful billing mechanism of NetHelpDesk, please see the Billing from NetHelpDesk section of this guide. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




INTEGRATING WITH SAGE INSTALLATION OF SAGE INTERFACE FILES To use Sage integration, third party integration needs to be enabled within Sage. To do this, please contact Sage and ask them for the activation key to release this (should be already included in your purchase, so free of charge). SAGE COMPANY FILE

1. Sage uses a file called the COMPANY file to define the folder where the actual Sage data is stored. NetHelpDesk needs to be told where this COMPANY file is located, so it knows where to source the Sage data to sync with NetHelpDesk.

2. If the correct path name to the COMPANY file is not entered, Sage errors with messages

such as "incorrect data version", or a blank Sage company selection screen will display. PLEASE NOTE: The path specified in NetHelpDesk needs to be to the FOLDER where the

COMPANY file is stored, and not to the COMPANY file itself. Correct example: \…\Program Files\Sage\Accounts Incorrect example #1: \...\Program Files\Sage\Accounts\COMPANY Incorrect example #2: \…\Program Files\Sage\Accounts\Company.000

3. Below is a screenshot of Sage 2013 installation in Windows Explorer showing the location of the company file.



NetHelpDesk can be used to create sales invoices in Sage for:

Services (e.g. Time entered onto a request by a Agent) Items (e.g. Any chargeable goods/units, such as hardware or software) Recurring Billable Items (e.g. antivirus renewals, domain name hosting etc.) Fixed Price Contracts (e.g. Your Customer pays a fixed amount for service you provide)

If you would like to get NetHelpDesk to produce an invoice directly in Sage, you must install the Intuit foundation class libraries. Once you understand these simple steps, you can move forward into more advanced features of the integration. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




SAGE DATA SYNC/IMPORT WIZARD (For Customers who wish to import data from Sage into an empty database) If you have details in Sage that you would like to import into a blank database used by NetHelpDesk, you can use the Data Sync/Import Wizard. The following data from Sage can be imported: Customer Name, Customer Addresses, Customer Telephone Number, Customer Domain Name (for incoming e-mail matching). Customer Accounts ID, Service Items, Non-Service Items. PLEASE NOTE: This process can be used for the initial data import, as well as an on-going

synchronisation. This part of the integration is Read Only, and will only read the data from Sage and import into NetHelpDesk. It doesn’t write any of the above data back into Sage at any time.

To carry out an import/sync:

1. Make sure you have Sage open and running on the same PC as NetHelpDesk.

2. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing.

3. Check Use Sage for Invoice Processing checkbox.

4. Add the Path to Sage Company File.

5. Add Sage User Name and Password.

6. Add Sage Version Number.

7. Click Sync Customers/Items from 3rd Party Accounts button.

8. NetHelpDesk will ask if OK to import Customers and Items from QuickBooks / Sage. Click Yes.

9. Sage will ask for what permissions to give NetHelpDesk to access the Sage data. Select

as necessary.

10. The number of items processed from the Items List in Sage will display.

11. NetHelpDesk will ask you “Would you like to set Customer address details in NetHelpDesk to the address details in Sage?” Select as necessary.

12. The number of customers processed from Sage will display.

13. NetHelpDesk will ask you “When adding actions in NetHelpDesk, do you need to be able to select a Sage Service item for the time to be billed against?” Select as necessary.


14. The number of Service items processed from Sage.

15. In the following steps, if you do not intend to use these charge rate codes, select an Accounts ID you know has a zero rate.

16. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Choose Item to use for Periodic/Contract Charge. Select

as necessary.

17. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Remote Support.

18. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: On-Site Support.

19. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Remote

Support.

20. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Travel.

21. NetHelpDesk will now ask you to Select Accounts ID for the charge rate code: Mileage.

22. Import is now complete. However, please read to the end of the section.

PLEASE NOTE: In the unlikely event you encounter any errors, or screens do not appear as you expect, please contact out support team. There is a high probability it will take just minutes to fix.

23. Make sure on the Billing tab, in the Tax Codes section, that the last column QB Tax Code

matches the codes in Sage Sales Tax Code List. If not, manually edit these. Click OK.

24. If your Customer list does not display straight away, you may not have a main screen refresh set. Change the current view to another filter selection, and then back to By Client/Site.

PLEASE NOTE: If there is an e-mail address against the Customer, the domain name is now

mapped across to the site incoming domain field (used for matching unknown users from that company.



CHOOSING DATA TO INJECT FROM NHD REQUEST INTO SAGE INVOICE Now you have a sample invoice, and can see information from a NetHelpDesk request being injected into a Sage Invoice, you will notice that the default information from the request is the Request Number ($faultid) and the Closure Note ($clearance). To add further information to display, you will need to edit the Charge Rate Descriptions.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Global Charge Rates (Amounts, Descriptions and 3rd Party Accounts Item Codes) > Select a Charge Rate from the list > Edit Charge Rate Description.

2. The 3rd Party Accounts Desc: field is where the following $variables can be specified, to

add content from the NetHelpDesk request into the line items in the Sage invoices.

3. Add some from the list below, and repeat the steps above, to get a feel for this brilliant integration feature.

String Variables for Billing in NetHelpDesk with Sage















$crlf Puts carriage return, to start a new line. For more detailed information on how NetHelpDesk integrates with your third party accounting software, and how to utilise the powerful billing mechanism of NetHelpDesk, please see the Advanced Billing from NetHelpDesk section of this guide.


Understanding How NetHelpDesk Invoices in Sage In the following example, there are 2 ways to display the information we enter in a Sage Invoice:

c) Grouping Request Actions by Charge Rate, or d) Creating an Invoice Item per action.

By default, NetHelpDesk groups Request Actions together by Charge Rate. i.e. If you have 10 actions against a request, and you only have 5 charge rates specified, e.g. On Site Support, Remote Support, Travel, Mileage and Miscellaneous, the most lines you will have in your Sage invoice against a request is 5 (one for each charge rate used). If you only used 3 charge rates in the request, the most you will have are 3 lines in your Sage invoice, and so on. To create an Invoice Line item per action, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Advanced Features Section and select the Create Invoice Line Items per action checkbox. Click OK. Creating Invoices from NetHelpDesk in Sage Now that you have your Customer and Item details in NetHelpDesk, let’s produce a sample invoice with some actions with time, and some items issued, so you can see information from a NetHelpDesk request being injected in a Sage invoice. Creating a Sample Request to Invoice





for each one.





8. Now that a request has been created, you will want to see what NetHelpDesk does with

the data. So, now we run a standard Billing and Invoice Routine. STANDARD BILLING AND INVOICING ROUTINE WITH SAGE PLEASE NOTE: This routine injects information straight away into Sage. Select a “Trial

Run” if you want to test everything is ok first, which will not update Sage.

1. Click Billing in the main screen, then click Accounts Interface.

2. Any errors that appear will be directly linked to the setup. You will need to read the messages, and follow their instructions.








ahead. Then, click OK.

8. NetHelpDesk will then ask if ok to continue. Click Yes. PLEASE NOTE: Sage will need to be running for the transactions to synchronise.


10. Reminder to have Sage running now in order for it to work. Click OK.



PLEASE NOTE: If any transactions are not processed correctly for any reason, view the log file to see errors. These errors are usually regarding missing information, and easily resolved. Speak with the support team to guide you through these.

12. If all ok, you do not need to view the log file now, so click No. Your sample invoice is now

in Sage.



INTEGRATING WITH KASHFLOW NetHelpDesk is currently capable of sending Invoices, Purchase (Supplier) Orders and Customers across to KashFlow and can also import Customers directly from KashFlow, if required. PREPARATION As KashFlow is a browser based program, there is no installation or additional files required for the integration. All that is required on the KashFlow side is the enabling of API Settings as below.

NetHelpDesk will then need to be told what username and password to connect to when initialising the integration. This is set in N > Setup> Advanced Options > Billing Tab as below. IMPORTING/EXPORTING CUSTOMER LIST To Import your customer list from KashFlow to NetHelpDesk, simply go to the Billing tab as before and hit the ‘Sync Customers/Items from 3rd Party Accounts’ button choosing to sync Customers and not Items. This will bring in any customers that do not match a client name already in the system. To Export your customer list from NetHelpDesk to KashFlow, go to the ‘Database Imports’ tab of Advanced Options and hit ‘KashFlow Sync’. This will export any customers from NetHelpDesk that have both and Accounts ID and an Accounts E-mail Address as below.


POSTING INVOICES/PURCHASE (SUPPLIER) ORDERS TO KASHFLOW Posting Invoices/Supplier Orders is completed in the Accounts Interface of NetHelpDesk, which is found in the ‘Billing’ tab of the ribbon on the main screen. To post Invoices and Purchase Orders to KashFlow, you will need to ensure that a number of fields match in both systems. The first of these to check is that the Accounts ID in NetHelpDesk matches against the Code of the customer in KashFlow. The second part is to ensure that the Accounts ID for the Item/Charge in NetHelpDesk matches a ‘Charge Type’ in KashFlow, this will ensure that the Invoice/Purchase Order line item is posted against the correct Item in KashFlow. Finally, if you are using payment terms then you will need to ensure that these are correct in NetHelpDesk for the customer (these will be imported/exported along with other customer data) and for the Supplier the system will check the value in KashFlow and use this. CHOOSING DATA TO INJECT FROM NHD REQUEST INTO KASHFLOW INVOICE Now you have a sample invoice, and can see information from a NetHelpDesk request being injected into a KashFlow Invoice, you will notice that the default information from the request is the Request Number ($faultid) and the Closure Note ($clearance). To add further information to display, you will need to edit the Charge Rate Descriptions.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Global Charge Rates (Amounts, Descriptions and 3rd Party Accounts Item Codes) > Select a Charge Rate from the list > Edit Charge Rate Description.


add content from the NetHelpDesk request into the line items in the KashFlow invoices.




String Variables for Billing in NetHelpDesk with KashFlow
















For more detailed information on how NetHelpDesk integrates with your third party accounting software, and how to utilise the powerful billing mechanism of NetHelpDesk, please see the Advanced Billing from NetHelpDesk section of this guide. Understanding How NetHelpDesk Invoices in KashFlow In the following example, there are 2 ways to display the information we enter in a KashFlow Invoice:


By default, NetHelpDesk groups Request Actions together by Charge Rate. i.e. If you have 10 actions against a request, and you only have 5 charge rates specified, e.g. On Site Support, Remote Support, Travel, Mileage and Miscellaneous, the most lines you will have in your Sage invoice against a request is 5 (one for each charge rate used). If you only used 3 charge rates in the request, the most you will have are 3 lines in your KashFlow invoice, and so on.


To create an Invoice Line item per action, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Advanced Features Section and select the Create Invoice Line Items per action checkbox. Click OK. Creating Invoices from NetHelpDesk in KashFlow Now that you have your Customer and Item details in NetHelpDesk, let’s produce a sample invoice with some actions with time, and some items issued, so you can see information from a NetHelpDesk request being injected in a KashFlow invoice. Creating a Sample Request to Invoice





for each one.





the data. So, now we run a standard Billing and Invoice Routine.



STANDARD BILLING AND INVOICING ROUTINE WITH KASHFLOW PLEASE NOTE: This routine injects information straight away into KashFlow. Select a “Trial

Run” if you want to test everything is ok first, which will not update KashFlow.

1. Click Billing in the main screen, and click Accounts Interface.

2. Any errors that appear will be directly linked to the setup. You will need to read the

messages, and follow their instructions.








ahead, then click OK.

8. NetHelpDesk will then ask if ok to continue. Click Yes.






in KashFlow. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



INTEGRATING WITH XERO NetHelpDesk is currently capable of sending Invoices, Purchase (Supplier) Orders, Customers and Suppliers across to Xero, and can also import Customers, Supplier and Tax Codes directly from Xero, if required. PREPARATION As Xero is a browser based program, there is no installation or additional files required for the integration. All that is required is entry of your e-mail address and password for Xero when synchronisation is taking place, and ticking the box highlighted below found in N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing.

IMPORTING/EXPORTING CUSTOMER/SUPPLIER LIST To Import/export your customer/supplier list from Xero to NetHelpDesk simply go to the ‘Database Imports’ tab as before and hit the ‘Import Customers/Suppliers from Xero’ button. This will bring in any customers/suppliers that do not match a client name already in the system. POSTING INVOICES/PURCHASE (SUPPLIER) ORDERS TO XERO Posting Invoices/Supplier Orders is completed in the Accounts Interface of NetHelpDesk, found in the ‘Billing’ tab of the ribbon on the main screen. To post Invoices and Purchase Orders to Xero, you will need to ensure that a number of fields match in both systems. The first of these to check is that the Item Code/Nominal Code of the item in NetHelpDesk matches against the Code of the Item in Xero’s ‘Inventory Items’. The second part is to ensure that Tax Code for the Item/Charge in NetHelpDesk matches a Tax Code in Xero. This will ensure that the Invoice/Purchase Order line item is posted against the correct tax type in Xero. To ensure that this is correct, you will need to perform a Tax Code import into NetHelpDesk from Xero. This is achieved from the ‘Billing – Tax Codes’ tab as below.



Another point to note is that as Xero can only use a specific tax rate for Invoices or Purchase Orders, Items in NetHelpDesk now have two Tax fields, so that an Item can have a Purchase Tax Rate and a Sales tax rate. All Invoices posted to Xero will use the Account Code 200 and Purchase Orders will use 300. Invoice numbers will be in the format ‘NHD-001’ where 001 is the NetHelpDesk Invoice ID, Purchase Orders will use the format ‘NHDPO-001’ with the 001 part the Purchase Order ID. The Due Date for the invoices will be calculated based on the settings in the Clients ‘Billing Details’ tab. When connecting to Xero to perform any of the functionality above you will be asked to verify and enter a code, produced on your default browser, into NetHelpDesk. CHOOSING DATA TO INJECT FROM NHD REQUEST INTO XERO INVOICE Now you have a sample invoice, and can see information from a NetHelpDesk request being injected into a Xero Invoice, you will notice that the default information from the request is the Request Number ($faultid) and the Closure Note ($clearance). To add further information to display, you will need to edit the Charge Rate Descriptions.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Global Charge Rates (Amounts, Descriptions and 3rd Party Accounts Item Codes) > Select a Charge Rate from the list > Edit Charge Rate Description.


add content from the NetHelpDesk request into the line items in the Xero invoices.




String Variables for Billing in NetHelpDesk with Xero
















For more detailed information on how NetHelpDesk integrates with your third party accounting software, and how to utilise the powerful billing mechanism of NetHelpDesk, please see the Advanced Billing from NetHelpDesk section of this guide. Understanding How NetHelpDesk Invoices in Xero In the following example, there are 2 ways to display the information we enter in a Xero Invoice:


By default, NetHelpDesk groups Request Actions together by Charge Rate. i.e. If you have 10 actions against a request, and you only have 5 charge rates specified, e.g. On Site Support, Remote Support, Travel, Mileage and Miscellaneous, the most lines you will have in your Sage invoice against a request is 5 (one for each charge rate used). If you only used 3 charge rates in the request, the most you will have are 3 lines in your Xero invoice, and so on.


To create an Invoice Line item per action, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Advanced Features Section and select the Create Invoice Line Items per action checkbox. Click OK. Creating Invoices from NetHelpDesk in Xero Now that you have your Customer and Item details in NetHelpDesk, let’s produce a sample invoice with some actions with time, and some items issued, so you can see information from a NetHelpDesk request being injected in a Xero invoice. Creating a Sample Request to Invoice





for each one.





the data. So, now we run a standard Billing and Invoice Routine.



STANDARD BILLING AND INVOICING ROUTINE WITH XERO PLEASE NOTE: This routine injects information straight away into Xero. Select a “Trial Run”

if you want to test everything is ok first, which will not update Xero.

1. Click Billing in the main screen, then click Accounts Interface.

2. Any errors that appear will be directly linked to the setup. You will need to read the messages, and follow their instructions.








ahead.

8. Click OK.

9. NetHelpDesk will then ask if ok to continue. Click Yes.






in Xero. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



MAXFOCUS INTEGRATION NetHelpDesk integrates with MAXfocus in the following ways:

1. Import of client and sites from MAXfocus into NetHelpDesk.

2. Import of MAXfocus devices at sites and details of the devices using the MAXfocus Device ID number.

3. Record of changes made to devices.

4. Accept alert and recovery e-mails from MAXfocus.

5. Create requests and automatically close requests from MAXfocus e-mails.

6. Link the request to MAXfocus devices.

7. Record a history of requests against a MAXfocus device. In your MAXfocus Remote Management dashboard:

1. Go to Settings > Alert Settings, and:

a. On the Alert Routing tab, edit the Alert Settings to refer to an e-mail address that is polled by NetHelpDesk.

b. On the same tab, tick the box “Include Check ID’s”.

c. On the Server Alert Settings and/or Workstation Alert Settings tab,

i. Use the update check box to apply to existing devices.

ii. Decide what alerts will send e-mails to NetHelpDesk.

2. Generate the MAXfocus API Token, go to Settings > General Settings, and click Generate. In NetHelpDesk:

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Asset Management and enter the URL that is used to access the dashboard (see example below).

2. Specify the value of your company’s API key into the Extra MAXfocus Settings Field

3. Click the MAXfocus Import/Sync button to import clients, sites and devices.


4. Follow the on screen instructions and choose how to map MAXfocus Clients and Sites to NetHelpDesk ones.

ALERTS AND RECOVERY E-MAILS:

1. If you are using the default MAXfocus settings, then the alerts from MAXfocus should be recognised by NetHelpDesk.

2. If you are not using the default MAXfocus settings, then you may need to edit the

MAXfocus device matching e-mail string.

3. More advanced settings can be found in NetHelpDesk in N > Setup > Main Configuration > E-mail Rules.

4. MAXfocus e-mails are matched to this e-mail rule, and a request is either created or

updated, as required.

5. The e-mails from MAXfocus have the following default format, and so the Device ID is matched to the above settings for Device ID 354710.

X-SYSTEMMONITOR-CHECKIDS: 999

X-SYSTEMMONITOR-DEVICEID: 354710 X-SYSTEMMONITOR-SITEID: 78909

6. If the outage ‘recovers’ itself, and returns to a normal status, a recovery alert is sent by

MAXfocus containing the string “has recovered”.

If the NetHelpDesk request that was created by the original outage alert remains unassigned, then the request will be closed automatically, when it receives this recovery alert.

7. You can test this functionality by:

a. Turning off a Windows Service that is being monitored by MAXfocus. b. Re-running the MAXfocus checks using the workstation agent. c. Once the alert has been received by NetHelpDesk, turn the service back on. d. Re-run the MAXfocus checks. e. Ensure that the request has been automatically closed.

In the screenshot from a NetHelpDesk request below, you can see that the request is opened and closed.

8. In the NetHelpDesk request, the Primary Asset will be the Asset from which the Alert has been generated.

This basic setup can be adjusted to use different request types for different alerts, and to log requests against a specific user or site, as required.


Some Alerts that are sent from MAXfocus are not sent with the unique ids in the e-mail headers which makes it more difficult to match against an Asset/Device in NetHelpDesk. In these cases the system will find the next word after “DEVICE” in your MAXfocus e-mail and try to match this to an Asset/Device in NetHelpDesk. ALERT TYPES To ensure that a ticket is logged for each separate alert type that MAXfocus sends you may want to set up ‘Alert Types’ in NetHelpDesk. To do this you will need to go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Advanced Settings > Lookup Codes > GFIMax Alert Types , here you can add additional types that will be matched against the subject of the incoming e-mail alert and will stop multiple alert types being logged to one ticket.



LABTECH INTEGRATION NetHelpDesk can import Clients, Sites, Users and Assets from a LabTech database. NetHelpDesk connects straight to the LabTech database using an ODBC connection. The sync can be setup as an on-going sync, and run as a scheduled task. SETTING UP A UDL FILE TO CONNECT TO THE LABTECH DATABASE: To sync with LabTech’s MySQL database, two elements need to be created.

a) An ODBC connection. b) a UDL file that connects to the LabTech database.

On the NetHelpDesk server:

1. Install the MySQL ODBC connector. This can be downloaded from:

www.nethelpdesk.com/MySQLConnector.zip

The 32 bit connector is required as NetHelpDesk is a 32 bit application.

2. When installed, go to Administrative Tools on the Control Panel of the server.

3. Open ODBC Data Sources (32-bit). From here, add a new User Data Source, using the MySQL ODBC ANSI driver.

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/MySQLConnector.zip


4. Enter the credentials to access the MySQL instance on the following screen.

5. Select the LabTech database from the dropdown.

6. Use the test connection button to ensure that you can connect to the database using the credentials you have entered.

7. If the test is successful, select OK to create the connection.

Now we need to create the udl file. On the server:

1. Take a copy of the existing NetHelpDesk.udl file, and call it LabTech.udl.

2. Open the udl file and on the Provider tab, select Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers.

3. On the Connection tab, select your newly creating data source as the data source.

4. Enter the credentials to connect to the database again, selecting the LabTech database

from the dropdown.

5. The test connection button at this point may not necessarily work, if the server has a 64 bit OS. However, it should work in the NetHelpDesk application still.


SETTING UP AND RUNNING THE SYNC IN NETHELPDESK: Now that the ODBC connection and Labtech.udl file have been configured, we are ready to run the import process in NetHelpDesk.

1. Open the NetHelpDesk client and go to N > Setup > Advanced Options > Database Imports.

2. There you should see a section for LabTech Settings. If you do not see this, you will need to upgrade NetHelpDesk to at least version 10.04.

3. Enter the file path of the Labtech.udl file where indicated in the screenshot.

4. Selecting Import/Sync will run the import of Clients, Sites, Users, and Assets.

SETTING UP THE SYNC AS A SCHEDULED TASK: A scheduled task can be set up, so that the above manual sync can be processes automatically on a schedule of your choosing. To do this:

1. When installed, go to Administrative Tools on the Control Panel of the server, and select Task Scheduler, and create a new task with an action to run the nethdclient.exe.

2. The first argument after the nethdclient.exe should be the path to the udl file that connects to the NetHelpDesk database, usually called NetHelpDesk.udl.

3. The second argument should be the word LABTECH.

4. In this example, the arguments reads C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl LABTECH

5. When the task runs, it will run the NetHelpDesk client, do the LabTech sync, and then shut down.



INTEGRATING WITH TELEPHONES The Escalator Client in the NetHelpDesk folder can be run on the local workstation, and used for the TAPI Interface. When a user calls, the Escalator Client will open up; click Sync to Main Program and NetHelpDesk main Windows application will open. If in the Main Screen, the cursor will be positioned by the user in the tree view with that telephone number, allowing you to quickly see outstanding requests, or raise a new call. To setup: INCOMING

1. For incoming calls, you will need to make sure that the TAPI drivers for the phones you are using are installed on the local workstation. These can usually be downloaded from the handset maker’s website.

2. The NHEscalatorClient.exe program is included in the NetHelpDesk folder. You need to

open and run this on the local workstation for the TAPI interface to work.

3. When running, the program will appear in the system tray icons.

4. Double click to open.

5. Click the setup button.

6. Ensure that the TAPI Enabled checkbox is selected.

7. Select the correct TAPI device from the Line Device drop down selection menu.

8. Click Save & Close.

OUTGOING NetHelpDesk allows you to dial a user’s telephone number directly through TAPI device by pressing User phone icon. It will use the default TAPI device on the workstation. To set the default TAPI device:

1. Open up the Windows Dialler program.

2. Tools > Connect Using > Select Line.



3CX INTEGRATION NetHelpDesk can display incoming call pop-ups, place outgoing calls, and display the call handling screen when a call is accepted in 3CX. The 3CX integration works via NHEscalatorClient from version 10 onwards. The 3CX integration works by using windows events and hot keys rather than TAPI. In order for 3CX to post windows events for NetHelpDesk to use to handle calls, a plugin will need to be installed. The 3CX plugin can be downloaded from:

www.nethelpdesk.com/3cxplugin.zip SETTING UP 3CX TO WORK WITH NETHELPDESK:

1) Download the above file and extract the 3CX.dll file.

This file will need to be placed in the program files for 3CX in the same folder as the main executable.

This folder can easily be located by right-clicking on the 3CX shortcut and selecting “Open file location”.

2) In the same location, there is a Phone.exe.Config file. In this example it is called 3CXWin8Phone.exe.config). The file will be named according to your version of Windows).

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/3cxplugin.zip


3) Open this file in Notepad. You may have to select to open in Notepad, but you don’t have to make it the default program, if Windows asks you.

4) Add “,3CX” to the value for “CRMPlugin”, as highlighted below.

5) For controlling calls, NetHelpDesk sends shortcuts to the 3CX client. In order to make calls, answer calls, transfer calls, put calls on hold and end calls via the screens in NetHelpDesk, the hotkeys feature in 3CX must be enabled.

6) Open 3CX, go to settings and select Hot Keys. From there, enable each combination. The keys will need to be the defaults values, which are listed below.


Event Key Combination

Copy number from clipboard F11

Answer Call Ctrl + Shift + A

Blind transfer Ctrl + Shift + B

Attended transfer Ctrl + Shift + T

Hold/resume Ctrl + Shift + H

Divert incoming call to voicemail Ctrl + Shift + V

Hang up or decline call Ctrl +Shift + F

SETTING UP NHESCALATORCLIENT: NHEscalatorClient is separate from the NetHelpDesk main windows application, and is used to handle events such as pop up notifications, TAPI calls, and NetHelpDesk Chat. The executable will be found in the \\...\NetHelpDesk\Win folder, the same folder as the main Windows application, NetHDclient.exe.

1) Create a shortcut to this Escalator executable on the machines that will be using 3CX, and that have 3CX installed.

2) In the shortcut, there are 2 main start up parameters that need to be set:

i) The first parameter will need to be the location of the config file that you want

Escalator client to use. The config file can store your logon information, and whether or not 3CX is to be used, so a unique config file for each user is recommended.

You can create a new config file by right-clicking in file explorer, selecting new file, and calling it (filename).config where (filename) is the name of your choice.

ii) The second parameter isn’t used, so insert the word “blank” between the first and third parameters (see below example).

iii) The third parameter will need to be the file path of the .udl file used to connect to the NetHelpDesk database. This can be the same file used by the NetHelpDesk client.

So the shortcut parameters should look similar to this example: “C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\NhEscalatorClient.exe” “C:\NetHelpDesk\Win\settings001.ini" blank "C:\NetHelpDesk\NetHelpDesk.udl"


3) When this has been configured, run the shortcut and log in with your normal NetHelpDesk credentials.

4) Select “Settings” the settings option.


5) Logon credentials can be saved by entering your logon details in the Username and Password boxes. These will be saved to the config file, and the password will be encrypted.

6) To enable 3CX integration, you will need to enable the “Use 3CX for Calls” checkbox.

Select save to save these settings.

7) 3CX will now need to be started. PLEASE NOTE: 3CX must be started after NHEscalatorClient has been started. When 3CX

starts, you should see some events appear in the Event log in NHEscalatorClient. When these appear and the LoggedIn event appears, the setup is complete.


The incoming call pop up will be displayed when an incoming call comes in, and the call handling screen displayed when an incoming or outgoing call is accepted.





“Quotes Thru Bill” Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



“QUOTES THRU BILL” – QUOTATION THROUGH TO BILLING OVERVIEW NetHelpDesk has the ability to raise quotations for your end-users for Items you sell, whether physical or service based, raise Sales Orders for the Customer, convert to a Purchase Order to receive item in from Third Party Supplier, and consign the item to the order, track the item as an asset of that Customer, and bill the Customer for their purchase.

We will run through a test example, to help understand the process flow within NetHelpDesk. You can use any part of these features, depending on your internal process. This flow is to get a basic high-level understanding of the features. Customer requests a new PC for a new Starter. RAISE A QUOTATION Against the Request, click the Quotation tab to begin raising a quotation.

1. Click Add.

2. The Add New Quotation screen appears.

3. The Quotation Reference is the Request Number, then a hyphen, then a number to represent the quotations against that request. So here, the quotation is 59-1, as it is the first quotation raised for request ID 59.

4. Quotation Date and Expiry Dates can be altered from the defaults.

5. General Quotation Notes can be added.

6. Click OK, and the Quotation will be created and added to the Quote/Estimates reference grid.


7. Once the Quotation itself is created, the items for the quote now need to be added to it.

8. There are two ways of going into the quotation:

a. Double click on the line entry, or

b. Highlight quote line and click Edit.

Once inside the quotation, you will want to add items. These can be added ad hoc, or you can select from the list of Items in your Items area, used for quotations, sales orders and so on, and stock control.

9. Click the Add button to add miscellaneous or ad hoc items.


10. Click Add Item from List to add from your Items List.

11. If adding items from the Items List, you can use the “Scroll to Top Level” drop down to jump the list, if you have lots of items.

12. Remember that these items can be physical and/or service items. What is added is not

restricted by NetHelpDesk.

13. Add the quantity you wish to quote for, and click OK when finished adding.

14. Once done, the items individual entries from the Item list will open with the defaults.

15. Here you can alter any of the available fields as relevant for what you are selling, current part numbers and descriptions, the costs, gross profit % and Sales Price.

16. If adding Items ad hoc using the “Add” button on the Quotation Details screen, this same

item details box will open, but instead of being populated, it will be blank for you to populate manually yourself.

The idea is that the items you sell regularly are added to your Item List, and anything ad hoc added manually as you move forward. These ad hoc items are not automatically added to your Items List.

17. Add general item notes, and include as part of a group if you wish to group items together. The Supplier will be automatically populated from the Item entry.



18. Click Save to complete the quotation. You can then view the PDF quotation, and save manually if you wish to send it outside NetHelpDesk, or e-mail it to the end-user using NetHelpDesk and a designated action button, such as the default “E-mail End User”.

19. To edit the Quotation layout, please see the Report Layouts section of this guide.

20. When the Customer replies accepting the quotation, open the line entry of the quotation

and click Create a Sales Order.

21. NetHelpDesk will then move all the items on the quotation to the Sales Order section for you automatically, so you don’t have to re-key the items in.

22. The tabs, when they have items added to them, will indicate that something has been populated with a green tick from the main request details view.



RAISING A SALES ORDER If you have created the Sales Order from the Quotation as detailed before, the Sales Order will be completed for you, and no further action necessary.

1. If you have quoted for multiple items, and the Customer has selected only a few, the quotation creates all entries on the Sales Order.

2. To remove an item, all that is needed is the check box in column “Sel” is checked, and the “Remove Item” button is used.

3. If this item is in stock, you can move straight to Consignment.

4. If you need to order the item in from your Third Party Supplier, either to replace the stock you are about to take, or the item is not in your Stock Items, then you can create a Purchase Order from the Sales Order in the same way you created a Sales Order from a quotation earlier.

5. Make sure to check the column “Sel” for the items you wish to create a Purchase Order for.

6. Click Create Purchase Order button, where you will be given a choice to create a PO for just this order, or for any other sales orders pending for this Supplier. Select as required for your internal processes.

7. If you have not needed to raise a Purchase Order, as you are simply using one from stock, you can skip the Purchase Order section, straight to consigning the item to the order.


RAISING A PURCHASE ORDER If you have created the Purchase Order from the Sales Order as detailed before, the Purchase Order will be completed for you, and no further action necessary.

1. If you need to add more items to the Purchase Order that are not specifically related to this or other requests, you can use the Add and Add Items from list buttons.

2. The ability to initiate approval processes is possible here too, to keep trails for auditing of sign off for purchase.

3. You can edit the purchase order, and also the details of the items you are ordering after

they have been added, should there be any changes before ordering.

4. As with Quotations, you can send the Third Party Supplier the PO straight from the request.

5. To edit the Purchase Order, you can use the Report Layouts as detailed in this guide.

6. You can track communications with the Supplier and the status of the PO, and so on, directly in the ticket actions screen, as you would any other process associated with a request.



Receiving an Item/Items into Stock

1. Go to Tools ribbon on the main screen ribbon, and select Receive Items Into Stock.

2. To use a Purchase Order to select the item that has come into stock, click the “Use Purchase Order” button.

3. Select a Stock Location for the item to go into. Adjust quantity as needed.

ASSET MANAGEMENT OF NEW ITEM(S)

1. The “Create Asset” screen will appear, so that you can create the entry as an Asset of your business, which can be assigned to your location. This way you can add details about the item to track later, should the item order be subsequently cancelled, for example.

2. For further Asset Management details, see the relevant area of this guide.

3. Whether you create an Asset from the item or not, the item will be received, and

notification of success will be shown on the screen.



CONSIGNMENT OF ITEM Once the item is in stock, or if the item is already in stock, you will need to consign the item to the Sales Order for the Sales Order to be completed, and processed for billing to the Customer.

1. In the Sales Order, click on the Consignments Tab.

2. Click Add to display the consignment details, such as Delivery Address and so on.

3. If the item was added as an Asset when received into Stock, you can use the next Asset screen to select the item from your Asset pool, to move the item as an asset of your business, to an asset tracked for the Customer/End-user of the Sales Order.

4. To do so, Select an existing Asset in Stock button will allow you to select the item from

the stock location pool.

5. Click OK and the item will now be consigned to the Sales Order ready for billing.



INVOICING / BILLING Once the item is consigned to the order, the item(s) can be dispatched to the End-user, as necessary. The item, once dispatched or installed, will be billable.

1. The item will automatically queue with all other billing elements, such as labour, other material and services on this and other requests, recurring and/or contractual costs for that Customer.

2. If you wish to create an invoice immediately, click on the Invoices Tab, and click Create

Invoice

NetHelpDesk will then bill the invoice straight away using your Billing routine. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




QUOTATIONS – IN DEPTH If an end-user wishes to purchase something, whether, physical or service, NetHelpDesk has the ability to raise quotations to send to the end-user. Whether they are stand alone, or as part of an existing request, the quotations are easily accessed to start using straight away. If the quotations option in the left hand menu is not visible, or the quotations tab is not present when looking at a request, these are accessed via each Agent’s individual account, in the Features Visible tab. To access Agents accounts, the user logged in must be an administrator. Whilst quotations or estimates can be raised on their own, and separate from requests, the request creation allows all communication regarding the quotation to be tracked. In the standalone quotation, it is simply a quote, and nothing more. Much like other programs, in NetHelpDesk, the quotation itself must be created, before you start adding the items to quote onto it. Similar to getting a piece of paper first, before you start writing on it. To create a quotation:

1. Click Add button to create the quotation.

2. The Add New Quotation screen will appear, with pre-populated data.

3. The quotation will have an automatic number, comprising of the request ID, a hyphen and then the number of the quotation in the list.

So, in the example below, the quotation number is 55-1, the first quotation on request ID 55. If not raising a quotation as part of a request, the number will be the ID of the quotation, a hyphen then a 1.

4. The quotation date will be the day it is created, and the expiry date set to be the same date

on the following calendar month. So, as above, the quotation runs from the 8th of September, to the 8th of October. The date format will adapt based on your geographical settings.

5. There is a “today” button and a “calendar” button next to both that can be used to change

these dates accordingly.

6. There is a Notes section to add overall quotation notes, which apply to the quotation in its entirety.

7. Click OK to save the quotation. Now that the quotation is created, click onto the quotation line to view the contents of the quotation. The quotation screen has lots of options to choose from, with some advanced features, which is detailed later in this guide. We will explain the screen layout, and these options as we go along.


EXPLAINING THE QUOTATION SCREEN

1. The top line of the quotation screen identifies the ID of the quotation in the database. It does not necessarily reflect the number of the quotation reference number, which is given to the end-user. It is here for basic identity.

2. The Area/Client, Site and end-user name will also be displayed.

3. The request ID field displaying which request the quotation is linked to.

If the quotation is raised on its own, the Request ID field will be blank, but can be populated manually after the quotation is created, as required.

4. The details grid will show the quotation reference ID, the date the quotation was created, and when it is set to expire, as populated on this initial screen before.

5. Click the Edit button to edit this detail, and also view a new drop down option, related to the

quotation’s status. This list of quotations statuses can be edited in the Advanced Options > Advanced System Settings > Lookup Codes.

6. The initial quotation template provided with NetHelpDesk can be changed according to your

business identity, and laid out however is preferred. To edit the default template, go into Advanced Options > Advanced Features > Report Layouts.

7. The Layout button is available to clone the default template to be edited separately. You can choose the name and the location of this template file, and access it again from any other quotation. As time goes on, and you build a group of templates that you require, the Layout button allows access to the list of these, and a choice of layout. The Report Layout field will populate with the name of the chosen Report Layout file.


8. The View PDF and E-mail PDF buttons do just as they describe. If they are used at this stage, they will be blank, as no actual items have been added to the quotation.

9. The Make Word Doc. button generates the quotation data into a Microsoft Word document

using Mail Merge fields and a template in the …\NetHelpDesk\Win\Reports folder. The fields with << and >> either side will be replaced with Quotation relevant information straight from this quotation area.

A screenshot of the example quotation letter included with NetHelpDesk, with useful information.

10. The Clone Quote button takes an exact copy of the quotation you are viewing, and adds the new quotation to the list. In the examples above, it would have a reference of 55-2, the second quotation of request ID 55. If not part of a request, the quotation ID will be used to populate the quotation reference. The clone feature is a great option if the customer changes their mind on particular items, or wants to add new items, and you want to track the history of the quotations process for auditing. It removes unnecessary administrative burden.

11. If some of the items that are being quoted form part of an overall project, such as a newly

built PC with choices of RAM or Processor, or elements of a new telephone system, there are two check boxes to assist with the creation of groups of items within this quotation.


The Include grouped items quantity on PDF button and the Include Groups Item’s Price on PDF will do exactly as they describe, leaving the option of both to the user.

ADDING ITEMS TO THE QUOTATION The options at the bottom of the quotation screen allow for adding of items, and grouping as necessary. The Add, Delete, and Edit buttons are there to use for individual items.

1. The Add button allows the addition of an item to the quotation on an individual ad hoc basis, and an item that is not in the Items list. The Items list can be populated and used separately. See details of the Items are of this guide.

2. The Delete button will only work once a line item has been selected. Above the list of items

on the quotation, if a line item is selected, its detail will be displayed.

3. The Edit button allows the editing of any line item, whether added on an ad hoc basis, or populated from the items list. All line entries can be edited as necessary throughout the lifetime of the quotation, as required.

Before adding items, if you wish to group items together, the group itself must be created in advance. The group can be named anything at all. Once the group has its name, it is created. Items can then be added in groups, with their quantities and price, is selected.

1. Add New Group button allows to specify a new group name, and subsequently create a new group.

2. Add Group of Items allows you to add groups of items that you have used previously, and saved to the database for later use.

Right click on the existing Group line, usually in a darker blue shade. This reveals further options, such as: a) Don’t print the group items onto the quotation.

b) Add a discount to the group of items as a whole. c) Save the Group as a specified list that can be used later on. Useful if using the same

group of items over and over. d) Move the group up the quotation items list.

3. Add Note is actually a note template. If the group of items comes with a block of information

provided by the manufacturer or Supplier, which must be sent with the item.


4. Add Item from List option allows the addition of one or multiple items from the pre-populated Items catalogue. How to populate items in the Items area to be selected can be found in the main guide.

In the Add Item from List, the column names should be intuitive, but specified below is an explanation of each column, and the data it is displaying. There is a Create a New Item button to start adding individual items to the Items list.

The fastest way to populate the Items list, is to use the NetHelpDesk Import functionality in the Tools ribbon of the main screen.

Column Label Explanations

Item No. The ID number assigned to the item in the database by NHD.

Top Level Type Items can be arranged by Item Types for easy access, similar to Assets.

Item Description The description assigned to the Item, in the Item Details.

Supplier Part Supplier Part code, as specified in the Item entry itself.

Qty The quantity or number of the items you wish to add to the quotation.

In Stock Shows the total number of this particular item in stock, as added.

Price Specifies how much is charged to the end-user.

Cost Specifies how much the item costs to your business.

Tx Tax Code ID, of the tax applied to the item, as specified in the item entry.

Location If using stock locations, the location of these particular items are displayed.

This is a screenshot of a typical Add Items screen, populated with test data for illustration purposes.

1. There is a Search/Next button and field to search the item database using specified criteria.

2. There is a Scroll to Top Level drop down menu, to skip to high level item types.

3. The Show All Locations option can be checked if required. Click OK to save changes. When adding items to the quotation, selected from the Items list, each entry will display the pre-populated details, allowing the user to amend, as required.

4. The Gross Profit % is calculated using the Cost and Sales prices, and all three fields can be amended, as required.


5. Changing the Gross Profit % field will automatically amend the Sales Price accordingly.

6. It is here that individual item notes can be added, to display on the item entry in the quotation itself.

7. The item can then be added to a Group, as necessary.

8. The Item’s Supplier will be automatically populated from the item entry. However, this can

be changed, if you have multiple Suppliers providing the same stock. Once all the items have been added to the Quotation, the options to view the PDF, e-mail it, or create a quotation from the details into a customised Microsoft Word template can be used, as required. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




SALES ORDERS – IN DEPTH If an end-user wishes to purchase something, whether, physical or service, NetHelpDesk has the ability to raise Sales Orders for your end-users, so their purchase can be tracked, and potentially charged. Whether they are stand alone, or as part of an existing request, the Sales Orders are easily accessed to start using straight away. If the Sales Orders option in the left hand menu is not visible, or the Sales Orders tab is not present when looking at a request, these are accessed via each Agent’s individual account, in the Features Visible tab. To access Agents accounts, the user logged in must be an administrator. Whilst Sales Orders can be raised on their own, and separate from requests, the request creation allows all communication regarding the Sales Orders to be tracked. In the standalone Sales Orders, it is simply an order, and nothing more. Much like other programs, in NetHelpDesk, the Sales Orders itself must be created, before you start adding the items onto it. Similar to getting a piece of paper first, before you start writing on it. If you have already created a quotation that you would like to use as the template for the Sales Order, go into the quotation that is to be used, and click on the Create a Sales Order button. This will add all items on the quotation to the Sales Order, and the list can be edited, based on what the end-user did or did not authorise for the purchase. To create a Sales Order without using the Quotation:

1. Click Add New Order button to create the Sales Order.

2. The Order Details screen will appear, with some basic pre-populated data. EXPLAINING THE SALES ORDER SCREEN

1. The Sales Order will not have an automatic number, just an ID number for the database. The Sales Order Number can be changed to whatever is deemed relevant for your business model.

2. The date ordered field will be automatically populated with the date and time stamp of

when the Add New Order button was selected. This can be amended, as necessary.

3. The Ship Date will also be populated with the same day that the Add New Order button was selected, and it too, can be amended, as necessary.

4. The Taken By field will be pre-populated with the login account being used to create the

order.

5. The Status field is read-only, and will progress based on actions within the Sales Order.


6. The PO Number field can be used to record the end-user’s Purchase Order number used to place the order with your business, who is their service provider or vendor or Supplier, and so on.

7. The Deliver By field allows a drop down selection of the Agents list. This can be cleared if

not relevant.

8. The Area, Site and User fields will be pre-populated if from a request, or created against their name in the Sales Orders section. These can be amended using the buttons provided, as necessary.

9. The Order Notes section is there to add notes to the Sales Order in its entirety.

10. Sold By, Lead Source and Canvasser all provide the Agents names to record who the order

was sold by, if not the one entering, the lead person who spotted the opportunity and person who created the opportunity, if different. All are left empty by default.

11. The Invoice Number and Invoice Date fields will remain blank until the sales order is sent

for invoice, whether individually or as part of the NHD billing process. If using NHD Billing, or a integration with other accounts software, such as QuickBooks, Sage, KashFlow or Xero, their integration will return this detail. Otherwise, both can be edited manually.

ADDING ITEMS TO THE SALES ORDER There are two ways to add items to the sales order, in exactly the same way with quotations; either adding them from a pre-populated item list, or ad hoc manually on an individual basis. Add Items from List Click on the Add Item from List button, to reveal two sections.

1. The top section will show any open orders that currently exist for that user in the database, and will display the order history.

2. The bottom section will show the item catalogue that has been populated. Help with

populating the item list, please see relevant section of the main guide. The fastest way to populate the Items list, is to use the NetHelpDesk Import functionality in the Tools ribbon of the main screen.



There is a Create a New Item button to start adding individual items to the Items list.

Column Label Explanations

Item No. The ID number assigned to the item in the database by NHD.

Top Level Type Items can be arranged by Item Types for easy access, similar to Assets.

Item Description The description assigned to the Item, in the Item Details.

Supplier Part Supplier Part code, as specified in the Item entry itself.

Qty The quantity or number of the items you wish to add to the Sales Order.

In Stock Shows the total number of this particular item in stock, as added.

Price Specifies how much is charged to the end-user.

Cost Specifies how much the item costs to your business.

Tx Tax Code ID, of the tax applied to the item, as specified in the item entry.

Location If using stock locations, the location of these particular items are displayed.

3. There is a Search/Next button and field to search the item database using specified criteria.

4. There is a Scroll to Top Level drop down menu, to skip to high level item types.

5. The Show All Locations option can be checked if required. Click OK to save changes.

Please Note: Unlike the Quotations area, when adding items from the Items list, the

selected items will display the pre-populated details of each item automatically to the Sales Order list. It will not give a preview screen to edit. Instead, the item details shown in the list can be edited, as required.

Double click into the fields of the items added to the Sales Order list to edit them.


Add Items Ad Hoc or Manually The Add Ad-Hoc Item button is there to use for adding individual items manually, that are not a part of your Items list.

1. The Add button allows the addition of an item to the quotation on an individual ad hoc basis, and an item that is not in the Items list. The Items list can be populated and used separately. See details of the Items are of this guide.

2. The item will be added to the list as a blank entry. Instead of being pre-populated with

information from the items list in the database, the fields will be blank for the user to populate, as required.

Additional Options

1. Click Previous and Next buttons to skip through open orders.

2. View PDF to view the Sales Order to send a copy to your end-user. To edit the template for this document, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Reporting > Report Layouts.

3. Create Purchase Order will create an order from your company to the Supplier or Suppliers of your items. This is a quick way to add all the items that you don’t have in stock, or do not provide directly. Each item in the list can be selected that you would like to add to the Purchase Order.

4. Mark as Closed allows you to manually mark the Sales Order as fulfilled, rather than using

the consignment process in NetHelpDesk. This will allow the order to be added to the billing process if this is run using NetHelpDesk and NHD Billing, or equivalent billing application integration.

5. Hold/Release changes the status relating to an Open Order. Place the Order on Hold if

there is an issue that needs to be clarified before Release of the order.

6. View Item is the same as double-clicking the item in the list. It allows the viewing and editing of an item in the Items List catalogue within NetHelpDesk.

7. Edit Details allows the editing of recurring items that are added to the open Sales Order.





PURCHASE ORDERS – IN DEPTH Moving on from Quotations and Sales orders sections, the Purchase Order section is a natural progression from these, as part of the Quotes Thru Bill process described previously. Whether the physical or service item is for your business, or your end-user(s), if you don’t have this item in stock, or have no stock by default, or do not provide this service directly, NetHelpDesk has the ability to raise Purchase Orders (POs) to send to your Vendors, or Suppliers. Whether the PO is stand alone, or is created as part of an existing request, the PO areas are easily accessed to start using straight away. Please Note: If the PO option in the main selection menu is not visible, or the PO option

is not present under the ADD button when looking at a request, they will need to be activated via each Agent’s individual account, in the Features Visible tab. To access and amend the Agent accounts, the user logged in must be an administrator of NetHelpDesk.

Whilst POs can be raised on their own, separate from requests, creating a PO inside an existing request allows all communication regarding the PO(s) to be tracked. In the standalone PO area, it is simply an order, and nothing more. In NetHelpDesk, much like other programs, the PO itself must be created, before you start adding the items onto it. Similar to getting a piece of paper first, before you start writing on it. These Items can be added as you go along, on an ad hoc basis, or you can predefine a list of physical or service Items to choose from, similar to those specified in the Quotations and Sales Orders areas previously. If you have already created a Sales Order that you would like to use as the template for the Purchase Order, go into the Sales Order that is to be used, and click on the Create a Purchase Order button. This will add all items on the Sales Order to the PO, and the list can be edited, based on what the end-user/internal member of staff did or did not authorise for the purchase. To create a PO without using a Sales Order, click on the Purchase Orders area in the main selection menu, and view by Supplier. Right click, select New Purchase Order button to create. EXPLAINING THE SALES ORDER SCREEN

12. The Sales Order will not have an automatic number, just an ID number for the database. The Sales Order Number can be changed to whatever is deemed relevant for your business model.

13. The date ordered field will be automatically populated with the date and time stamp of

when the Add New Order button was selected. This can be amended, as necessary.


14. The Ship Date will also be populated with the same day that the Add New Order button was selected, and it too, can be amended, as necessary.

The main selection menu allows you and your team to view the POs independently of Requests, whether created in a request or not. We recommend using the PO section inside of a request, as part of the Quotes Thru Bill process. Even if this is the only part used, and the Quotation and Sales Order parts aren’t necessary for your process, we recommend creating POs from requests. The request allows you to track all communication and actions that took place, which brought the PO into existence in the first place. This is incredibly important if you need to track process for quality auditing purposes. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




CONTRACT MANAGEMENT When working with external customers, the support that is provided to them changes over the course of time. As their business and yours grow, the requirements and the resource required to support increases, and a good help desk software will support you with the administration of this. AN OVERVIEW NetHelpDesk allows for Contract Management to help control what is sold to your Customers. They can be tied in with Billing Plans to control what work is done for them, and what they are billed for. We start the advanced features section with contracts before moving onto Billing, as they are independent from one another. It is possible to have contracts without integration with billing, in the same way it isn’t necessary to have contracts in order to bill. The extent that you use NetHelpDesk to control your Contracts is entirely your choice. If you need NHD just to track dates and documents, it can. If you need NHD to work out what is billed, where and how in accordance with contract data, it can. Whichever options you use, NHD is here to support you. Right click on an Area/Client > Edit Area/Client > Contracts. The contracts are Area/Client specific as they have ties with Billing if necessary, and Billing can only be done at the Area/Client level. Speak with Support Team about the best way for you to organise your treeview, in order to bill your Customers effectively. Each Contract has an ID, a Start Date, an End Date, Reference, Type and notes on the main screen. The options to Add, Edit or Clone are available. Deleting Contract is done inside it. Please note: In the following part of the guide, any term or terms that refer to using

NetHelpDesk for billing purposes includes using NetHelpDesk reporting for billing the Customer. Even if NHD is not to be used to inject data into a third party accounting system, or NHD Billing itself is not used, but having a breakout of data is necessary for your Accounts team to bill customers properly, use whatever is needed in the product to help you achieve this. The relevant areas can still be reported on.



ADDING A CONTRACT To add a contract to your Client/Area:

1) Click Add to begin adding a Contract.

2) The screen that appears is only an introductory questionnaire, asking the basics of a contract. None have to be completed to continue into the contract, so click OK to continue. Alternatively:

3) Specify the Start Date of the Contract with your Client/Area.

4) Next, you can use either of the two options:

a) Specify the length of the contract in billing period units, or b) Specify the end date.

With either option, the Contract itself will have a specified end date.

5) The Billing Period is specified next.

a) If you are not using NetHelpDesk for billing, whether with integration with a third

party accounts software or not, leave as the default “Monthly” option. It won’t have any effect if not using NHD for billing.

b) If you are using NHD for billing, integration options or NHD Billing, specify the billing period, how often you wish to charge your Client/Area for your services.

6) Period Charge amount should be left as zero if not using billing, or place the amount in

numeric of what will be charged in your currency.

Please Note: NetHelpDesk does not use currency to bill your customers, and uses no currency symbols in its billing processes. This is determined by your Accounts software, and relevant to how this is setup there.

For example, if a South African customer is charged ZAR R50,000 a month,

and a United States customer is charged USD $2,000 a month, both will specified as 50000 and 2000 respectively. By the time this information is inserted as part of the billing process into your Accounts software, it will be charge by relevant currency, as it is specified there. NetHelpDesk only needs to pass the amount to those software, not the currency.

7) The hours per period is specified to show how many hours added in time to requests, form

part of this contract. Again, this is only pertinent if billing with NetHelpDesk. If the number is unlimited, skip this part, and continue to the full contract screen.


8) Date of the first invoice, when you would like NHD to take over the charging of the Customer. Again, not necessary if not billing from NetHelpDesk.

Once clicking OK, at any time in the above 8 steps, NHD will continue to the Contract Details screen. This screen will contain any information that is added in the above interview steps, and can be amended as necessary before saving. There are then 3 areas to complete if required, separated out for easier understanding.

a) General Settings b) Billing Settings c) Additional Billing Settings

General Settings is relevant for all contracts, whether billing or not. The other two apply to only billing options. NHD uses $variable parameters to inject data from NHD onto invoices in your billing software



. General Settings Description

Contract Type

Organise the types of contracts you have for auditing or reporting purposes. These types can be edited in Advanced Options > Advanced System Settings > Lookup Codes > Billing Description.

Contract Reference This free text field allows you to specify your own Company reference for this contract.

Contract Status

Specify the status of the contract, which NetHelpDesk has suggested some sensible options. The list can be edited in: Advanced Options > Advanced System Settings > Lookup Codes > Contract Status.

Contract Start Date If not answered in the initial interview, specify here.

Contract End Date If not answered in the initial interview, specify here.

Date Sent For your own purposes, when the contract is sent to the Customer.

Date Received For your own purposes, when the contract is received back from the Customer signed.

Billing Settings Description

Billing Period How often should NetHelpDesk note that the Client/Area is charged?

Charge Per Period How much should NetHelpDesk charge every billing period (numeric only, no currency symbols are used.)

Add on charge per Asset (set at Asset)

If a charge is added per asset, this checkbox activates the functionality. The charge details are set at the Asset level.

Annual % increase per asset. On.

Payment Method A record of how they will usually pay for reference. The list can be edited in: Advanced Options > Advanced System Settings > Lookup Codes > Payment Methods.



Additional Billing Settings Description

Date of Next Invoice The specific day of the year that NHD will next specify to charge the customer for the billing period set up.

Hours Per Period

If a certain number of hours are included, specify here. What happens after will be controlled by the Billing Details tab of the Client/Area level. If unlimited, or not relevant to what is charged to Customer, tick the checkbox.

Invoice Description Add a description of the contract, and this can be injected onto the invoice if required. Otherwise, for internal notes purposes.



Additional Tabs Description

Notes Free text area to specify any notes relevant to contract, negotiations or otherwise.

Assets Included An area that will display the Assets included in the contract, and this is specified at the Asset Level or use button.

Additional Buttons Description

Add / Remove Asset Add an Asset that is included on the contract, or remove.

Delete Contract Only to be used if Contract is created in error.

Print Contract Use a Word Template to populate data from NetHelpDesk Contract information, and create document to send to Customer.

No Attach. Attachments area for contracts. Whatever you like added.





NEW BILLING METHOD To activate the new NetHelpDesk billing method:

1) Please go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Tick the “Use new billing method” box. Click OK to save.

Congratulations, you are now using the new billing method!

When you go back to the Billing Tab, a number of buttons on the right hand side of this box are no longer present. These buttons have been relocated to provide a more fluid billing procedure. Using the new Billing method, the billing cycle can now be run in more manageable portions, if required. Please go to Billing > Accounts Interface and you will see the following options. It is now possible to create separate invoices for Contract, Labour, Items, Recurring Items and Pre Pay balances, and to create these invoices in NetHelpDesk before syncing them to your chosen third party software. BILLING – IN DEPTH AN OVERVIEW NetHelpDesk collates information together for the areas mentioned in the new billing method:

Contracts Prepay Recurring Top Up Recurring Billing Items Issued Labour

It also allows for invoicing Sales Orders, and injecting Sales Orders and Purchase Orders into Sage. NetHelpDesk offers flexibility in the invoicing mechanism, and has a number of parameters and templates that can be adjusted to meet the needs of the types of contracts you have in place. Each Client can have a contract that defines how the customer is charged, and these can be linked to Billing Plan Combinations, to determine how work, or actions taken by Agents, is charged. NetHelpDesk can charge differently for different request type/charge code combinations. NetHelpDesk includes its own Billing Software, called NHD Billing. This produces a billing report, and Excel-formatted invoices to charge customer during billing period. If another Accounts package is already being used, NHD is ready integrated with QuickBooks, Sage, Xero and KashFlow. Details on how to integrate are in this guide, and need to be done prior to moving into this area.


If you use another Accounts package, speak with our Support Team to discuss further integration options. You may be surprised how quickly we can achieve this. This allows a Manager to define how charging will occur, and so the Agent can to carry out the actions without having to know what is chargeable, and what is not chargeable for each Client. The contract can have Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) elements, Pre-Pay elements and Fixed Price elements. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact You define which combinations of request type and charge code are associated with each element:

Pay-As-You-Go: The Client is simply billed for each action taken by the Agent.

Pre-Pay: The Client pays up front for a certain amount of resource. This is used up as actions are performed by Agents.

Fixed price:

This is where the Client pays a fixed amount per period, and receives selected types of Request Type/Charge Code combinations at no extra cost. This can be an unlimited amount, or it can be capped to a limit. If the limit is exceeded, the remaining work can be optionally billed for. The period can be weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly.

e.g. A Client may receive 10 hours of remote support a month for free. Any extra hours are charged for. Alternatively, all Remote Support may be free, but Installation work and On-site work is charged for.

1. Items of Hardware or Software can also be billed for, and the information recorded against each helpdesk request. Travel and Mileage can also be billed for, if necessary.

2. If a Client does not have a contract, then all the work will be treated a PAYG, and be

invoiced as soon as it is completed. This can be disabled, if needed.

3. Invoices are produced at the end of a period.

4. Optionally, interim invoices can be produced for PAYG work done and items issued before the end of a period. By default, interim invoices are produced.




BILLING DETAILS TAB The Billing Details tab contains settings at the Area/Client level to determine what areas of NetHelpDesk are to be used to bill the Customer, and how. Contracts tie into this area, so that they can be used together to accurately administrate how you support and bill the Customer. The Billing Details tab can also be used independent from the contracts, to charge Customers according to work. How you use these areas of NetHelpDesk is entirely your choice; use one, the other, both or neither. They are there to enhance the potential of NetHelpDesk assisting you in managing your Customer relationships. The parameters controlling invoicing are set at Area/Client level on the Billing Details tab. The fields on this screen are:



Name Description

Contracts: Displays Start and End Dates. Add new contracts as needed. Dates cannot overlap

Invoice Template File: A different Excel template file can be used, if required.

Include Actions on Invoice: Details of each action taken are shown on the invoice, if checked.

Note for Next invoice: This note is shown on the Invoice.

Last Invoice Period End Date: The date that the last periodic charge ended.

Account ID for Accounts Interface: The Account Number in Sage or QuickBooks.

Periodic Charge Tax Code: Used in Third Party Accounts software.

Chargeable Work Tax Code: Used in Third Party Accounts software.

Don’t Do Any Invoicing – Exclude from Invoice Runs

If you wish to exclude this Area/Client from invoice runs, check this box.

Send Invoices by E-mail in Sage: Automatically Checked for Each Client.

Show Contract Summary on Web: If you wish the End-user to be able to see a current summary via the web interface, check this box.

Overriding Charge Rate Values: These values override the global values for each charge rate set in N> Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Global Charge Rates.



Contract Details

Name Description

Billing Period: Choose Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly. An invoice will be produced for each period, once the period has finished.

Only Bill At End of Period: No Interim invoices for PAYG and/or items will be created.

Period Charge Amount: The amount to be invoiced each period.

Recurring Pre-Pay Amount: Creates a pre-payment history record automatically for each period. The billing for this is not handled by NetHelpDesk.

Pay-As-You-Go Details: Enables PAYG, and determines if travel and mileage are charged for.

Pre-Pay Details: Enables Pre-Pay, and determines if travel and mileage are charged for.

Pre-Pay / Payment History: View and enter details of non-recurring payments.

Fixed Price Billing Plans: Each plan has a description, and an amount of hours that are free. When this amount is exceeded, the remainder can be treated as PYG or Pre-Pay.

Billing Plan Combinations:

This list shows how each combination of request type and action charge code is treated. In the above example, all Remote Support work is considered to be part of the Fixed Price plan. It is effectively free of any extra charge. But On-site work is invoiced for as PAYG.

Unlisted Combinations: How NetHelpDesk will regard anything not covered by the above rules.



BILLING PROCEDURE

1. Invoices are produced from the reports menu using the create invoices button.

2. All cleared requests that do not have an invoice number yet will be processed. Except when:

a) The “date occurred” is before the Contract start date.

b) The “date cleared” is after the period end (except when interim invoices are allowed).

3. This allows you to invoice for all work up to the end of a period, and optionally for PAYG

and Items issued, up to a selected point in time.

4. The selection screen allows the option to run a “Trial Run” that will not update the database.

5. A billing report can be produced along with Excel invoices, if required.

6. The layout of the invoice can be customised for each client, as required.

7. The template Excel file can be edited, as needed.

8. Variables in the file control where the fields are printed. Different templates can be used

for different Clients, as necessary.

9. An optional transfer of the invoice data to a Third-Party Accounts package will occur if this has been defined in N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing. The contents of the transaction file can be viewed here also.

10. The transactions can be sent to Sage or Sage, or alternatively, can be cleared out and not

processed.

11. NetHelpDesk warns about outstanding transactions, as normally you would process them after starting the create invoice function.

12. Each action has an invoice number and date field, which are filled in by NetHelpDesk.

13. This can be reset using a button on the Request Invoice Details screen, if you need to re-

process the invoice.

14. You can prevent a request from being invoiced on the Request Details screen > Invoice tab as needed.

15. Each item on the request has a separate invoice number field that is used to determine if

it has been invoiced.



16. The format of the Accounts Interface details can be set up in the options screen. This allows you to add the symptoms, or some other data into the Third-Party Accounts package. The Global Charge Rate details screen also contains similar settings.

ITEM CODES NEEDED IN THE ACCOUNTS PACKAGE There are item codes that must exist in the accounts package. The values for these are setup on the Billing Tab screen and global charge rate description screen below.

a) Periodic contract charge item

b) Charge rates

c) Also each item billed for in NetHelpDesk should have an accounts item code too.

1. If these do not exist in the Accounts package, then the log file will say this, and the transaction will remain in the transaction file.

2. You can then correct the Accounts package and finish processing the transactions.

3. Each client in NetHelpDesk has an accounts ID, for the Accounts interface. Set this to the

Accounts package Customer Code/ID. ADVANCED OPTIONS There are three advanced options that can be set on the Billing tab:

Allow Editing of Invoice Number. Allows manual editing of the field called invoice number (Not recommended) Normally the system controls this field.

Only process closed Fixed Price requests.

If not checked, fixed price work will be reported based on the date that the action was taken. If checked, will be reported once the request is closed.

Show All Billing Plans on Billing Report and I/F:

If not checked, only chargeable work will appear. Fixed price will not.



VIEWING & EDITING INVOICES To view invoices created in NetHelpDesk, in the main screen, right click on the Client’s name > Edit Client > Invoices tab. A list of invoices created for the customer will appear.

To edit the invoices, double click the invoice line in this tab, and the invoice details window will open. Here, edit the details of the invoice, view the invoice template and check the invoice number, which corresponds to the invoice created in your 3rd party software when synchronised.



CREATE AD HOC INVOICES To create invoices ad hoc, use the Create Invoice button on the Invoice tab. CREATE INVOICES FOR CONTRACTS/PRE PAY/RECURRING BILLING ITEMS To create invoices for contracts:

1) Select the Contracts / Pre Pay / Recurring Billing Items checkboxes in the Accounts Interface and Create Invoices selection screen as shown above.

2) Select the client you wish to invoice.

3) Choose either to:

a. Sync to QuickBooks or Sage - Sync to 3rd Party Accounts, or b. Leave this checkbox blank to create the invoice in NetHelpDesk

and sync at a time of your choosing.

This will create invoices for all completed periods of a contract. If you choose to only create invoices in NetHelpDesk, you can come back to this stage at any time, and select the option to sync. This will sync the previously created invoices to the 3rd party accounts software, should you wish to double check them). CREATE INVOICES FOR ITEMS ISSUED Once you have a Sales Order (as below) for your items, there are three choices: OPTION A: Consign the items and produce an invoice straight away, or OPTION B: Have NetHelpDesk automatically create the invoice once the item has been

consigned, or

OPTION C: Create an invoice now for a percentage of the cost, and have NetHelpDesk automatically create an invoice for the rest, when the items are consigned.

To accomplish these, please follow the instructions below, based on your choice above. OPTION A:

1) Go to Sales Orders on the main screen, or click on the Sales Orders tab in the Request. Then,

a. Consignments tab > Add b. Increase the quantities to match that of the order c. Click OK.


The order has now been consigned.

2) Go to the Invoices tab and click Create Invoice.

3) Choose the percentage to invoice and also the Date to Invoice.

4) The date chosen here is the date that the invoice will be ready to be synchronised to your third party software.

5) Click OK, and an invoice will be created in NetHelpDesk.

6) You can view this invoice either in the sales order or in the clients details as described on

page 3. OPTION B:

1) Go to the Invoices tab and click Create Invoice.

2) Select Date Below' > Choose a percentage to invoice, a Date to Invoice and hit 'OK'. You now have an invoice for a percentage of the order Total.

If you then go to 'Create Invoice' once more and this time select 'When all items consigned' along with a percentage, this will then create an invoice in NetHelpDesk once the items have been consigned following the steps on page 6. Again, you can view this invoice either in the sales order or in the clients details as described on page 3. To synchronise these invoices for Items Issued to a client go to Reports > Basic Reports > Accounts Interface and check the 'Items Issued' box and specify the client you wish to invoice or leave blank to invoice all clients. Choose “Sync to 3rd Party Accounts” and hit 'OK'. This will now sync all invoices for items issued which have a valid 'invoice date' (i.e. not in the future).



Labour The first thing to check when invoicing for labour is when time on an action is ready for billing. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Billing > Check to see if you have the 'Process Actions on non-closed Requests' ticked/unticked as below. If this box is ticked then all actions will be ready for invoicing as soon as they are added. If the box is unticked then only actions on closed requests are ready for invoicing. To check a specific action you can open the request the action has been taken on > Double click the action in the action table > Go to the 'Time Tracking/Billing' tab. Here you can check and change whether the action will be included on the invoice by ticking/unticking the 'Ready for Invoice Processing' box. To create invoices for Labour go to 'Accounts Interface and Create Invoices' and select Labour and clients to invoice. You now have the option to 'Sync to 3rd Party Accounts', which will create the invoices in NetHelpDesk and synchronise them to your 3rd party software, or to simply create the invoices in NetHelpDesk, by leaving the 'Sync to 3rd Party Accounts' box blank. Once you hit 'OK' to create the invoices you will be able to view these in the Client details > Invoices tab (which will be accompanied with a tick if invoices are present). Another feature added in the new billing method is the ability to invoice a customer for a specific request by going to the 'Request details' > 'Invoice Details' tab and hit 'Invoice and sync to 3rd Party Accounts'. This will again, only invoice actions that are ready for invoice processing but gives you the option to invoice for specific requests if needed. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




Advanced Functionality Setup Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



SERVICES (SERVICE STATUS MONITORING) AN OVERVIEW Service Status Monitoring is a full service monitoring service within NetHelpDesk, and allows tracking of full history from your chosen monitoring software. If you are using the MAXfocus integration, the notifications imported from your MAXfocus database will not impact, or be impacted by use of Services. It is completely separate. This part works by receiving e-mails from your third party systems, processing those e-mails to update the NetHelpDesk service status database, whatever the status of the notification, and track history. New requests can be raised when a service fails, where you can track the actions taken to restore the service to operational status. NHD can even generate a request if a Service Status e-mail is not received. The definition of a Service is quite broad. Examples of Services:

A nightly batch job, such as a backup, virus scans, or disc space check.

A frequently recurring check, such as a check of the status of a network link, or a check that a URL is operational.

A manual task such as changing of the backup tapes in a server or periodically reviewing

the list of valid users.

Monitoring for warning messages from a third party utility or monitoring system and tracking that actions are taken to respond to the warning.

Any task or job that you wish to report the success or failure of, and which may form part

of your SLA. If the third party service status gathering program being used doesn’t have the ability to send an e-mail directly, use the NetHDSendStatus.exe program to send the e-mail. This file can be found in the Win folder of the NetHelpDesk installation folder. This will allow you to use batch files, and other scripting tools to write the status monitoring mechanism, and integrate this mechanism into your existing batch processes or other systems. If you are not using the NHServer program for e-mails in and out of NetHelpDesk, this will also need to be configured to utilise this functionality. To view a guide on setting this up, please visit www.nethelpdesk.com/e-mail for assistance, or contact the support team.


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/email


DEFINING A SERVICE

1. In the tree view, go to relevant Customer/Area.

2. Right click on a site, and Edit Site and Services.

3. Click on the Services Tab.

4. Click Add a Service.

5. There are 6 tabs of information about each service. The defaults are often sufficient, but you can adjust the values to fit in with the third party monitoring software that you are using.

6. The six tabs are: Basic Details, Service Users, Service Assets, Service Status Tracking,

Identification Rules, and Status Rules. Basic Details Tab The details tab has the following fields:

Description Define how this service will differ from others.

Service Type Select a predefined Service Type, or go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Advanced Settings > Service Types to add, edit and delete from the list.

Service Hours

Define a set of hours that the service will be checked. This may be during your pre-existing working hours you have defined already, or you may want to set up specific coverage time for these types of service checking.

Show in User Catalog Shows the service check in the User Catalog area.

Track Service Status Enables the Service Check.

Client / Area Specify the Client / Area Site you want to check. This will be auto-populated if adding at the site level.

Notes Free text box for all your notes you may wish to keep.

Service Status button Check the service once it is set up, at the click of a button.

Service Users Tab Specify the Users affected by the Service Status monitoring. Allows you to build a list of those affected, and e-mail en masse should you wish to keep them updated of any progress.


Service Assets Tab Specify the Assets affected by the Service Status monitoring. Allows you to track any changes against the Asset entry also. Service Status Tracking

Checking Interval in Minutes: How often the check is expected to send an 'all is OK' message. If the message doesn't arrive, it indicates that the state of the service is unknown.

Details Link: A link to more detailed information about the service. Specify a URL or the name of a file preceded by the name of a viewing program, e.g.'notepad.exe status.txt'.

Override Operational Status: This is used to override the actual status with predetermined values.

Parameters 1,2,3:

These are set for each service, and have meanings dependent on what the type is. For virus checking services the first parameter is the server name being checked. For file transfer services the first parameter is the keyword associated with the service, the second is the destination file location.

Minimum/Maximum Values: Zero (0) by default.

Identification Rules The identification rule tab defines how the incoming service status e-mail is linked to a service, and has the following fields:

POP3 Server Define which POP3 server the e-mail arrived on.

Subject A string that is found in the e-mail subject.

Body A string that is found in the e-mail body.

From Address A string that is found in the e-mail from address.

To Address A string that is found in the e-mail to address.

ID Rule is Enabled Uncheck to temporarily disable the rule.

Status Rules The status rules tab defines how NetHelpDesk knows the status of a service i.e. Is it OK, or a Fault and has the following fields:


Choose whether receiving an e-mail notification from your monitoring software mean either:

1. Status is OK, or 2. Status is Fault / Service Failure / Problem.

Status is OK. Select if receiving any message means the Service is OK, or The message must contain one of 4 things to be classed as OK. Define as applicable.

Subject A string that is found in the e-mail subject indicating the status is OK.

Body A string in the e-mail body.

From Address A string in the e-mail from address.

To Address A string in the e-mail to address. If more than one value needs to be matched use ‘$OR$ to separate parameters. Status is Fault / Service Failure / Problem Select if receiving any message means the Service is a fault, or The message must contain one of 4 things to be classed as a fault or problem:

Subject A string that is found in the e-mail subject indicating the status is OK.

Body A string in the e-mail body.

From Address A string in the e-mail from address.

To Address A string in the e-mail to address. If more than one value needs to be matched use ‘$OR$ to separate parameters.

1. Choose to create a Request on Failure, as required.

2. Setup Third Party Software

3. Set up your software to send an e-mail to the mailbox being polled by NetHelpDesk.

4. By default all service status messages should have 'SERVICESTATUS' in their subject line. If the third party service status gathering program doesn’t have the ability to send an e- mail directly, you can use the NetHDSendStatus.exe program to send the e-mail.


NHServer Processing

1. N > Setup > Main Configuration > Email > E-mail Rules.

2. Click Add.

3. By default all service status messages should have 'SERVICESTATUS' in their subject line. View Status of Services:

1. Go to the Main Screen Navigation Bar > Services. A service can be in one of the following states and is indicated by the colours of traffic lights on service status lists:

OK The NHServer program has received an e-mail for this service that says it is OK. It has been received within the time frame expected (green)

Fault The NHServer program has received an e-mail for this service that says it has a problem and is faulty. (red)

Unknown - expired No e-mail has been received telling the status of the service within the time frame expected. So the service may be OK, but you don't know.

Unknown No Data Needs investigation.

Overridden You can manually override the status of the service as required. (An exclamation point (!) precedes status description)

Engineer Aware Engineer is aware of the issue, and actively working on it.



EDITING STANDARD TEMPLATES OF REPORT LAYOUTS The templates that are used for Invoices and Quotes etc. are qr2 files which can be found in your "NetHelpDesk > Win > Reports" folder. The main windows client has an editor which you can use to make changes to these templates. If you go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Reporting, and then select Report Layouts, as shown below, and select a template to edit, this will open the editor. In the editor, you can select from a number of fields to add to the template by clicking and dragging the fields onto a band in the template (in red below). You can add bands, text boxes and lines to the template from the left-hand menu (in blue below). When you would like to see how the template will look, there is a preview button on the menu bar (in green below), or you can exit the editor and view a pdf for your invoice, quote etc.





BASIC PROJECTS NetHelpDesk has been developed over the decades to be the very best request processing system it can be, allowing to track requests from beginning to end, and all actions on the request during its lifetime. The Project Management within NetHelpDesk allows for calls to be linked together to manage a larger project, using Parent and Child relationship style, to allow sleek traceability, time and resource management and fluid communications. Whether your projects are part of your Requests, or separated into their own “Projects” area, is entirely your decision as a business. Project Requests have all the same wonderful features as any other request type would have, but in this guide, we discuss the options available to you to use them specifically for projects. The “Projects Area” usage with advanced workflows and so on, is detailed in this guide under “Project Management”. Basic Project Example 1: Let’s say that a new project needs to be raised to get a new Laptop for the new Manager that just started. A parent is raised called “New Manager’s New Laptop”, and that parent request is assigned to Jayne, who ensures the project as a whole is completed efficiently. As part of that project, Jayne creates 4 child requests to order the new laptop from the third party Supplier, another to configure it with the standard configuration for Managers, another to create the new user on the network, patch a new phone port at their desk, another one to patch the network port, and assigns all four child requests to Dan, Andrew, Katie and Teresa respectively, to look after each particular task. In this instance, all four tasks can be done at the same time, and none of them reliant on the other one being completed, in order for work to commence on that task. PARENT AND CHILD RELATIONSHIPS The functionality in NetHelpDesk allows for “Parent and Child” relationships between Requests. This means that lots of smaller tasks, or “Child” Requests can be linked to one larger “Parent” request, which “in charge” of the “Child” requests. Each of the requests, regardless of whether parent or child, can be assigned to the Agents that are in charge of that request. Each request can only be assigned to one Agent at any one time, but can be reassigned if necessary. In Project Example 1, Jayne can update her parent request with notes, and choose to add the same note to the child requests, and also oversee high level status of child requests from within her parent requests using the “Linked Requests” tab.



LINKING REQUESTS TOGETHER

1. On the main screen view, select multiple requests, by using either the CTRL key on your keyboard to select specific requests, or the SHIFT key to select a succession of requests, the same way you would in Windows Explorer.


3. Enter the Request ID to link to. In other words, which request number are you nominating as the “parent” of these “child” requests. Don’t worry if it’s one of the requests you have selected.

4. It will then ask you to confirm.

5. Once done, each child request will get a “-c” next to the request ID. The parent request gets a “-p”.

6. Open up the parent request, and click “Linked Requests” tab to see overview of the child requests.

CLONING REQUESTS

Cloning requests can be a fast way to create multiple requests for use in Projects, so we have added this explanation here for those who will find it beneficial.

1. Inside any request, simply click its N button, and go to File > Clone This Request.

2. Confirm that it is ok to copy the request’s details, to do list and items issued to create the

new request(s).


4. NetHelpDesk will then make the exact number of duplicates, with an exact replica of the request you just cloned.

ACTIONS ON A REQUEST As with all requests, all of the actions you add to any type of request will be recorded against it during its lifetime. The good thing with Request Types in NetHelpDesk is that you can specify a whole host of defaults to occur when raising that call. These include:

Making visible to end users via the end-user web interface. Keep an Account Manager informed. Start an Approval Process when it is raised. Override the Charge Rate for all actions.


Set a Calendar Colour for all appointments on the request(s) Set status after an end-user update. Set default status Set default priority Set default Section and Agent Set default categorisation. Set Default Mailbox. Override standard SLA grouping for the Request(s) Start a Workflow. Add contacts who will receive a closure e-mail upon request’s completion. Restrict Status types to this specific request type.

All of these can be set by editing the Request’s details in the setup. You can use one, a few or all of them. The choice is yours. TO DO LISTS INSIDE REQUESTS Against all requests, Agents can have their very own To-Do list. They can be added to during the request’s life, pre-populated from a template, or a mixture of both.

As you can see from the example above, it is very self-explanatory on how to add To Do items to the list, deleted, add from template, and set actual start date. As each one is selected and completed, it will record the Agent login that carried out the action, and when this was done. Great functionality for auditing, and ensuring internal processes are being followed correctly. REQUEST TEMPLATES TO USE FOR BASIC PROJECTS With NetHelpDesk, Request Templates have so many features available, which are perfect for a basic project setup, with multiple steps that need to be followed for quality and auditing purposes.


If you are going to create templates for parent requests, with child requests attached, start with the child requests first. Then add the child requests to the parent request, whilst you are creating the parent request.







6. Add the To-Do list items for this particular request type of all steps that must be followed.



8. Click the “Use Template” button on the New Request Details screen. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




ADVANCED PROJECTS MANAGEMENT NetHelpDesk has been developed over the decades to be the very best request processing system it can be, allowing to track requests from beginning to end, and all actions on the request during its lifetime. The Project Management within NetHelpDesk allows for calls to be linked together to manage a larger project, using Parent and Child relationship style, to allow sleek traceability, time and resource management and fluid communications. Whether your projects are part of your Requests, or separated into their own “Projects” area, is entirely your decision as a business. Project Requests have all the same wonderful features as any other request type would have, but in this guide, we discuss the options available to you to use them specifically for projects. NOMINATING A REQUEST TYPE AS A “PROJECT”

The first thing, if you want your requests for “Projects” kept in the separate area of NetHelpDesk called “Projects, is to nominate the request type(s) that are used for handling project requests.

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Requests.

2. Edit the request type, or create a new request type that you wish to use solely for project work.

3. On the Details tab, select the checkbox that is titled “Is a Project”.

4. In the Field List and Custom Fields area, move the four fields below, from the left-hand

column, to the right-hand column.

a. Project Time Budget b. Project Time Actual c. Project Money Budget d. Project Money Actual

5. Your Request types selected will now be kept in the “Projects” area on the main screen

menu option, and not with your requests. Project Example 1: Let’s say that a new project needs to be raised to get a new Laptop for the new Manager that just started. A parent is raised called “New Manager’s New Laptop”, and that parent request is assigned to Jayne, who ensures the project as a whole is completed efficiently, and within budget.


As part of that project, Jayne creates 4 child requests to order the new laptop from the third party Supplier, another to configure it with the standard configuration for Managers, another to create the new user on the network, patch a new phone port at their desk, another one to patch the network port, and assigns all four child requests to Dan, Andrew, Katie and Teresa respectively, to look after each particular task. In this instance, all four tasks can be done at the same time, and none of them reliant on the other one being completed, in order for work to commence on that task. PARENT AND CHILD RELATIONSHIPS The functionality in NetHelpDesk allows for “Parent and Child” relationships between Requests. This means that lots of smaller tasks, or “Child” Requests can be linked to one larger “Parent” request, which “in charge” of the “Child” requests. Each of the requests, regardless of whether parent or child, can be assigned to the Agents that are in charge of that request. Each request can only be assigned to one Agent at any one time, but can be reassigned if necessary. In Project Example 1, Jayne can update her parent request with notes, and choose to add the same note to the child requests, and also oversee high level status of child requests from within her parent requests using the “Linked Requests” tab. The Project Time and Money budgets allow her to track money spent during the requests lifetime, and compare against actual for later reporting. LINKING REQUESTS TOGETHER

1. On the main screen view, select multiple requests, by using either the CTRL key on your

keyboard to select specific requests, or the SHIFT key to select a succession of requests, the same way you would in Windows Explorer.


3. Enter the Request ID to link to. In other words, which request number are you nominating as the “parent” of these “child” requests. Don’t worry if it’s one of the requests you have selected.

4. It will then ask you to confirm.

5. Once done, each child request will get a “-c” next to the request ID. The parent request gets a “-p”.

6. Open up the parent request, and click “Linked Requests” tab to see overview of the child

requests.


CLONING REQUESTS

Cloning requests can be a fast way to create multiple requests for use in Projects, so we have added this explanation here for those who will find it beneficial.

1. Inside any request, simply click its N button, and go to File > Clone This Request.

2. Confirm that it is ok to copy the request’s details, to do list and items issued to create the

new request(s).


4. NetHelpDesk will then make the exact number of duplicates, with an exact replica of the request you just cloned.

ACTION ON A REQUEST As with all requests, all of the actions you add to a “Project” request will be recorded against it during its lifetime. The good thing with Request Types in NetHelpDesk is that you can specify a whole host of defaults to occur when raising that call. These include:

Making visible to end users via the end-user web interface. Keep an Account Manager informed. Start an Approval Process when it is raised. Override the Charge Rate for all actions. Set a Calendar Colour for all appointments on the request(s) Set status after an end-user update. Set default status Set default priority Set default Section and Agent Set default categorisation. Set Default Mailbox. Override standard SLA grouping for the Request(s) Start a Workflow. Add contacts who will receive a closure e-mail upon request’s completion. Restrict Status types to this specific request type.

All of these can be set by editing the Request’s details in the setup. You can use one, a few or all of them. The choice is yours.



Project Example 2 Let’s say that a similar project to above needs to be raised to get a new Laptop for the new Manager that just started. A parent is raised called “New Manager’s New Laptop”, and that parent request is assigned to Jayne, who ensures the project as a whole is completed efficiently, and within budget. As part of that project, Jayne commences a workflow that has 4 separate stages, and each stage needs to be completed before the next one can begin.

1. Order the new laptop from the third party Supplier 2. Item is unpacked, and all packaging recycled correctly. 3. Image the laptop, and setup standard Manager access paths. 4. Take the laptop to the Manager, and show how to setup and use.

The four steps are actioned by Dan, Andrew, Katie and Teresa respectively, to look after each particular task. In this instance, all four tasks cannot be done at the same time, and each step reliant on the previous one being completed, in order for work to commence on that task. SETTING UP WORKFLOWS

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Actions.

2. In Actions, start adding action buttons that you need to use in the workflow process.

3. Ensure that these new action buttons have the Available in all workflows button

unchecked.

4. Once all actions are created, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Workflows.

5. On the Workflow list, click Add to start a workflow.

6. Give the workflow a name, i.e. New Laptop.

7. Add notes on how the workflow is used, and why, if necessary.

8. Click Add Step to start adding the stages of the workflow.

9. Once the steps are in place, highlight the first step, and click View Step Actions.

10. Add the action buttons to the step, in the relevant order.

11. Click OK to save the workflow.



The workflow can now be specified at the Request Type level, to start that workflow when a certain type of request is raised. The great thing is that each action can have its own set of defaults, such as:

Status after an action is completed. Set default Charge Rate. Whether the action has a specific system use, such as Set Planned Date. Ensure the Action button uses a specific e-mail template on the communication. Make the SLA hold checkbox automatically selected. Make the SLA release checkbox automatically selected. Hide the action from the end-user. Set default billable hours. Set default non-billable hours Start and Approval Process Set default Section Set default Agent. Give Button own unique name, sequence appearance, and picture icon.

TO DO LISTS INSIDE REQUESTS Against all requests, regardless of whether the request is a project, opportunity or regular request, can have their very own To-Do list. They can be added to during the request’s life, pre-populated from a template, or a mixture of both.

As you can see from the example above, it is very self-explanatory on how to add To Do items to the list, deleted, add from template, and set actual start date. REQUEST TEMPLATES TO USE FOR PROJECTS With NetHelpDesk, Request Templates have so many features available, which are perfect for a project setup, especially for larger projects, with multiple steps that need to be followed for quality and auditing purposes.


If you are going to create templates for parent requests, with child requests attached, start with the child requests first. Then add the child requests to the parent request, whilst you are creating the parent request.







6. Add the To-Do list items for this particular request type of all steps that must be followed.



8. To create “project” of requests, this can be done on the New Request Details screen. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact




ASSET MANAGEMENT CONFIGURING YOUR ASSET REGISTER NetHelpDesk Asset Management allows you to add Asset Groups, Asset Types and then individual assets assigned to the End User or to the Site Level.

Click on the Assets view on the left hand side of the main screen.

1. Click on By Asset Type.

2. In the Tree View, the folders that appear show Asset Groups.

3. Right click on the Top Level, to add New Asset/Item Group.

4. Under each Asset Group are the Asset Types.

e.g. Asset Group = PCs. Asset Types = PC, Novell Server, Windows Server etc.

5. Right click on the Asset Group to Edit the Asset/Item Group name, or to add a New Asset Type.

6. Right click on the Asset Type > Edit Asset Type to add and configure Field Names for information to be captured for that particular Asset Type.

7. If adding a New Asset Type, you can choose to use an existing Asset Type’s field name structure as a template, and copy the field name selections across.

8. All assets require an “ID” a chosen field to identify it throughout the rest of the program. On the Site Diagram Settings Tab, select one of the field names, and click the ID button.

ADDING A NEW ASSET (MANUALLY)

1. Click on By Client Site.

2. Right click on Site Level or End User Level.

3. Select New Asset.

4. The top drop down menu allows you to select by Asset Group. Default view is All.

5. Select the relevant Asset Type and the Edit Asset Screen will appear.

6. Asset Tag field allows you to capture and/or generate a unique ID for your Asset.



For an easy way to populate you Asset Register, the NHInventorizor program is available with NetHelpDesk as standard. The following instructions will assist with using and utilising this feature. MAINTENANCE PLAN The Maintenance Plan tool is there to help you organise your regular checks of Assets to ensure all is ok, run servicing and so on, to ensure they stay premium for your Customers or end-users. Whether you deal with people inside your own company, or external customers, the maintenance plan is available to all, with many different types of uses.

1. Against each asset that you wish to check, ensure that you have the Asset Fields called:

a. Maint Freq Days, and

b. Next Maint Date

2. When they are available for your asset(s), you can populate the frequency of days to maintain, and set the next maintenance date.

3. Once you start populating these fields, you can also add into the Asset Field Chooser view,

the fields to show on the main overview screen.

The Maintenance Plan is there to help organise these days, so rather than looking at a long list, you can just see which maintenance items are due the day of running the plan.

1. Go to Tools ribbon on the main screen.

2. View Maintenance Plan.


3. You have the option to adjust the amount of days in advance to check, if you want to see what is upcoming for the week, and adjust according to location, for example.

4. The “Next Maint Due” or next maintenance due date, will automatically adjust based on the “Freq”or frequency of days.

5. You can show the details of the checked asset, or create requests for those assets, either individually or en masse.


- END OF DOCUMENT -



AUTOMATIC INVENTORY / PC AUDITING NHINVENTORIZOR NetHelpDesk comes with a program called NHInventorizor.exe, located in the "...\NetHelpDesk\AutoInfo" folder. It can be used for auditing local networks, and/or used to audit remote networks (gathering information files via e-mail).

1. The NHInventorizor program can gather information about Devices or "Assets", and the NHServer program can then automatically import that information into the NetHelpDesk database, allowing the information to display in the main NetHelpDesk Windows application.

2. The NHInventorizor program can be used to gather info on regular PC based Devices, such

as PC's and servers, but can also be used on non-PC based devices too, such as a Router or a Linux machine.

3. Essentially, if the device can output a text file of configuration data, then this can be imported into NetHelpDesk's database via this mechanism, and refreshed on a regular basis.

4. Similarly if you already have an audit program in place, NetHelpDesk may be able to

process its output. What NHInventorizor can do?

1. NHInventorizor.exe is made to run on an End-User's PC or on a Server.

2. It audits the PC to produce a text file of data, including RAM size, Windows version, BIOS version and installed programs.

3. This text file is unique to that specific device or asset.

4. Once created, the file can either:

a) Be stored on a shared drive that the NHServer program has instant access to, or b) Sent by e-mail to the NHServer program.

5. These two options allow for not only local area auditing, but also wide area auditing and

disconnected sites auditing.

6. The text file could even be stored on a USB key drive or floppy disc, and then later made available to the NHServer program.



WHAT DOES NHSERVER DO WITH THE INFORMATION?

1. The NHServer program scans the text files of Inventory data, and extracts selected strings of data from them, based on the field definitions in NetHelpDesk.

2. The extracted data is then put into fields in the database, where it can be viewed by the

Windows and Web applications. Tell NHInventorizor what to do with the text file

1. In the same folder as the NHInventorizor program, is a file called NetHDinv.ini. This file has parameters that tell NHInventorizor what to do with that text file.

a) If using the .ini file, ensure it is kept in the same folder the NHInventorizor program

executes from.

b) Advanced users may not want to use the .ini file, and instead put the parameters into a command prompt. This is detailed later.

Parameters in the INI File

[AutoInventorySettings] Notes:

SMTPServer= Server Name

SMTPRecipient= E-mail address e.g. [email protected]

SMTPUsername= (Only if required)

SMTPPassword= (Only if required)

AutoInfoFolder= e.g. \\NHD01\NetHelpDesk\autoinfo

PromptUser= Type yes if you want to ask the user to input their Name, Location and Physical Inventory Number (Asset Tag). See below.

AuditID= Linked to PromptUser parameter above. See below.

Site= Numeric: Number can be found by right clicking on a site > Edit Site and Services > On right hand side.

DeviceType= Numeric: Number can be found by right clicking on a device type > Edit Device Type > On right hand side.

Physical Details (e.g. Location, Asset Tag etc.)

1. You can set NHInventorizor to prompt the End User of the PC to enter this info about the PC.


2. The end user can be shown this screen periodically when the program is run:

3. If you choose to run the audit program via the End User's login script, it will collect the data at every login.

4. This will keep the data reasonably up to date.

5. However, use the parameters called PromptUser and AuditID to control this.

PromptUser No When set to this, never prompts when run - silent mode. Force When set to this, always prompts when run. Yes When set to this, only prompts when run, and the AuditID is different to last time it

was run. AuditID Use this string in conjunction with the PromptUser parameter. e.g. To audit PC's once and prompt every end user once for details, set to e.g. 'NOV2011', for a November 2011 audit. 3 months later, to prompt every user again, set to a new value e.g. 'FEB2012'. As this is different to the previous parameter, all end users will be prompted again. Example setup for LAN-connected PCs

1. Create a shared folder on a Network Server. e.g. \\myserver\AutoInfo.

2. Give users "Write" access to it.

3. In the main NetHelpDesk Windows application, go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Advanced Settings > Folders to set the AutoInfo folder name equal to this share name.

4. Copy the NHInventorizor.exe and NHinv.ini files to the netlogon share of the server.

5. Edit, or create, the users login script so that it runs NHInventorizor.exe when they login.

6. Edit the NHinv.ini file so that its AutoInfo folder parameter is set to e.g.

\\myserver\autoinfo.

7. Edit the NHinv.ini file so that the PromptUser parameter is set to 'Yes'.

8. Test by logging in at a PC, and the user should be prompted once for some inventory details.

9. The text file of data should then appear in the AutoInfo folder specified above. The file is

named with the PC name and '.txt'.


10. Within NHServer, on the Config2 tab, there is a checkbox that says to Refresh Auto

Inventory Data. Tick this, and each scan will make it read the text files and update the database.

11. On the Config3 tab, configure how the system should handle unknown assets.

12. It is also possible to automatically link the asset to an end user. To enable this, check the

box "link devices to users", found on the Config3 tab. The auto inventory text file will contain the Windows User name of the logged in user.

13. This value can be matched to the network login name field of an existing user within the

NetHelpDesk database.

14. You can see the progress of this on the Auto Inventory tab of NHServer. Once processed, NHServer renames the file to 'tx2'.

15. If the PC does not exist as a device in NetHelpDesk with the name of the PC, then the file

is not processed. Add the PC into NetHelpDesk at the site you require and the next scan will pick up its details.

16. You can alter which data fields are updated by this process using N > Setup > Main

Configuration > Asset Management > Asset Fields.

17. Each field can have an auto id string associated with it. If a match is found in the incoming text file, then the field is updated with the data selected by position and length.

18. If the PC's are off-site or not connected to your network then you can set the SMTP

parameters in the NHinv.ini file so that the text file is e-mailed to the NHServer program for processing.

19. Enter the name of an SMTP server that the user has access to and if necessary enter the

username and password for the SMTP server to allow sending of e-mails.

20. Enter the address for the NHServer mailbox too.

21. The entire text file of inventory raw data can also be viewed on the AutoInfo tab of the Device details screen.



SENDING MASS E-MAILS Within NetHelpDesk, the functionality to send an e-mail to multiple e-mail addresses stored in your database is available. Each user is sent an e-mail individually, and will not see e-mail addresses of other recipients. It will be as if you had sent e-mail individually, and personalised to the end-user. Using a Data Analyser query to produce a list of e-mail addresses and usernames, and then use this list as the “To” address box. Then using the e-mail templates list to populate the body of the e-mail, and then simply click send. POPULATING LIST OF “TO” E-MAIL ADDRESSES In the Data Analyser, create a new profile that will populate two columns; “emailto” and “username”. An example of a simple query is: select uusername as username, uemail as emailto, (select sarea from site where ssitenum=usite) as clientid from users where usite=1 and uemail<>'' This query accesses the database to populate the “emailto” column with the e-mail address of the user, and the “username” column as the user’s full user name, where the site ID is 1 and the e-mail address field is not empty.

You now have a list of usernames and e-mail addresses to form your sending list. There are two options, to send to just the “First name” in the username column, or to both, so no matter which you prefer, we will show you how to utilise this functionality later in this guide. CREATING AN E-MAIL TEMPLATE Next, you need to create an e-mail template to use, to form the basis of what you are sending out.

1. Go to the N > Setup > Main Configuration > Outgoing Email > E-mail Templates.


2. Choose an empty e-mail template from the user e-mail list, and Edit.

When editing the template, specify:

a) A short description that helps you to easily identify the e-mail template from the others,

b) Subject Line that captures the recipient’s attention.

c) The body of the e-mail EXACTLY how you want it to appear to the end-user, with rich text formatting, signatures and anything else you may require.

3. To send to just the username’s first name, use $firstname as the variable.

4. To send to the username’s full name, use $username as the variable.

5. If there is any information from NetHelpDesk you would like to include that isn’t currently available, please let our Support Team know, and we will add to the program for you.


6. Click OK to save the e-mail template. SENDING A MASS EMAIL On the main screen, Home tab, click the Send Email button. This will open up the e-mail sending screen.

1. Select another mailbox to send from, if not from the default mailbox. Leave blank if not different.

2. Select the e-mail template that you have created in the steps prior using short description.

3. Select the SQL data analyser query to create the “To” list. The e-mail fields will then grey

out.

4. Attach any attachments you wish to send to the end user with each e-mail. Once you click OK, the e-mails will be generated, and added to a queue to e-mail to your end users. The end-user will then receive an e-mail, which looks like it was personally sent to them. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



ARCHIVING Using the archiving data functionality in NetHelpDesk will move requests, actions and attachments for closed calls, based on a date parameter, to a separate database called NetHelpDesk_Archive in your NetHelpDesk instance. Requests will then be archived that were closed between the dates ranges specified in the archiving area. After this process is completed, archived data will only be accessible using the View Archived Data button in this Archive area. PLEASE NOTE: Before proceeding, we strongly recommend that you ensure that none of

your Technicians are logged into the database, that NHServer process is paused, so that the database is not updated during this archiving process.

Once this is done, it is imperative that a full copy of your database is taken

at that point, so that it can be reinstated, should you experience issues along the way.

If your database is large, we would recommend archiving in small chunks. ARCHIVING IN CHUNKS NetHelpDesk comes bundled with a Microsoft SQL Server Express edition. Microsoft impose a database limit of 10GB. To allow the database to grow larger than this, you must purchase a copy of the full version of Microsoft SQL Server from your Supplier. The majority of people who are happy to use the Express version may want to use this archive data procedure, to save some space, and split the data into 2 smaller databases. In any case, if your database is large, we would recommend archiving in small chunks. So, if you have a 10GB database, and you want to halve its size to 5GB, there will be a lot of data to process. Example: Let’s say that you started using NetHelpDesk on the 1st January 2010 and the date today is the 1st January 2015, which would mean there is 5 years of data to archive. Instead of archiving all in one go, specify a smaller date range to begin with, in the archive date fields. So, instead of specifying 01/01/2010 to 01/01/2015, instead specify a smaller date range like 01/01/2010 to 01/01/2011. NHD then can archive a fifth of the data you want to archive first, and you can then move onto the next fifth, and so on. Once this is completed, and all is ok, you can then specify a smaller date range like 01/01/2011 to 01/01/2012, and so on. That way, the archiving process will be dealing with smaller chunks of data.


This is especially useful if you have NHD installed on an older server, with less resources. To access the Archiving Data area, go N > Process > Archive Data.

You can then specify the date range you like, and click Archive Data Now.



MANUALLY CREATING A NEW REQUEST To create a request manually (not e-mail created), you can use the first filter field to search for the user’s name. By typing the name, and pressing Enter on your keyboard, it will bring all users with that name up. Customer name and site can then be verified before proceeding. However, this is not essential. You access the Client or Site name, to create a new request:

a) Right click on the Site Name, and click New Request. Or,

b) Right click on the Client Name, and click New Request. Then:

1. In the new request screen, at the bottom, just above the Add Request button, is a selection to ‘Send e-mail to user”.

2. This will send the end user a New Request Acknowledgement E-mail, E-mail template ID 1.

3. This e-mail is sent automatically for e-mail produced requests.

4. For manually created requests, this is optional but a useful tool.

“RESPOND” BUTTON IN REQUESTS

1. The Respond button is the first action to be carried out by Agents.

2. The Respond button will change three areas; the Assigned To, the Status, and the SLA timings (if being used).

3. It is the Agent’s way of saying, “I can deal with that. I am now responsible for the call.”

4. It allows the Agents to look at their workload and prioritise, as well as removing from other

Agents, so duplicate work is not carried out.

5. A response E-mail template can also be used to send to the end user, to let them know that a Agent is now working on their enquiry.

6. Alternatively, by adding any other action, the request will prompt to say that the call has yet to be responded to, and ask whether you would like to use this action as the response.



COMMUNICATING WITH NETHELPDESK Once a call is logged, and a Agent is assigned to it, we have given three examples of how to communicate via the request. There are three preconfigured action buttons to carry these out: E-mail End User (public action), Internal Memo (private action) and Reassign Request (public action). These are purely sensible examples, and can be customised to fit around your existing processes. E-MAIL END USER The E-mail End User allows the Agent to send an e-mail to the end user, for tasks such as asking for additional information, updating on progress, confirming further information from a phone call and so on.

1. If the call has been logged against a known user, their e-mail address will automatically populate, in the “To” fields.

2. If the e-mail address is unknown, it will be empty, but editable to add an e-mail address in.

3. Anything placed in the white box on the left hand side of the action screen will be sent to

the end user, injected into the e-mail template where $richactionnote is found.

4. It is Rich Text enabled, so embedded images can be sent, as well as attachments.

5. It is set to place any SLA timers on hold, if these are in use. Again, this is configurable. INTERNAL MEMO The Internal Memo action allows the Agent to add information that the end user will not see. This can be used for tasks such as adding notes regarding a call, to remind them what to check for, additional information for the follow-up call, keeping track of progress, and so on.

1. The e-mail address area will not automatically display, as it did before.

2. The Hide Action From User checkbox is automatically ticked. This means it will not appear the end user via the web portal, or in any e-mail that you include the $allactions variable string.

3. Whereas the previous action is public (available to everybody, internally and externally),

this action is private (for internal purposes only).



REASSIGNING A REQUEST Once a call is logged, and a Agent is assigned to it, that Agent may not be able to resolve the call on their own, and they may need to assign the call to another Agent The Re-Assign button allows the Agent to move the call to the queue of another Agent. This can be used for tasks such as asking for advice, asking them to pick up the call moving forward and so on.

1. The e-mail address area will not automatically display, as it did before.

2. The Section and Agent dropdown lists will display.

3. If the Agent has access to the section, the will see that section’s available Agents.

4. If not, ensure that the Agent’s account is configured correctly to view that section (see N > Setup > Main Configuration >Agents > Permissions tab).

5. This is a public action, so will show to your end users via the web portal and in e-mail summaries. If you wish to make this private, you can do so by going to Options > Setup > Basic Setup Tab > Actions > Edit Reassign > Hide from End User Ticked.

PLEASE NOTE: These, and all other Action Buttons, can be customised, from their text

label, which description is used in the actions grid of the request, the picture associated with the action button, the order it appears in the view, e-mail templates associated with them and so on.

If you unsure how to customise actions, please ask any of our team to assist you. LOGGING TO SUPPLIER If you are using Suppliers in NetHelpDesk, there is functionality that allows you to log calls to the Supplier, Vendor or Manufacturer, and log all communications with them, against an end-user’s ticket, or maybe your own internal tickets. It logs the e-mails from the external Suppliers, and weaves them in with the end-user’s e-mails, in an accurate time and date stamped chronological order. These e-mail communications can be made public to the end-user, or hidden from them, depending on preference. Typically, the Supplier will have issued you with their own reference number or help desk number to work with their own help desk software choice. This feature in NHD matches an incoming e-mail from a supplier to a field in NetHelpDesk, and if a match is found, the incoming e-mail is treated as an update to the existing request.


The normal matching rules are done in order to identify the e-mail as a supplier update type of request. The e-mail is then further examined by NetHelpDesk to find a matching start and end tag, or a start tag and a length value. The value is extracted from the e-mail, and used to match against the selected field. If a match is not found, the e-mail is treated as a new request, and the Supplier reference is stored in the new request. To set this up:

1. Go to N > Setup > Main Configuration > Email > E-mail Rules.

2. Give the new e-mail rule a description to easily identify it.

3. Ensure that the “Rule is Enabled” checkbox is ticked, which it is by default.

4. In the Subject, Body, From Address and/or To Address lines, add the identifier that NetHelpDesk can use to treat these e-mails differently to the ones received from your end-users.

PLEASE NOTE: These rules work on an “AND” basis, not an “OR” basis. So if you add an

identifier parameter to more than one line, they will need to ALL be matched, for the rule to work.

If you have different parameters for different Suppliers, you will need to

add multiple e-mail rules. These rules are unlimited.

5. In the If e-mail rule is a match, then drop down, select Supplier E-mail Update.

6. Now, specify what to pull out of the e-mail that is now being treated as a Supplier E-mail update, to enable NetHelpDesk to match it to an existing request. Add this in the Match to an existing Supplier Request using these values. If matched then add as a note to the request area.

This could be their own unique identifiers in their e-mail subject lines, that their help desk software

In the example below, the rule would check for a Supplier's reference in the following format:

SupplierRef[12345] The system will look for the value 12345 in the field called Suppref, which is shown on the additional tab of the request screen.


The system thus accepts several e-mails from suppliers and link all of them together to just one request.



Important NetHelpDesk Procedures Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact



UPDATING YOUR NETHELPDESK VERSION Updates to NetHelpDesk are available on a regular basis, as the product develops based on Customer feedback. Open up NetHelpDesk, click Help > Check for Latest Version. Latest Files Link:

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/upgradefiles NETHELPDESK UPGRADE CONSIDERATIONS

1. It is sensible to carry out an upgrade at a time when you can have several hours downtime. The upgrade itself may only take 5 minutes, but sometimes the upgrade may involve interface changes, which means that the system may look a bit different. It may also include new features that you want to start using.

2. Therefore, to have a window of a few hours for familiarisation with the new version would

be beneficial, maybe in a test environment. This will allow your team time to get used to the new version, before updating your live production environment.

UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS

1. Ask all users to exit the program.

2. Ensure you have a current backup of the database, as you may need to restore to it in the unlikely event that the upgrade fails.

3. The NHServer program cannot be open, so either:

a. Close the NHServer program on the Server, or b. Stop NHDService if running as a service, or c. Disable scheduled task if running as a scheduled task.

4. If you are using SQL server, make sure that the SQL user running the upgrade has CREATE

TABLE permissions.

5. If you are using the SQL Replication feature of SQL Server, make sure this is NOT running.

6. There are 6 executable files in the upgrade zip folder you have downloaded. Locate the original 6 executable files in the NetHelpDesk folder, usually in the \NetHD or the \Win folders.

7. Make a copy of these 6 original executables, and place in a new folder as a backup. Name the folder the same as the version number, so you can go back to these, if needed.

http://www.nethelpdesk.com/upgradefiles


8. Select all 6 of the newly downloaded executable files, right click and copy.

9. Paste these into the NetHD or Win folder, overwriting the originals. Make sure you confirm replacement of these files one at a time.

PLEASE NOTE: Some Customers choose to run the NHServer.exe program from a different

folder, so copy it to the correct folder.

10. Copy files from the folder called 'new version of folders' to the appropriate folder. PLEASE NOTE: If there is an NHWeb folder, and you have edited the html files or .css file,

then be careful when replacing the folder with any new ones issued.

11. Please copy the contents of the issued NHWeb or Web folder into your existing NHWeb or Web folder.

ONCE THE FILES ARE UPDATED

1. Use the shortcut you have created to run the nethdclient program.

2. If the database fields have been amended it will upgrade the database to the current version.

3. Resume the server processing (NHServer or NHDservice)

4. For all the latest guides and videos, go to www.nethelpdesk.com/guides

5. The Release Notes folder has detailed logs of what has been changed in the releases, and

of any further actions required. Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact


http://www.nethelpdesk.com/guides



MIGRATING NETHELPDESK FROM ONE SERVER TO ANOTHER Moving NetHelpDesk from one Server to another is relatively straight forward:

1. Leave everything as it is on the existing server, and move copies onto the new server. In the unlikely event anything doesn't go to plan, you still have a working instance of NetHelpDesk to go back to.

2. Under no circumstances should you need to run the installer programs again on the new

server. This would only cause unnecessary additional work that is not needed to get NHD working in its new environment.

3. Take a copy of the NetHelpDesk folders (in previous versions, these are called either:

a. NetHD, NHWeb and NHLogs

or b. NetHelpDesk (with Log, SQL,Web,Win folders inside)

…and place on the new server.

c. Once done, adjust any shortcuts for NetHelpDesk, and NHServer …previously configured to point to the old server’s UNC path, to now point to the new server. Make sure that you give the new shortcut to your team internally, so that they can access it when they need to, following full migration.

4. Once you have migrated the SQL database to a new server, (details of how to do this are in this guide) ensure that the .udl data link file now points to the new SQL database.


5. Log into the Windows Application, click on N > Setup > Main Configuration > Advanced Settings and change the folder paths.

6. Create a new scheduled task to allow NHServer to process.

7. If you also need to migrate the web portal, you will need to follow the instructions to set up the portal on the new server from scratch.





MIGRATING NETHELPDESK FROM ONE SQL INSTANCE TO ANOTHER There may be a few reasons you wish to migrate NetHelpDesk from one SQL instance to another. These include:

Upgrading from an older version of SQL Server. Migrating from an old server to a new one. Moving NHD to its own Instance.

There are three options when migrating in NetHelpDesk: OPTION M1 Use an existing SQL Server instance on a different machine, perhaps a dedicated

SQL Server, and manually import an existing SQL Server NetHelpDesk database, and manually create/adjust shortcuts.

or

OPTION M2 Create a new SQL Server instance on a different other machine, perhaps a

dedicated SQL Server, and manually import an existing SQL Server NetHelpDesk database, and manually create/adjust shortcuts.

or

OPTION M3 Use an existing or a create a new SQL Server instance on a different machine, and

upsize a Microsoft Access NetHelpDesk database into a SQL Server NetHelpDesk database.

Whichever option you choose, and whatever the reason, migrating NetHelpDesk is easy to do, and the installer is not needed. SOME IMPORTANT NOTES

1. NetHelpDesk supports all versions of SQL Server from Microsoft, version 7 onwards. We merely use 2008 R2 below as an example, and our team can assist if you get stuck.

2. If Microsoft SQL Server is not yet installed on the machine you choose, instructions on

how to do this are detailed in this guide.

3. If the SQL Management Studio tool is not yet installed either, a free edition of Database Tools and Management Tools is available for download on the Microsoft website. This is recommended for queries and so on. Alternatively, you can access copies of SQL Management Studio 2008 R2 via our links below:

32 Bit: www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlms32 64 Bit: www.nethelpdesk.com/sqlms64

4. NetHelpDesk recommends that you do not use Windows Authentication. Use SQL Server

Authentication instead, using a SQL Server Administrator or “sa” account.




The sa account will automatically have full access to the instance you are using, and the databases within that instance. Using the “sa” login credential will ensure everyone on your domain can access NetHelpDesk without issue.

5. The installer will create its own “sa” account for its own SQL instance for you. However,

when manually setting up, if you are unaware of the “sa” login credentials, or not sure if one has been created, speak with your SQL Administrator about this account. Alternatively, our Support team can assist with getting this resolve for you.

6. If using an existing instance of SQL Server, and did not setup a ‘sa’ account, the user login

you use must have full access to the instance.

7. Some customers are not comfortable using the same sa credentials. You can create another account, or use a separate instance. We can help with all of this. The important thing is the high level of access to the NetHelpDesk DB.

Most important of all: Take a backup of your existing SQL Server database.

BACKING UP YOUR EXISTING NETHELPDESK SQL SERVER DATABASE:

1. On your existing SQL Instance, launch SQL Server Management Studio, and log in with the sa credentials as detailed above, right click on the NetHelpDesk database, and create a backup.

2. Make sure the backup you make is “Full” and save it to Disk, wherever you like. SQL

Management Studio suggests a path, but you can add a new one, and remove this suggested path.

3. Call the file whatever you like, but we suggest something like:

“NHDBackupYYYYMMDD.bak”, replacing YYYYMMDD with the year, month and day respectively.

4. Once you have a .bak file of your database, you can now go to your new instance of SQL

Server, and there are a few things you need to do first: USING A PRE-EXISTING SQL SERVER INSTANCE For Option M1, if the SQL Server instance is pre-existing, it will need some configuration checks before restoring the NetHelpDesk pre-configured database to it.



SQL SERVER MANAGEMENT STUDIO Launch SQL Server Management Studio, and login using a high level access login to the instance. If the “sa” account exists, you’ll need to be able to log into the instance with it. When logged in:

1. Right click on the Instance name at the top of the treeview, and select Properties.

2. In the “Select a page” options, select Security and ensure that server authentication is set to SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode.

SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION MANAGER Launch SQL Server Configuration Manager:


2. In SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for (INSTANCE NAME) and double click

the TCP/IP protocol name, and on the Protocol tab, set Enabled to Yes.



b) Ensure TCP Port is specified as 14331. Click Apply to save.

4. Go back to SQL Server Configuration Manager > SQL Server Services > Restart the SQL Server Service for your instance for changes to take effect.

5. If you have Firewall software (Windows or 3rd Party software) running on the Server, add

an exception/incoming rule to allow TCP Port 14331.



TO RESTORE THE .BAK DATABASE:

1. Open SQL Management Studio and log into your instance using your “sa” or relevant high level access account.

2. Right click on Databases and left click Restore Database.

3. In the Destination for restore section, in the To database field, enter a name for the

database (e.g. NetHelpDesk).

4. In the Source for Restore section, select From device, and set the path by browsing using the ellipsis button.

5. Click Add on the Specify Backup screen.

6. Navigate to the NetHelpDesk.bak file downloaded in Step 1 above

(e.g. …\NetHelpDesk\SQL\NetHelpDesk.bak). Click OK.


7. Ensure the checkbox in the Restore column is selected.

8. Click OK, and then click OK. Again.

9. Once completed, the database will be ready to connect to. CONFIGURING A NEW UDL FILE FOR USE WITH SQL SERVER With Option SQL2 or Option SQL 3, the data link file, which links the NetHelpDesk interfaces to the SQL Server database, will need to be updated. The data link file is called NetHelpDesk.udl, and one is automatically created and configured for you if following the installer. If not, you will have to do this manually. To achieve this:

1. In the …\NetHelpDesk\Win folder, a sample SQL compatible UDL file called SQLServer.UDL can be found.

2. Copy this file and paste into the root of the …\NetHelpDesk folder, and rename it to be

called NetHelpDesk.udl.

3. If one already exists, replace that existing file with this one.

4. Double click the file to launch the OLE DB Core Services program to edit.

5. In the Connection tab, specify the name of the server or the IP address, followed by “,14331” or whatever TCP port number you have specified in the Configuration Manager.

6. We strongly recommend that you Use a specific username and password, and use the ‘sa’

account mentioned previously.

7. If you must Use Windows NT Integrated Security, make sure that the users connecting have full access to the SQL Server instance, similar to the ‘sa’ account mentioned previously. If not, the connection will not work.

8. Select the SQL database created above, whether upsized or empty.

9. Test the connection, and you will see the confirmation screen below.

10. If the test does not succeed, switch off the firewall on the server, to ensure this is not

blocking connectivity.

11. Any other errors will be mostly due to permissions issues with the login(s) you are using. If using the “sa” account, these rarely, if ever, happen.



INSTALLATION OF MICROSOFT SQL SERVER DATABASE USING INSTALLER – EXISTING ACCESS INSTALL If you are using version 8 onwards, you should have a SQL folder in your NetHelpDesk folder structure. If you do, and have already installed NetHelpDesk with an Access database, you can use the NetHDClient.exe to complete the process of installing its own SQL instance, and installing a blank database in it. You can then later upsize the Access database, and connect to it in that instance. To process:

1. Add a notepad file to the same folder that NetHDClient.exe is in. The file should be empty.

2. Rename the file to “SETUPINCOMPLETE”.

3. If there is a .txt extension to this file, remove it.

4. Then double click to launch the NetHDClient.exe.

5. Skip the Web Portal install.

6. Say yes to install a SQL database. NetHelpDesk will then install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, with a 10GB limit.

7. If you already have an Access database you wish to upsize, please follow the steps in this guide.

UPSIZING AN ACCESS DB TO A SQL DB USING THE UPSIZE WIZARD Access versions 2010 and before If you have been using the NetHDempty.mdb or NetHDexample.mdb files previously, you may now wish to upsize them to SQL Server. To do so:

1. Open up the Microsoft Access Database you wish to upsize.

2. Go to Database Tools tab.

3. Then in Move Data field, click SQL Server.

4. Select Create New Database and click Next.

5. Input the SQL named instance.

6. Do not Use Trusted Connection and use the SA account mentioned previously.

7. Give the new SQL Server database a sensible name. Click Next.

8. Click double arrow to move all arrows across from the left to the right. Then Next.


9. MANDATORY STEP - Add Timestamp fields to tables? = No, Never.

10. MANDATORY STEP - No application changes.

11. Click Finish.



SIMPLE DISASTER RECOVERY PROCEDURE NetHelpDesk is unlike most products in the market in so many ways. One of the most notable is the simple disaster recovery (DR) procedure that you can follow, to ensure you are using NetHelpDesk in a new environment very quickly. NetHelpDesk is comprised of three components. The NetHDClient.exe file that runs the main Windows general user interface (GUI), the Microsoft SQL Server database where the NetHDClient.exe retrieves information from, and stores data in, and the data link file that links the two together, telling the NetHDClient.exe where the database is to connect to. NetHelpDesk does not rely on any registry keys, no .dll files and so on, so restoring NHD into a new area is simple. To ensure NetHelpDesk is fully backed up to ensure a simple DR procedure, simply:

1. Back up the NetHelpDesk SQL Server Database to a .bak file. 2. Back up the NetHelpDesk folder, with Win, Web, Log and SQL folders.

These two areas store all of your data, your individual login configurations, your mailbox and calendar settings, everything you need to migrate to a new server quickly. To reinstate NetHelpDesk:

1. Place the NetHelpDesk backup folder with Win, Web, Log and SQL folders in its new location.

2. Restore the .bak file to a new SQL Server Instance.

3. Update the data link .udl file to point to the new SQL Server Database location.

4. Update the shortcuts on your desktops to point to the new NetHelpDesk folder location.

And that’s it. Once inside NHD, you can reset the folder paths to the new location. Please note: The “Migrating NetHelpDesk from one server to another” section in this

guide discusses Backing up your existing NetHelpDesk SQL Server database, relocating the database, by restoring the .bak file from the SQL Server database backup to a new SQL Server Instance, updating the data link .udl file to point to the new SQL Server database location and updating the shortcuts on your desktops to point to the new NetHelpDesk folder location.



WEB-ENABLE THE MAIN WINDOWS APPLICATION If your Agents are out on site, they may wish to access the full Windows application of NetHelpDesk, rather than use the Mobile application above. There are many products on the market that can be used to achieve this; XenApp from Citrix, GO-Global from Graphon, and RemoteApp from Microsoft are examples used by our customers. Whereas many other thin client solutions tunnel an entire desktop, and require a client install, GO-Global tunnels just the application itself, and is accessible via a web browser – no client setup required. This solution is compatible with PCs and Macs. WEB-ENABLE USING GO-GLOBAL

1. Go to the GraphOn Website: http://www.graphon.com/

2. Download a FREE 30-Day Trial of GO-Global Professional Edition. Download the “Host” Version, not the “Gateway” Version.

3. Choose the relevant platform for your environment. Follow the instructions in the

installation program.

4. Once installed, go into the Cluster manager and add an application.

5. There are now two ways to connect to NetHelpDesk via a web browser: a) Configuring a desktop shortcut, or b) Configuring a Web Browser shortcut.

6. Once these are created, both will ask you the IP address of your server to connect to, a

username and password.

7. For both of these shortcuts, you can add parameters to enable immediate login, making connection to NetHelpDesk seamless.

http://www.graphon.com/


CONFIGURING A GO-GLOBAL DESKTOP SHORTCUT

1. In the IIS Manager, the installer of GO-Global will have created a virtual directory under your default website called goglobal.

2. In this folder is a page called clients.html with a range of clients available. Browse this file

to install a client relevant to your environment. This will then install a new shortcut to your desktop.

3. Right click on this shortcut, in the General Tab, rename to desired name (e.g.

NetHelpDesk).

4. Check that this connects correctly before proceeding to configure any parameters in the shortcut. It will ask you where to connect to, as well as a username and password to access that server with.

5. Previously, when initially installing the NetHelpDesk Windows Client, you will have added

the .udl file to the Target: field of the shortcut to allow automatic connection to the correct database.

6. Here, in the Target: field, adding parameters will allow you to connect straight to the app,

rather than inputting where to connect to and a username and password to access the server every time.

7. The following parameters can be specified. The Username and Password to log onto the

server being used must be one that has shared and security access to the NetHelpDesk Win, Web and Logs folders.

-h Host

-u Username

-p Password

-a Application Name

e.g. "C:\Program Files (x86)\GraphOn\GO-Global\Client\gg-client.exe" -h 12.34.567.890 -u administrator -p password -a NetHelpDesk

8. Once these parameters are set, check the connection again.



CONFIGURING A GO-GLOBAL WEB BROWSER SHORTCUT

1. In the IIS Manager, the installer of GO-Global will have created a virtual directory under your default website called goglobal.

2. In this folder is a page called logon.html. Locate this file in the GO-Global folder, right click and open with Notepad. You will see some parameters that include the following:

var user = GetVarDecoded("user");

var password = GetVarDecoded("password");

var host = GetVarDecoded("host");

var app = GetVarDecoded("app");

3. These parameters will need to be edited similar to the example given below:

var user = "admin";

var password = "password";

var host = "www.nethelpdesk.com";

var app = "NetHelpDesk";

4. The http://localhost/goglobal/logon.html file is now configured. Check by browsing to it.



END OF DOCUMENT Author: Sean McLaughlan Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team. nethelpdesk.com/contact
