Systems Staff Guides

Working with tickets

Viewing new tickets

When a ticket is opened, we will get an email saying there is a new ticket in the queue. 

When you log into the helpdesk interface, you will see new tickets as 'incoming'.

Below you will see the ticket list.  New tickets will have a green dot and say 'new'.  Click on the ticket title to open it.

Take ownership of a ticket

To claim a ticket, click on the tiny person next to the Assigned To option.

Updating tickets

At the bottom of the ticket page, click on the Answer button.  This will open an editor where you can enter comments.  Once you have finished with the comments, click on the +Add button. 

Closing a Ticket

To close a ticket, click on the down arrow next to the Answer button and choose Add a Solution. 

Type in the solution for the ticket and click on the Add button.  This will send an update to the user and close the ticket. 

Ticket Items and Observers

Managing items on a ticket

When staff enter tickets, they can associate the ticket with an item that is assigned to them.  You can also add an item to a ticket when necessary. 

From the ticket view, click on the Items option.

Find the item and select it.

Managing Observers

Observers are technically CC's on a ticket.  On the right side, click on the Observer box to add a user. If you click on the tiny person next to the box, it will add you as an observer.

You can also add other observers by typing their name in the Observer box.

Approvals

When a ticket needs a decision by someone, you can use the approval process. 

Inside of a ticket, click on the three dots by the Save button and choose Approval Request.

Choose if you are asking a group or an individual (we only use individual right now), and then choose the person you want approval from.  Only managers are listed in this list. 

That person will get an approval request email and will have to approve or decline the request.

Managing Devices

We use the GLPI helpdesk for managing devices.  This includes the inventory of the hardware in the library, the inventory of the software on all the devices, licenses for applications, remote management of devices, and security and software installation on devices. 

• Viewing and Editing Computers
• Viewing other Computer Details
• Remote Management of Computers
• Software Management
• Package Deploy

Viewing and Editing Computer Details

To view the list of computers in the helpdesk, click on the Assets tab, then click on Computers.  

The list is sorted on the computer name be default.  You can re-sort the list by clicking on the header.  

Clicking on a device name will open the device details.

The following fields must be edited and updated manually

• Groups - provide a list of the applicable groups the device belongs to. This is used to manage some software applications and other hardware associated with the device based on its groups.
• Comments - Provide the primary user's name and device type in this field.  For example - Kalan Desktop.  This is used as quick way to find a computer in the computer list by the user.
• Status - The default is Available and shows that the computer is active and being used.  The other options are
  • Broken - The computer is not in active use and is waiting for parts, reinstall, etc.
  • Disposed - The device has been identified as no longer being used by the Library and has either been marked as disposed, or has been removed from the library.  
  • Lost/Missing - This identifies a computer that cannot be located, or is missing.
  • Unresponsive - This identifies a computer that should still be active, but has not reported to GLPI in a period of time.
• Inventory/Asset number - This is the Library supplied asset number. All devices should have this number.

The following fields are automatically updated and should not be manually updated.  The information is dynamically updated from the inventory agent installed on the device.  If a field is missing or incorrect, you can run a manual update on the computer, or manually update it. 

• Name - This is the system name on the device.
• Computer Types - This shows the type of computer (desktop, convertible, etc)
• Manufacturers - This is the device manufacturer.
• Model - This is the device model number.
• Serial number - This is the device serial number.
• User - This is the user that last logged in.  
• Alternate Username - This is the alternate username for the last logged in user (usually login name + domain)
• Network - This should be automatically determined based on the IP range the computer is connected to.
• UUID - This is the unique device id.
• Update Sources - This is the agent type that is running on the device that is providing the inventory details.

Below the device details is the inventory agent details.  

• Agents - This is the identifier for the agent software running on the device.
• Public Contact Address - This is the most recent IP address for the device.
• User Agent - This is the agent application name and version.
• Last Contact - This is the last date and time the agent contacted the GLPI server.
• Last Inventory Update - This is the last date and time the device sent an update to the inventory.
• Agent Status - This will show as Unknown by default.  To get the agent status updated, click on the refresh icon next to the label. 
• Request Inventory - By default this will show as Unknown.  To force the agent to update the computer inventory, click on the refresh icon next to the label.  

At the bottom of the page, the date the agent was installed on the computer and the last time the agent was updated on the computer are provided.  

Other Computer Details

On the left side, there are other computer details tabs that provide more information. Here are the ones we are currently utilizing.

• Operating Systems - This shows all the details of the operating system installed on the device.
• Components - This lists all the hardware and bios details on the computer.
• Volumes - This will list the computer drives and volumes on the computer.
• Software - This lists all the applications installed on the device. See the section on software licensing for more details.
• Connections - This will list all the associated devices and hardware connected to the computer.
• Network Ports - This shows all the network ports and addresses on the computer.
• Remote Management - This will have links to the remote management of computers.  For more details, see the remote management section.
• Management - This details the lifecycle of the computer, and all the financial information.
• Tickets - This will link to all the tickets in the system that are associated with the computer.
• Package Deploy - This will have a list of the applications or packages that can be pushed or installed on the computer.  See the section on package management for more information.

Remote Management

We utilize a separate application for remote management of devices.  Right now - this is not working as designed, and will be updated as soon as it is working.

Software Management

From the helpdesk main page, click on the Assets tab then on Software.  This will list all the applications that have been identified as being installed on the Library computers.  

For some applications, we monitor the installations for licensing and compliance.  If an application that has been set as a licensed application is installed on a computer, that license will be updated.  To view the list of licenses applications and their current usage, click on the Management tab at the top and then on Licenses.

This feature is only partially implemented at this time.

Package Deploy

Certain applications and actions have been configured as packages that can be manually or automatically deployed to computers.  

To view the available packages for a computer, click on the Package Deploy option from a device page. 

On this page, click on the Select Packages You Want Install option to view the available applications.  Click on the application you want to install and choose Prepare for Install. 

This will start the process of installing the package on the computer.  To view the details of the install, click on the Administration tab at the top then on GLPI Inventory.  On the GLPI inventory page, click on the Number of Tasks button to view the active tasks.

On the active tasks page, look for the item that starts with 'Deploy on Demand' and the package name you initiated. Click on it to view the details.

On the status page, you will see some options to change the refresh interval, and what execution states are displayed. Under the Deploy option, you will see a list of possible states for the deploy action.

Possible status' include:

• Prepared - This means the device has been assigned the package and it is ready to install. 
• Running - The package is currently active on the device.
• Cancelled - The deploy action has been cancelled.
• Successful - The deploy action is complete and has been successful.
• In Error - There was an issue during the deploy action.

Each status will display the number of devices that are in that status.  Clicking on the status will open a section listing the names of the devices that are in that state.  Clicking on each device listed will give the details of that device.

To cancel an active task, click on the checkbox next to the device name, and then on the Cancel option.

Once the task is complete - it will display it as Successful.