AccessAble Help Desk 2019

Transcription

1 AccessAble Help Desk 2019 Copyright 2019 by Dennis Baggott. All Rights Reserved.

2 Table of contents Introduction... 3 Welcome... 3 What's new... 4 Installation... 4 Appearance... 6 Administration Audit Log Calendar of Events My Details Role User Getting Started Common Features Lookup Tables Departments Incident Activities Incident Attachments Incident Category Incident Costs Incident Impact Incident Priority Incident Severity Incident Sub Type Incident Type Locations Request Attachments Request Costs Request Sub Types Request Types Request Categories Main Files Hardware Knowledge Base Incidents... Error! Bookmark not defined. People Software Support Requests Reports and Dashboards Reports Classic Reports V2... Error! Bookmark not defined. Dashboards Advanced Topics... Error! Bookmark not defined. Importing Records... Error! Bookmark not defined. Model Editor / 85

3 Introduction The AccessAble Help Desk for Windows and Web was developed many years ago and the 2019 version is the most recent update to the program. Many new features should make the program even more well received than past versions. At least that is my hope, since I am the developer of the program. About that name... I had earlier developed programs like Been There, Done That! and Problem Solved! which were also affordable help desk programs but they used a proprietary database. Many people ed me that they liked my software but they wanted me to use Microsoft Access database on the back end. I agreed and at the same time provided a web interface option. So those early customers were "Able" to "Access" the program using their preferred database and use either the desktop and/or browser based interface This help file will concentrate on the desktop, Microsoft Windows, application. This is the Introduction topic. Continue reading for other topics. I also URGE you to view many of the Videos on since they may do a better job of explaining many features than this help file. Also unlike many program you can actually the developer (me) with any questions, comments or suggestions. NOTE: Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) are all Trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. I don't currently sell any Microsoft products, but I do use and recommend many of them and own some shares of Microsoft stock. Just saying, lawyers, right? Got to be careful. Welcome Once you have downloaded the installation file you need to unzip the file. Please read the readme.txt file. This file will include the password to use when logging in as the Admin account. The Admin account is provided to let you create other accounts that are assigned to Roles which include the permissions your users have when you assign the Users to the Roles. An Administrator account can do anything. This includes creating, modifying and deleting accounts as well as changing permissions for Roles, deleting records in addition to the most powerful option - the ability to update the Model. More on the powerful Model feature later. For now just another comment on Roles. The Default Role will allow a logged in user the ability to Change Their Password. If you are going to allow users (customer or end users) to login, most likely using the optional web interface, you may or may not want them to have the ability to change their password. If you want a User account to be able to change their own password whenever they want, just link the Default role to their User Account. NOTE: The User table is in addition to the People table. If only you and/or your staff will be adding support requests then you do not need to create a User account record for end users. However, if your customers or end users will be logging in to add their own support requests you will need to create user accounts for them and enter a Login name in their People - or Person record. The login name must match in each table for Customers to login and add their own support requests. You can choose to not let customers change their own account. Instead you may create their User account with an initial empty or blank password. When you then provide them their User Name you can tell them to login without entering a password then they will be immediately prompted to enter a new password. This is the recommended method, however, you also have the option to provide them a generated password by clicking the Reset Password and the providing them this more complicated password. They can still be prompted to enter a New password, but this will be less confusing if they first are told to enter a blank or empty password as shown below. Note also that the User Name can contain a space. So when creating user names you can user the person's first and last name (perhaps include a middle initial or name) instead of, for example using their address as their User Name. Just remember, if users create their own requests the Login name in the People record must match the User Name in the User record. 3 / 85

4 What's new The most important changes in this latest version of the AccessAble Help Desk are in the database structure and corresponding GUI (graphical user interface). A new Incidents Table is now included. Organizations may differ in how they handle service or support requests and incidents. For example, some organizations may consider a call from a user who has forgotten as password to be a Request for a User Account Change, however, since the inability for a User to Login might be considered a degradation of the ability to provide an IT service they would consider this an Incident. Some organizations may use a Help Desk application for managing support requests and a different application - might even be a simple spreadsheet - to track Incidents. In this release I am providing for the first time the capabilities to Record, Update and Report on Incidents in addition to Support Requests. Another significant change in this release is the use of Cascading Drop Downs. So Classifying requests and incidents may be easier in this version - at least I hope it will be considered an improvement from past versions. It works like this: A Category of a Request or Incidents is the Top Level Classification. Children of the Category are Type and Sub Types. For example: If you decide to start classifying Requests in 1 of 3 Categories - Hardware, Software and Account categories you next set up related Types and Sub Types. So if you may decide to have Types of Hardware requests set up as Install, Troubleshoot, and Order. The Sub Types of Install might be RAM, Hard Disk Drive, Power Supply, Fan and so on. In this example once you select Hardware for the Category of request, the Type drop down list will only include the 3 choices of Install, Troubleshoot and Order. Once you then choose the Type of Install the only choices available are those you added for Install which are Install, Troubleshoot and Order. Each of the last two choices (Type and Sub Type) are dependent on the category you selected. Now, it is possible you want to setup the same Type of Install to be available for both Hardware and Software. In order to make this happen you will need to add the Install Type to both the Hardware and Software categories. This may seem a little complicated at first but I think you will find this actually makes the program better at classifying data than in previous versions. Another change in this release is the improved/additional Theme options and ability to change the Font size. This is explained more in the Appearance section of this help file. Installation The installation process is pretty simple. If you have not already unzipped the download file, go ahead and unzip program and extract the ReadMe.txt file and Inst2018.exe installation file. The ReadMe.txt file includes the initial Admin password. If you are the only person using the program you can skip the below information. Installation wizard is pretty easy and you may not need to do anything else to start immediately using the program in Trial Mode. 4 / 85

5 1 - If you right click on the file after installation and choose Properties. 2 - Click the Digital Signatures Tab and you should see my name as the signer. 3 - Click the Details button 4- and you should see the message that the Digital Signature is OK. 5 - The default installation uses an Access database installed to c:\inetpub\wwwroot\db - however, if you install the program for multiple users to connect to the same database (.mdb file) you will need to copy the database file to a new location where each user (your staff) has full permissions and edit the AccessAbleHelpDeskWindows.Exe.Config file to point to this new location. See the section of that file like below and edit the folder name as needed. connectionstring="provider=microsoft.jet.oledb.4.0;password=;user ID=Admin;Data Source=c:\inetpub\wwwroot\db\AccessAbleHD2019.mdb NOTE: The optional web interface can be installed on the same computer running the desktop application if you don't use a dedicated web server. In that case the configuration file is named web.config but there is a different help file for the web application. After the installation is complete and you launch the program you will first see a message telling you the days remaining in your 30-day trial. If you decided to purchase a license to continue using the program and your place your order with BMT Micro (visit the web site at for ordering link) you will receive an with a text file attached. When you save that file to the same folder as the AccessAbleHelpDeskWindows.exe file shown above, the trial limitation will be removed. If you have multiple staff people, your license covers each of their computers - no additional per user charges. Just copy the same file to each computer where you have installed the program. ANOTHER NOTE: Many past customers have started using the AccessAble Help Desk on a single computer then added staff as they grew. So initially, if you are a lone ranger type of person, you can leave the database folder where it is. Installing the web interface would also let you allow them to begin using the 5 / 85

6 program without installing the desktop application for each of new support member as you grow. You can also allow end users to use the web interface if you want customers to be able the users on your local area network to submit their own support requests. If you have staff or customers that are outside your local area network, but you want to allow customers to use the Internet to submit requests, and you and your staff to use either Browser or the Desktop Application I recommend winhost.com for both the web server and hosting the Microsoft SQL Server database provided as an alternative to the.mdb file. Appearance The AccessAble Help Desk 2018 allows you to easily modify the look and feel of the program. This page will show you some of the styles and look and feel options available to you. You can also change the font size to make the screen easier to view if you prefer a smaller or larger font size. To Change the Appearance of the desktop application click the View button on the top tool bar and then choose from the drop down list. When you select The Bezier button, 2nd row, 2nd icon from the left, more choice are available - just more subtle than other choices. The Bezier Theme Options have a lot of choices displayed in full screen preview. Just select a Theme from the swatches on the left and click the Apply button when you find a theme you like. 6 / 85

7 Finally, whatever Theme you have selected you can change the font size. 7 / 85

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10 Administration By default, the Administration menu includes the Audit Log, Calendar of Events, My Details (available to non-administrative users if they have the Default Role. This will allow them to change their password on demand.), Role and User options. Audit Log The Audit Log, or Audit Trail, keeps a record of all changes made to the database. This includes the logged in user who made the change. This file is displayed read only. The only way to delete the entries in this log file is by directly accessing the database back end (using Microsoft Access for the.mdb database or Microsoft Sql Server Studio or equivalent for the MSSQL database). You can double click to view the details of an item in the grid, but this is in read only mode. In the below example, I changed the display name of a report. Calendar of Events The Calendar of Events (Event Scheduler) is available to Admin accounts under the Administrative Menu. You can grant permissions to the Calendar to other roles if you like. For example, you can give customers Read Only permission and allow them to Navigate the menu if you wanted to post things like server availability, upcoming IA training events and so on. There are several views available, such as Month View. The calendar support Recurring Events and Alarm Notifications. 10 / 85

11 The next screen shot shows an Event in edit mode. In this example I am moving an event series from 4:00 PM to 2:00 PM. I have set a reminder for 1 day before the event. If I wanted to, I could create and "link" Resources to the event. These resources could be rooms, projectors or people. This related table is similar to other tables with related tables. The next screen shot shows Work Week view. You can change views by clicking a blank area on the calendar view and choosing from the Pop-Up menu. 11 / 85

12 You can also view the schedule in a Daily view. Symbols next to the event show an Alarm notification is set and the event is recurring. Agenda View is shown next. 12 / 85

13 Of course, you can printer Calendar items using the Print Preview menu option. 13 / 85

14 My Details The My Details option will allow a user (if the Default role is attached to the user record the ability to change their user name as well as password). If you don't want users to be able to change their own password, then don't assign the Default role to a user account. If you plan on using the AccessAble Help Desk Web application to let Customers login to add or view Support Requests then you need to create a User account for them and assign at least the Customer role, possibly also the Default role. The People table must have a corresponding account for each customer that may login and the Login Name in that table must match the User Name shown below in this Customer record. This option allows you to change the password for the logged in user. Role An Administrator or Admin account can perform any function in the AccessAble Help Desk. Admin is All Powerful. If you are among those lone ranger IT types, then you may not need to add any other roles, unless you want end users (customers) to be able to enter their own support requests using the web interface. However, if you want end users to be able to enter and view their own requests then you will want to assign them to a Customer role. If you have one or more people on your staff you may want them to be able to add and update support requests, maybe add to the knowledge base, and so on. Roles I have set up for you are shown below. The Default Role must be linked to any user account that you want to allow to change their own password. This gives them access to the My Details page. I suggest not giving the Can Edit Model right to anyone other than the Admin account. The Model Editor is a very powerful tool that will allow you to make many changes to the program. With great power comes great responsibility. Also have back up copies of the model files before making any changes using the Model Editor. It is fairly easy to screw things up if you don't know what you are doing and don't follow instructions. Just saying... Let's start with the provided Customer role. There are 3 tabs shown. The First shows the Users linked to the Customer role. The next tab shows the Navigation Permissions which indicates what menu options the users in the role can see and use. The Final Tab is for the Permissions to the Type of table -. These permissions can include Read, Write, Create and Delete. When editing the Type Permissions there are further levels of permissions. 14 / 85

15 When I double click on the Support Requests item I get to set further permissions or restrictions. Each Type or Table has Members or columns/fields that may be set up differently. In this example The Customer can write to many fields on a Support Request record, but is Denied Write access to other fields like Additional Notes, Completed By, Completed Date, and Resolution. In fact when creating a New Support Request it is possible for a customer to type in these fields but if the customer attempts to save a record after typing in these fields they won't be able to save the record. No warning message, unfortunately, at least in this release. But they won't be able to save a record when creating a request. When in edit mode, these fields with Deny Write permission can't even be typed in - no entry can be typed. Also note the Criteria field. This is important because with the Criteria I have set up, for Support Requests (and People for that matter) Customers will not be able to even see records that are not linked to their account. 15 / 85

16 On the next few screen shots you can see how things look to a logged in Customer. Note as configured the customer cannot even see who as Assigned the Request and who has Completed the request. The Resolution is read only, as is Complete Date and Time. On the next tab Notice the Navigation option available to the Customer role. This is much smaller with fewer items than the Admin role shown next. 16 / 85

17 Note below I have changed permissions so Customer can view the Calendar View - Schedule - but read only. I am also allowing the user to Access Reports that are set as "In Place Reports", but in the case of Support Requests they will only be able to view Requests on the Report where their login name matches the Login Name of the Support Request. 17 / 85

18 NOTE: I have also provided Roles for Help Desk personnel and Incident Response Team Members. Help Desk personnel, as I have set this up, do not have access to Incidents - but you could change this and any other roles and permissions. Please make a backup of the database before changing roles and permissions. Just like reports and dashboards, permissions are store in the database - not the model file. User In order for staff members to login they need to have an account in the Users Table. They also need to be assigned to a Role. The role contains permissions to either allow or deny access to various parts of the program The staff members should also have a record in the People Table. Even though it is expected that staff would be, for example, entering support requests for customers, end users most likely, you need to have staff member records in the People table. The reason for this is the People table is used to populate fields like the Assigned To and Completed By items in a Support Request record. If you will be using the web interface to allow customers to enter their own support requests using their browser, then you need to enter theses people in the Users Table and link them to the Customer role. The User Name must match the Login Name in the People table in order for them to enter and view their own requests. When staff enter requests on behalf of a customer, if the customer has User Name that matches they will be able to see both support requests entered on their behalf as well as requests they enter by themselves. Note in the screen shot there is a check box for the user to Change their password at first logon. You can then provide just created users with their login name (user name) and tell them to login with a blank or empty password and they will be prompted to create their new password. Also note the Is Active check box. Suppose you have staff on vacation and you want to be sure nobody logs in as them while they are away from the office. Just uncheck the box and check it again when they return. Note when you have a 18 / 85

19 User selected for editing the Roles they play will be shown in the grid below their user name. If you want users to be able to change their password at any time, link the Default role to the user record. NOTE: Regardless of the role a user is assigned if you check the Is Administrative check box is checked they will have access to everything in the program. Getting Started The AccessAble Help Desk 2019 uses a variety of related tables and lookup tables that help to make data entry faster and more consistent. While it is possible to add new Lookup values "on the fly" when adding related records, I suggest you start b adding or editing the data in the lookup table with values appropriate for your organization. Then as you add records in the Main Files you can easily select the related items. This can speed data entry and insure consistent entries. Because the default installation only includes a small amount of sample data, I also suggest you hold off on using the reports and dashboards until you have added some of your own, more realistic data. 19 / 85

20 Common Features There are several items that are common throughout the AccessAble Help Desk for Windows. Clicking the Navigation Circle button at the upper left will allow you to navigate without using the Navigation Tree Menu. Next to the Navigation Circle button is a button to let you set properties for the Navigation Bar Menu, such as whether it is Visible, Minimized or Hidden. Clicking the triangle pointing down next to the Home Tab shows a variety of quick access menu options, including access to the help file. 20 / 85

21 When in Grid view When in Single Record View a different set of options are displayed. 21 / 85

22 These options duplicate the options available on the Horizontal tool bar but add options to show the About page, View Help, and Log Off and Exit. Most record screens will show buttons like below. Clicking the New button will display the appropriate record in Add mode ready for you to enter data. The Clone button is only available for some screens but creates a new clone or copy of the selected Record and opens it ready for you to edit. Save and Close and Save and New buttons are similar but the latter keeps you in Add Records mode. Delete obviously deletes the selected record, after confirmation. The Refresh button can be used to check if others have made changes since you opened a screen. The Reset View Button restores the screen to factory default settings (the way I designed them) and is most often used if you have changed the screen and then want to revert to the original design of the screen. 22 / 85

23 The Show In Report button is only visible if you have set a Report to be an Edit in Place report. Reports that are set as Edit In Place are shown under the Navigation menu for the data type the report is built on. When viewing the lists of reports right click on a Report name and then choose the Edit option to see the check box shown below. The Tool Bar is displayed below for Support Requests and Incidents and has features not on other screens. One feature is a button labeled Mark Complete. Clicking this button (only enable for items not already marked complete) will instantly set the Complete Date field to the current Date and Time, and change the Status to Complete. For a Support Request you still need to enter the Completed By person. For Incident, the Date Resolved field as opposed to the Complete Date field is set to the current Date and Time. In addition, some screens have a drop down box to let you switch views. Some screen have views or grids with Many Columns and others with Fewer Columns. The option to switch views is also available on the Navigation Menu. Another drop down for Support Requests and Incidents will allow you to change the frequency with which the grid Auto Refreshes. This feature allows you to leave the grid up and will check at a regular interval for any changes to the table being viewed and refresh the screen so you can see those changes - automagically. You can set the interval to NONE to stop auto refresh. 23 / 85

24 When you right click on a column in a grid view a pop up menu like below will be displayed. These options include sorting, grouping column options, and quick access the Filter Editor. The Filter Editor is shown below. This feature allows you to create reusable filters to a grid and use the And/Or to join conditions together. As in the example below you can choose the Field, the operator such as Equals and then either type of in some cases choose from a list the value to be used in filtering for that field More experienced users can switch to Text view and edit the text of the filter as shown. After a filter for a grid has been created you can uncheck the box to remove the filter temporarily and later check the box again to recreate the filter. You can click the X to remove the filter, useful when you have created too many filters or just created a filter ad hoc that you no longer need. 24 / 85

25 Lookup Tables Lookup Tables provide a way to speed data entry and limit entry to values. Help is provided for each lookup table item. Departments If you use Departments, the Department look up table allows you to add Departments. Just like Locations, Department will be looked up when a Person is selected that has a Department and Location entered for their person record. The Departments List, shown below, shows the Departments you have already set up. The next screen shows the Department field in Edit mode. There are tabs underneath the Department Name that show, and let you link, add or delete related records for the People, Support Requests, Hardware and Activities that are related - or linked - the Department. 25 / 85

26 Incident Activities You may optionally want to break Incident activities related to an incident. The grid shown below shows related incident activities. The next screen shot shows the screen used to add or edit an Incident Activity. Here you can record a name or brief description for the activity, the date of the Activity, Type of Activity, and Date Completed. You can also record the amount of time spent on the activity as well as any cost you want to record. The drop down box shows the Name of the related Incident. The large box for Activity Description allows a more details description than the Activity Name. Incident Attachments It may be helpful to attach files to an incident - these attachments are stored in the database so if the original documents are unavailable, they can be downloaded again. The attachments grid shows a Description of the Attachment, the Attached file itself and the related record. The attachment description gives an idea of the file while the attachment itself can be any kind of file, Clicking the attachment hyper link will launch the attachment with whatever program is associated with that file type. A drop-down list lets you relate the attachment to an incident. 26 / 85

27 Incident Category In classifying incidents it is useful to record the Category, Type and Sub Type of an incident. The choices available when recording an Incident are dependent on the higher-level classification. You can use your own taxonomy. In my example I start with 3 broad categories shown in the grid below. When an existing Category is selected, as below, there are two tabs for related Incidents and Incident Types. The next tab shows related Incident Types. In this example, where I have Server as the Category the choice for Request Types are limited to Hardware and Software (to use the same categories for a Workstation Incident Category you would need to add the same Incident Type related to that Category. If I want to add an additional Incident Type I click the New (blank page) Icon to see the screen below. In this example I am adding an Incident Type of Facility and have a new tab available to enter a Sub Type. I can click the New icon again under Incident Sub Type and enter Power Failure. 27 / 85

28 Now the next screen shot shows the Incident Category, Type and Sub Type selections when adding a new incident. Currently, Power Failure is the only choice under Facility Incident Costs It can be helpful to keep track of costs related to an incident. The grid below shows Incident costs. The screen shown below is used to add or update costs related to an incident. You may record the Type of Cost (Labor, Materials, etc.), the Amount of the Cost as well as a description. If adding a new Incident from the lookup table menu, rather from the Incident Grid, you will need to select the related incident from the drop down list. Incident Impact The Incident Impact grid shows a numeric Impact Rating, a Name for the Impact and a Description of the Impact rating. The Impact is usually a description of how wide spread an incident is - often the number of people or locations or departments affected by an Incident. 28 / 85

29 Some organizations will use a higher number for a higher rating. You can use the Impact field however you like. If you have 3 ratings and you want a High to be largest number you would change the 1 to a 3. In fact if you want to have more rating you can change that as well perhaps with 5 Levels. When an item from the grid is selected for editing the grid below will show any incidents that have been recorded with that Impact rating. You can click the first blank icon on that grid tool bar to add a new Incident, the next icon to Clone or Copy the selected Incident to new one. The Page Icon with a + sign will pop up a box and let you link existing Incidents to this Impact Rating, The icon with the delete icon will delete the incident in the grid - use care. Incident Priority An incident Priority is arrived at based on, among other things, the combination of Incident Impact and Incident Severity. As shown in the grid, the Incident Priority table consists of a numeric Priority Rating, a Name for the Priority and a Description of the Priority. When a Priority is selected for Editing in the grid by double clicking you see a form with the fields and a grid below the form that shows Incidents already entered with that priority. 29 / 85

30 Incident Severity The grid shows a numeric Rating for the Severity of an Incident, a name for the Severity Rating an Severity Description. While Impact may deal with how many are or could be affected by an Severity is more concerned with how Big or Small the effect of an incident. For example, a DDS - Distributed Denial of Service attack on a web server could have an impact on many people, but the purpose of the web site might determine the severity. If just a public informational web site downtime may affect many people but not a huge Severity. If the web server support payroll for your organization then fewer people might be Impacted but the Severity could be greater - especially if pay day is close. Just as with Impact and Priority, the Severity levels can be changed or you can use additional levels. The Edit screen shows a grid of Incidents that shows those incidents with the selected Severity level. 30 / 85

31 Incident Sub Type The third level of Incident classification is Sub Type and is dependent on the Type selected. You can sort the list below by either Incident Type or Incident Sub Type. In the example below, I have the Power Failure subtype selected - and incidents with that Sub Type are shown in the grid below. Incident Type When classifying Incidents, the second level after Category of Incident is Incident Type. An Incident Type is a child of an Incident Category. You can sort the grid by either Category or Type. If you want an Incident Type, for example if you have a Category for Servers and another for Workstations you may have to enter the same Incident Type for each. For example, Software may be Type under both the Server and Workstation Category. 31 / 85

32 When you have an Incident, Type selected in edit mode a grid will show the Incidents that have that Incident Type and another Tab shows Incident Sub Types for the selected Type. Locations If you use Locations, the Location look up table allows you to add Locations. Just like Departments, Locations will be looked up when a Person is selected that has a Department and Location entered for their person record. The next screen shows the Location field in Edit mode. There are tabs underneath the Location Name that show, and let you link, add or delete related records for the People, Support Requests, Hardware and Activities that are related - or linked - the Department. 32 / 85

33 Request Attachments It may be helpful to attach files to a request- these attachments are stored in the database so if the original documents are unavailable they can be downloaded again. The attachments grid shows a Description of the Attachment, the Attached file itself and a the related record. The attachment description gives an idea of the file while the attachment itself can be any kind of file, Clicking the attachment hyper link will launch the attachment with whatever program is associated with that file type. A drop-down list lets you relate the attachment to a request. Request Costs Some organizations may need to record the costs associated with resolving a request. The Request Costs grid is shown below. The next screen is for adding or update the details a request cost. First is the Cost Type which may be things like Parts, Materials and so on. Next enter the dollar amount of the cost. Finally, you can enter a description for the costs. If you launched the Request Cost screen from the related grid under the Request Details screen the Support Request Short Description should already be displayed. If you launched the Request Costs grid from the Lookup Tables menu you will need to choose the related request using this drop-down list. 33 / 85

34 Request Sub Types The Request Sub Type is the lowest level of Request Classification. You can sort the grid below by Request Type or Request Sub Type. The Sub Type is dependent on the selected Request Type. When a Sub Type is in edit mode you will see tabs for the Support Requests related to this Sub Type. 34 / 85

35 Request Types Request Type is the Second level of Request Classification and is dependent on Request Category. So in the grid below you can see Request Types and the related Request Category for each. You can click to sort by either Request Categories or Request Type as shown below. When editing an existing Request Type you can see a tab for all Support Requests with the selected Request Type on one tab and the related (child) Request Sub Types. If you click the blank page button above the Request Sub Types grid you will be presented with a screen to add a new Sub Type with the Request Type already filled in. Just 35 / 85

36 Request Categories The top level for classifying Requests is the Request Category. The grid is shown below. When editing an existing category as shown any Support Requests for that Category will be shown on one tab and the Request Types will be shown on another tab. For example, with Hardware as the Category only Request Types of Install, Order and Repair are setup. To add a new Request Type for the Category of Hardware click the first blank page looking icon. The screen will have the Hardware Category filled in already you just add the new Request Type related to the Request Category of Hardware. 36 / 85

37 Main Files The Main Files are where you will spend most of your time. Lookup Table help you by providing commonly used values to populate the Main File fields that are related. The Main Files include: Hardware, Incidents, Knowledge Base, People, Software and Support Requests. Hardware In addition to Support Requests and Incidents you may find it helpful to maintain an inventory of hardware. The screen below shows the Hardware Grid. There are two Views available for this screen, One has many columns and one has fewer columns. The next screen shots shows the details of the hardware item. The fields on this screen should be self explanatory. The Device Name should uniquely identify each hardware item. The Device Type may be Server, Desktop, Printer etc. Serial Number and Asset Tags may be helpful to record and should be unique. Manufacturer or Make, Model and Operating System fields are also provided. The Function and Status of the device are not looked up from Lookup tables but can be modified using the Model Editor. The Assigned User is looked up from the People table and will automatically fill in the related Location and Department fields on the 2nd Tab. The large text box for Notes will allow for entry of a practically unlimited amount of information about the hardware item. The second tab labeled More Information shows the Location and Department for the Assigned User selected on the first tab as well as an additional Current Location field (perhaps item is in shop being repaired). Date type fields are provided for entering a Warranty Expiration Date as well as Date Acquired. You may also enter the Purchase Order and Invoice Number as well as the Cost and Condition. The Condition is not looked up from a table, but choices can be edited using the Model Editor. The 3rd Tab, Labeled Additional Info allows you to record a Static IP address as well as whether or not the Device receives a Dynamically assigned IP address. Date fields are provided to record the date of the 37 / 85

38 Next Inventory and Last Inventory. Fields are also provided to enter the CPU Speed - numeric, CPU Type, Amount of RAM and Disk Space (numeric). Knowledge Base The Knowledge Base grid shown below lets you view and search items you have entered in the Knowledge Base. The Title is a short description of the item. The Item Type can be used to break down the items into 38 / 85

39 groups like FAQs, Scripts, How To Document Links, and so on. For items on a web site you can use the URL which is a clickable hyper link. You can also attach files and give the attachment a description. The Details box is a free form text box to let you record as much information as you like. Incidents AccessAble Help Desk 2019 is the first version to include the capability of adding Incidents in addition to Support Requests. What's the difference? Well, actually quite a bit. That is one reason I have not included Incidents in past versions. I recommend, if you are not already familiar with ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) practices you might find it useful to search ITIL with your favorite search engine. Incidents can be security related and the processes, and people involved with an incident can be quite different. Incidents may not be of concern in your case, and if so just ignore that section. However if Incident Management is important to you, and you have suggestions for improving this section in a future release please me. I can tell you that in a future release I am considering adding other items like Change Management and perhaps a simple Risk Registry. The Incident Grid is shown below. The next screen shows the Incident Detail Screen. An Incident ID is created automatically after the record is saved. The current date and time are used to automatically fill in the Date Recorded. The Recorded By field is fill in based on the currently logged in user. A short free form text box is provided to enter the required Short Incident Description and another to enter the way in which the Incident was detected. A drop-down list box is provided to update the Status of the Incident, initially populated as New. The next 3 fields are all related. The Category drop down is the top level in classifying the Incident. The Incident Type is filled from a drop-down list that is based on the Incident Types entered for the selected Incident Category. You may have a Type of "Install" which can be appropriate for both a Hardware and Software category, however, it must have been entered under category in order to be available from the Type selection list. In the same way, Sub Type, is determined by the Type. After selecting the Type only the Sub Types entered under the selected Type will be available for selection. The Date Resolved can be entered quickly by clicking the Mark Complete button at the top of the screen. This will also set the Status to Complete. Large text boxes are provided to enter the Incident Details, Response Details and any After Action Notes you want to enter after Incident Review. A Review Date is provided to record the date a review is planned or completed. Three drop-down boxes are provided to enter the Incident Impact, Severity and Priority. 39 / 85

40 There are several tabs under the Incident Record for items related to the Incident. Consider the Location and Department tabs. Unlike a Support Request which is most often for a single customer and his/her Location and Department. An Incident may affect several or all Locations and Departments. Clicking the page icon with a + symbol will allow you to Link or relate one or more Location and Department to the Incident. NOTE: When adding a new Incident click the Save and Close button before adding or linking data in the related tables below the Grid. If you don't first Save and Close the new Incident an Incident ID will not be generated and will be left blank. After Saving and Closing the record you can open the Incident from the Grid and begin adding or linking related child records to the Incident. In the next screen shot you can see linking several departments to a single incident. You can hold the Ctrl or Shift keys down as you select multiple items. 40 / 85

41 In the same way one or more Locations and Departments can be linked or associated with an Incident, multiple Hardware devices can be linked to an Incident. It is also common to have multiple People associated to an Incident. This may be people who reported the Incident, people who will be responding to the Incident and/or people affected by the Incident. NOTE: On related record grid screens to the right of the Link button is an Unlink Button and a Delete 41 / 85

42 button. If you click the Page button with the Red - sign you are just removing the relationship between the parent and child records. If you click the Red X button you will be Deleting the actual records from the Child Table. So be careful. Some organizations may want to have a more detailed Incident history and so they may record individual Incident Activities relate to each Incident. In addition, multiple Incident Attachments and Incident Costs can be recorded for each Incident. NOTE: When adding a new Incident click the Save and Close button before adding or linking data in the related tables below the Grid. If you don't first Save and Close the new Incident an Incident ID may not be generated and could be left blank. After Saving and Closing the record you can open the Incident from the Grid and begin adding or linking related child records to the Incident. People This table is for recording all kinds of People records and is used to provide values for Requests, Hardware and more. The People grid shown below has two Views. One view shows many columns and the other view shows just a few. You can switch views using either the Navigation bar on the left of the drop down option at the top of the screen. You can also print a report quickly using the Show In Report button at the top. The detailed person screen is shown below. The only required field is the Full Name field which is required and must be unique for each person. If you will be allowing Customers (end users) to enter their own requests the Login name must be entered and must match the User Name field in the User Table. This is used to Link the logged in user to his/her requests. You can also optionally enter a Person Type as well as a variety of contact information and any Notes about each person. At the bottom of the person details screen are tabs for related tables. Just as the Requests associated with a person - either the Requested For, Assigned To or Completed By requests as well as any Incidents, Hardware and Software that is "linked" to this person. 42 / 85

43 Software You may find it useful to record information about software installed at your organization. The grid below shows software information you have recorded. Click the New button on the tool bar to add a new record. The Clone button will create a duplicate of the selected software record. This can be helpful, for example, if you have multiple versions of the same program installed. The screen used to add or update software records shown below is pretty simple. The Program Name may include version number. The License Type may be Site, Individual, and so on. The cost per installation may indicate a cost per user or per server. You could indicate which type in the Notes field. Sometime you will have a maintenance agreement for a program so you can indicate that in the space provided. You may also enter any Expiration Date. A large box is provided to enter any Notes. Underneath the Notes box are tabs to let your link or related Hardware on which the software is installed and People who may have the program installed or are otherwise associated with the program. 43 / 85

44 Support Requests The Screen below shows a Request Details record. The RID is a unique ID added for each new request. This is a read only field and will not be added until the request is Saved and Closed. The Request Date is automatically filled in with the current date and time. The Short Description field is like a title for each request and is a required field (mandatory entry) since it is used in other places within the program. The Requested For field is also required and is looked up from the People table. NOTE: If a customer uses the web interface to add requests then only that person's name will be displayed in the drop down. When a customer name is selected, the Location and Department number related to that person is automatically filled in from the related table. The Urgency of the request is used to help prioritize the request. This is not filled from a lookup table but could be changed using the Model Editor. The Status field, like the Urgency field, is not populated from a lookup table but could be changed using the Model Editor. 44 / 85

45 The More Info tab shows the Location and Department for the Customer selected on the First Tab in the Requested For field. The Category, Type and Sub Type fields are selected from the drop down lists are dependent on each other. Once you select a Category, only the Types related to that Category are displayed. Similarly when you have selected a Type, the Sub Types available to choose from are limited to those related to the Request Type. The Assigned To field is optional but is looked up from the People table. The Completed By field is also looked up from the People table. Unlike the Completed Date field and the Status field, the Completed By field is not filled in when the Mark Complete button is clicked. This must be entered manually. The Request Details, Resolution and Additional Notes fields are all free form text boxes that allow you to enter as much data as you like. They are visible when either tab is selected. The third tab will let you record any kind of Notes about the request you would like to record. 45 / 85

46 After Saving and Closing the Support Request record, you can go back and add or link child (related) records in the tabs below the record. These child related records - request attachments, Hardware Associated with the Request and Request Costs can be added. NOTE: When adding a new Request click the Save and Close button before adding or linking data in the related tables below the Grid. If you don't first Save and Close the new Request a Request ID may not be generated and may be left blank. After Saving and Closing the record you can open the Request from the Grid and begin adding or linking related child records to the Incident. Reports and Dashboards I have provided a variety of reports and dashboards to meet most needs. You can also use included Report and Dashboard Designer to create your own reports and dashboards from scratch, or based on existed items that you have cloned. Reports Classic There are two types of reports included. What I call the Classic reports can only be created in the Desktop application, and features a more helpful and comprehensive Report Wizard similar to that included in Microsoft Access. There are many classic reports already included in the database included with the installation. You can clone these reports and then make modifications to the copy and leave the original report alone. You can sort on Report Name or Data Type and you can search text in the lists an filter the reports list based on your search. Double clicking the Report name will execute the report in Preview mode. Tool Bar options allow you to open the Report in the Report Designer or Preview the Report. Classic Reports cannot be created or modified using the web interface for the AccessAble Help Desk / 85

47 Right clicking on a report name pops up a menu of options. Many of these options are also available on the tool bar at the top of the screen. While we could Clone an existing report and then modify the copy, I will start by clicking the New button and then using the Report Wizard - which in my opinion is preferable to the new Reports V2 but can only be used in the desktop application. Reports created using the Classic Report designer can however be viewed in the web application. We start by giving the Report a Name - this will be shown as the description in the Reports grid. I next 47 / 85

48 select the Data Type, for this example I will report on Incidents. The Report Types available are only Standard and Labels. The next step is to select the fields to include on the report. Unlike V2 Reports, sub tables - related tables are not shown in this wizard. 48 / 85

49 The next step will allow grouping on one or more fields. I want to group on Incident Type. The next step would allow for calculations or summaries to be included. 49 / 85

50 The next step allows you to select Page Orientation (Landscape vs Portrait) and other choices with a small preview. The next step lets you choose from several font and color options. 50 / 85

51 The final step is just to give the Report a Name. Now the report looks OK in Design view 51 / 85

52 However, the way the program shows related data a Unique and very Long ID represents the related table - not the field you want to actually display. Also note the Incident column is too narrow and the Date Fields include more time info than wanted, down to the second. For this report, just the Date part of the field will be enough, so changes are needed. Below is a cleaned-up report, but I want to also change the Sort Order. I want it sorted by the Incident Type field, not the Long Identified. 52 / 85

53 In order to change the Sort order, I click the Down arrow next to the Type field in Sort order, expand the Type tree, and choose Incident Type from the expanded branch. Below shows the list properly sorted. 53 / 85

54 One final change. Let's say that I want to start new page after each change in the Incident Type. I need to first add a footer, then I can a property for this new footer to insert a page break. Then end result of adding a Footer and then a page after is shown below. 54 / 85

55 A number of chart style reports are provided. Rather than create a chart in a report from scratch you can Clone an existing report with a chart and modify the copy of the original report. In this example I will copy the report I just created and then delete or set Visible to No for sections of the report I don't want to include. I will drag and drop the Chart icon on to the Report Header section and resize it as desired. I click the arrow to launch the pop-up menu and can choose the to run the Designer or set properties for the Series. In the next screen I am using the Chart Designer. 55 / 85

56 On the Data tab I drag the Incident Type down to the Argument section. However, if I preview the Chart now no bars will display. I need to click the Properties tab and then add a Summary function - Count usually works well for this. 56 / 85

57 Now I am going to hide the details section. Also, the default settings are to show a legend with the Count value. I will set the Legend visible to No since I have the Incident Labels shown under the bars, and I will add the count to each bar. Finally, I want to add a Title to the Chart. I will call it Incidents by Type. 57 / 85

58 Now when I close the Designer and Preview the Chart is looks like below. I can now use this new report with chart and Clone copies and modify the Series to display other items easily. 58 / 85

59 Reports V2 Reports V2 can be created and or modified using either the desktop application or web interface. More than 30 reports have been provided and are stored in the database. The tool bar for the Reports V2 is shown below. We will start by using the New button to create a new report. The first step in the Report Wizard is to give the report a name and select the Data Type - in this case I will create a report on Support Requests by Department. 59 / 85

60 After clicking the Next button, you need to choose the data tables in the data type collection on the left and then the fields on the right. I am not reporting on sub tables in this example. 60 / 85

61 In the next step, you can choose a field or multiple field to group on. I chose Department. In the next step you can optionally choose to get a total for fields. I will choose to get a count by Request Date. 61 / 85

62 The final step would let you enter a Title for the Report. This title will appear on the first page of the report only. The report will open in Design View and looks pretty good, but when you preview it not so much. A few 62 / 85

63 changes will need to be made. First Design View Tables are related using a special very long unique identifier. This link is to the Table itself, and we want to display an individual field from the table. In addition to changing the Department link the Category field also is looked up and we will change that too. Also the default date format is a bit long. We can change to show use the date or shorter version of Date and Time. Note the changes below. 63 / 85

64 Here I click on the triangle near Completed Date, then click in the Format String box. I change the Category on the left to Date Time then choose a short date format. I will do the same for the Request Date Next for the Category field I click the little arrow above Category Name and expand the Category item to select Request Category (the OID is the crazy long bunch of characters used by default). I will make a similar change for the Department Name. I also reordered the group bands so the Department heading would come before the Field Names for the detail section. Not quite finished. When I preview the report, the order doesn't seem right. The reason, my Sort is on the Department (that OID string) instead of Department Name. Plus, in the group footer I have to change that to Department name as well. I will change that now. 64 / 85

65 This section shows the Sorting field now set to Department Name. 65 / 85

66 I also want to have a page break after each department. The next screen shows how to do that. Finally, the redesigned report. 66 / 85

67 Now sometimes it is easier to Clone an existing report that may be close to what you want then make changes to the Clone, or Copy of the Report. Let's do that with a Chart style report. When you click the Clone button your report will be displayed with the original name. In this case I am going to change a Bar Chart to a Pie Chart so I change the name accordingly. I then choose Save and Clone. With my newly cloned report selected in the list I click the Report Designer button and see the current report. 67 / 85

68 Before I change the Chart to a Pie and want to show you something else. On the Property Grid for the Chart you can scroll down until you see Palette Name. Choosing an option from that drop down list can change the appearance of the chart quite easily. Let's click the Triangle at the top right of the Chart and from the menu choose Series. We don't need to run the Chart Designer to make this simple change from Bar to Pie chart. And we have several options such as 3D, Donut, etc. 68 / 85

69 When series is selected you can scroll down to the View property which is currently Bar. The series collection editor shown below has two tabs. Select the Properties Table then scroll down to View and click on the,,, next to the word Bar. You can see there are variation of Chart types to choose from, and in addition to Pie Chart you can choose different types of Donut charts and 3D Charts. 69 / 85

70 When I select Pie Chart the preview of the Chart shows this change and as before you can change the color palette. 70 / 85

71 I am going to set the chart to the 3D Pie chart and then run the Designer to make more changes. The designer will allow you to make several changes. Show or hide a Legend, change the data labels, etc. I will change the data labels for the pie slices. 71 / 85

72 With Label selected on the Left the Behavior groups has a Text Pattern item, which I will select to make my changes. The A is for Argument and the V is for Value, I added a space in between. Below is the completed Pie Chart. 72 / 85

73 You can make other changes, too. For example, rather than having the labels on the Outside of the slices you can place them on the inside. 73 / 85

74 Dashboards A wide variety of ready to use dashboards are provided. Like Reports, Dashboards are saved in the database. You can interact with some of the dashboards by selecting dates from parameters like a date ranges, click on slices of a pie to filter other chart elements on a Dashboard and more. LIke reports you can clone or copy existing dashboards and then modifying a copy of the dashboard. Let's look at a couple of sample dashboards. When the list of dashboards is displayed you can choose to create a New Dashboard, Clone the Selected Dashboard, Delete the selected dashboard, Show the Dashboard designer with the selected dashboard loaded, refresh the list (perhaps someone on the staff has created a new dashboard and it is not displayed on your list, you may need to click the Refresh button. The Reset View Settings restores the grid to factory default. Previous and Next arrows allow you to move back and forward in the list of dashboards. The Full Text Search box will let you search and filter the list for words you enter. 74 / 85

75 I am going to copy the Incidents Category Pie, Type as Bubble dashboard so I start by clicking the Clone button. The reports will open in view mode, so click the Show Dashboard Designer to open this cloned copy of a dashboards. NOTE: Dashboards are saved on the list with the Title of the Dashboard so don't forget to change the title before saving your modified copy of the dashboard and give it a meaningful name. 75 / 85

76 In design view you can see that I made several changes. I changed the title, added a Filter Element and set this to the Incident Category, then modified the Pie charge to use Request Type and the Bubble Chart to display Incident Subtype. You can make copies of any dashboard then change the copy as I did in the example. In this next example I am going to change a Bar Type report to a Pie or Dough Nut style chart. So first, I select the Report I want to Clone and then click the Clone button. I next click the button to Open the Dashboard in the Designer View. I click the Title Label and change this to Requests by Month Pie Chart. I then right click on the Chart and from the Pop-up Menu change to Pie. 76 / 85

77 The result of my change is shown next. I decided to change the Type from Pie chart to Donut so I clicked on the Design Tab and clicked the Donut button. 77 / 85

78 You may fine with the provided dashboards but you may want to visit the web site at to view videos on the Dashboard feature to see how to videos and of course you can me with any questions you may have about this or other items in AccessAble Help Desk Advanced Topics These next topics are things you should be careful. I strongly suggest you make backups of the database and model file before attempting these advanced tasks. Importing Records Importing is not included in this release of the AccessAble Help Desk but may be added again in the future. I found a number of issues with Importing data from within the program and decided to remove that feature from this request. The process can be slow since a log file is update with each record imported. It can be difficult to add permissions/restrictions to this function. It may be possible to import data such as customers from an external file using third party software, but if possible, I suggest entering the data from within the program. Model Editor The Model Editor is a very powerful feature and gives you great power to change things about the model that is read when the program is launch. With great power comes great responsibility. So first I recommend frequent backups of the Model files. Next, change only what you really want and need to change. The Model Editor uses a hierarchical tree view on the left. As you expand and select branches on the tree on the left side of the screen properties on the right can be updated. One place to start is the Options branch. This will allow you to change things like whether or not to show the Font Selection dialog, to Show the counts of records on a child tab, and so on. 78 / 85

79 You may also want to select the Navigation Items option in order to change the order of items on the menu, or to change the Navigation from a Tree Style Menu to Navigation Bar style When you save the changes and the program restarts you can instantly see the results of the change to the Navigation Menu. By default, I have the program set to start with the People List screen. You may prefer to have another screen come up by default, such as Support Requests or Incidents. Just choose the startup navigation item from the drop down and when you save and exit the Model Editor your choice will be the new start up item. 79 / 85

80 While you can change the layout of items by right clicking on a data entry type of form, and this will allow you to change field label text and other things in order to change column headings you would need to use the Model Editor. Let's do that now. Further down the tree on the left expand the Views branch - then expand AccessAbleHD2019.Module.BusineesObjects then Expand the Hardware_ListView branch and expand columns. In this example, we will change the column heading for the Function field to Purpose. That is the caption. Notice this field has Predefined Values. This list of items separated by semicolons will be displayed in a drop-down list. The same thing is the case for Status and Urgency. So, if you wanted to change the values in the drop down list for those items you could just edit the Predefined Values. In this case I added Undefined to the list. NOTE: I have provided more than one List "Views" for Hardware, one with many columns and one with few columns. You would want to make changes to both list views. 80 / 85

81 You can make similar changes for Detail Screens. For detail screens instead of the Column branch look for Items as seen below. The next screen shots show the changes I made using the model editor. 81 / 85

82 Another good reason for using the Model Editor is to Add or Change Rules. You may have noticed certain fields have an * by them to indicate a required field. An example is the Short Description for a Support Request. You can also create rules to make a field require a Unique entry. There are quite a few ways to create Rules to enforce Validity during data entry. I will show an example of how to create a Required field. So under the Validation branch I right click on Rules, choose Add, then over to Rule Required Field. I am going to make the Request Type field required so I click inside the Target Type and scroll down to AccessAbleHD2019.Module.BusinessOBjects.Request Types. All the target types I will set rules for are under this section (AccessAbleHD2019.Module.BusinessObjects these are the Table - Main Files and Lookup Tables. 82 / 85

83 After choosing the Target Type I next choose TargetPropertyName - this is where I will choose the Field in that Table or Business Object. Next, I choose the TargetContextID - this says when will the rule will be checked. We will choose the Save Context. The Default ID and Name will be a mix of letters that are not informative. So we just change the ID to something meaningful like RequestTypeIsRequired then when finished this will fill in the Name the same way. This makes it easier to read when looking at the Rules that have been set up. I will also create a rule that makes the Request Type Unique. 83 / 85

84 Now let me say here that I am requiring an entry, and a unique one at that, for the Request Type Look up field. I have not set the Request Type field in the Support Requests table (business object) as required or unique, but why? It may be that you will allow customers to use the web interface to add their own requests - but you might not want them to classify the request. If I set this field as well as Category and Sub Types fields as required then your customers would have to choose a value for these field in order to save the Support Request record. Of course, you can edit the model to add those rules if you prefer. To show how these rules work, if I try to save a request type record without typing a value, I won't be able to save the Record. I will see a message telling me that field can't be left blank. Similarly, if I try to save a value with a duplicate value that will also generate an error message. 84 / 85

85 Let's talk about the Unique values rule again. What if you have a Request Type of Install and you want this available for both Request Categories of Hardware and Software. Once you have added the Request Type of Install intending to use it for Hardware, you can't add it again. So, what do you do? Select the Request Category, tab or Request Type and use the Link button to link the existing Install request type to the Software category. Something else to remember is after making changes to the Model Editor (did you have a backup copy of the model files before making changes?) you need to be sure to save the changes. There are many other things you can do with the Model Editor, I may post videos on the web site at so please check periodically. If you have questions please don't hesitate to me - even before you buy a site license for the program. 85 / 85