Anyone Use MS Product(s) for HelpDesk Solution?

[Woodcycl]

Is there a Microsoft product (something other than Excel, Word, Access, etc.) that can be used as a HelpDesk product? I'm not familiar with OneNote, SharePoint, or Project ... or possibly Outlook Forms. Not sure if there is a MS app that can fit at least 70 or 80% of a helpdesk solution.

Any ideas? I'm thinking of something that can be used by end users to submit helpdesk requests, stores the info, I can respond, some reporting capabilities. The end user could look up a status of the request, etc.

Thoughts?

[tantone]

A turnkey solution through MS? Not that I'm aware of. However, what you're talking about could be done using a web front-end for the users, an Access form front-end for the techs, and a SQL database housing it all.

Oh, and it would require a bit of work to set up! :p

[bruceb]

You might try using Adobe Acrobat 6 or later Pro
This program is used to create .pdf files among
other features. I think you can also use it to build
an "On Screen Fillable PDF" Form .. have this on
your web page where people would submit their
help requests.

[gtaylor]

We use Team Coherence a bit. It's cheap and cheerful but does the job. There's a server and client component, and is only supposed to be for techs, not really user fillable, but might be useful.

[r8500]

Sounds like you are looking for Heat from FrontRange Solutions. They have a component called Heat Self Service, where the end user can go to your web-site, and log in, and then submit a trouble ticket, or even view past trouble tickets to remedy the problem themselves.

[tantone]

Does Heat still run on an Access database? We used that a long time ago and I wasn't very happy with it, but it got the job done. Prolly also an older version so I'd be curious to see how it is today.

[r8500]

Originally posted by tantone
Does Heat still run on an Access database? We used that a long time ago and I wasn't very happy with it, but it got the job done. Prolly also an older version so I'd be curious to see how it is today.

Nope, its all SQL based now. Much more stable, and allows for a lot more growth.

[G]

I help a soft dev out and use Kayako - it's used everwhere.

http://www.kayako.com/?_a=products&_m=esupport.features