[Liverpool] Help Desk Software

[Ian Norton]

Hi Liam,

> I'm currently looking into installing a basic help desk system so help me
> and my colleague manage and record support calls. I have used JIRA in the
> past and I quite like it but would like to play with some open source
> alternatives before I buy a commercial product. Do you have an suggestions?
> Ideally it would be web based through my existing IIS infrastructure,
> although I can install a LAMP server if necessary. I've looked here:
> http://www.opensourcehelpdesklist.com/ but it doesn't really give any clues
> on which ones are popular or proven.

Best Practical's Request Tracker is excellent http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/
Other people I know have used Bugzilla, but personally having used RT
I'm not a fan.

Before picking software, you might want to think about what
functionality you require in order to help you narrow it down.

Also, software will not fix broken processes and procedures within
your organisation (obvious I know, but it took four years to convince
my previous employer of this fact) so it's important to think about
these too.

If you have an idea of what you want and how you want to work, then
most things will likely do the needful for you, but you need to know
the former before the latter or you'll waste a boat load of time that
you'll never get back.

Ian.
-- 
Ian Norton
Co-Leader North West England Perl Mongers (http://northwestengland.pm.org/)
Co-Membership Secretary Sing for Pleasure (http://www.singforpleasure.org.uk/)