Ticketing Solutions for IT Department
-
@quixoticjeremy said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@tim_g said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@gjacobse said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@tim_g said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@gjacobse said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@wrx7m said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
I did checkout osticket last week, as result of seeing a post, here on ML. It does look good and the hosted pricing is reasonable.
NTG has been hosting their own, it's pretty simple to do. But we'll likely be on Sodium in a week or two. Just a few little things need to be finalized for it to be at a point that we can flip over.
Does my boss know this?
She's the one that decided.
Why wouldn't you wait until it's a more finished product before putting something like this into actual production?
Sure, put not even alpha software in a test environment, but in production? No way! But I guess that depends on where you are and how many and what types of users it will effect.
You could set it up in a real test environment, and tell some users to throw in a ticket here and there, so you can provide Sodium with some real feedback.
Using Sodium as a ticket system - one that should evovle anyway - isn't so much of a problem that I see. Now when you reference the other features - that may be a different story.. though starting now, you can get use to some of the aspects of it as it's being developed - and know how it will work for you as more options are available.
Now - being part of the beta or even alpha isn't always the best - and while there can be several releases of Sodium a day.. that may or not be a problem and may or may not cause some problems...
Some times you just have to say Meh,.. WTH and go for it. Now - when you are talking about a few hundred to thousand PCs,.. Meh I'm not rebuilding all those... so - nope.
That's what I meant. If you work for a place such as the one I do, and you rip out the current fully featured, polished, supported, and working ticketing system... and throw in something like Sodium (no offense, I'm excited about it), your in for some major trouble from all aspects.
That's why I said if it's just a few users/computers, sure, go for it if it fits in your environment.
However, I could stick it in a test environment on the back burner... and ask a few users such as those in IT and some others to throw up a ticket in there once in a while for testing. Using that it could potentially replace the current system and save the company money. But before going too far, I'd keep it internal only to just myself and a few other IT coworkers.
No offense taken whatsoever, this is a completely logical approach. We are EXTREMELY early in development, it is what it is :). We just appreciate the input/support we're getting here at ML.
Yes for sure!
My main point was that I just didn't understand the logic behind replacing your current production system with something so early in development. It's not something I would consider doing in my environment at least. But in Scott's, I don't know much anything at all about his. For all I know, he's the only one putting in tickets. Then sure, it makes tons of sense.
-
my vote for osticket.
But it wont be expanded beyond your basic needs .
-
@emad-r said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
my vote for osticket.
But it wont be expanded beyond your basic needs .
It's a little more than just basic needs. osTicket does a bit more than, say, SW. SW is perfect if it does all that you need. But osTicket does a bit more. Neither is really going to expand, but osTicket is a bit more than purely basic. Not a lot more, but in the middle.
-
@tim_g said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@gjacobse said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@wrx7m said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
I did checkout osticket last week, as result of seeing a post, here on ML. It does look good and the hosted pricing is reasonable.
NTG has been hosting their own, it's pretty simple to do. But we'll likely be on Sodium in a week or two. Just a few little things need to be finalized for it to be at a point that we can flip over.
Does my boss know this?
She's the one that decided.
Why wouldn't you wait until it's a more finished product before putting something like this into actual production?
Sure, put not even alpha software in a test environment, but in production? No way! But I guess that depends on where you are and how many and what types of users it will effect.
You could set it up in a real test environment, and tell some users to throw in a ticket here and there, so you can provide Sodium with some real feedback.
Because even though it is so early in development it's already past SW that we used to use and is on the cusp of passing osTicket. The earlier we use it, the earlier we are able to provide feedback and guidance to make sure that it is doing what we want it to do.
Most of the "it's early in development" is not that it isn't working today, it's that it is ugly (just aesthetics have not been tackled) and that it has so much more ahead of it in the roadmap. So you have to weigh its current state versus the competition moreso than what percentage it is along a much longer road of continuous development.
-
@tim_g said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
You could set it up in a real test environment, and tell some users to throw in a ticket here and there, so you can provide Sodium with some real feedback.
Yeah, sadly, we do that and until it gets forced into production, no one will even sign in.
-
@dafyre said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@tim_g said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@gjacobse said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@wrx7m said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
I did checkout osticket last week, as result of seeing a post, here on ML. It does look good and the hosted pricing is reasonable.
NTG has been hosting their own, it's pretty simple to do. But we'll likely be on Sodium in a week or two. Just a few little things need to be finalized for it to be at a point that we can flip over.
Does my boss know this?
She's the one that decided.
Why wouldn't you wait until it's a more finished product before putting something like this into actual production?
Sure, put not even alpha software in a test environment, but in production? No way! But I guess that depends on where you are and how many and what types of users it will effect.
You could set it up in a real test environment, and tell some users to throw in a ticket here and there, so you can provide Sodium with some real feedback.
Also, by getting in while it is usable, but still in heavy development, they can help nitpick and recommend other features be added and such.
Exactly, we want to be guiding development not just of a feature list, but of little things and a lot of that is hard to know what would be useful or what is missing until you are really using it and want to put data in or get data out.
And unlike something like osTicket, we have full support on Sodium. So there are some major production benefits there.
-
@irj said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@wirestyle22 said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
Is the need for this being created by you or was it requested by your boss? If it's you wanting/needing it then use Sodium. If it's your boss use OSTicket and then later on move to Sodium and take the same path @scottalanmiller is taking.
I am not sure I understand this logic. I would not recommend a solution in its infancy for my company under any circumstance. You have no real guarantee of a stable product or continued support. You never buy a new model car the first year it is released.
That's not really true. There is far, far more security that this will be stable and supported compared to, say, SW where we know that there are financial and development issues. Just because it has been around for ten years does not make for any security. In fact, a key reason for the switch could be that lack of stability, security and development.
Software is not like cars, you don't buy a first year car because it isn't a living thing. Software is alive, it evolves. You can't compare it to manufactured goods.
-
@wirestyle22 said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@irj said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@wirestyle22 said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
Is the need for this being created by you or was it requested by your boss? If it's you wanting/needing it then use Sodium. If it's your boss use OSTicket and then later on move to Sodium and take the same path @scottalanmiller is taking.
I am not sure I understand this logic. I would not recommend a solution in its infancy for my company under any circumstance. You have no real guarantee of a stable product or continued support. You never buy a new model car the first year it is released.
I understand not doing it, but my recommendation is that he use OSTicket now which is a good product until Sodium becomes what he needs it to be. @scottalanmiller is taking the same upgrade route, so we know it will be possible in the future. It's a win/win.
We are on osTicket now, as you mentioned, and Sodium is just about to pass it in functionality. osTicket is good, but not all that polished either. More polished, but not SW level polished and they aren't ZenDesk level polished. But there are big features of Sodium that we want, like more robust communications and reporting, that we don't get in osTicket without taking on our own development which would make osTicket like Sodium, more or less, bringing the same concerns back.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@irj said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@wirestyle22 said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
Is the need for this being created by you or was it requested by your boss? If it's you wanting/needing it then use Sodium. If it's your boss use OSTicket and then later on move to Sodium and take the same path @scottalanmiller is taking.
I am not sure I understand this logic. I would not recommend a solution in its infancy for my company under any circumstance. You have no real guarantee of a stable product or continued support. You never buy a new model car the first year it is released.
That's not really true. There is far, far more security that this will be stable and supported compared to, say, SW where we know that there are financial and development issues. Just because it has been around for ten years does not make for any security. In fact, a key reason for the switch could be that lack of stability, security and development.
Software is not like cars, you don't buy a first year car because it isn't a living thing. Software is alive, it evolves. You can't compare it to manufactured goods.
I was looking at OSticket or ManageEngine. I wouldn't really consider SW as a real contender for anything other than one man or two man IT shops.
-
@irj said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@scottalanmiller said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@irj said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
@wirestyle22 said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
Is the need for this being created by you or was it requested by your boss? If it's you wanting/needing it then use Sodium. If it's your boss use OSTicket and then later on move to Sodium and take the same path @scottalanmiller is taking.
I am not sure I understand this logic. I would not recommend a solution in its infancy for my company under any circumstance. You have no real guarantee of a stable product or continued support. You never buy a new model car the first year it is released.
That's not really true. There is far, far more security that this will be stable and supported compared to, say, SW where we know that there are financial and development issues. Just because it has been around for ten years does not make for any security. In fact, a key reason for the switch could be that lack of stability, security and development.
Software is not like cars, you don't buy a first year car because it isn't a living thing. Software is alive, it evolves. You can't compare it to manufactured goods.
I was looking at OSticket or ManageEngine. I wouldn't really consider SW as a real contender for anything other than one man or two man IT shops.
We've used both of those. Definitely some of the better solutions out there. We found ME to be way too slow and cumbersome. If you took a lot of time to set it up properly, you could get loads of data and organization out of it, which is really nice. But the lack of development and decades old methodologies make it not something we really look forward to using. It's a factor in why Sodium is so interesting - modern and active development, rather than mostly abandoned kruft.
-
@irj said in Ticketing Solutions for IT Department:
I was looking at OSticket or ManageEngine. I wouldn't really consider SW as a real contender for anything other than one man or two man IT shops.
It is designed around simplicity for smaller shops. It makes it really good for that, but makes it struggle to handle larger shops.
-
Coming in a little late here but ManageEngine's ServiceDesk Plus certainly matches all your requirements. You can host it locally (also offers Cloud deployment though) and it is free for your number of technicians required. It comes with an integrated, searchable knowledge base that is accessible to technicians and logged-in users and suggests resolutions based on the ticket/query. You can import end-user info, assets info, etc from .csv. It meets your other requirements as well, with powerful reporting capabilities, both out-of-the-box and custom reports can be generated and represented as graphs, charts, etc. Backing-up and exporting data is also supported. The best part is that it is not a stand alone IT help desk. It comes with native problem, change, asset, project, contract management, CMDB and other modules with powerful automations and customizations.. Over and above this it integrates with other IT applications to provide you a centralized control over all your IT operations. Definitely worth checking out.
-
I've signed up to ZohoDesk as it's free for 10uers and has some customisation seems a good system so far.
