Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ian Landsman -
Number of replies: 18

Hello All,

First, this is my first foray into the community. If this is not the correct place to post these questions please let me know!

A little background on me, I formally worked at Pearson Education working on various elearning projects, I was assistant directory for academic technology at Marist College in upstate NY and most recently I'm the founder of UserScape a web software company.

My company makes a help desk software product called HelpSpot. I actually got the idea to start this product from my work at Marist where we used an ancient mainframe based product for the help desk. It was literally impossible to properly support our elearners using this tool and so that frustration grew into starting my own company.

Over the past two years of selling HelpSpot the product has become very popular in higher education and K-12 schools. However, I've always wanted to make using HelpSpot for elearning support easy. Now it's mostly used in an IT context.

From poking around with some of my old friends in the industry it sounds like email clients are still how most elearning support gets done. What I'd like to do is build modules into the major elearning platforms like Moodle, BB, and perhaps Sakai if they ever get their act together (my opinon there).

I think working with Moodle first makes the most sense as it's a PHP application like HelpSpot, seems to have a very active community and even a cursory look shows a lot if philosophical similarities.

Finally, the point of this long winded post is to ask if you have a need for tight integration between a help desk tool and Moodle? Do you believe it would make your student support easier/better? If so what would you like to see in such a module? Also if anyone is interested I'd love to work closely with a few schools on this.

I'd personally also appreciate any pointers as to which type of module would be the best fit. I've looked at some of the module docs and it seems there's a few different ways this type of integration could be done. Any recommendations or examples of other external systems that have been integrated via an HTTP based API would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the time!

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In reply to Ian Landsman

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Anthony Borrow -
Immàgine de Core developers Immàgine de Plugin developers Immàgine de Testers
Ian - Valery Fremaux has been working to revive a 3rd party contribution of a tracker module for Moodle which is available in CVS. You may want to chat with her about ideas for how such things should/could work within an LMS. Are you interested in making HelpSpot an open source project? Peace - Anthony
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In reply to Anthony Borrow

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ian Landsman -
Thanks Anthony!

I'll take a look at that and give her a shout.

I'm not looking to open source it, but I would be happy to work out a module that could swap out different help desk systems. There's no standards for help desk api's so it wouldn't be an easy swap, but perhaps it could be something where each help desk app would have it's own class that implemented an intermediary API that actually worked with Moodle.

We'd have to dig a bit deeper and of course see if there's interest in such a thing in general, but I think it could be interesting to build it out that way.
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In reply to Ian Landsman

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Anthony Borrow -
Immàgine de Core developers Immàgine de Plugin developers Immàgine de Testers
Ian - It does sound interesting. I am personally biased toward open source solutions but developing some type of API that would be flexible to handle a variety of options sounds like a good thing. Let me know if there is anything I can do to be supportive and once you have something developed and if you would like it added to the contrib section of CVS I'd be willing to help get things setup. Peace - Anthony

p.s. - Actually I made a bit of a faux pas. Valery is helping out with reviving the tracker code and you may wish to contact HIM. My apologies for any confusion.
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In reply to Anthony Borrow

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ian Landsman -
Ah, thanks for the fix (or perhaps it was my mistake?).

Thanks for the offer, I'm sure I'll take you up on it. I'm hoping to have some free time early in the new year to really take a look at the docs and start doing some basic prototyping.
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In reply to Anthony Borrow

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Valery Fremaux -

No trouble, Anthony. We work at quite distinct corners of the world !!

Tracker and HelpDesk are distinct features. Tracker initiates a reporting path from user to administrators and technicians. Help desk major information path is the other way, with an additional fifo-like query entry. Both modules are complementary.

A HelpDesk could stack queries from users, and allow technical staff to manage the life-cycle of the query. A Forum would provide seemfully the same function, but in a less explicit way. There would no provision in a Forum for encoding formally some indicators about the query, status within the workflow, or other quantifiers. Another way would have been a database, allowing some form of information formalization. This is neither the nicest way : there is no provision to choose which field can be edited by whom, as far as I know about it.

The only real question is : is it worth having an external software integration, that might bring a more complex application model than what Moodle standard API level provides to users, or should it be better to have a real "Moodle standard level" helpdesk subapplication, consistent with the actual complexity of other parts of Moodle.

(was that clear enough ?) 

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In reply to Valery Fremaux

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ian Landsman -

From some quick other reading it sounds like Tracker is more a bug tracker or technical issue tracker rather than a help desk tool right Valery?

Unlike a forum a help desk tool allows for private interaction between the user and help desk staff which is important. I remember many occasions supporting elearners where confidential information needed to be shared.

Certainly a completely internal help desk module may be the way to go as well. From my perspective (of course!) I could see having the option to hook to external systems having some big positives. A couple off the top of my head:

  1. A full blown help desk app is very powerful, it's unlikely you could build all that into a module of Moodle, nor would it be wise to try. Of course a simple tool could do very well as well. I guess it depends how much support you have, what type of reporting you want and so on.
  2. Hooking to an external tool would allow easier integration with other departments. For instance I often dealt with elearning issues that needed to be resolved by other departments in the school. Hooking with an external tool makes more sense in this case as I can simply assign it to the other department rather than every other department having a moodle help desk login (and needing training, remembering their passwords, etc etc).

I'm also going to be approaching this from the other direction as well. Several big universities are both HelpSpot customers and Moodle users. I plan on talking to them to see if there's interest in such an integration, but wanted to check in here first to get a feel for things and also to make sure such a thing didn't exist already.

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In reply to Ian Landsman

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Valery Fremaux -

Your process is the right one.

Check opportunity and antecedants, work in progress, and then contribute. This is the way we try to keep our Moodle work consistent all together. Anthony helps us to maintain that awareness.

About your arguing : you're perfectly right on both points.

  • When a complete and complex Help life-cycle is needed, it would long and costful to design it again from scratch, even using already made code from Moodle libs, wich fasten integration and standard features access. 
  • In an overall system management strategy in which Moodle IS NOT the only or central point, an external Help Desk software may already provide interoperability that is not a main concern for a Moodle internal developement.

The nicest resolution would be in an ideal world (plenty of time, nice and skilled people) having both approach available. This kind of discuss will maybe give ideas to others to locate their contribution in the complementary path. Hold on guys !!

Cheers.  

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In reply to Ian Landsman

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Pam Atkins -
Hi Ian,
I don't know HelpSpot as such but I have used other help desk applications and am a big fan of them.
I was tempted to replied byt the experience of getting an email tonight from a student asking me to help her with a password problem. I am the admin of the Moodle as in I installed it and have access to the files and the db, but I do not do student support. Email is the conscripted workshorse of the internet made to do things it was never meant for just because many ppl can't see beyond it. I am appalled that the standard reply to a forgotten password form has the instruction to email the admin.
Good luck with your venture! I would be interested in hearing how it turns out.
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In reply to Anthony Borrow

Different courses of different user

by amala loganathan -
Different courses of different user
I am amala...After login the user has to see only courses for his department...
for example if mechanical student logs in , he has to see courses in his line only.....
Now all the courses are viewed by all users..but it should be changed....how Pls anyone help me...
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In reply to Ian Landsman

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ken Glass -
I'd be interested in knowing if anything was actually done to bring a help desk type student support system to Moodle. I use numerous help desk type applications as an online education developer and I find the email approach that's being used in my Moodle site experience to be a less desirable alternative. I haven't found a help desk approach yet in my search for such a module for Moodle. I know I'm posting to an old discussion, but it hits where I'm searching today.
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In reply to Ken Glass

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Stuart Mealor -
Immàgine de Particularly helpful Moodlers
Yes Ken, I agree this was a great discussion/idea.

Many other LMS's have some form of Helpdesk built-in, and in fact it's sometimes used as a big selling point.

I've used the Tracker Module by Valery (which is fantastic by the way!)
http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1124

If you want to see a version in action you can also see it on our testing site:
http://www.elearning.school.nz/
(Just look down the list for 'Tracker').

I think that a well designed Moodle Database Activity, combined with Messaging could provide a reasonable basic Helpdesk facility. Take a Database page, add a Helpdesk Skype status badge/block, contact phone number, link to the 'general discussion forum', and a link to a well written FAQ, and you have a basic Helpdesk support framework.

I would be interested in seeing the Helpdesk in Moodle concept developed further though - either as a new module, or as a wider "understanding ways to achieve similar" conversation (I'm sure some clever solutions may have aleady be found, and combining some of these ideas may lead to a fair solution?)

Perhaps the thing to do is list the 'essentials' and the 'nice to have' functions that an integrated Moodle Helpdesk should feature, and that allows us to decide whether it can be done with the tools we have now (at a fundamental level), or that it does in fact require a new module?

Stu
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In reply to Stuart Mealor

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ken Glass -
Hey Stuart, thanks for the response. I've read some about Valery's Tracker, but it sounded like it didn't really fit the bill for a help desk (more of a bug tracker). I'll go back and revisit that. I'd really like to keep the support system inside Moodle. With 185,000 students, we have quite a few emails flying around.

I went to the test site you listed. Looks like the module is down. It also appears to require a login. Can I create one, or do you have a guest login?

Ken
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In reply to Ken Glass

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Stuart Mealor -
Immàgine de Particularly helpful Moodlers
Hi Ken

Yeah, there is a single user mode in the Tracker now - in this mode participants only see their own issues - which is more like a personal Helpdesk than a group bug tracker.

You can enter the Tracker course as a Guest, but you won't be able to view or add anything (just like a Guest with Quizzes or Forums). You can create a Login on the site and join the meta course (at the top) which means you are enrolled in all courses so you should be able to test out the Tracker, and indeed other add-in courses on the site.

Stu
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In reply to Stuart Mealor

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ken Glass -
Hi Stu,

Thanks for the added info. I'll sign up and log in and take a look around to see if this might meet our current need. Appreciate your insight.

Ken
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In reply to Stuart Mealor

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Valery Fremaux -
Hi Guys,

Actually the tracker module had only one "bug report mode".

Our project with Intel raised some new needs for the tracker. Last version that will be soon updated adds the following :

  • dual mode : "bug report", "user support"
  • priority management for tickets, with "priority raise query" from tickets owners
  • "upload" new tracker form field type (allows collecting screenshots and attached files)
  • Notification on all events, including comment posting.
Tickets still have no date, but a track is for adding a "due expected date" from part of the ticket owner, so some work schedule decisions could be made by the support crew. In an other sense, I would not want to compete with some more complete tools of project management with full work planification or even what could be an integrated GLPI or other external support systems...

Cheers.

NB : If you are interested in receiving code update notices, you may register here : http://www.ethnoinformatique.fr/course/view.php?id=130



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In reply to Valery Fremaux

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Ken Glass -
Thanks Valery for the added info. I'm going to get with my hosting firm and see if we can't get a test set up with your tracker.

Ken
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In reply to Valery Fremaux

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Stuart Mealor -
Immàgine de Particularly helpful Moodlers
Hi Valery
Thanks for your continuing work on Tracker!

The screenshots and attached files options sounds great, and comment notification too smile

I agree that Tracker doesn't need to replicate a professional or open source Helpdesk application.
However, for many smaller Moodle users, and perhaps schools with limited budgets and technical support, these other options are often impossible to implement.

So, having a 'basic but useful' Helpdesk module orientated towards learners logging issues, is a really useful facility I believe for many Moodle sites smile
And if we can set-up the Tracker to provide this type of function... c'est formidable !

Thanks, Stu.
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In reply to Valery Fremaux

Re: Interest in an integrated Help Desk Module?

by Jesús Martín -
Thanks for your work!

When I install (or update) the module (tracker_R3_1_05_2009.zip), I get the following error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in /var/www/moodle/mod/tracker/locallib.php on line 1063

(moodle 1.9.5+)

Any ideas? Thanks again.

J. Martin
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