Using Helpdesk Pro

Installation

When you purchase Helpdesk Pro extension, our order system will send you a zip file called helpdeskpro_unzip.zip. Unzip this file, you will see two zip files :

1. com_helpdeskpro.zip: This is the main package of the extension. You can go to Extensions-> Extensions Manager and install it as normal Joomla extension (component). When you install this package, the following items will be installed :
   • Helpdesk Pro component : This is the main component which provide all the features of the system.
   • Content Helpdesk Pro plugin : This plugin allows you to enter submit ticket form into a Joomla article.
   • Ticket From Contact Form : This plugin allows generating support ticket when users use Joomla contact form to send emails to you.
   • Ticket Attachments plugin : This plugin displays all attachments of a support ticket when admin/managers access to the ticket from backend of your site.

2. plug_cb_ticketshistory.zip: This is a Community Builder plugin which displays all support tickets submitted by a user in his profile. You only need to install it if you are using Community Builder extension(just install as as other community builder plugins). If you don't use Community Builder, don't need to install it.

Configuration

When you first install the extension, Helpdesk Pro will create default Configuration data. Please go to Heldpesk Pro -> Configuration to review available config parameters and change them to meet your requirement if needed. All config options are very easy to understand and have explanation next to it, so I will only mention about some of important parameters:

Allow Public Users submit ticket: If set to Yes, users will be able to submit  support tickets without having to login. If set to No, users will have to login before they can submit support ticket.

Notification emails: When users submit support tickets to a category which doesn't have manager, Helpdesk Pro will send notification to the emails you entered in this config option. If you are the only one manager of the system, you should enter your email into this config option so that you will receive notification when someone submit support tickets. If each category has it's own manager, you can leave this config option empty.

Emails messages: Look at at Messages tab on Configuration page, you will see the email messages which will be sent when a new ticket is submitted, when admin/manager reply to a ticket, when customer add comment to ticket.... Please review all of these email messages and change it to meet your need (if needed).

Creating and Managing Categories

After change necessary config options, the next step will be creating ticket categories. Usually in a support tickets system, there will be different ticket categories and each category can has it own managers (who will receive notification when customers submit ticket, reply to ticket...). To create a category, go to Helpdesk Pro -> Categories, click on new button on the toolbar. Below are important fields which you need to enter when create  a category:

Title : The title of category.

Parent: Helpdesk Pro allows you to create nested categories. So if this category is a child category, simply choose it's parent category from the dropdown.

Access: Choose access level for this category and then only users has this access level can see this category while submitting tickets from front-end.

Managers : Enter username of the managers of this category. By adding a manager for this category, when customers submit ticket to this category, these managers will receive notification about new ticket submission. Please note that a manager can only see/reply  tickets from categories which he is assigned as manager, he cannot see/reply to tickets from other categories. If a category has multiple managers, simply enter their username into this field (comma separatd, for example admin,tuanpn).

Descrition: This field is for managing purpose only. It won't be displayed anywhere in the front-end.

Creating custom fields

By default, when your customers submit a support ticket, they will need to enter Subject and Message (which explain the problem he is having) of the ticket. If you want customers to provide more information when submitting support tickets, you need to create custom fields. Go to Helpdesk Pro=> Custom Fields and you will be able to  create, edit, delete, update, publish, unpublish, change ordering of custom fields. Please note that when you create a new custom field, you can assign it to All Categories or just some specific categories, therefore, each support category can has it's own set of custom fields.

The following custom fields are supported in Helpdesk Pro at the moment:

1. Textbox
2. TextArea
3. Drodpown
4. Checkbox List
5. Radio List
6. Datetime
7. Heading
8. Message
9. Multilple Select

Submit support tickets

After setting up ticket categories (and custom fields if needed), the next step will be provide a way for your customers to submit and manage their tickets from front-end by creating a menu item. When you create a menu item to link to Helpdesk Pro, you will see two options :

1. Submit Ticket: If you create menu item to link to this view, when customer access to this menu item, they will see a form which allow them to enter necessary information to submit support ticket.
2. Ticket List/ Manage Tickets: If you create menu item to link to this view, when customers access to this menu item, they will see list of support tickets which he submitted. He will also see a link which allows submitting new ticket.

So in this case, if you want your customers to go directly to support ticket form, choose option #1. If you want your users to see their tickets and then click on Submit ticket link to submit new ticket, choose option #2.

Managing/Reply support tickets

Go to Helpdesk Pro -> Tickets, you will see list of support tickets submitted by your customers. By default, the system will only only show NEW and PENDING tickets. If you want to see all tickets, please choose All from ticket status filter dropdown. Also :

1. If you are administrator and super administrator, the system will display tickets from all categories.
2. If you are just a manager (admin specify managers of a ticket category when create category), you will only see support tickets from categories which you are assigned as managers.

From Tickets list screen, you can click on a support ticket to view detail information of the ticket (support ticket). You can then :

1. Change category of the ticket (move it to the correct category if it was submitted to a wrong category)
2. Change Ticket Status
3. Change ticket Priority
4. Reply/add comment to the ticket by click on Add Comment link.

Please note that in Helpdesk Pro, you can manage support tickets from both front-end and back-end of your site. If you want managers to be able to access/manage support tickets from front-end, simply create a menu item to link to Ticket List/ Manage Tickets view of Helpdesk Pro.  When managers access to this menu item, he will see support tickets from categories which he manages and reply to these support tickets.

Embed submit ticket form into an article

If for some reasons, you want to have submit support ticket form displayed in a Joomla article, you can use Helpdesk Pro content plugin. The setup is simple, just contain two steps :

1. Go to Extensions -> Plugins manager, find and publish Helpdesk Pro content plugin .
2. Edit the Joomla article you want to embed submit support ticket form, enter the syntax {helpdeskpro}. After that, when users access to this article, they will see a form which allow them to submit support ticket

Generate ticket from Joomla Contact Form

Joomla has a feature which allows site visitors to use contact form to send emails to website administrator. Normally, they will use this contact form to send support request to you. If you want to store these contact emails as support ticket, you can use Helpdesk Pro Generate Tickets From Contact Form. Each time users send email to you use Joomla contact form, a support ticket will be created : the subject of the email will become the subject of the ticket, the email body will become the message/description of the ticket. To use this feature, there are two steps :

1. Create a menu item to link to Contact component of Joomla allows site users to access to this menu item to contact you.
2. Go to Extensions -> Plugins manager, find the System - Helpdesk Pro Ticket From Contact Form, publish it.

Using Ticket Attachments plugin

Helpdesk Pro allows customers to add attachments when they submit/reply to a support ticket. By default, Helpdesk Pro will display these attachments right after the description/comments of the ticket. However, it also provide a plugin which allows list all attachments belong to a support ticket on ticket detail page so that you can access to these attachments easier.

To use this plugin, you can go to Extensions -> Plugins manager, find Helpdesk Pro - Ticket Attachments plugin. After that, when you access to a ticket from back-end, you will see all attachments of this support ticket listed at the right of the page.

Translation

Helpdesk Pro has a built-in translation feature to allows you to change any language string from back-end of your site( you don't have to edit language file manually). It also allows you to translate all language strings to a different language. Access to Helpdesk Pro -> Translation and you will be able to use this feature.