Section 1: How to install
The installation is very easy. It's a step-by-step
process as written below:
A. Upload files to your server :
- Download ‘vipdesk.zip' to your local
machine.
- Unzip the file
- Create a folder within ‘public_html' on your
server.
- Upload all the folders and files within
‘helpdesk' to this new folder.
- Change the permission for following to ‘777'
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- 'config.php' within '/includes'
- Give '777' permission to '/download' folder
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- Note: VIP Desk has been encoded with the ionCube PHP Encoder and requires the free ionCube PHP Loader to be installed.
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B. Create a database and user in MySQL
Database
- Open your cPanel (Control Panel) to access
MySQL Database
- Create a database
- Create a User by providing username and
password
- Link the database with the user
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C. Install the script
- Now open following link in browser:
‘http://yourdomainname.com/helpdesk/' where,
yourdomainname.com, would be your domain name helpdesk:
this can be any foldername, which you would have uploaded.
- You will see the following screen.

Provide all the inputs for MySQL Database
- DB Host Name : This can
be the IP address of the Database server or ‘localhost'
- DB Name : The name of the
database created in step B.
- DB User Name : The name
of the user created and linked with the database.
- DB Password : Password of
the user linked with the database.
- As soon as, you click on ‘Submit
Information', the following message gets displayed.
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- To run the admin panel of Helpdesk you need to click on
'Administrator Login' or enter following link in the browser:
http://www.yourdomainname.com/newfolder/newadmin/index.php where,
yourdomainname.com, would be your domain name
newfolder: would be the name of the newly created folder,
where you would have uploaded all the files and folder.
The Username and Password for login is ‘admin'
Section 2: Understanding the Application
VIP desk is a very useful application, which helps
with dealing with the customers/members problem in a very efficient
manner.
This application is divided into there modules,
namely:
- Admin Module : for the website
administrator, who would like to track the customer's
complains/suggestions and even can see the performance of the
operators.
- Operator Module : for the website
authorized staff , which the admin of the site will
give access for answering the tickets for particular departments.
- User Module : for the
customers, who want to contact the admin or the
support person for their complains, suggestions,
opinions or even for help.
These three modules are explained in more details below:
A. Admin Module:
To be able to work on the admin module please use the form of
the following link : http://www.yourdomainname.com/foldername/newadmin/

The default login details for this site is :
Username : admin Password : admin
Admin has all the rights to keep track on the tickets
logged by the customers and the status of it. Also, he/she has the right
to assign the different departments and tasks to the operators.
The main functions of the Admin module are detailed
in the hereafter subsections and the group of the functions is shown
in the following image.

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1. Trouble Shooter:
It has been seen that users face some very common problems.
So, instead receiving each question separately and answering
it, it is always better to provide the users with the answers
beforehand.
"Trouble Shooter" section provides the users with this
information.
Here, admin can add such commonly asked questions with their
answers. So that, the user can view them directly before
being asked.
Admin has rights to add new topics by using ‘Add New'
option, edit the existing ones, and can even delete them by
using ‘View' option.

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2. Departments:
It is always better to receive tickets from customers under
some relevant categories, so that they could be managed
properly. For this purpose, ‘Departments' section was made.
- View : It shows a lists of all the available
departments which can be edited and deleted.
- Add New : It allows the admin to add new
departments.
To make managing the tickets' issues much easier, the user
can log on a ticket under some specific department.

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3. Announcements:
When the admin wants to inform the customers with some upcoming
events or even want to share some news with all the users. The
announcement section is the way to do that.
Admin can add announcement which is
visible to all the users. Admin can also add new announcements, edit the existing ones
and delete the one, whose purpose has
been served or which are no more required.

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4. Knowledgebase:
There are also some commonly asked queries for particular
product or department. The knowledgebase section was made for such queries, which are not very
general and can't be included in the ‘Trouble Shooter'
section.
By clicking ‘View' all the existing topics can be viewed,
edited and even deleted
‘Add New' is used to add new topic to the Knowledgebase.
The topics can be searched for some given keyword using
‘Search' option.
This Knowledgebase is accessible to Operators as well as
staff for viewing. But Operators has rights to edit and delete
them.

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5. Downloads:
Sometimes the admin likes the users to access or have
copies form a specific file. Such kind of files can be
uploaded here. As, there is no security
measures taken for downloading. The files are also not
restricted for a particular user, it is recommended to upload only
the files which don't have any vital information. Any kind of
files formatting is acceptable.

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6. Operators:
This section deals with assigning and managing Operators.
Operator section is further divided into 3 sub-sections:
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7. Tickets:
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Open Tickets : The number within
brackets shows the total number of Open Tickets. When
the admin clicks on this link, it lists all the tickets, which are
opened. Admin can view the details for any ticket, reply them and have rights to close and delete them.

Close Tickets The number within
brackets shows the total number of Closed Tickets. When the
admin clicks on this link, it lists all the closed tickets. Admin
can view the details and the replies by the operator and the
user. He can even re-open and delete them at any point
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8. Automated Emails:
This section deals with the editing of the sent
emails to the operators or to the user regarding the
ticket status. |
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9. Change Password:
This section is for changing the admin login password.
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B. Operator Module:
To be
able to work on the operator module please use the form of the
following link : http://www.yourdomainname.com/foldername/operators/

Operator needs to login with the details, which
admin would have provided him. After successful login, the
following screen gets displayed:

The operator is responsible for answering the assigned
tickets satisfactorily.
The sections under Operator Module are
explained below: |
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1. Open Tickets: Here
operator can see all the new as well as open tickets, for the
departments, he is assigned. The number within brackets shows
the total number of opened as well as new tickets.

Department shows the department name, for
which the ticket is logged .
Subject : shows the
subject of the ticket
Last Reply : This section gives information about
the status of the ticket. There are three different statuses for
an open
ticket: |
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- New Ticket : means that the ticket
is newly logged by the user
- Waiting for user's reply : means
that the ticket has been replied by the operator and is not
waiting for the user's feedback
- Waiting for Operator's reply : means
that the user has replied and may want more information or
feedback about the ticket issue.
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Priority : This shows the importance and
the urgency of the ticket to be answered. There are 4 levels
of priorities namely:
- Low (Lowest)
- Medium
- High
- Urgent (Highest Priority)
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Clicking on the ‘subject' of the ticket shows the details
of the ticket. Here, operator can see the message and it's
reply. The operator can reply and/or
close the ticket.
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2. Close Tickets: Here operator can see
all the closed tickets which belongs to his/her department. The number within brackets shows the
total number of closed tickets for the operator's department.

Department shows the department name, for
which the ticket has been logged. Subject : The
subject of the ticket is displayed here Priority
: This shows the priority of the ticket. Same as in
‘Open Tickets'
Clicking on the ‘subject' of the ticket shows the details
of the ticket. Here, operator can see the message and the operator's replies.
The operator can even reopen
the ticket (if needed).

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3. Knowledgebase: Here,
the Operator can view the Knowledgebase topics as well as
their answers, added by the Admin. This might help in
replying related tickets without giving extra efforts.
the operator can also edit and delete them as per the requirements.
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4. Trouble Shooter:
the Operators can view the Trouble Shooter topics as well as
their answers, added by the Admin. These topics can assist
them in replying tickets with similar kind of problem. They can
even edit and delete them as per the requirements. They also can
add new topic to it using ‘Add New' option.

| C. User Module:
To be able to work on the user module please use the
form of the following link :: http://www.yourdomainname.com/foldername/

The sections under User Module are
explained below: |
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Trouble Shooter:
User/Customer
can view all the generally asked queries with their answers
here.

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Knowledge Base:
All the common
asked department-related queries are listed here. User can
view them to get the answer to their queries before
launching a new ticket. User can even search for a
particular topic by using ‘Search' option.

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Downloads:
User has access to all
the downloadable files added by the admin. This option can
be used to send a file which is valid and common for all
the users.

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Announcements:
The announcements added by the Admin can be viewed
through this section. The newly added announcements can be
known by seeing the date and time of the addition of the
announcement.

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Ticket Status:
User can check the
status of his/her tickets through this section. He/she needs to
provide the Key No. and the email-id to view the status and
the replies for that ticket in the following screen:

If the inputs are valid, then the ticket
gets listed as shown below:

The details can be viewed by clicking on
the subject of the ticket.
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Submit A Ticket:
This is the section, where the user can submit a new ticket whenever he/she has some
query or a feedback or even a suggestion. The user needs to fill
the form appropriately with proper department name and the
priority, so that it could be answered by the appropriate
operator.

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