Sixteen Excel Reports On Support Team Performance

Folder HelpDesk V13 will have a new statistics feature: Excel reports. With sixteen different reports you can analyze how support tickets have been handled, and you  can also create your their own reports on the Folder HelpDesk ticket data.

Structured IT-support tickets
Many organizations have dedicated staff for IT support, and when this team is connected in a local network Folder HelpDesk for Outlook is a well functioning and easy to learn solution for handling the support requests.

Incidents become structured and efficient to work with when e-mails and web tickets are converted into Outlook tickets. And when a problem is reported in another way, maybe by telephone, a blank ticket can be filled out to get this issue into the same system. All this structured incident data can be studied in statistics  reports.

Known caller group gives more data
When the support staff assists a known group of people you can get even more out of Folder HelpDesk, as details about these people, like department and e-mail address, can be entered in the Folder HelpDesk settings and automatically filled out in the tickets. These details about callers are also included in the Excel reports.

Click a button to run reports
When the support team has been working with Folder HelpDesk for a while it is interesting to analyze what problems have been handled, how much time has been spent on different kinds of incidents, who the callers were and so on.

Ticket data is saved in an Access or SQL Server database, and when you click on the Folder HelpDesk statistics button in Outlook a tool fetches this data and converts it into Excel reports.

Four groups of reports
The sixteen reports are divided into four groups, with four reports in each. All reports have two representations, a pivot table and a graph – or chart as Microsoft calls them.

The first group of reports shows different aspects of time spent on tickets and the second group gives information about the callers. The third group shows data from an incident category angle, and the fourth one has the responsible support team members as the basis.

Use all Excel features
The Folder HelpDesk statistics reports are standard Excel reports, so you can use all Excel features with them. You may filter and drill into the reports, and you can add columns and rows that give more data than the default ones. All changes made in a table are reflected in the graph, and vice versa.  Siret shows how to do it in the demo below.

Many graph options
I think managers prefer to work with pivot tables, but when they want to show their results to a bigger group I am sure they prefer to use the graphs. These can be created in many different forms and colors and also saved as a PDF and in several other formats.

Create your own reports
The default Folder HelpDesk reports should cover what most managers want to see reports on, especially if they use the Excel options of adding more data. However, if it is necessary to create a brand new report this can be done too. Siret shows that in her demo also.

Open a new sheet, connect it to the database you use with Folder HelpDesk and create your report using the Excel tools. When it is saved it will be just another report among the rest of them, and it will be updated with fresh data each time you press the statistics button.

Discarded old tool
Earlier versions of Folder HelpDesk have had another statistics tool, my own OLAP Reporting Tool. I created it long ago, when the Office Web Components were automatically installed with Office.

Now this situation has changed, and I see no reason to stick to a tool just because I have created it, if I can give Community Members a better alternative.  It will also be easier for new customers, as they will not have to learn a new tool. Most administrators know Excel well, and there is a lot of information on internet if they don't.

If someone wants to keep the old tool after upgrading to Folder HelpDesk V13 there is a way to do that, but I am sure most users will appreciate the change to Excel reports. Here is a first overview:



By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Shared Calendars Make Work Run Smoothly

When all members of a team or workgroup share each others Outlook calendars everyone will benefit and work will be more efficient.

 Personal Outlook calendars can be shared and viewed with the kalmstrom.com Outlook add-on Calendar Browser.

When are people free?
The obvious advantage of using shared calendars is that you can easily see what everyone is doing. With shared calendars managers will get a better idea of what employees are planning and when they are available, so that they can arrange events and tasks accordingly.

Shared calendars work in the same way for the team members, of course ‒ they can see when the managers are available. All members of the staff can also more easily determine when most people are free for a group meeting.

Add shared calendars to Calendar Browser
Calendar Browser was first created for resource booking in Outlook, but I soon saw the need for sharing not only resources but also personal calendars. Now personal Outlook calendars can be added to Calendar Browser via the settings, either by browsing to it or by writing the name of the shared calendar.

As the calendars can be grouped organizations can use Calendar Browser for many different work teams. Each employee will add only the needed calendar groups to his or her Outlook calendar view.

Overview of all calendars
The Calendar Browser Overview displays all the shared calendars, and by using the different views and the search feature you can easily find the calendar or appointment you are looking for.

If you want to change something while you are looking at the Overview, you don't have to go back to the Outlook calendar. Changes and new appointments can be made directly in the Calendar Browser Overview.

Booking gives additional value
As I mentioned, the Calendar Browser application was first meant for booking shared corporate resources, and if you decide to use Calendar Browser to share calendars you may of course use it for booking too. Once again the possibility to group calendars will come handy. You don't have to mix personal calendars and resource calendars!

Please have a look at Calendar Browser if you are thinking about sharing Outlook calendars within your organization. Even if the documentation is mostly focused on resource booking, I am sure you will understand the benefit of using Calendar Browser to show and work with shared Outlook calendars.

By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Document Management In A SharePoint List

Good document management is becoming increasingly important today, when so much information is easily created and shared. Why not make use of a SharePoint list? In the demo below I am explaining a new product idea that includes structured documents and SharePoint.

Management solution for structured company docs
Many organizations have a lot of highly structured documents, like ISO certification documents, orders, instructions and manuals, but not all have an efficient document management system for them. You often have to open the whole document before you can start searching for the information you need.

This process can be made quicker and simpler if the documents are added to a SharePoint list, and kalmstrom.com Business Solutions already has a prototype for a solution that can help you do just that.

Document section = List item
The idea behind the new document management solution is to add all the structured documents to a SharePoint list and let each section of a document be made into a list item. That way users can go directly to the document section they need instead of having to open the whole document.

This solution is better than sharing the documents in a SharePoint library, because both content overview and access will be easier when you use a list in the way I suggest.

The image above shows a list created with the prototype for this new product. I have used official documents from the Swedish Defense Ministry, and I am showing them in four levels.

First I have three different views that filter the documents so that you never have to search among all of them. When you have selected a view you can drill into three sublevels, and in the last level you see links to the different parts of the document.

SharePoint list features give added value
Having the documents in a SharePoint list also gives other benefits, like:

• Change notifications
  
• Version history
  
• List views.

With rich text and tables enabled, all formatting from the document is kept when it is divided into list items.

New product
I want to develop my prototype into a full solution that can help users reach a better document management by using SharePoint. But the kalmstrom.com team has a lot of plans so I cannot say when this new product will be available on the market. As always I welcome sponsorships.

Do you find my idea interesting? Please take a look at the demo, and visit the new Ideas section of the kalmstrom.com website. Should you have questions I hope you will comment here or send me an e-mail. I will be happy to answer!



By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Seven Ways Of Adding Documents To A SharePoint 2013 Document Library

SharePoint document libraries are very useful for sharing documents, but how can we best get the documents into the SharePoint library? There are many ways, and I am sure you are already familiar with the most common ones. But maybe you don't know all the different methods?

New Tips section demo
In the new SharePoint tutorial below I show you various ways to enter documents to a SharePoint 2013 document library, and I explain when each one of them is the most suitable. This demo is also published in the Tips section of the kalmstrom.com website.

In my demo I show how to:

• Create a document directly in the library.
  You can create new documents inside the SharePoint library. In SharePoint 2013 the default choices are Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents.
  
• Drag one or more files from your local computer.
  When the files you want to add to the SharePoint library are already created and stored on your local computer, you can drag them from there into the SharePoint library. You can also drag and drop in other ways, which I am showing later in the demo.
  
• Upload a single document via the Upload button in the SharePoint ribbon.
  
• Upload files using Windows Explorer.
  
• Add files directly to SharePoint from any application that use the standard Windows "Save as" dialog. This is easier if you add the SharePoint library path to your Favourites.
  
• Add files directly to SharePoint from applications that do not use the standard Windows "Save as" dialog. This can be done if you map a drive to your SharePoint library.
  
• Add files via SharePoint Designer. When you open your site in SharePoint designer, you can import files and folders to the document library and also drag and drop files from your computer into the library.
  

I also show how to get the list of files in the SharePoint document library into the Command Prompt, to work with them in the old DOS way – but how to actually do that is a different topic. Here is the demo now.



Tag documents with keywords for better management
When you have practised all these methods for adding documents to your SharePoint library for a while – or even if you only use some of them – you will probably begin to see a problem. How can I find the information I need among all these documents?

I have a solution to that also: use Document Tagger for SharePoint to tag your documents with metadata and keywords. Document Tagger can analyze many documents at the same time and suggest words to tag them with. Review the suggestions and uncheck the ones you don't want, and then you can click OK and start using the other benefit of Document Tagger - that the solution actually makes it easier to find the right document with the help of the tags you just added.

Document Tagger is available in a Beta version for SharePoint 2010, and before the gold release I will make it compatible with SharePoint 2013 also.

Learn more about my new solution for SharePoint document management on the kalmstrom.com website!

By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions
Microsoft certified SharePoint specialist and Trainer

Incident Management Tool For Outlook - See New Version

The kalmstrom.com application for incident management within Outlook has been on the market for more than ten years, so we have had time to both fine-tune our Outlook helpdesk and add a lot of useful features to it.

Now we will soon release version 13 of Folder HelpDesk, and below you can see the V 13 slideshow. We have earlier told you about the new Folder HelpDesk ticket form, but version 13 gives a lot more.

64-bit support
An important part of the update has been to make Folder HelpDesk for Outlook compatible with the 64-bit versions of Office. Even if most Outlook add-ons only support the 32-bit Office we will no longer content ourselves with that. Instead we will add support for the 64-bit version of both Office 2010 and 2013.

Some subscribers to Folder HelpDesk have asked for 64-bit support, and as our first priority is to keep Members of the kalmstrom.com Community happy, we have listened and acted accordingly.

Maybe you don't know if you have the 32- and 64-bit version of Office? In that case you probably have the 32-bit, because that is what Microsoft recommends for most users. You only need the 64-bit version if you work with extra-large databases or worksheets.

For the use of Folder HelpDesk you actually don't need to know what version you have installed at all. The kalmstrom.com indicent management application will understand what version you have and automatically choose the correct files to execute.

New settings form
Not only the ticket form but also the settings form has been changed in version 13 of Folder HelpDesk for Outlook. At a first glance there is not such a big difference, but under the surface the kalmstrom.com developer team has made a significant enhancement.

We have now used a grid that makes it possible to rename categories, for example Incident types, without getting problems with the statistics and search of old tickets. When you change a category name in version 13 of our incident management tool, the old tickets will just take the new name, and the statistics and search can continue as before.

Search closed tickets by ID
When a case is closed the Folder HelpDesk ticket is removed from Outlook and only saved in the Access or SQL server database used with Folder HelpDesk. That is done with a click on a button, but before that you may click another button to save the ticket as a knowledge base article.

It is however important that closed tickets are easy to reach also from Outlook. You should not have to go to the database to see them! Therefore Folder HelpDesk for Outlook can search the closed tickets from within Outlook and easily re-open them when needed.

In version 13 our incident management tool handles the closed tickets in an even better way, as we will add yet another parameter to search them by: ticket ID. This means that if you know the ID of the ticket you are looking for, you can directly enter it in the dialog and get only one hit - the ticket you are looking for.

But for cases when you don't know the ticket ID there are a lot of other parameters to search by, besides free text, so there is no risk that you won't find the right ticket.

Save attachments for closed tickets
New in version 13 of the kalmstrom.com incident management add-in is also that attachments will be saved in the closed helpdesk tickets. These may be both attachments of the e-mail the ticket was created from and attachments added to the ticket by the helpdesk staff.

When an SQL Server database is used with Folder HelpDesk for Outlook, the actual attachment file will be saved in that database. When the database is Microsoft Access, the attachment will instead be saved in a subfolder to the Folder HelpDesk network folder. The Access database will only store the path to the attachment, so that it can be rapidly fetched if the ticket is re-opened. This is because Access has a limited capacity and the performance would soon decline if we stored the attachments directly in the database.

Sponsorships
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has a sponsor system for additions to our standard products, and all Community Members are welcome to suggest sponsorships to enhance our applications. We will only add such features that we think will be useful for many subscribers, as we must undertake to document them and support them in future versions, but even if we cannot accept a sponsorship we will do our outmost to give another solution to the problem that the sponsorship was thought to solve.

For version 13 of Folder HelpDesk for Outlook I have happily accepted sponsorships from two Members of the kalmstrom.com Community: The Swiss Post and Rail Cargo Hungaria. Some of the enhancements mentioned above has been implemented thanks to their generous contributions.

When the new version has been released, all current and future users of our incident management tool for Outlook will benefit from the trust the sponsors have shown the kalmstrom.com team.We are very grateful!

Please have a look at the Folder HelpDesk V13 slideshow while you are waiting for the real thing.

By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions