Glossary

A

Action A unit of work that is performed on a job. ie. Change status, send an email. Applies to a job and is accessed through a job.

Action Log A detailed history of a job that includes the times, dates and details of any changes made to that job. Every job has an action log.

Asset A piece of equipment that has a unique number assigned to it. The asset number is usually stamped or affixed to the equipment and may have been done so by either the original manufacturer or by the organization. The asset number may be any combination of numbers or letters.

Assign Job Status A Yes or No indication as to whether a staff member is able to be assigned any jobs.

Assigning Jobs Assigning, or re-assigning a job is the process of giving, or allocating a job to a certain staff. Once a job has been assigned to someone, that job will appear in their job queue and it becomes their responsibility for further action

Availability Status A short description of either the whereabouts, or the capacity of a staff member to provide job support. The Availability Status gives meaning to the Assign Job Status. eg. Out of Office, Available after 2.00pm, Gone Fishing etc. (see also Assign Job Status)

B

Billing Track time and expenses for support work and charge clients via the Billing functionality

Business Office Hours Set the business hours for each site. This can be used for SLA calculations, timezone reference and general awareness of the office hours that a business operates in.

C

Child Job A regular job that has been linked to another job in a Parent / Child relationship. The child job must be completed before the parent job can be closed.

Client Refers to a person, a client can be a staff member or a customer.

Client ID A short code that identifies a person. Usually made up from details of a person’s surname and first name. eg. Joe Bloggs = BLOGGSJ

Correspondence An email or a message.

Custom Field A custom field is a user-defined database field that can be added to any of the main entities within HelpMaster

D

Default Template A template within your subscription list that will be applied whenever you perform a certain action

DSMA Don’t Show Me Again. Screens which are displayed at appropriate times to assist the user in the performance of their duties.

E

Entity An entity within HelpMaster refers to either a Client, a Site, an Asset, a Job, or a knowledge base article. These entities can be linked to each other

Explorer One of the main screens within HelpMaster. This is the screen where staff can check their job assignments and workloads of other staff.

F

Field A portion of a record in a database, containing one piece of information. For instance, in an address list, the city might be stored in a 25 character field.

G

H

Hierarchy Organization of levels ranked one above the other.

I

Issues Issues is the term given to the general classification of problems, or issues. They are arranged hierarchically and are selected to give meaning to a job.

J

Job A task that needs to be, is being or has been performed for a client and is recorded in the HelpMaster database. The foundation of HelpMaster.

Job Number A unique number that is allocated to a job when it is logged.

Job Request The initial call from the client reporting a problem or other difficulty.

Job Status A short code that is attached to a job that indicates what stage of the job life cycle a job is currently in. eg. Open, Closed, Testing etc.

Job Queue A list of jobs that are currently assigned to either an individual staff member, or a skill group.

K

Knowledge Base A collection of methods used to complete jobs.

L

Logon ID A unique code that identifies a valid user of HelpMaster. Must be entered correctly before logging onto HelpMaster. Every user of HelpMaster has a logon ID.

Log Time The time that was taken to log a job, starting from when a valid ClientID is specified, to when the job is logged.

M

N

O

P

Parent Job A job that has one or more child jobs. The parent job cannot be closed until all the child jobs have been closed.

Priority Code A code that is attached to a job that indicates how urgent it is.

Primary Client The main contact for a job. By default, each job must have a primary client. When multiple clients are linked to a job, one of the clients must be nominated as the primary client.

Priority Manager The HelpMaster utility that automatically manages service level agreements, escalations and modifications to jobs.

Progress Notes Additional notes that may be added to a job while it is still open. Any text may be entered.

Q

Quick Close A method of closing a job before it is actually logged and assigned to someone. Used when the problem has been solved as it is reported, or if the problem no longer exists.

Queue The list of jobs that are assigned to a particular staff member. Each staff member within HelpMaster “owns” a job queue.

Queue Holder The name of the staff member that the job queue belongs to.

R

Read status A boolean status (ie. on or off) that indicates whether a job has been read or not. Non-read jobs are shown in the Explorer as bold

Received By Code A short description that indicates how the job was reported.

Refresh Rate The time interval that determines how often a screen containing information will be refreshed or updated. May be changed via the system options.

Reminder A user created visual jog to a bring attention to a required action.

S

Saved Searches A record of the result of a search which is kept for future use.

Service (Microsoft definition) A program, routine, or process that performs a specific system function to support other programs, particularly at a low (close to the hardware) level. When services are provided over a network, they can be published in Active Directory, facilitating service-centric administration and usage. Some examples of services are the Security Accounts Manager service, File Replication service, and Routing and Remote Access service

Service (HelpMaster context) The Email Manager, Priority Manager and the Active Directory engines are implemented as Services. These services need to run on a machine that has access to the HelpMaster database, working folders and other HelpMaster resources. These services are the the “working arm” of the corresponding application. For example, you may create and modify Priority Manager schedules, or Email Manager Profiles using the Priority Manager, or Email Manager, but it is the corresponding service that actually implements, or carries out the business rules that you define.

Site A location where a job is performed.

Skill Group A group of staff members that share a common expertise or office employment. ie. Network Specialists, Systems Development, Hardware, Software.

SQL Structured Query Language. The query language that is used to retrieve data from a database.

Staff A person that is a user of HelpMaster and a possible Job Queue holder. They are the personnel that provide support to the clients. A staff member belongs to a Skill Group. (see Skill Group)

Status Bar A bar at the bottom of the screen which displays status of various objects.

Subscription The “short list” of available entity templates that a user has selected

System Administrator A user of HelpMaster with special administrative privileges to create, update or delete system codes and other information used by HelpMaster.

System Codes The mandatory codes that HelpMaster uses to define the operational environment

T

Template A pre-formatted layout or structure used to streamline routine tasks. HelpMaster support job, action and email templates.

Theme Choose a colour theme for your HelpMaster desktop experience.

U

V

W

Workflow Workflow is a sequence of steps or processes that can be built into any job.

Wizbang Widgets A ficticious company that uses HelpMaster. Create a sample database using the database and reports wizard to see how they’re using HelpMaster. Check out their webportal here - https://demo.prdsoftware.com

X

Y

Z