The Utopian Help Desk & Defect Tracking System 

Several times in the last year I have heard the question "Do you know of a good defect tracking and help desk tool". A fair question I guess.  However in truth … is it like asking whether I have seen a good Cappuccino Machine for making Tea [trademark UCMcentral.Com]?

Hot Beverage Utopia!

Yet despite my sub-intellectual humour, this single solution remains a very popular ideal and I have noticed that many organisations still search for this centralised solution.

So can we use a single Tool?

Definitely yes! People are already doing it. Nevertheless I still caution whether you would want to i.e. both help desk and defect tracking have fundamental differences in both space and time.

Simple Example:

The Help Desks scope is everyday issues (eg I want a new mouse) and the resolution is usually the same day. It is not unusual if one main person resolves a help desk problem.

The Defect Tracking scope is Software/Project specific (eg application login is timing out to quickly). The fix is usually constrained by a bigger project schedule and may not appear for a considerable period of time. The resolution of a defect will usually see several people involved i.e. PM, developer, tester and change manager. It also has a state transition i.e. as it trundles through the software life cycle and often materialises as a part of a holistic release.

So what are advantages of a single solution?

Well there are several i.e. a single solution means single system maintenance, increased chance of user familiarity and one set of licenses.  

So what are the disadvantages?

Well … other than the fact that every non-IT manager in the organisation will want a say on the “help-desk” tools functionality, you must appreciate that it is unlikely the tool does both things as well as you’d like. Consequently you should expect to see slower implementation, higher product tailoring, possible workflow inflexibility and worse still possible prostitution of your process.

In a nut shell

Yes, there are tools that can support help desk and defect tracking, however they will come at a cost. My personnel recommendation would normally be to choose two. However each company has there own requirements ... and therefore the decision is yours.

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