A helpdesk- or system administrator with the appropriate access rights can respond to remote assistance requests sent by standard users and then connect to the remote system to provide assistance. All modifications to a request will trigger an email notification to both the owner of the request as well as to the assigned assistant. In order to provide remote assistance, the assistant must have the following Resource Rights (see Access Rights):
- Remote Assistance Create - Allows creating of assistance requests for other users.
- Remote Assistance Edit - Allows editing of the details of an assistance request that has been submitted, such as the assigned assistant, the scheduled time and the status of the request.
- Remote Assistance View - Allows viewing of all existing assistance requests, as well as connecting to a remote system that is requesting assistance.
- Remote Assistance Delete - Allows closing of any assistance requests that are still open.
To provide remote assistance, complete the instructions given in the following steps:
Step 1. Access the remote assistance request
- Log into the Administrative Interfaces.
- Go to the RESOURCES > Remote Assistance page.
Verify that you have selected the correct user database on the top right of the page.
Check the Remote Assistance Requests section. The list displays all requests that have been submitted by standard users and allows editing of the details, such as the assigned assistant, status and scheduled time. The Available From column displays the requested times of assistance. An asterisk (*) means that no specific time is requested.
To view and modify the details click the Edit link next to the request.
Step 2. Connect to the remote system
To work on an assistance request, you will generally require a direct connection to the remote system.
- To initiate the connection, click the Launch link associated with the request. This will set the status to Waiting for Connection. When the user responds, the status will be set to In Progress, and an RDP session to the remote system still be launched. You may refresh the page to see the status change.
- Once the assistance session has started, select Show Chat Window from the taskbar from the View context menu under Remote Assistance. You can now communicate with the user.
- To send files via the chat client in the Remote Assistance window, select Send File from the Connection context menu.
Step 3. Close the remote assistance request
When the assistance session has finished, terminate the connection by closing the Remote Assistance window. (This will also set the status to Inactive if the One-Time Request field is set to No.) Once the request is closed, it will be deleted from the list.
Create a request for other users
As a helpdesk administrator, you can also create remote assistance requests for other users if required:
- Enter a brief summary of the nature of the request in the Name field.
- Enter the name of the account for which this request is being created in the Username field.
- In the Email field, enter the user’s email address. Any notifications regarding this request will be sent to the address entered here.
- If this request can be handled at any time, set Start Immediately to Yes, otherwise, set to No to activate the Preferred Time field and specify the appropriate values. (Set to blank to request assistance to begin as soon as possible.)
- Click Add.