OpenPoint Issue Tracker: Help for Small and Mid-Sized Firms' Help Desks

Small to mid-sized law firms rarely have the manpower and resources required to dedicate towards a full time, fully staffed, formal Help Desk. There are always more pressing issues to be addressed and more pressing matters requiring funding. Because the IT Departments are on the smaller side, communication and coordination are typically non-complex and identifying trends and emerging problems tend to be more anecdotal than documented. That's a shame, because the management of smaller firms tend to be more tight fisted when it comes to doling out the dollars on IT initiatives - and clear documentation of what the IT Department is accomplishing can go a long way towards opening wallets. More than once, I've seen small IT Departments run so efficiently that firm management assumes the systems run themselves - and actually cuts back funding or rejects desperately required initiatives.

OpenPoint Issue Tracker by FaxOne Systems LLC allows you to reverse that trend by tracking your performance and advertising your productivity up the chain. Issue Tracker loads as a web server on virtually any workstation or network server and allows members of you IT team to open and track tickets from any web browser at any workstation - including at a user's computer if you're snagged on your way back in the door from lunch. OpenPoint Issue Tracker allows you to create projects, subprojects and categories which can range from the simple Hardware / Software down to whatever level of minutiae you are comfortable with. The search function allows you to quickly determine whether similar issues have been addressed and resolved (and what the solution is if it was previously documented). The reporting functionality allows managers to determine who's doing what, where and when. Better yet, Issue Tracker makes it easier to identify emerging problems and nip them in the bud before they become insurmountable dilemmas.

The reporting functionality also allows you to demonstrate to management the need for additional staffing, funding, training, upgrades, or major initiatives. When it's in black and white, on paper, and in their hands, it becomes "real" to lawyers and management is hard pressed to ignore the recommendations presented by the IT Manager.

Best of all, OpenPoint Issue Tracker is free and can be downloaded HERE. A plethora of screenshots appear on FaxOne's web site.