The EOSC-hub Helpdesk allows users to submit their requests through a single-entry point.

The unified system acts as first level of support, which automatically forwards tickets to the appropriate underlying support system.

Features

Main features offered to the user are:

• Creation of a ticket for any of the Services of the Hub and of the EOSC Portfolio
• Display all the tickets created by the owner
• Find a previously created ticket
• Notify the user of answers and changes to the tickets
• Access through the EOSC Portal AAI system

Architecture

The EOSC-hub ticketing system is based on GGUS, with interfaces to support infrastructures like EUDAT-RT and EGI xGUS.

Service Support Units

The helpdesk service is structured in levels, and guaranteed by support units, with knowledge and  responsibilities clearly defined.

• 0th level: Is the Self support Tools the user has at hand to self-heal issues: documentation, FAQ sessions, information boxes, etc. It does not require helpdesk teams intervention. It is maintained by the portal web administrators (tools) and the Helpdesk teams (contents).
  1st level: Support unit to resolve the basic issues posted by the users, with the knowledge about the services status and KEDB entries available. It receives tickets created by the user (internal or external). It validates the ticket assignation done by the user, dispatch them assigning them to the correct Support Unit. It collects the frequent issues to feed the Level 0 tools and gets information by the KEDB entries, the services monitoring and the documentation provided.
• 2nd level: Support team for technical issues. It receives tickets dispatched by the 1st level, and reacts to the ticket either by: written information, a bug fix, a workaround, a redirection of the ticket to another Support Unit. It is responsible of keeping the KEDB up to date with workarounds, or removing from the KEDB problems which have already been solved.
• 3rd level: in-depth support by senior experts, to complement the second level support teams in case of complex services, for issues that request a long term, complex reaction by a dedicated team. It receives tickets from the 2nd level, or by the 1st level. It reacts to the tickets by either: developing new software, implementing new features, deploying new tools.

For assigning the tickets to one of the support units, processes have been defined, as shown in the arrows graph below.

Service documentation

• Helpdesk Technical specifications manual

For end-users

•  Creating a ticket instructions to create a ticket and the description to the web interface used for this scope

For service providers

Managing a ticket: manual that collects the guidelines for the selection of the tickets categories and the assignation of the tickets priorities.

Join a Support Unit: procedure to add and manage members of a Support Unit

The access to the ticketing system and the management of the tickets is exclusively permitted to the people belonging to the related Support Units (SUs).

In the following, the procedure to be registered in the system as part of a SU, and thus being able to access and update the tickets information assigned to it, is described.

1. Before starting the process of joining a certain SU, get in contact with the SU responsible and identify the SU name(s) to be joined.

2. Register to the EOSC helpdesk  https://helpdesk.eosc-hub.eu/

3. Apply for support permissions from the helpdesk web page "Support Staff" menu.

4. When it will be granted, join one or more SUs, with the consensus of the SU responsible:

• The SU responsible should communicate the changes to be done in the SU mailing list, asking for updating the members e-mail addresses. The new SU members have to be added to the list in order to receive notifications by e-mail of tickets assigned to their SU.
• The SU responsible should ask for adding new members to the SU in the ticketing system. The members of a SU correctly registered in the ticketing system can access visualize and modify the tickets assigned to their SU.

Operation handbook for service providers Documentation about how to operate the Helpdesk

(in preparation)