What is SmartDesk
The SmartDesk Portal is a web interface to the existing OTRS ticket system that allows IT tickets to be forwarded more precisely and quickly to the relevant IT support group through predefined categories and settings as well as ready-made forms. Through processes automated in the background, IT requests created via SmartDesk are no longer routed via the service desk, depending on the selected categories, but directly assigned to the responsible group. This means that your IT ticket can be processed more quickly by the responsible person.
What distinguishes SmartDesk from previous portals?
Currently, depending on the department or institute, forms are available decentrally on different portals. This makes it difficult for staff or customers to find the correct form or, if necessary, to find out who is responsible for it. SmartDesk is to become the “SinglePoint of Contact” for all IT issues within ETH Zurich, so that all required forms can be found centrally and every employee or customer knows immediately who to turn to for help.
What happens with my IT ticket?
If you open an IT ticket via SmartDesk, a ticket will be created directly in the OTRS ticket system in the background – and forwarded to the appropriate office in the most direct way. In the dashboard of the SmartDesk portal, the five most recently created IT tickets are directly visible after login, making it much easier to “control” your own tickets and their status.
How do I create a request in SmartDesk?
To create an IT ticket via SmartDesk, you must first log on to the portal (http://smartdesk.ethz.ch). You will then be forwarded directly to the SmartDesk Dashboard. Here you can choose between “Incident” (a problem, a malfunction, something that no longer works) – or “Service Request”. Under “Activities” you will find your most recently opened IT tickets and in the right column of the dashboard you will find important information and links, such as the link to the D-GESS InfoPortal.
SmartDesk is Intelligent
When you open an IT ticket, enter your text, SmartDesk searches for keywords and attempts to match them against an internal database. If SmartDesk finds an entry that could match, it displays it on the right side of the input screen. The goal of this “artificial intelligence” is to be able to answer certain IT queries before opening a ticket, so that it is ultimately no longer necessary to create a ticket. The more employees use the new portal, the more “intelligent” the database or SmartDesk becomes. We ask for your understanding if these entries are not always correct when SmartDesk is launched. Over time, they should improve continuously.
Special for administrative assistants
See the special functions for administrative assistants
Now I can only use SmartDesk?
You may still send an email to gess-support@gess.ethz.ch oder call us using 20 400 (044 632 04 00) S4D-GESS or 27 777 (044 632 77 77) ServiceDesk. How do I get help with IT related issues?