- Microsoft Azure (Virtual Machines/Compute)
- Remote Desktop
- Internet Information Services (IIS)
- Windows 10 (21H2)
- Create Email Routing
- Configure Roles, Departments, Agents, and Teams
- Set up Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
- Configure Help Topics
- Create End-User(s)
- Test Ticket Creation
- Help Desk Admin/Analyst Login URL: http://localhost/osTicket/scp/login.php
- End Users osTicket Support Center URL: http://localhost/osTicket/
- Acknowledge Agent Panel vs Admin Panel
In osTicket, the Admin Panel is for system-wide configuration and management, while the Agent Panel is for managing tickets and interacting with users. Essentially, the Admin Panel is for managing the help desk itself, and the Agent Panel is for the agents who use it to provide support.
Step 1: Create Email Routing:
- Go to Admin Panel → Emails → Settings
- Enable email piping to convert emails to tickets
- (Optional) In the Admin Panel navigate to Settings → Users
- Make sure "Require registration & login to create tickets" is unchecked to allow anyone to create tickets
Step 2: Configure Roles / Departments / Agents / Teams
Roles: Permissions granted to Agents per Department that they have access to. Each Role has a set of permissions that can be checked/unchecked for agents given that Role in association with a Department they have access to.
- Go to Admin Panel → Agents → Roles
- Click + Add New Role
- Under the Definition tab, create a Role such as:
Admin
Supervisor
Support Agent
- Continue to the Permissions tab → Tickets, select all relevant checkboxes to assign the appropriate permissions
- Do the same for the Tasks & Knowledgebase tabs
- Click Add Role once the desired permissions are selected
Departments: Tickets are routed through Departments in the help desk, which organize and direct requests to the appropriate staff members.
- Go to Admin Panel → Agents → Departments
- Click + Add New Department
- In the Parent dropdown menu select Top Level Department
- Create departments like:
IT Support
HR
Billing
- Configure the remaining optional fields, then navigate to the Access tab to add relevant agents
Agents: Staff are given access to the help desk with the intent to respond and resolve the tickets. When adding an Agent to the help desk, they will need to be assigned to a Primary Department and given a Primary Role for the Tickets/Tasks routed to that department.
- Go to Admin Panel → Agents → Agents
- Click + Add New Agent
- Under the Accounts tab, create Agents as desired
- Proceed to the Access tab to select Departments & Roles
- Continue to Permissions tab to assign the appropriate permissions
- Lastly, under the Teams tab, assign the appropriate agents to their respective teams (configured next)
Teams: Allows pulling agents from different Departments and organizing them to handle a specific issue or user via a Help Topic or Ticket Filter.
- Go to Admin Panel → Agents → Teams
- Click + Add New Team
- Under the Teams tab, create a Team such as:
Customer Care Team
VIP Support Team
Quality Assurance Team
- Proceed to the Members tab to select Agents for current Team
- Click Create Team to finish setup
Step 3: Configure SLAs (Service Level Agreements)
- Go to Admin Panel → Manage → SLA
- Click + Add SLA Plan
- Create SLAs such as:
Critical = 1 Hour
High Priority = 4 Hours
Normal = 8 Hours
- Configure Grace Period & Schedule for each Plan
- Click + Add Plan to finish setup
Step 4: Configure Help Topics:
- Go to Admin Panel → Manage → Help Topics
- Click + Add New Help Topic
- Create Topics such as:
Business Critical Outage
Personal Computer Issues
Equipment Request
Password Reset
Other
- Choose appropriate Parent Topic
- Click + Add Topic to finish setup
Step 5: Create End-User(s):
- Go to Agent Panel → Users → User Directory
- Click + Add User
- Create custom User(s)
- Click + Add User to finish setup
Step 6: Test Ticket Creation:
- Create a test ticket via email or web form. Go to ➤ http://localhost/osTicket/
- Click Open a New Ticket
- Enter required contact details
- Choose a Help Topic & make a brief description in the issue summary
- Click Create Ticket
- Confirm that the ticket appears in the admin panel
- Test response and escalation settings
Congratulations! Hopefully, the configuration has been completed without any errors.
Installing and configuring osTicket provides me with hands-on practice in the full help-desk flow, including the web stack, email piping, permissions, SLAs, form building, automations, and maintenance. That end-to-end work mirrors how IT teams run service operations: triage → escalate → resolve → report.