Help Desk Portal vs Service Desk: what is the difference?
What is the Help Desk and Service Desk?
Both are free products developed by Targetprocess. They allow you to handle tickets (Requests) submitted by your customers (Requesters).
Help Desk was released in 2008 and had a UI update in 2014. Now it is deprecated.
Service Desk is a new version of the software. It is based on the same mechanics as the old Help Desk, but has better UI and more features. Read more on the Service Desk here.
You can technically have both versions at one time and switch from Help Desk to Service Desk (though there is little sense to switch the other way).
Do I need a Targetprocess license to get into Service Desk ?
No, you don't. No extra licenses are required for Requesters, as they do not have access to Targetprocess. Requesters submit tickets through the Service Desk web interface.
In Targetprocess On-Demand, you can activate Service Desk from Settings > Service Desk.
You need Administrator permissions to do so. Also, the Help Desk practice must be enabled in the Process settings of your Project.
Which projects are displayed in Service Desk?
Projects do not appear in Service Desk automatically. Please find step-by-step guide on how to publish projects in dedicated article.
Can I use it without Targetprocess?
No. Targetprocess is required for using Service Desk. Besides, we recommend support staff or whoever is processing the Requests to work from Targetprocess, not Service Desk. All administration, merging, and state-changing is done from Targetprocess. By the way, here is a nice article on how you can use Targetprocess for customer support.
How can I access Service Desk?
Can I login to Service Desk with Targetprocess credentials?
Yes, you can. However, please note that Targetprocess users and external requesters are still different users. In case you have the same credentials, you will be logged in as a Targetprocess user. So if you were using the old Help Desk, you may see some difference in the My Requests list. We are going to merge those users to avoid confusion.
Single Sign-On (SSO) for Service Desk is not supported. You can't also use your Active Directory logins if you have Windows authentication configured for your On-Site Targetprocess. Only email/password of Targetprocess User or Requester can be used to login into Service Desk.
If you're using Single Sign-On for Targetprocess then every Service Desk user must be added manually to Single Sign-On exceptions list. Only after addition the users become able to log in to Service Desk using login and password.
We are going to make Service Desk open-source in the future, but at this moment we are actively working on it, so if you make your own branch, you might have to update it very often.