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Manage Departments

Overview​

Help Desk Departments define how tickets are organized, routed, and optionally created via email. Departments may be used for internal workflows only or configured to accept inbound email and automatically generate tickets.

The same interface is used to both create and manage departments. When editing an existing department, additional configuration options become available.

Create or edit a department​

  1. Navigate to Settings, then Help Desk Settings.
  2. Open the Help Desk Departments tab.
  3. Select Add Department to create a new department, or Edit next to an existing department.

When editing an existing department, all previously configured options remain available and can be modified.

Department information​

  1. Enter a Name for the department.
  2. Optionally enter a Description to clarify the department’s purpose for staff and shown in the public facing portal (if enabled).
  3. Specify a Sender Email.

The sender email is used for outbound ticket notifications and replies associated with this department.

important

Each department must use a unique sender email address. Reusing the same address across departments can cause reply routing issues and ambiguous ticket ownership.

Whitelisting behavior​

  1. Enable Whitelisted Emails Only if you want to restrict ticket creation and replies to approved domains.
  2. Enter one or more Whitelisted Domains, separated by commas.

Only messages sent from email addresses matching these domains will be imported or allowed to reply.

note

Whitelisting is commonly used during phased rollouts or to restrict ticket intake to district controlled domains.

Associate administrators to a department​

  1. In Assigned Admins, begin typing an administrator name.
  2. Select one or more administrators to associate with the department.

Associated administrators become eligible for ticket assignment and visibility within this department.

note

Administrator association does not override role permissions. Administrators must still have the appropriate help desk permissions assigned via their role.

Automation options​

Auto assign tickets​

  1. Enable Auto Assign Tickets to allow automatic technician assignment.
  2. When enabled, tickets will be assigned based on department configuration and availability.

Restrict to buildings​

When auto assignment is enabled, you may also enable Restrict to Buildings.

When enabled:

  • Tickets are assigned only to technicians associated with the requester’s building.
  • If the requester’s building cannot be determined, all department technicians remain eligible.
important

Restrict to Buildings has no effect unless Auto Assign Tickets is enabled.

Mail server configuration​

Departments may optionally be configured to accept tickets via email.

If mail server information is not configured, the department functions as an internal-only ticket destination and will not accept inbound email replies.

Generic email providers​

  1. Select the Generic provider.
  2. Enter the mail server hostname.
  3. Enter the POP or IMAP port.
  4. Enter the email address and password for the mailbox.
important

Use a dedicated mailbox for each department. Imported messages are deleted from the mailbox after successful ticket creation.

Google (OAuth2)​

If using Gmail or Google Workspace, configure Google OAuth importing instead of entering a mailbox password.

See Email Importing - Google for the full step-by-step OAuth configuration.

Custom Fields​

When editing an existing department, the Custom Fields tab becomes available.

Custom fields allow you to collect additional information from users when tickets are submitted to this department.

When configuring a custom field, you’ll define:

  • Field Name The label displayed throughout the system.

  • Field Type Determines how data is entered and stored.

  • Description Optional helper text shown beneath the field to guide staff entering data.

  • Dropdown Options Used only for dropdown fields. Values are entered as a comma-separated list.

  • Hide on Profile Controls whether the field appears directly on the profile page. Even when hidden, the field remains available on edit screens and in exports.

  • Required Field Tickets cannot be submitted without this field being filled out when this option is enabled.

Field order​

Custom fields can be reordered by dragging rows in the Order column.

The order determines how fields appear on the ticket submission form.

note

Custom fields are department specific. Fields created for one department do not automatically appear in other departments.

Saving and validation​

  1. Select Save Settings to apply changes.
  2. If mail importing is configured, the system will validate connectivity during save.

If validation fails:

  • Confirm mail server settings or OAuth configuration
  • Confirm the correct mailbox account was authorized
  • Confirm redirect URIs match exactly for Google OAuth

Once saved successfully, changes take effect immediately for new tickets and incoming messages.

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