Encore Unlimited KACE User Guide

Encore Unlimited KACE User Guide

Dell KACE is Encore’s new inventory management and help desk ticket tracking system. The goal of the appliance is to have one central location for users to have access to help tickets, approved software for installation and an extensive knowledge base that is kept to date with the latest technology information regarding Encore Unlimited’s system.

This guide will cover all of the basic functions of KACE. It will cover how to access the Encore KACE login page, how to log in, view and create help tickets, access and use the knowledge base as well as accessing the software library to install approved software.

1. Accessing the Encore Unlimited KACE login page. The login page for KACE can be accessed right from your Internet Explorer web browser. The URL for the login page is as follows. http://www.kace.encoreunlimited.com/ That can be typed in to the web browser’s address bar as shown in the first screenshot below.

KACE will also be accessible from the Encore Intranet. Click on the Technology link under Departments to go to the KACE login page.

2. Logging into the Encore KACE System.

You should be greeted by the screen shown below. Note the Encore Unlimited logo in the upper left corner of the screen. You will be asked for a Login and Password. This will be the same login and password that is used for all other Encore related activities.

Username – Generally the first initial of your first name and your last name all in lower case letters.

Password – Your same password used for logging into email, reports, intranet and all Encore related systems.

3. The Help Ticket System. Upon logging in, you will be taken to the main dashboard. Here will be a listing of all of the tickets you have put into the KACE system. Across the top there are links to the other parts of the user portal. User Console Library – Approved software available for download. My Computer – Information about your computer including hardware specifications and software installed. License Keys – Any license keys associated to installed software on your computer. Help Desk – Your ticket history including open and closed tickets. Knowledge Base – Help and How-to documents. Download History – History of installed programs from the User Console Library.

As detailed description of the problem as you can. The next steps will show you how to open a new ticket, view tickets and add comments to existing open tickets. There are two different ways to open a ticket, email and the self-service help desk. To email your ticket in, open up a new email in Microsoft Outlook. The email address that receives the tickets is as follows: [email protected] Subject: Title of the ticket. Body of the email: As detailed description of the problem as you can provide. To open a ticket using the self-service help desk, click the New button and choose “Encore Help Desk.”

Clicking the New button to open a ticket will bring you to this screen. Fill out the form as complete as you can.

Title: General Idea of the Issue Priority: Severity of the problem, request for first contact time.

Emergency – Completely down, no work can be done. High –Extreme work impact, can’t work efficiently. Medium – Inconvenience, minor work impact supply or equipment request. Low – Lower priority supply or equipment request, equipment inquiry. Category: Hardware, Software, Equipment Request, Folder Permissions Request, etc. Comment: As detailed description of the problem as you can provide. Attachment: This can be a screenshot of the issue, a new employee equipment request, website article, etc

Click Save to submit the ticket into the Help Ticket Queue. When submitted, an email is sent out to the IT department alerting them of the new submission for review.

After submitting the ticket, your ticket will be shown in detail as the technician will see it.

From this page you can add comments to the ticket. Any update request, change in the nature of the issue or additional information should be entered here. An email will be sent to the IT department that a change in the ticket was submitted with a copy of the message entered.

Any work that the technician assigned to the ticket will also be put here. Any comment made by the technician will send an email to the submitter letting them know the ticket was updated with a copy of the message entered.

4. Knowledge Base.

The Knowledge Base can be accessed through the Knowledge Base tab at the top of the Encore KACE Dashboard. Here will be help guides and how-to guides relevant to Encore Unlimited systems and procedures.

Across the top of the Knowledge Base there are a few categories that can be sorted. Article ID: Article number based on order of entry. Title: Title of the Knowledge Base article. Category: Equipment or software the article pertains to. Platform: Which operating system or software platform the article is based on. Importance: Any articles with high importance will be marked here. Rating: Based on a 1-5 scale voted by the users. Page Votes: Number of votes on the article based on the rating scale. Page Views: Number of times the article has been viewed.

To open a Knowledge Base article, click on either the Article ID or the Title.

Clicking on the article will bring up this window. This gives more detail about the selected article. The Article ID, a direct link to the article page you are currently on, the category, a short description of the article and the attached Knowledge Base article. You can also rate the article on a 1-5 scale from this page according to how useful the article was to you.

Click on the attachment link to open up the article.

When the attachment link is clicked, the Knowledge Base article will open up in PDF form within your web browser. You may use the tools at the bottom to print, save, zoom in or out or navigate page by page through the article.

Once finished, click the back button on your browser in the upper left corner to return to the Encore KACE Knowledge Base window.

5. User Console Library. The User Console Library is accessed through the User Console Library tab on the left hand side of the KACE dashboard. Opening the link will bring you to the list of approved software available for download. This software is available to any user to install without the need of an Administrator password.

To open a software title to get more information before installing, click on the software title name on the left hand side of the page.

Clicking on the software title name brings up the Info & Download page for that specific title. Here you can review any special installation instructions or additional notes about the software prior to installation.

Click the Install Now button at the center of the page to launch the program’s install wizard.

Once the Install Now button is pressed, the installation setup wizard will guide you through the installation of that software title. Follow any additional installation instructions listed. If no installation instructions are provided, accept all the defaults through the installation process.

Note: The installation setup window typically takes 10-15 seconds to appear.