User configurable CC email accounts

tfs

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User configurable CC email accounts
« on May 16th, 2012, 05:56 PM »
An option I was thinking about (plugin?), that would solve some multi-users-using-one-account issues I'm currently having using SimpleDesk would be for a regular user to be able to add and remove CC email addresses from his own profile options.  This would allow my corporate users who login using a corporate account to take care of their own notifications when a help desk ticket is updated.

My clients are college admissions offices, and there's usually more than one person in an office whom I support.  (Admissions + IT)  They like to be able to keep abreast of each others' tickets because it often effects all of them.  Because of this, some of them like to setup a corporate login account that they all use.  The way it is now, we or they have to setup an email server to receive the single email and forward it to multiple users.  If this could be done by a user going to his own profile and setting up CC emails for himself it would simplify my life greatly.
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Arantor

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #1, on May 16th, 2012, 05:58 PM »
Interesting, though I'm not sure whether this should be solved at the Wedge level or the helpdesk level. It seems to me that as it's the helpdesk generating the emails, it should be the helpdesk that's responsible for managing multi-addresses.

Would you want, for example, password change emails to go to all of the email addresses?
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tfs

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #2, on May 16th, 2012, 06:09 PM »
Quote from Arantor on May 16th, 2012, 05:58 PM
Would you want, for example, password change emails to go to all of the email addresses?
Yes, at least the way we're using it.  The user account is a corporate account with two or more people that need access to the same tickets.  If they can't trust their own employees then they shouldn't be working there.  :)

Arantor

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #3, on May 16th, 2012, 06:14 PM »
I get that, but on the other hand, it still doesn't seem right to me. The proper solution, from my perspective, would be to create a real account per user and make them members of a given group that allowed them access. I'm always wary about group shared accounts for anything.

The problem as I see it is that you're looking to solve one problem with a workaround, rather than solving the entire problem in its entirety.

tfs

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #4, on May 16th, 2012, 06:22 PM »
Agreed that I'm not proposing the ultimate solution, but group ownership of resources seems to me to be 10x the can-o-worms that a CC list plugin would be.  I'm merely aiming at the simplest target that fulfills my requirements.

Arantor

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #5, on May 16th, 2012, 06:28 PM »
I realise that, but as I'm sure you also realise, my requirements in solving a problem are to solve the problem in its entirety, and I'm not sure what you're asking for is something that I want to put in Wedge's core, primarily because I think it's solving the symptoms of your problem, not your actual problem.

There are all kinds of issues attached to a CC list plugin, not least privacy.

Why would group ownership of resources be a can of worms, exactly? Seems to me that the ideal solution is to be able to define an account as being a child of another account.

tfs

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #6, on May 16th, 2012, 07:21 PM »
Quote from Arantor on May 16th, 2012, 06:28 PM
Why would group ownership of resources be a can of worms, exactly? Seems to me that the ideal solution is to be able to define an account as being a child of another account.
From my programming experience, it just seems much more difficult to change the security architecture of a help desk than to make a simple list of email addresses that can be added as CC to outgoing emails.  I would guess that the former would take far longer.

Arantor

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #7, on May 16th, 2012, 07:25 PM »
Here's the thing though, I simply cannot in good conscience implement CC lists as you're proposing into Wedge in any form. To me, the privacy aspects attached to it make it unworkable, not to mention all the actual consequences of doing so, namely that announcements, PM notifications and indeed any other notifications get cascaded through the system, including screwing up the mail queueing architecture - meaning that instead of having it 'merely CC' is not workable at all and would be better served as putting each unique email as an item in the queue.

From a pure programming perspective, it would actually be easier to serve the whole setup (including the security architecture of SimpleDesk) as parent/subaccounts and be done with it.

tfs

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #8, on May 16th, 2012, 08:37 PM »
Ah well.  That was my reason for suggesting a plugin, as it doesn't seem like something that many people would need, though if made available to the forum in general it would be available for a larger userbase than for the help desk itself.  I can see what you're saying about the queueing architecture.  I thought of it as a matter of a simple CC, and didn't think of it as needing to rework the mail queueing. 

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #9, on May 16th, 2012, 11:15 PM »
I get the corporate shared account thing, they think it will be easier. Wait until Fred forgets the password or accidently changes the email to his own. Groups are much easier to deal with, create one for each corporation assign permissions and users and go on your marry way, so when Tim gets fired or moved to another department only one person is affected Tim. Fred, Jim, and Nancy don't have to learn a new password or worry that Tim figured out the new one after moving to a competitor.
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tfs

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #10, on May 17th, 2012, 12:31 AM »
Quote from godboko71 on May 16th, 2012, 11:15 PM
I get the corporate shared account thing, they think it will be easier. Wait until Fred forgets the password or accidently changes the email to his own.
Some of our clients already do it this way.  They need to collaborate with their co-workers on these tickets, so they login as "XYZ University" and have the emails go to "xyz@xyzuniversity.edu."  At their mail server they forward those emails to whomever needs to see them.  We're very lucky in that these clients tend to be honest, responsible and capable.  Then there are those who, for one reason or another, can't do something like this, but would still like to go down this road.  I was hoping to allow it to happen on my end without having to bother with configuring any of my own mail servers.

Arantor

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #11, on May 17th, 2012, 12:38 AM »
So the problem therein becomes 'how do we allow multiple people on a single ticket', which is still a problem to be solved at the helpdesk level - or done through some kind of parent/child relationship for accounts. At least, that's my take on everything that's been said thus far.

tfs

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Re: User configurable CC email accounts
« Reply #12, on May 18th, 2012, 03:20 AM »
Quote from Arantor on May 17th, 2012, 12:38 AM
...which is still a problem to be solved at the helpdesk level - or done through some kind of parent/child relationship for accounts.
Optimally, yes.  But practically, I'll take it any way I can get it.