Support is an integral part of any business and good support helps you to build a solid relationship between you and your clients. Maian Support helps you to build this confidence by providing easy to use customer support software completely free of charge.

Using standard email communication can be frustrating if emails get lost or flagged by spam filters. By having your communication in an easy to use online free ticketing system, this helps you to run your online business faster and more efficiently.

Maian Support is comparable to many of the per-agent help desk software options that are out there. The commercial version unlocks all the restrictions of the free version, which is required for big organisations that require more feature packed help desk software. A white label version is also available for anyone wanting to resell and create a custom customer support software solution for their clients. 

This software was written with ease of use in mind and contains many great features. Its a powerful ticket system written with some of the latest technology and all presented in a cosmetically appealing interface to provide your business with a stable, reliable support environment. 

 The free version can be used for an unlimited time with no worry of being locked. Its free forever, whether you upgrade or not and it does NOT contain spyware or ads. If you prefer to unlock some of the free restrictions, you might be interested in the commercial version. As an added incentive, this version also includes copyright removal. Use the link on the right for the feature matrix. 

Set Up / Installation : 

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 

– Server with PHP5.5 or higher. PHP7 is supported.
- Mcrypt library enabled for data encryption (not required for white label licence). Required for PHP5.5 to PHP7.0* ONLY.
- OpenSSL library enabled for data encryption (not required for white label licence). PHP7.1 or higher ONLY.
– 1 MySQL database to hold the script tables. An existing database is fine. MySQL5+ is recommended.
- MySQL Improved Extension (mysqli) functions enabled on server for database connection.
- Password Hash API support enabled for secure password hashing.
- CURL support enabled for software version check.
- MultiByte String extension enabled for IMAP tickets.
- Imap functions enabled on server for tickets to be opened by standard email.
- Simple XML functions enabled on server for XML API.
- JSON functions enabled on server for JSON API & Ajax responses. MUST be installed.

The installer will check what functions are available. 

STEP 1: CREATE MYSQL DATABASE 

If you haven`t already done so, create a MySQL database to hold the script tables. An existing database is fine. If you are unsure how to do this please contact your web hosting company. As many control panels differ, no one tutorial can cover all scenarios. 

STEP 2: EDIT CONNECTION FILE 

Using a good quality text editor (NOT a word processor), open the following file:

control/connect.php

Perform the following operations:

1 - Edit database connection parameters to point to the database you created in step 1. Contact your host if you aren`t sure. Prefix is required if you only have a single database. This might be something with an underscore. Its fine to leave the prefix as is, so don`t change if you aren`t sure. See notes in connection file.

Example:

define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘joeblogs_admin‘);
define(‘DB_PASS’, ‘12345XX’);
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘helpdesk’);
define(‘DB_PREFIX’, ‘ms_’);

2 - Specify character set for database. Can be left blank if preferred. Used for ‘Set Character Set’ and ‘Set Names’. If you aren`t sure, utf8 should be fine. See notes in connection file:

define(‘DB_CHAR_SET’, ‘utf8’);

3 - Specify locale for your database. Only really required to be changed if your language isn`t English. This will ensure text data in dates converted by MySQL is in your local language. For English, ‘en_GB‘ should be fine for all. See notes in connection file:

define(‘DB_LOCALE’, ‘en_GB‘);

4 - Specify secret key (or salt). You can use the MSWorld secret key service to generate a unique key. See the connection file for more information.

5 - Specify cookie name for admin ‘Remember Me’ login. This is encrypted during script execution. Random numbers, letters and characters are recommended. Also set expiry time in days and whether cookies should only be set when a SSL certificate is detected. Leave name blank to totally disable the cookie option on admin login. See notes in connection file:

define(‘COOKIE_NAME’, ‘ms-cookie123’);
define(‘COOKIE_EXPIRY_DAYS’, 30);
define(‘COOKIE_SSL’, 0);

6 - The option to display MySQL errors should only be enabled if you are having problems. This will display the possible problem. As its a security risk to display MySQL errors because of server paths, this is disabled by default. Instead a simple message appears whenever a MySQL error occurs. Edit as required. 

Maian Support has several areas of the system where a cron job can benefit you, these are as follows: 

• 1eading a mailbox via the imap functions. 
• – Sending email digest of currently open tickets. 
•  Creating database schema backup. 

•  Auto closing tickets after x amount of days that are open and awaiting visitor response. 

CRON JOB SETUP 

Setting up a cron job can be fairly easy, but is dependant of the server setup. Most servers enable you to set up a cron job via the control panel (such as CPanel, Direct Admin etc) which makes the process nice and easy. This page will not go into detail about cron jobs. If you aren`t sure, contact your web host.

With a cron job you just need 2 things:

1 - The command to run. This is to trigger a file on the server.

2 - The date/time to run the job. Cron jobs can be advanced, running every minute, other minute, hour, 2hrs, day, etc. You decide how often you want it to run. 

DATABASE BACKUP, EMAIL DIGEST, AUTO CLOSE 

In Maian Support, the files you should set up to run are as follows:

1 - For the database backup: control/cron/db-backup.php

2 - For the email digest: control/cron/email-digest.php

3 - For the auto close routine: control/cron/close-tickets.php

Note that when the email digest is run, it will automatically trigger the auto close routine if enabled, so you may not need to set these jobs up separately. It depends on how often you want each to run. 

IMAP MAILBOXES 

If you are setting up a cron for the mailboxes, this is slightly different as the routine needs to know what mailbox it is reading. The cron will accept 2 parameters, the second parameter for the language is optional. The first parameter is the ID number of the mailbox. You can find this on the imap management page. Refer to the initial screenshot. This parameter name is specified in your settings and on install defaults to “pipe”.

So, this would be the same as accessing: index.php?pipe=XX, where XX is your imap ID number and “pipe” is your preferred param name.

The second param is the language parameter, this is “lang“. It will default to the default language in the settings if not set. If you are using the multi language option, you can pass an alternative language. So, this param would append and be the same as running: index.php?pipe=XX&lang=YY, where XX is your imap ID number and YY is your specified language. Language must exist in the system.

NOTE: The passing of params in cron jobs may differ on certain servers due to the query strings. If the cron isn`t working, try passing the parameters with spaces:

index.php pipe=XX lang=YY 

CRON COMMAND EXAMPLES – LINUX 

These are examples of linux based cron commands for the email-digest and also for a mailbox with the additional params. Note that some or all of these may work. If none work, contact your host for assistance. The auto close and db backup routines will be the same as the email digest, but with the different file name as specified above.

1 /usr/bin/php /home/admin/domains/example.com/public_html/helpdesk/control/cron/email-digest.php
/usr/bin/php /home/admin/domains/example.com/public_html/helpdesk/index.php?pipe=XX

2 php q /home/admin/domains/example.com/public_html/helpdesk/control/cron/email-digest.php
php q /home/admin/domains/example.com/public_html/helpdesk/index.php?pipe=XX

3 /usr/bin/php q /home/admin/domains/example.com/public_html/helpdesk/control/cron/email-digest.php
/usr/bin/php q /home/admin/domains/example.com/public_html/helpdesk/index.php?pipe=XX

4 curl “http://www.example.com/helpdesk/control/cron/email-digest.php”
curl http://www.example.com/helpdesk/index.php?pipe=XX&lang=german 

CRON COMMAND EXAMPLES – WINDOWS 

These are examples of windows based cron commands for the email-digest and also for a mailbox with the additional params. Note that some or all of these may work. If none work, contact your host for assistance. The auto close and db backup routines will be the same as the email digest, but with the different file name as specified above. Also note how different the params are sometimes set for windows servers. The curl option (if available), may be the same.

1 cmd C:\Windows\php\php.exe C:\website\helpdesk\control\cron\email-digest.php
cmd C:\Windows\php\php.exe C:\website\helpdesk\index.php pipe[]=XX lang[]=german (NO ? or &, but WITH spaces and square brackets as shown)

2 curl “http://www.example.com/helpdesk/control/cron/email-digest.php”
curl http://www.example.com/helpdesk/index.php?pipe=XX&lang=german 

CRON TRIGGER OVERRIDE VIA CURL 

If the server curl option isn`t available in your control panel and the cron jobs are failing, you can simulate it on the server using Curl code (providing the curl functions are installed). This example shows how to trigger a mailbox from another file.

1 - Create a new .php file in a text editor with the following code:

<?php
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, “http://www.example.com/helpdesk/index.php?pipe=XX”);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
?>

2 - Save the file and upload it to the root of your support system.

3 - Change your cron job in your control panel to access this new .php file. This will send a trigger to the ‘index.php‘ file. Repeat the above process for each cron. 

Advantages and Benefits of an Online Help Desk Solution :

1. All agents can easily stay on the same page – Often when working with multiple agents, hours are staggered to create a larger help desk coverage window for your customers. With employees spread out and working different hours, it’s easy for communication to get lost or postponed. This means your customers need to wait longer than necessary for an answer (never a good thing). Fortunately, an online help desk solution has multiple ways to improve communication. One way is agents can add private actions to tickets – only visible to your employees – that lets them communicate directly within a ticket but outside of the view of the customer. Another is an internal community where employees can post important information for all team members to view and respond. 

1.  Tickets no longer get lost or forgotten – When your ticket volume increases, it can be far too easy to focus on the major problems that face your help desk. And honestly, it’s the right thing to do! But, with this mentality, it’s easy for some customer issues to be forgotten or even lost altogether. Needless to say, this isn’t exactly great for keeping your customers happy. With online help desk software, businesses can implement tasks that keep people on their toes to ensure they are doing their part to respond to customer issues. Taking it a step further, businesses can create their service level agreements (SLAs) directly within the help desk solution to ensure they never violate an agreement. 

1. Detailed reporting – One of the major weaknesses of companies without any sort of online help desk solution is their inability to quantify their performance. With this technology, businesses can immediately see which customers are submitting the most tickets and then cross-reference this information with their size. This tells a business how “needy” a customer is for the value they add to your business. Reporting can also be leveraged for internal purposes to see exactly how your own agents are performing and which customers each agent prefers to work with. 

1.  24/7 support options – An ideal way for a small help desk team to appear larger than they are is to leverage “always on” solutions. Self-service is often the easiest to implement because you can frequently use responses to past tickets as a foundation for content. It’s also the most impactful because it enables customers to receive accurate information about your business at all hours of the day. Other solutions like Wikis are also great for small help desk teams as you can send articles to experts in your company and let them contribute as they see fit. 

•  Improved mobility – With smaller teams where a lot is happening all the time, communication is essential. Online help desk solutions have apps for smartphone and tablet devices, making it easy to work on tickets with your team from wherever you are. These apps also have additional features, such as visibility into customer profiles and search functionality so you can find that important ticket on the go. 
• In short, the advantages and benefits of an online help desk solution are all about facilitating growth instead of hindering it. These solutions dramatically improve communication and provide the data you need to be smart about the next steps you take. The phrase “more money, more problems” exists for a reason, but aligning your business with the proper tools needed to handle growth makes the experience much more satisfying and manageable. 

-Maian Support is a FREE support ticket system written in PHP/MySQL. Maian Support is a software with no nag screens, ads or spyware. It can be used for an unlimited time at no further cost.

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Support is an integral part of any business and good support helps you to build a solid relationship between you and your clients. Maian Support helps you to build this confidence by providing an easy to use support system completely free of charge.

Maian Support is released under their own Free Licence.

STANDARD FEATURES :

The following come as standard in all versions of Maian Support a free helpdesk software solution. 

•  Free Help Desk Software. Run on your own servers. 
•  Dispute system so two people can view same ticket. 
•  Open tickets by email using Imap functions. 
•  Simple API. Open tickets from any application. 

•  NO per-agent fees and no subscriptions. 
•  Standard responses and custom fields. 
•  Supports SMTP and PHP mail function. 
•  Clean layout with easy to manage interfaces. 
•  PHP7 supported. 

•  Fast, responsive HTML5 system for mobiles / tablets. 

Main Features List :

• Easy to install support ticket system written in PHP/MySQL 
• Multiple admin users with access levels / delete priorities 
• Multiple departments 

• Fully searchable F.A.Q with categories and ajax based voting system 
• Validates as XHTML Strict. Clean, tableless design to meet modern standards. 
• Template based for easy site integration 
• E-mail templates for easy editing 
• SMTP mail options 

• Ability to start tickets via e-mail (uses IMAP functions) 
• Dispute system so multiple people can respond to same ticket 
• Multiple attachments with file/size restrictions 
• Ticket portal to view tickets by e-mail address 
• Custom fields to capture additional form information 

• Notepad option for admin to make backend notes about tickets 
• Open tickets via XML data posts. Any application that can trigger XML posts can open tickets 
• BBCode support 
• Option for visitors to change passwords 

The Major Features Of  Maian Support:

• Easy to install support ticket system written in PHP/MySQL
• Multiple admin users with access levels / delete priorities
• Multiple departments
• Fully searchable F.A.Q with categories and ajax based voting system
• Validates as XHTML Strict. Clean, tableless design to meet modern standards.
• Template based for easy site integration
• E-mail templates for easy editing
• SMTP mail options
• Ability to start tickets via e-mail (uses IMAP functions)
• Dispute system so multiple people can respond to same ticket
• Multiple attachments with file/size restrictions
• Ticket portal to view tickets by e-mail address
• Custom fields to capture additional form information
• Notepad option for admin to make backend notes about tickets
• Open tickets via XML data posts. Any application that can trigger XML posts can open tickets
• BBCode support
• Option for visitors to change passwords

Installing Maian Support with Softaculous in cPanel