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Help & Documentation

A complete, step-by-step guide to every feature in HelmDesk, organised by who you are.

Everyone — including line managers who aren't agents or admins.

Getting started

Sign in with your work Microsoft account. You'll land on the Home page (/app), which shows a summary tailored to your role: your open tickets, anything waiting on your approval, your meal plan status, upcoming transport/recurring workflow reminders, and any active outages.

  • The top navigation is always available: New voyage (start a request), My tickets, Workflows, a Services dropdown, and Settings.
  • The bell icon in the top-right shows notifications — new replies, approvals waiting on you, and outage alerts. It refreshes automatically every 60 seconds.
  • Your name, role, and (if you're an agent) tier level are shown in the top-right corner at all times.

Submitting a ticket (New voyage)

For anything that isn't a known, structured process, click New voyage (/app/support) and describe your issue in plain language to Helmsman, the built-in AI assistant.

  1. Type what's wrong or what you need, the same way you'd explain it to a colleague — no forms to fill in first.
  2. Attach a file with the paperclip button next to the message box if it helps explain the issue (a screenshot of an error, a receipt, a document) — this works both in the first message and any later reply.
  3. Helmsman asks one focused clarifying question at a time if it needs more detail before it can help or route your request.
  4. For common IT/software problems, Helmsman will try troubleshooting steps directly in the chat before involving a human.
  5. Once your issue needs a person, Helmsman routes it to the right team (IT, HR, Finance, Facilities, or Management) and explains what happens next.
  6. You can keep replying in the same thread any time — to add details, answer a follow-up, or confirm the issue is resolved.
Good to know: If Helmsman detects your issue matches a known outage (e.g. "the wifi is down for the whole floor") rather than something only affecting you, it will tell you it's tracking this as an outage instead of an individual ticket — check Services → Outages for live updates rather than waiting on this ticket.
Tip: If your request matches a known process (expense claim, leave request, and similar), Helmsman will point you to a matching Workflow instead. Common IT-stocked items (monitor, mouse, keyboard, laptop stand/bag, charger, stationery) go to IT as a ticket instead — after your manager approves, IT decides whether to issue from stock or reorder.
Locked out?: If you can't sign in at all (locked out of your Microsoft 365 account or device), you won't be able to reach New voyage yourself — ask IT or your agent contact to raise it for you. They'll open a ticket on your behalf and you'll get an email as soon as it's created, with a link to follow along once you're back in.

Structured workflows

Workflows are pre-built, form-based processes for common requests — expense reimbursement, leave requests, software/equipment requests, and similar — each with its own approval chain already configured.

  1. Open Workflows in the top navigation (/app/workflows/catalog) to browse the catalog, grouped by category, with each template's steps listed.
  2. Click Start workflow on the template you need.
  3. Fill in the first step's form and submit it — this is what actually creates your request. Just opening the form doesn't create anything yet, so it's safe to browse and back out.
  4. You're taken to the workflow's tracking page, showing every step, who it's assigned to, and its current status.
  5. Each subsequent step (manager approval, department approval, payment, etc.) runs in order. You'll be notified when the workflow moves forward, is rejected, or completes.

The My Workflowstab on the same catalog page lists everything you've started and its current status. Recurring workflows (things that repeat on a schedule, like a subscription renewal) show up as a series of individual cycles — open /app/workflows/recurring/[scheduleId]from a notification or from My Workflows to complete the current cycle's steps.

Good to know: A workflow instance is only created once you submit that first step's form — so nothing shows up in anyone else's queue until you've actually submitted your request. If a workflow is cancelled, it disappears from every view, including your own — cancelled requests aren't shown to anyone.
Missing a file?: If a step you completed shows a file that's no longer available (rare — usually from a request submitted before a system update), you'll see a re-upload option right on that step instead of a broken link. If someone else needs the file re-added and you're not the one who can re-upload it, they can send you a re-upload request and you'll get notified.

My tickets & my requests

My tickets (/app/tickets) has two tabs:

  • My Tickets — every support ticket you've raised via New voyage, with its status, department, and assigned agent (if any).
  • My Requests — every workflow instance you've started, with its current step and status.

Click any ticket or request to open its full thread or step-by-step tracking page. Files attached to any message — yours or an agent's — show as a chip you can click to open or download, right in the thread.

Good to know: Tickets and workflow requests show the requester's office location and work format (e.g. "Hybrid (MON, WED, FRI)") as a small badge — agents use this to judge whether someone is on-site today before scheduling in-person follow-up.

My approvals (for line managers and approvers)

If you're a line manager, department approver, or anyone else a workflow step or ticket approval has been assigned to, My approvals (/app/approvals) is where you act on it. It has three sections:

  • Workflow actions — workflow steps currently waiting on you (e.g. a manager-approval step for one of your reports).
  • Recurring cycles — steps due on a recurring workflow schedule you're responsible for.
  • Ticket approvals — ticket-based approvals routed to you (e.g. line-manager or department sign-off before an AI-support ticket proceeds).

Click through to review the details and approve or reject — you can add an optional remark either way, not just when rejecting. Some steps ask for information rather than a yes/no decision (e.g. a department supplying a cost estimate first); those show "Submit information" / "Can't provide" instead, and require typing something first. You'll also get a notification whenever something new lands.

Good to know: Being a line manager isn't a separate role you sign up for — if a workflow step is configured to require manager approval, it's automatically routed to whoever is set as your manager in HelmDesk's records.

Services: Room bookings

Open Services → Rooms (/app/rooms) to reserve a meeting or board room.

  1. Pick the office/location, then the room and day you need.
  2. Check the week view to see what's already booked before you pick a slot.
  3. Flag the booking if you need interactive AV (screen sharing, video conferencing) — rooms with that capability, and IT, are notified so someone can be on standby if needed.
  4. Submit — your booking appears immediately in the room's week view for everyone else to see.

Services: Transport

Open Services → Transport (/app/transport) to manage your daily commute enrollment.

  1. Set your work location and preferred pickup stop in Settings first — this determines which routes you're offered.
  2. Request enrollment on a route; this goes to your Operations department for approval before it becomes active.
  3. Once enrolled, the page shows your upcoming 3-day schedule and enrollment status.
  4. Need to skip a day? Add an exclusion for that date instead of opting out entirely.
  5. Need a one-off change (different stop for a specific day)? Use the override option rather than switching routes permanently.
  6. You can opt out of transport entirely at any time from the same page.
Good to know: If your work format is set to Remotein Settings, transport enrollment isn't offered — remote staff don't commute in. If it's Hybrid, the roster and trip sheets only include you on the specific weekdays you've marked as in-office.

Services: Meal plan

Open Services → Meal Plan (/app/meal-plan) to manage your meal subscription.

  1. Request enrollment and choose your dietary preference (Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian).
  2. Your request goes to HR for approval — the page shows your enrollment status and, once approved, the approval date.
  3. Changed your mind before HR has approved? You can withdraw the pending request yourself.
  4. Traveling or skipping meals for a stretch? Add an exclusion — a date range with a reason — instead of withdrawing.
  5. You can update your dietary preference at any time; it takes effect from the next day the kitchen locks in orders.
Good to know: Enrollment, exclusions, and preference changes all go through the web app — the Teams bot’s meal-plan quick actions cover exclusions and preference changes, but opt-in/opt-out always happens here on the web.
Good to know: Same rule as transport: a Remote work format blocks meal-plan enrollment entirely, and a Hybrid format means the daily provisioning list only includes you on your selected in-office weekdays.

Services: Emergency information

Open Services → Emergency (/app/emergency) for two tabs of published reference material:

  • Emergency Contacts — published contact documents (security desk, facilities, HR emergency line, etc.).
  • Escalation Matrix — published escalation procedures for serious incidents.

These are maintained by Admins via the knowledge-base uploads, so they stay current without needing a code change.

Outages

Open Services → Outages (/app/outages) to check whether something organisation-wide or location-wide is already known to be down — internet, power, air conditioning, and similar — before raising an individual ticket for it.

  1. Toggle 'Show resolved outages too' to see history, or leave it off to just see what's currently ongoing.
  2. To report a new one, click '+ Report an outage', fill in a title, description, department, and (optionally) a specific location for a location-only outage.
  3. If an outage matching the same department and location is already ongoing, your report links to that existing outage instead of creating a duplicate — you'll see a confirmation message either way.
  4. Anyone can report an outage, regardless of department. Posting status updates and marking one resolved is limited to that department's agents.
Good to know: Reporting an outage immediately notifies every active agent in the affected department — you don’t need to also raise a separate ticket for the same issue.

Notifications & settings

The bell icon in the top navigation shows unread notifications — new ticket replies, approvals waiting on you, workflow status changes, and outage alerts. Click one to mark it read and jump straight to the relevant page, or use Mark all read.

Settings (/app/settings) covers two things:

  • Appearance — light, dark, or auto theme for the app.
  • Work settings — your work format (In Office, Work From Home, Hybrid, or Remote), office location, and timezone. Choosing Hybrid lets you also pick which weekdays (Mon–Fri) you're in the office. These drive which transport routes, room options, and location-specific outages are shown to you, plus whether you show up on transport/meal-plan rosters for a given day — so keep them current if you relocate or your in-office days change.

Still stuck?

Start a New voyageand describe what's not working — that's the fastest way to reach a person who can help.