So I’d been looking for a free or open source online helpdesk solution for a long time, since I started at Rainham Mark in fact and at last I’ve finally found a good one! I’ve tried a lot of packages, but osTicket is hands down the best free one I’ve come accross. Easy to setup (php/mysql), supports e-mail routing to tickets via POP3 and highly configurable. Now if you want to submit a bug, complaint, query or feature request for any VBE Software program, just e-mail helpdesk@vbe-software.com and the system will take it from there. Win. </plug>
Now I’m back at home I finally have a chance to catch up on things like blogging, its been a pretty hectic term - far more hectic than expected - depsite only have two weeks of lectures out of a 9 week term!
One of the things I’ve thrown myself into this term (or rather, was thrown into, cheers James!) was being Technical Director for the Van Mildert College production of Fame! The production was supposed to be a technical masterpiece, and despite some budget cutting that meant some of my cool gear got cut from the hire, we still ended up spending around £1500 on hiring some very shiney equipment, and the show itself was amazing - a real credit to all of the cast, crew, production and directing teams.
The production was way off of the scale of events I’d worked on in the past, and it pushed both my organisational skills (as a Director, co-ordinating a technical crew of 8, and trying to get the most out of my budget) and in a very practical sense by sound engineering skills to the limit. We ended up running out of mixing channels, submixing 12 radio mics into a further 20 channels of band, it was also the first time I’d extensively used a wide range of effects units in a single production. Everything went very smoothly in the end though, despite quite a few setbacks and I can’t thank the rest of my technical team enough for all their help, especially those so dedicated that during the rigging (which took nearly two days straight) they slept in the PA storage cupboard!