For deploying an online help desk, you'll need a couple of plugins. These plugins started out as commercial plugins but were released as Open Source ones just before I started working on this chapter. Because the transition is still underway, the plugins might still be listed as an Enterprise plugin, depending on the Openfire version you are using, but you'll be able to install it nonetheless.
The first plugin you need for an online helpdesk is called Fastpath. This plugin does all the work in the background, such as managing queues of callers as they call in. This plugin is also responsible for routing online chat requests to users inside the Openfire network. You can install the plugin from the Plugins tab under Openfire's web-based admin console. Or, you can download the plugin from the Openfire website (see http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/plugins.jsp) and upload it from the plugins interface in the admin console, by browsing to the downloaded...