Open Science is reshaping the research landscape, fostering transparency, accessibility, and collaboration across disciplines and borders. To fully realise this vision, scientists not only need powerful computational tools but also robust support systems capable of addressing complex technical challenges. The EGI Helpdesk, also known as the Global Grid User Support (GGUS), is one such critical infrastructure that has recently undergone a major modernisation to meet the growing demands of the federated scientific community.

The original GGUS was launched over two decades ago at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) to support the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), as well as numerous other scientific research communities. It was designed to serve as a central entry point to handle inquiries, incidents, and service requests from scientific communities and to coordinate between computing centres. The GGUS was built on a proprietary backend with a custom frontend adapted to the needs of the communities. For years, over 1,300 registered GGUS supporters successfully managed an average of 500 tickets per month, providing a strong foundation for distributed user support. Yet, facing increased licensing requirements and an outdated technology stack that limited the integration capabilities, it became clear that a more modern, scalable, and interoperable EGI helpdesk was necessary.

In response to growing challenges, the EGI Helpdesk has recently transitioned to a new platform built on Zammad, a modern, open-source helpdesk system. Zammad offers several advantages, including a contemporary, user-friendly interface, highly customisable core workflows, an actively developed tech stack, and seamless REST API integrations. Its scalability and built-in features make it an ideal foundation for a next-generation scientific support system.

Figure 1: A screenshot of the new EGI helpdesk

The transition effort followed a structured roadmap, beginning in 2021 with an evaluation of potential replacement platforms, including OTRS, Zendesk, and ServiceNow. By 2022, the KIT team had committed to Zammad and began implementing critical GGUS workflows.

Key milestones of the transition to the new helpdesk included:

The result is a flexible, extensible platform tailored to the needs of federated infrastructures. By June 2025, over 1,500 new tickets had been created in the new system, including 600 that were migrated from the legacy platform. Over 700 supporters are currently using the system actively.

With several hundred specialised support units, the new helpdesk system supports a vast network of EGI and WLCG communities, including national grid initiatives (NGIs), regional operations centres (ROCs), major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, and EGI services such as operations, monitoring, authentication, and authorisation. The first level support is provided by the Ticket Process Managers (TPM), who handle general user queries or forward tickets to the appropriate experts.

Figure 2: Schematic view of the EGI helpdesk support unit infrastructure

Access to different support units is based on an improved role management system, in which roles are distributed manually by system administrators, along with the newly introduced mini-admins, who can assign roles to their collaborators. This approach reduces the dependency on the system administrator and speeds up role management.

Custom workflows developed in GGUS in response to requests from user communities were successfully migrated to the new EGI helpdesk. The EGI Helpdesk workflows include:

The EGI Helpdesk is evolving in a community-driven manner.  After a smooth migration from a legacy system and achieving stable operation post-transition, the development team continues to incorporate user feedback and bug reports to refine both backend functionality and user experience. Regular updates and release notes are made public. To increase user awareness about the features of the new helpdesk, the development team also conducted training and regularly presents reports at user community meetings.

Looking ahead, the team is committed to deepening integration with other federated services and empowering AI support features. The prototypes of AI integration enable automatic ticket classification (e.g., assigning categories and priorities) and smart ticket routing to the appropriate support units. Further improvements include agent-assist features, such as reply suggestions.

The modernisation of the EGI Helpdesk marks a significant step forward for Open Science, aligning closely with EGI's strategic goals. With its open-source foundation and modern technology stack, the new helpdesk provides scientific communities a scalable platform with a contemporary design, greater flexibility for enhancements, and simplified integration with other federated systems. Ongoing work on integrating AI support features opens up new prospects for improving user support. Together, the improvements in the new EGI helpdesk enable faster, smarter, and more connected science across borders and disciplines.