We need a helpdesk or ticketing system for our commercial company's government cloud tenant. Ideally, we'd like to use something included with our Microsoft 365 G5/E5 licensing rather than purchase another platform. I've heard Azure DevOps can be adapted for helpdesk use, while another option might be building an intake and routing process with SharePoint Lists and Power Automate. What approaches have worked well, and are there any purpose-built tools that support this environment?
3 Answers
I’d seriously consider buying a purpose-built helpdesk product instead of building one from scratch. You can make a ticket system with forms, lists, databases, and automation, but then you also have to maintain security, data relationships, reporting, search, and ongoing changes. Products such as ServiceNow, Freshservice, or Jira Service Management may have suitable government-authorized offerings, although they would be an additional expense and their availability should be verified for your exact tenant and compliance requirements.
The built-in options are fairly limited. SharePoint Lists combined with Power Automate is probably the most practical Microsoft-native approach for basic ticket intake, assignment, notifications, and reporting, but you’ll be responsible for designing and maintaining the workflow. Azure DevOps can handle tickets, but it’s designed around development work and may feel awkward as a general helpdesk system. Because government-cloud compliance has plenty of details to get right, bringing in someone experienced during the initial design could save trouble later.
Before choosing a platform, define what you actually need: simple internal IT requests, asset tracking, approvals, service-level agreements, knowledge articles, or support for external users. The government tenant mainly matters because it reduces the number of compatible integrations and hosted services. If the requirements are basic, SharePoint and Power Automate may be enough; if you need a mature ticketing experience, a compatible commercial product will likely be less work in the long run.
That’s the main tradeoff: Lists and Power Automate can work, but the effort expands quickly once you need permissions, search, service-level tracking, reporting, and a polished user experience.