I would say it is a good template, but in general I think it is hard to
expect a template  to meet your exact requirements. As I result I
decided to build my own site using some useful features from the help
desk template.

As I recall, the Help desk  template doesn't have any real workflow. It
uses a task list which you can sync with Outlook. I built my own task
list that was better suited for our requirements with my own custom
workflow. The HD Template has some nice .xsl's to display some bar
graphs off of the task list metrics so I used those to create a nice
help desk dashboard.

I think the HD template is great for lightweight help  desks, but for
more serious and robust functionality you will definitely need to
either do some MOSS and Workflow dev or should look into other HD
applications.

Additionally to hang onto Chris R's coattails, the application templates  are
meant to help  in rapid application solutions development - they are
definitely not the end all of meeting a clients need. However, that being
said, they do provide a great starting point to where to begin and to help
culminate some ideas to use for solutions development.