Bug Tracker Handbook

Chapter 4 Using Bug Tracker

Table of Contents

4.1 Project Management

4.2 Report Management

4.3 Feedback System

4.4 FAQ Management

4.5 Document

4.6 Schedule

4.1 Project Management

Once you have done the system configuration and added uses and groups, you can start to add projects. Only the admin or groups that have the permission to add/edit project can do the project management.

Here are the instructions for each field on adding/editing project:

• Project Name: As implied by the name, it's the name of the project.
• Area/Minor Area: You can assign area and area owner here. When a user reports a bug, they could select area and minor area. The system will automatically change the "assign to" to the area owner. For example, if the project is a mail server product, you might have the areas: Kernel, Web mail, Management UI, Network protocol. Under the "Network protocol", you could specify minor area. Such as: SMTP, POP3, IMAP, etc.
• Auto Mailto: When users report bugs, the system will send notification email to the users listed in "Auto Mailto". Normally, we will add the project manager to the list. So they will be well aware of the status of every report.
• Feedback Receiver: When customers report bugs on the feedback system, the system will send email to users listed in the "Feedback Receiver" and send a blind carbon copy to "Auto Mailto". So the "Feedback Receiver" should be the customer support staffs.
• Pattern of Version: This is the pattern of your software version. The system will generate combo boxes according to the pattern. If you would like to use a numeric in combo box, please use % to represent the numeral. If you would like to use a alphabet character in combo box, please use "@" to represent the character. For example, if the version is SDS-1-1.12 and you would like 1.12 to be combo box, the pattern should be SDS-1-%.%%. If the "Pattern of Version" is empty, the system will just show an input box.
• Accessible By: Configure users that are allowed to access the project. Please select user and click "Add >>" to add user and "<< Remove" to remove user from the list. You can press [Ctrl] or [Shift] on the keyboard to select multiple users.

4.2 Report Management

After entering the project list and selecting a project, you can start to add/edit/delete reports. In the project list page, you will see all reports in the project. Users can customize columns to display on their "preference" setting page.

A normal report life cycle will be:

• QC/user reports a bug. The status of the report is "New".
• R&D manager assigns the bug to R&D staff.
• R&D staff fixes the bug, changes the status to "Fixed - need to verify" and assigns it to QC.
• QC verifies the bug and changes the status to "Fixed and verified".

The system will send an email notification to "Assign To", Area/Minor Area owners, and CC to "Auto Mailto" that is set in project management.

In the project report list, you can search, filter, and sort reports. You may also change the columns to display in the list by setting your preference in the [System] -> [Preference]. Clicking on the title bar of the list table allows you to sort reports by each column. You may switch the sort order by clicking on the title.

To search, just input the key word into the search input box. You may use "and", "or", "not" to perform advanced search. For example, if you would like to search report that contains "FTP" and "HTTP" but not including "HTTPS", you can input "FTP and HTTP not HTTPS". The key word search is case-insensitive. It will look into summary and report logs.

To use a filter, you have to add a new filter. The filter configuration is in [System] -> [Set Filter]. You can use filter, sort, and search at the same time.

When reporting bugs, users can attach files (screen shots, system logs, and so on). The maximum file size depends on your configuration of php.ini.

4.3 Feedback System

You can enable/disable the feedback system in [System] -> [Feedback System]. Please see chapter 3.4 for more information.

The customer feedback system can be completely separated from Bug Tracker. All you need to do is just move the "feedback_site" directory to anywhere you want. For example, if you are accessing the Bug Tracker by http://your.domain.com/bug, the feedback system is now in http://your.domain.com/bug/feedback_site. You can move the "feedback_site" directory to the same directory level like Bug Tracker and change the name to "feedback". Then you can access the feedback system by http://your.domain.com/feedback.

Further more, you can also move the directory to another server. For example, you can put the Bug Tracker into an internal network and put the feedback system onto an external web server. Make sure you have edited the feedback_site/include/config.php and set the proper database information.

The feedback system interface is pretty much like Bug Tracker, only we try to make it even simpler to use. Customers can create new, update, and search reports. After created a new report, you can see the report in Bug Tracker [Project List] -> [Project Name] -> [Customer Feedback]. You can update the feedback in Bug Tracker customer feedback management interface.

A classical feedback life cycle will be:

• Customer reports a feedback
• Internal customer service staff updates the feedback and/or requires more information
• Customer updates the feedback again.
• Customer service staff decides whether it should be imported into internal database. If not, just close it. Otherwise,
• Import into internal database.
• Internal users update the report.
• After the internal report is closed, the system will automatically update the feedback system and close the feedback.

When a customer reports feedback, the system will send an email to the "Feedback Receiver" that you set for the project and a blind carbon copy to the "Auto Mailto" and a CC to  the other users of the same company if the "Receive notification when associate reports" are turned on for the customer users.

After you update a customer's feedback, the system will send an email to the reporter and BCC, CC to the users described above. If you choose to import the feedback into the internal database, it will show an internal report form for you to input. After the feedback is imported, the system will create a link between them. When the internal report is closed, the system will close the external feedback, too.

There are two user management modes, anonymous and customer mode. You can disable or enable all of them. Under anonymous mode, users can register their account on the feedback system login page. Under customer mode, you would have to add customer user before they can use the Feedback System.

When a customer forgets his/her password, the system will send a new password to him/her. The new password will not be saved into real customer user database until login. If someone forges to request a password, the genuine user can still use old password to login and the new password will be dropped.

We will keep a system log of feedback system. You can check it at [Information] -> [Feedback System Log].

4.4 FAQ Management

Every project has its own FAQ system. You can categorize FAQ. A FAQ can belong to many categories. A normal FAQ life cycle will be:

• Technical writer adds new FAQ categories.
• Add new FAQ and assign to the R&D staff to verify the content.
• R&D staff verifies the FAQ and changes the "Is Verified" to "YES".
• Customers can see the verified FAQ on feedback system.

In order to perform the operation above, all related people should have the permission to manage FAQ. Un-verified FAQ will not be showed on feedback system.

4.5 Document

The document system is designed to store internal documents, specifications, announcement, etc. You can categorize document by groups. You can deny users to access documents that do not belong to their group. 

To see, create, update, or delete documents, users need have proper permissions. You can configure the document management permission on group management page.

4.6 Schedule

You can use this function to manage your project schedule. Project team members can use the schedule to make plans, too. You can set the privilege on groups to allow users to see or edit schedule.

Only the system administrator or the schedule creator can modify or delete a schedule.