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An email-based issue-tracking/ workflow system
Zukhanye KwinanaZukhanye KwinanaDepartment of Computer Science
Rhodes University
Introduction (1)
Tasks often involve multiple agents: some inside and some outside one’s organization
They are often not carried to completion
A system is needed to help keep track of what tasks have been requested or assigned
Introduction (2)
Traditional issue-tracking systems (or ticketing systems) have problems: Exclusion if not registered within the
system Restriction to just one’s organisation
Emails are useful but lack “initiative” of issue tracking systems: Everyone checks emails regularly You are not excluded Have no organisational boundaries
Aim of investigation
Implementing email-based issue-tracking system, take the best of both worlds…
See to what extent the idea is viable
Current issue tracking systems
Are instances of Groupware Keep track of requested tasks
within a group of people Are often web-based systems for
communicating, sharing of files and other resources as well as issue-tracking
Our solution (1)
We tag emails that we want to be tracked with a special tag e.g. Something on the subject line A special marker in a header field In the body An attachment
We intercept tagged emails Either at the mail server, or at the mail
client We create a new issue (with a unique
identifier) in the back-end tracker system
Our solution (2)
We add links to the bottom of the emails so that the recipient can mark the task as done, or add extra detail or remarks to the issue
Reminders, escalation, completion etc. are handled by the tracker system, which can send follow up emails
The user can get status reports of unresolved issues
Sender Mail server Receiver
Issue tracking system
Proposed system
Sender Receiver
Issue tracking system
Mail server
Current architecture
System architecture
Achievements so far (1)
Functioning system catering for single step, single recipient workflows. Installed MailEnable mail server Used Mail Transfer Agent to access
emails before they are delivered to individual mailboxes thus edit the body- if marked to be tracked!
Tagged email gets links added to its body
Achievements so far (2)
Links are mapped to one not easy to guess
Links in the email navigate to a URL based on a unique identifier
Links are somewhat secure because they are almost impossible to guess
Links ensure access to the system and issue even though you are not registered
Achievements so far (3)
Functioning plug-in module for Outlook, migrating this function to the mail client.
A group of Honours students have built a Web Service interface and library to allow us to automate against one specific public-domain Issue-Tracking Engine
Way forward
Complete the current functions we are building
Refine the add-in for Outlook, Outlook Express and Pegasus Mail
Complete link to the back end issue tracker
Start testing user acceptance by deploying a trial system
Longer term: consider multi-step workflows, and multi-party tasks
Conclusion
Email based issue tracking system that can cross organizational boundaries seem promising
More tests and experience will give a clearer picture
An email based issue- tracking/ workflow system
Zukhanye KwinanaZukhanye KwinanaDepartment of Computer Science
Rhodes University