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TrackStudio Overview

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Presentation overview

Overview of Task Management and TrackStudioWalk through the as-installed TrackStudio environmentQuestion and Answer session

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The true nature of Task Management

Many different people with different rolesRoles on each project may not be the sameMany top-level tasks each of which may spawn sub-tasksDifferent tasks have different workflowsThe same workflows may need to be shared between different projectsPriorities and dependencies

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Project complexity

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PROJECTS

Operational Department

Department Manager

Project Manager

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Project complexity 2

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PROJECTS

Content Management Servs

CMS Manager

PROJECTS

PROJECTS

Data Development

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Data Dev Manager

PROJECTS

PROJECTS

Hosting

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Hosting Manager

PROJECTS

PROJECTS

Design

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Design Manager Project Manager 1

Project Manager 2

Project Manager 3

Project Manager 4

PROJECTS

PROJECTS

Application Development

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App Dev Manager

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Project complexity 3

Not only different users work on different projects but also different projects may require different configurations.If, as a Company you might have several large customers, each with different workflows, and be required to integrate your own workflows with their workflows.This is possible with TrackStudio

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The ingredients for successCommunication and control

What needs to be done by whom and by when

Impossible for the project manager to have complete picture

Polling of task executors to ascertain status becomes impractical and unrealistic

Everyone needs to be able to have an overviewProject ManagerProgramme ManagerDepartment ManagerTask Executor

Everyone needs to be able to have their own view

Only tasks that are relevant to them

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What will help you deliver success?

Enterprise-strength task-tracking solution

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Essential concepts

Tasks and usersA task can be though of an an objectHierarchies, objects and inheritanceDomain modelWho you are and where you areSoft labelsDelegated controlSingle interfaceMessages

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Tasks and users

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Hierarchies

Hierarchical organization is a very important for project management toolVery few task-tracking packages support it

"Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a fundamental project management technique for defining and organizing the total scope of a project, using a hierarchical tree structure."

Wikipedia

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User and Task tree connections

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Single interface – different views

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MessagesA message encapsulates a number of separate elements into a single actionState-change, assignment and comment are all handled in one stepFor example, if a support team member were to receive a reply from customer, he needs to:

reopen the task.assign it to developerwrite comment and attach file from the customersubmit his own task time

Within TrackStudio this is handled as a messageThis allows for a powerful search of task history

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How TrackStudio meets your needs

ConnectivityConfigurabilityIntegrationExtensibility

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Connectivity - TrackStudio e-mailInbound

E-mail submissionFilters configured by header or content to direct inbound e-mail to particular tasks.Attachments are imported into the system automatically

OutboundE-mail notification

The creating a task or task-related message can be configured to send an e-mail according to the criteria of the associated filter.It is possible to easily to configure who gets what when messages are created.Different templates can be specified for different tasks/rulesHigh level of detail for developers, low level for customers

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Connectivity - TrackStudio e-mail - 2Outbound - continued

E-mail digestsFilter subscription rules can be defined that will generate for any particular user or user group a periodic summaryRules are defined per taskInterval is definable per ruleStandard filter mechanism used to determine what type of summary gets sentExample: List of high priority bugs, not touched in the last 3 days – managers can receive this report every morning

E-mails sent by triggersIf it is not possible to define exactly what e-mail you want to be sent using the interface it is possible to define it using a scriptSuch e-mails may be sent to other systems/data repositories

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Configurability – Workflows

Issue Tracking – Issue workflow

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Configurability – Workflows - 2

Workflows consist of 4 main components:Priorities – an in-built list field. Definable per workflow.States – the state in which a task is at any timeMessages – move task from one state to anotherCustom fields – 10 field types available

String ListMemo Multiple ListFloat TaskInteger UserDate URL

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Configurability - Workflows - 3Workflows may be as simple or complex as you wishFor each Message type it is possible to define who is able to:

ViewProcessBe assigned as Handler

Each Message type may have any number of “resolutions” associated with itA “resolution” is a supplementary to the message ie

Message ResolutionReviewed – bug replicated

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Configurability - Workflows - 4Categories are “containers” that connect workflows to tasks

The same workflow may be used in many categoriesCategories define who can view, create, modify, delete or be initial handler for a task of that categoryCategories also allow you to define a template – headings that will appear in the Task description boxCategories have Create task and Edit task triggers

Relations are defined within categories and determine what sub-tasks can be created as children of a task of that category

It’s easy to miss the step of creating relations!

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Configurability – permissions model

Who is connected to whatWhat rights does own/base status provide to userAbility to supplement or override own/base status within the context of a taskCategories define who is able to view, create, modify, delete or be initial handler for a task of that categoryWithin workflows it is possible to define who is able to view, process or be assigned as handler for any message type

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StatusesThree types of status might be usefully considered:

Statuses with rights that are to be assigned to users as an own/base statusStatuses with no rights - merely to be used as "labels" that can be identified in the context of workflows and categories.Statuses with rights that are to be assigned to users depending on their role within the context of a task. These statuses are also used to identify who may do what in the context of workflows and categories.

DM executor PMTSM gatekeeper POadministrator manager power usermember reviewer

tester

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Status-task permissions

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Status-user permissions

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State-Message-Status map

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Extensibility

SOAP APIvery powerful, just thin wrap over the kernel

Source Codeanything is possible here!

Eclipse pluginvery simple, just a browser opened in Eclipse window

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Integration

E-mail messaging“back-end” database connectivityScripts and triggersSVNKit library used for SVN repository interaction

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Scripts and Triggers For each message type it is possible to specify

a script that will run for each of up to three events.

Each event is called a trigger. BEFORE Trigger - action which is executed

before the message is created. INSTEAD OF Trigger - action which is executed

instead of message being created. AFTER Trigger - action which is executed after an

the message has been created.

Scripts are small pieces of code that use the API to modify the application’s behaviour.

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What do you want from TrackStudio?  Simple Sophisticated

Organisational scope

Single department Enterprise wide

Task complexity Single or few simple workflows

Many and/or complex workflows

Role variability Everyone within the department has same role all the time

Individuals’ roles within tasks vary depending on task

Degree of control Low level High level

External Users No external users External users

Multi-domain capability

Don’t want the ability to create separate root domains

Want to retain the ability to create separate root domains

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What more might you want?

The only limit is your imagination!

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Time tracking

Built-in task duration fieldEach time a message is created the user is able to enter the time spent working on the task on that occasionAll the individually entered times are summed both within the task and the in the parent task and so on up the task hierarchy

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ReportingReport creation

Permission to create reports can be granted in a context-sensitive way to either users or user groupsReports are defined per taskStandard filter mechanism used to determine what the report will containFour different in-built report types available:

List - displays the list of tasks as a table. Configure the columns and the sort order by specify filtering conditions. Detailed - displays all task fields that have values.Distribution - groups tasks and allows the use of aggregate functions (Avg, Min, Max, Sum) for each group.UserWorkload - displays information about the time (actual time) your subordinates worked on subtasks of a task.

All reports can be exported as CSV/XML for use by third-party applications

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Summary - key differentiators

Hierarchical work breakdownSupport for matrix managementProject-specific customisationHighly granular permissions modelMassive extensibilityDelegated authorities and responsibilities

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Commercial offering

All product packages, except starter pack, have unlimited user licencesExcellent “bang per buck” ratioCompetitively priced support and upgrade packageSource code availableSingle application can be configured to service many different “task tracking” needsConsolidation of differing “task tracking” requirements within a single application reduces training and maintenance over head

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Corporate offering

Established but leading-edge product since 2001Open user forumSmall and dedicated teamPrivately held and debt freeQuality and sophistication of the product should outweigh any concern about the company

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Thank you for listening

Any questions?