Clients or team members have the ability to log into ProjecTrak Bug Tracker via the Web or Notes (as shown in Figure C) to submit and review the status of requests for support, and to submit ideas for enhancements.

FIGURE C


You can log into ProjecTrak Bug Tracker via the Web or Notes. Roll over picture for a larger image.

In addition, calls to a help desk (the ProjecTrak Help Desk has nice integration here) can be logged into the Bug Tracker for resolution if the issue warrants it. ProjecTrak Bug Tracker allows the team member or user to put in as little or as much detailed information as desired. You can choose to add only defect description and severity, or you can also add any workarounds and file attachments of any type for review and documentation. The system tracks the history of who enters the information for future reference if any reviewer should have questions regarding details.

Once the issue is added, the project manager assigns it to a team member for review. Before the issue is assigned, it's given a priority and severity classification. These are definable fields in the system, allowing a range of customization, as do most of the drop-down fields in the program. The project manager then assigns it to a team member for action.

Each reviewer can add any comments to the issue. There's no longer a need for people to run around and gather documentation because all that information is available in the system. Upon resolution, team members enter the actual time spent and mark the item as fixed and optionally assign it to Quality Assurance for testing. The QA analyst can review the details of the issue and indicate whether it's passed or failed. The defect is then assigned to either the submitter (for approval and close-out) or back to the developer (for further work).

ProjecTrak Bug Tracker offers a wide range of reports and charts that can be filtered in various ways. This is important since a powerful reporting capability will give you feedback on the project and development process itself. Trend reports are particularly valuable for such insights. As the number of defects reported declines during development, you'll get a good indication of the time you can expect to ship a product.

ProjecTrak Bug Tracker is highly configurable and can be adapted specifically to your needs. I found it very easy to use with a clean and intuitive UI (User Interface). I quickly got up to speed and became comfortable with the product. This is a complete and well-designed product. It's suitable for tracking defects during the entire life of a project and for providing the metrics needed to improve your development process.

In part two of this review, I'll cover the remaining modules that comprise the ProjecTrak Business Suite: ProjecTrak Help Desk, ProjecTrak Asset Manager, and ProjecTrak Sales Manager. In the meantime, you can learn more about the software at http://www.eden.com.

Clement Hill is president of Clement Hill Technical Consultants. CHTC provides development and consulting services for Lotus Notes, Domino, ecommerce, Oracle, Sybase, ERP, C++, VB, Web, and Java. Clement Hill Technical Consultants is headquartered in New York City and can be found on the Web at http://www.clemhill.com or by calling (212) 579-5957.