NetResults


Tracker

Web-based collaboration software for bug tracking, change management, support, and help desk.

Read Me - NetResults ProblemTracker 5.5

© Copyright 1997-2003 NetResults Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

These are the Release Notes for NetResults ProblemTracker Version 5.5. Please visit our web site for the most updated version of the Read Me. Click here to review our Online ProblemTracker Help.

Before using (or upgrading to) ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition Version 5.5 (PTEE 5.5) or ProblemTracker Version 5.5 (Standard Edition), please review the information in the following sections:

System Requirements for ProblemTracker Version 5.5

NetResults ProblemTracker 5.5 has the following requirements.  Listed first are the requirements for use of multinationalization features (languages other than western European languages). Multinationalization features require newer versions of web servers as many international web features have only recently been supported (and many standards are in fact still "in progress" in this area). Listed second are the requirements if you do not require multinational support.  If any of the required software listed below is not installed on your server machine (or if you do not know if it is installed), click here for instructions on how to verify that you have the appropriate software, links to download the software, and instructions on how to install it.

Multinationalization
General System Requirements

In order to use Multinationalization options (support of Non-Latin1 languages):

Latin1 languages include the following - English, Basque, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish. If you plan to use a language other than one (or more) of those listed above, your system requires the following:

Client Requirements:

  • Any platform on which Internet Explorer (version 5.0 or greater) or Netscape (version 6.2 or greater) is available. 
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.0 or greater) or Netscape (version 6.2 or greater). 

Server Requirements:  

  • 450 MHz Intel Pentium III or compatible system (866 MHz Pentium III or faster recommended). 
  • 128 MB RAM for Windows NT, 192 MB for Windows 2000 (256 MB recommended for Windows NT, 512 MB recommended for Windows 2000).
  • 50 MB of disk space to install ProblemTracker with one workgroup, plus approximately 20 MB for each additional workgroup.
  • Windows 2000 Server.
  • Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0 with Microsoft Hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q294/8/31.asp or Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or greater (which includes the hotfix).  This hotfix is required to address a known bug in the IIS support for the UTF-8 (Unicode) character set.
  • JScript 5.5 or greater.  This is included with Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater.  It can also be downloaded and installed separately.
  • Microsoft JET 4.0 Service Pack 5 or greater.  This is included in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 or greater and can be downloaded for earlier versions of Windows 2000.
  • Visual SourceSafe 6.0 with Service Pack 5 or greater. This is only required if you wish to use the source code control integration features.

Optional Database Support:  

In addition to the included support for Microsoft Access, ProblemTracker can be used with the following database systems:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Standard or Enterprise Edition)
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (Standard or Enterprise Edition)
  • Oracle 8i (Standard or Enterprise Edition)
  • Oracle 9i (Standard or Enterprise Edition)

If any of the required software listed above is not installed on your server machine (or if you do not know if it is installed), click here for instructions on how to verify that you have the appropriate software, links to download the software, and instructions on how to install it.

General System Requirements (if not using Multinationalization):

Client Requirements:

  • Any platform on which Internet Explorer (version 5.0 or greater) or Netscape (version 6.2 or greater) is available. 
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.0 or greater) or Netscape (version 6.2 or greater). 

Server Requirements:

  • 450 MHz Intel Pentium III or compatible system (866 MHz Pentium III or faster recommended). 
  • 128 MB RAM for Windows NT, 192 MB for Windows 2000 (256 MB recommended for Windows NT, 512 MB recommended for Windows 2000) 
  • 50 MB of disk space to install ProblemTracker with one workgroup, plus approximately 20 MB for each additional workgroup.
  • Windows NT Server 4.0 or Windows 2000 Server (Windows 2000 Server recommended). Windows NT Server 4.0 is not recommended for use with new ProblemTracker installations as Microsoft has announced that it is planning to discontinue support for Windows NT 4.0. In particular, non-security hot fixes will not be available after January 1, 2004.  Windows NT Server 4.0 is also not currently supported for the Add Record via Email and ProblemTracker API add-ons (purchased separately).  In addition to the Server operating systems listed above, you can also use Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional for single user evaluation only. These Desktop operating systems can not be used for multi-user evaluations or deployment because the web server (IIS) on these operating systems severely restricts the number of concurrent connections (to the point where no more than 2 or 3 ProblemTracker users can browse to them at one time). Windows XP Professional is also not supported for use with an Oracle database.
  • Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 or 5.0 (IIS 5.0 recommended).
  • JScript 5.5 or greater.  This is included with Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater.  It can also be downloaded and installed separately.
  • Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.5 or greater.  This is included in Windows 2000 and can be downloaded for Windows NT 4.0.
  • Microsoft JET 4.0 Service Pack 5 or greater.  This is included in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 or greater and can be downloaded for Windows NT 4.0 and earlier versions of Windows 2000.
  • Visual SourceSafe 6.0 with Service Pack 5 or greater. This is only required if you wish to use the source code control integration features.

Optional Database Support:

In addition to the included support for Microsoft Access, ProblemTracker can be used with the following database systems 

  • Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Standard or Enterprise Edition)
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (Standard or Enterprise Edition)
  • Oracle 8i (Standard or Enterprise Edition)
  • Oracle 9i (Standard or Enterprise Edition)

If any of the required software listed above is not installed on your server machine (or if you do not know if it is installed), click here for instructions on how to verify that you have the appropriate software, links to download the software, and instructions on how to install it.

Upgrade Instructions

Click on the link below that corresponds to the version you are upgrading from to see the upgrade instructions relevant to your current version:

Upgrading from Version 2.x requires assistance from NetResults Technical Support. Please do not attempt to upgrade your Version 2.x installation without assistance.

Upgrading from Versions 5.0 - 5.0.2 to Version 5.5

Section 1 - Backup your ProblemTracker Installation

For Access Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProblemTracker" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup database files which are to be upgraded and archive the copies in a safe location.  These files are shown below for a default installation.  

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Database\Bugtrack.mdb 
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. Copy the Workgroup Management System database file. The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptadmin\Database\ptadmin.mdb
  4. Copy the User Management database file. The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptcommon\Database\ptcommon.mdb
  5. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  6. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

For SQL Server 7.0 / 2000 or Oracle Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProblemTracker" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. For each workgroup, you may backup SQL Server 7.0/2000 or Oracle database(s) by using SQL Server or Oracle backup or data export operation. Backups may done to a hard disk as well as to tape. Please review your SQL Server or Oracle documentation for further information.
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder)
    shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. Copy the Workgroup Management System database file. This will in Access format even if your workgroup databases are SQL Server or Oracle databases.  The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptadmin\Database\ptadmin.mdb

  4. Copy the User Management database file. The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptcommon\Database\ptcommon.mdb 
  5. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  6. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL USERS:  It is REQUIRED that you either copy the database file(s) to a safe place (Access only) or perform a backup (Access, SQL Server or Oracle).  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS NETRESULTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF ANY DATA AS THE RESULT OF THE INSTALLATION PROCESS.

Section 2 - Running the Installation Set up Program and Performing the Upgrade from Versions 5.0 - 5.0.1 to Version 5.0.2

  1. GO TO SECTION 1.0 ABOVE AND BACKUP ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMTRACKER DATABASES BEFORE PROCEEDING.
     
  2. Prior to installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5, please make sure all users are logged out of each workgroup(s).  You may wish to block the workgroups via the Workgroup Management System (WMS) while you perform the upgrade.  To end any active sessions and block a workgroup: 
    1. Login to WMS
    2. Click on the Admin icon
    3. Select the option Block / Unblock Workgroups, then click on the Continue button
    4. Select a workgroup, then click on the Logoff User Sessions button at the bottom
    5. Click on an active session, then click on the Logoff button.  After all sessions have been logged off, click OK to return to the Block / Unblock section.
    6. Select the workgroup you wish to block, then click on the Block button.
    7. Repeat the steps above for each workgroup you wish to block.
     
  3. Temporarily disable any anti-virus software while you run the Version 5.5 installation program and perform configuration steps in the  Workgroup Management System (WMS). This is recommended so that your anti-virus software will not prevent the installation program or WMS from performing operations such as copying files, running scripts, configuring your web server, setting file permissions and registry entries.  Your anti-virus software can be reactivated safely after you have completed the installation steps and any necessary WMS configuration.
  4. Temporarily stop all IIS services while you run the Version 5.5 installation setup program. Running the installation setup program without stopping all IIS services will prevent you from receiving all of the necessary file updates included in this version.
  5. Install ProblemTracker 5.5 or ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5.  To do this, login to the web server machine as Administrator and then run (double-click from Windows Explorer) pbtrk55.exe (ProblemTracker 5.5) or ptee55.exe (ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5). When the installation setup program has finished, you will be asked to reboot your system.
  6. Login to the Workgroup Management System (WMS) by going to Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker 5->Workgroup Management System.  To upgrade your workgroups, click on the Admin icon on the Button bar. Select the option "Upgrade workgroups from versions 4.x / 5.x to ProblemTracker 5.5", then click on the Continue button.
  7. A list of workgroups that need to be upgraded from Version 5.0 - 5.0.2 will be displayed. Select a workgroup from the pulldown, then click on the "Upgrade Workgroup" button to proceed then click OK to confirm. A confirmation message will be displayed once the workgroup has been upgraded successfully.
  8. To upgrade another workgroup, repeat steps 6 and 7 until all workgroups have been upgraded.
  9. Re-activate your anti-virus software and re-start IIS services.

Your system has now been upgraded to Version 5.5 for all workgroups.

Upgrading from Versions 4.1 - 4.1.1 to Version 5.5

Section 1 - Backup your ProblemTracker Installation

For Access Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProblemTracker" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup database files which are to be upgraded and archive the copies in a safe location.  These files are shown below for a default installation.  

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Database\Bugtrack.mdb 
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. Copy the Workgroup Management System database file. The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptadmin\Database\ptadmin.mdb
  4. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  5. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

For SQL Server 7.0 / 2000 or Oracle Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProblemTracker" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. For each workgroup, you may backup SQL Server 7.0/2000 or Oracle databas(es) by using SQL Server or Oracle backup or data export operation. Backups may done to a hard disk as well as to tape. Please review your SQL Server or Oracle documentation for further information.
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder)
    shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. Copy the Workgroup Management System database file. This will in Access format even if your workgroup databases are SQL Server or Oracle databases.  The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptadmin\Database\ptadmin.mdb

  4. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  5. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL USERS:  It is REQUIRED that you either copy the database file(s) to a safe place (Access only) or perform a backup (Access, SQL Server or Oracle).  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS NETRESULTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF ANY DATA AS THE RESULT OF THE INSTALLATION PROCESS.

Section 2 - Running the Installation Set up Program and Performing the Upgrade from Versions 4.1 - 4.1.1 to Version 5.5

  1. GO TO SECTION 1.0 ABOVE AND BACKUP ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMTRACKER DATABASES BEFORE PROCEEDING.
  2. ProblemTracker Version 5.5 requires a new license key. Your ProblemTracker Version 4 license key(s) will not function with ProblemTracker 5.5. Please do not install ProblemTracker Version 5.5 if you do not have your Version 5 License Keys. Installing Version 5.5 without your Version 5 keys may result in an inability to login to your workgroups (because you have more users than licenses entered) and / or unexpected changes to your users (floating users will be converted to static users if a floating license key is not entered). NetResults Sales will send you a Version 5 key if your support and upgrades subscription is current. Please contact NetResults Sales if you have licensing or subscription questions.
  3. Prior to installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5, please make sure all users are logged out of each workgroup(s). Failure to do this before installing Version 5.5 will result in your workgroups being "locked" because you will not be able to log the users out (because access to the previous version is denied until the workgroup is upgraded) and will not be able to proceed with the upgrade until the users are logged out.
  4. If you have a workgroup(s) using Oracle or case-sensitive SQL Server as the database type AND you have user accounts that have the same name but only differ in case (for example, you have a user id called "user_one" and another user id called "User_One" in the same workgroup, you will need to rename one of these users before upgrading. Rename one of the user accounts so that the user ids are not the same when the case is ignored. For example, you could change the user id "User_One" to be "user1". To rename a user account, login as Admin to the workgroup(s) where this user account is present, click on the Admin icon, then click on the User Administration button. Click on the edit button to the left of the user account you wish to modify.  Change the user id, then click OK to save your changes.
  5. Temporarily disable any anti-virus software while you run the Version 5.5 installation program and perform configuration steps in the Workgroup Management System (WMS).  This is recommended so that your anti-virus software will not prevent the installation program or WMS from performing operations such as copying files, running scripts, configuring your web server, setting file permissions and registry entries. Your anti-virus software can be reactivated safely after you have completed the installation steps and any necessary WMS configuration.
  6. This procedure assumes that you are installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5 on the same machine where you have ProblemTracker 4 installed. If you are installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5 on a different machine than where you have ProblemTracker 4 installed, please review the following Version 5.x Move and Upgrade FAQ entry for instructions.
  7. Temporarily stop all IIS services while you run the Version 5.5 installation setup program. Running the installation setup program without stopping all IIS services will prevent you from receiving all of the necessary file updates included in this version.
  8. Please note that after running the ProblemTracker Version 5.5 installation setup program, you will not be able to access your Version 4.x workgroups until you complete the upgrade process for all workgroups. When ready, install ProblemTracker 5.5 or ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5   To do this, login to the web server machine as Administrator and then run (double-click from Windows Explorer) pbtrk55.exe (ProblemTracker 5.5) or ptee55.exe (ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5).  Enter your license key(s) information by going to Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker 5->ProblemTracker License Manager.  When the installation setup program has finished, you will be asked to reboot your system.
  9. Login to the Workgroup Management System (WMS) by going to Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker 5->Workgroup Management System.  To upgrade your workgroups, click on the Admin icon on the Button bar. Select the option "Upgrade Workgroups from versions 4.x / 5.x to ProblemTracker 5.5". A pulldown menu will contain the workgroups that need to be upgraded from Version 4.x to 5.5. Select a workgroup to be upgraded and click on the Upgrade Workgroup button, then click OK to confirm.

    Once the workgroup files have been upgraded successfully, a confirmation page will be displayed. You will be prompted to upgrade the data for the workgroup. Click on the Continue button to proceed with upgrading your database. A confirmation page will be displayed with details about your database, click on the Upgrade Data button, then click OK to confirm the operation. 

  10. Once the database has been upgraded successfully, a confirmation page will be displayed.  You will be prompted to upgrade your users. Click on the Upgrade Users button to proceed. Depending on the users you have in your workgroup and the number of workgroups you have, it is possible to have user conflicts that need to be resolved before you can upgrade your users. The conflicts arise because multiple workgroups have the same user id, but the user profile information (name, email address, etc.) is different in each workgroup. If a conflict exists for a particular user id, a "Yes" button will be present in the "User Details Conflict?" column. If all of the user ids listed display "No" in the "User Details Conflict?" column and there are no "Resolve" buttons in the "Action" column, proceed to step 11. If any user ids have "Yes" in the "User Details Conflict?" column, click on the "Resolve" button that appears in the "Action" column for the user account.

    The next page will display the "Existing User Details" for the user id. This information is the profile information present in the Workgroup Management System for this workgroup because you have already upgraded a workgroup to 5.5 or you are using one of ProblemTracker's standard users (i.e., dev_mgr or process_mgr). The user account's profile information as entered in the workgroup you are upgrading will be displayed in the "Workgroup User Details" column. You can choose to do one of the following to resolve the user conflict:

    1. You can either select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column). Click on the Update button to proceed.
    2. You can select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column), then change any of the information you would like to save in the user's profile. Choosing this option will result in the user account being saved with the profile information entered in the "Resolved User Details" column. Click on the Update button to proceed.
    3. You can create a new user account to resolve the conflict. To choose this option, select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column), then change the user id in the "Resolved User Details" column to be different from the user id displayed in the other columns. You cannot select a user id that is already in use by another workgroup or a user id that is the same as a default user (such as dev_one, dev_mgr, process_mgr, etc.). You may also change any other user profile information in the "Resolved User Details" column, then click on the Update button to create this new user account. This will resolve the user conflict and the existing user account already present in the Workgroup Management System (displayed in the "Existing User Details" column) will be preserved. This new user account will be counted toward the license limits for the keys you have entered in the ProblemTracker License Manager. Once you have renamed the user id and click on the Update button, you will not have another opportunity to change this user's profile information until after the "Upgrade Users" process is complete. After the users have been upgraded, you can use the Edit User option in the License Administration section of WMS to make changes to this user.

      After making your selection and / or entering the user details in the "Resolved User Details" column, click on the Update button. Click on the "Resolve" button for another user to continue resolving the conflicts.

      Users with "No" displayed in the "User Details Conflict?" column do not have a conflict present. If you wish to modify the profile information for a user which had a conflict resolved, click on the "Edit" button displayed in the "Action" column for the user account, select one of the options in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column to fill the user profile details in this column (the "Resolved User Details" choice will fill the column with the values that were saved for this user when the conflict was resolved), modify the profile information, then click Update to save your changes.

      Repeat this step until all user conflicts have been resolved.  All user conflicts are resolved when all users have "No" listed in the "User Details Conflict?" column and there are no longer any "Resolve" buttons in the "Action" column.

  11. Click on the Upgrade Users button. When the users have been upgraded, a confirmation page will be displayed. Click OK to return to the Administration Menu.
  12. Repeat steps 9 - 11 for each workgroup you have in the Workgroup Management System.
  13. Re-activate your anti-virus software and re-start IIS services.

Your system has now been upgraded to Version 5.5 for all workgroups.

Upgrading from Versions 4.0 - 4.0.3 to Version 5.5

Section 1 - Backup your ProblemTracker Installation

For Access Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProblemTracker" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup database files which are to be upgraded and archive the copies in a safe location. 
    These files are shown below for a default installation.  

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Database\Bugtrack.mdb 
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder)
    shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. Copy the Workgroup Management System database file. The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptadmin\Database\ptadmin.mdb
  4. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  5. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

For SQL Server 7.0 / 2000 or Oracle Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProblemTracker" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. For each workgroup, you may backup SQL Server 7.0/2000 or Oracle databas(es) by using SQL Server or Oracle backup or data export operation. Backups may done to a hard disk as well as to tape. Please review your SQL Server or Oracle documentation for further information.
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder)
    shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. Copy the Workgroup Management System database file. This will in Access format even if your workgroup databases are SQL Server or Oracle databases.  The default location is:

    <installation directory>\ptadmin\Database\ptadmin.mdb

  4. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  5. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL USERS:  It is REQUIRED that you either copy the database file(s) to a safe place (Access only) or perform a backup (Access, SQL Server or Oracle).  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS NETRESULTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF ANY DATA AS THE RESULT OF THE INSTALLATION PROCESS.

Section 2 - Running the Installation Set up Program and Performing the Upgrade from Versions 4.0 - 4.0.3 to Version 5.5

  1. GO TO SECTION 1.0 ABOVE AND BACKUP ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMTRACKER DATABASES BEFORE PROCEEDING.
  2. ProblemTracker Version 5.5 requires a new license key. Your ProblemTracker Version 4 license key(s) will not function with ProblemTracker 5.5. Please do not install ProblemTracker Version 5.5 if you do not have your Version 5 License Keys. Installing Version 5.5 without your Version 5 keys may result in an inability to login to your workgroups (because you have more users than licenses entered) and / or unexpected changes to your users (floating users will be converted to static users if a floating license key is not entered). NetResults Sales will send you a Version 5 key if your support and upgrades subscription is current. Please contact NetResults Sales if you have licensing or subscription questions.
  3. Prior to installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5, please make sure all users are logged out of each workgroup(s). Failure to do this before installing Version 5.5 will result in your workgroups being "locked" because you will not be able to log the users out (because access to the previous version is denied until the workgroup is upgraded) and will not be able to proceed with the upgrade until the users are logged out.
  4. If you have a workgroup(s) using Oracle or case-sensitive SQL Server as the database type AND you have user accounts that have the same name but only differ in case (for example, you have a user id called "user_one" and another user id called "User_One" in the same workgroup, you will need to rename one of these users before upgrading. Rename one of the user accounts so that the user ids are not the same when the case is ignored. For example, you could change the user id "User_One" to be "user1". To rename a user account, login as Admin to the workgroup(s) where this user account is present, click on the Admin icon, then click on the User Administration button. Click on the edit button to the left of the user account you wish to modify. Change the user id, then click OK to save your changes.
  5. Temporarily disable any anti-virus software while you run the Version 5.5 installation program and perform configuration steps in the Workgroup Management System (WMS). This is recommended so that your anti-virus software will not prevent the installation program or WMS from performing operations such as copying files, running scripts, configuring your web server, setting file permissions and registry entries. Your anti-virus software can be reactivated safely after you have completed the installation steps and any necessary WMS configuration.
  6. This procedure assumes that you are installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5 on the same machine where you have ProblemTracker 4 installed. If you are installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5 on a different machine than where you have ProblemTracker 4 installed, please review the following Version 5.x Move and Upgrade FAQ entry for instructions.
  7. Temporarily stop all IIS services while you run the Version 5.5 installation setup program. Running the installation setup program without stopping all IIS services will prevent you from receiving all of the necessary file updates included in this version.
  8. Please note that after running the ProblemTracker Version 5.5 installation setup program, you will not be able to access your Version 4.x workgroups until you complete the upgrade process for all workgroups. When ready, install ProblemTracker 5.5 or ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5.  To do this, login to the web server machine as Administrator and then run (double-click from Windows Explorer) pbtrk55.exe (ProblemTracker 5.5) or ptee55.exe (ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5).  During the installation setup program, you will be prompted to select a server time zone. Please ensure that you select the same time zone as the time zone set in your operating system. Failure to select the same time zone as your operating system's setting will result in incorrect date and time values in your ProblemTracker data. These incorrect values cannot be corrected at a later time.  Enter your license key(s) information by going to 
    Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker 5->ProblemTracker License Manager.  When the installation setup program has finished, you will be asked to reboot your system.
  9. Login to the Workgroup Management System (WMS) by going to Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker 5->Workgroup Management System. To upgrade the workgroups, click on the Admin icon on the Button bar. Select the option "Upgrade Workgroups from versions 4.x / 5.x to ProblemTracker 5.5". Select a workgroup from the pulldown menu, then click on the Upgrade Workgroup button and click OK to confirm. A confirmation page will be displayed confirming that the workgroup files have been upgraded. You will be prompted to upgrade your database. Click on the Continue button to proceed with upgrading the data for the workgroup, then click OK to confirm. 

    Another confirmation page will be displayed listing several areas of your database that need a time zone selection. Select a time zone for each these areas. The time zone you select can be different from the time zone you selected for your ProblemTracker server during the Version 5.5 installation setup. Click on the Upgrade Data button to proceed, then click OK to confirm. 

  10. Once the database has been upgraded successfully, a confirmation page will be displayed.  You will be prompted to upgrade your users. Click on the Upgrade Users button to proceed. Depending on the users you have in your workgroup and the number of workgroups you have, it is possible to have user conflicts that need to be resolved before you can upgrade your users. The conflicts arise because multiple workgroups have the same user id, but the user profile information (name, email address, etc.) is different in each workgroup. If a conflict exists for a particular user id, a "Yes" button will be present in the "User Details Conflict?" column. If all of the user ids listed display "No" in the "User Details Conflict?" column and there are no "Resolve" buttons in the "Action" column, proceed to step 11. If any user ids have "Yes" in the "User Details Conflict?" column, click on the "Resolve" button that appears in the "Action" column for the user account. 

    The next page will display the "Existing User Details" for the user id. This information is the profile information present in the Workgroup Management System for this workgroup because you have already upgraded a workgroup to 5.5 or you are using one of ProblemTracker's standard users (i.e., dev_mgr or process_mgr). The user account's profile information as entered in the workgroup you are upgrading will be displayed in the "Workgroup User Details" column. You can choose to do one of the following to resolve the user conflict:

    1. You can either select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column). Click on the Update button to proceed.
    2. You can select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column), then change any of the information you would like to save in the user's profile. Choosing this option will result in the user account being saved with the profile information entered in the "Resolved User Details" column. Click on the Update button to proceed.
    3. You can create a new user account to resolve the conflict. To choose this option, select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column), then change the user id in the "Resolved User Details" column to be different from the user id displayed in the other columns. You cannot select a user id that is already in use by another workgroup or a user id that is the same as a default user (such as dev_one, dev_mgr, process_mgr, etc.). You may also change any other user profile information in the "Resolved User Details" column, then click on the Update button to create this new user account. This will resolve the user conflict and the existing user account already present in the Workgroup Management System (displayed in the "Existing User Details" column) will be preserved. This new user account will be counted toward the license limits for the keys you have entered in the ProblemTracker License Manager. Once you have renamed the user id and click on the Update button, you will not have another opportunity to change this user's profile information until after the "Upgrade Users" process is complete.  After the users have been upgraded, you can use the Edit User option in the License Administration section of WMS to make changes to this user.

      After making your selection and / or entering the user details in the "Resolved User Details" column, click on the Update button.  Click on the "Resolve" button for another user to continue resolving the conflicts.

      Users with "No" displayed in the "User Details Conflict?" column do not have a conflict present. If you wish to modify the profile  information for a user which had a conflict resolved, click on the "Edit" button displayed in the "Action" column for the user account, select one of the options in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column to fill the user profile details in this column (the "Resolved User Details" choice will fill the column with the values that were saved for this user when the conflict was resolved), modify the profile information, then click Update to save your changes.

      Repeat this step until all user conflicts have been resolved.  All user conflicts are resolved when all users have "No" listed in the "User Details Conflict?" column and there are no longer any "Resolve" buttons in the "Action" column.

  11. Click on the Upgrade Users button. When the users have been upgraded, a confirmation page will be displayed. Click OK to return to the Administration Menu.
  12. Repeat steps 9 - 11 for each workgroup you have in the Workgroup Management System. 
  13. Re-activate your anti-virus software and re-start IIS services.

Your system has now been upgraded to Version 5.5 for all workgroups.

Upgrading Versions 3.0 - 3.6.1 to Version 5.5

Section 1 - Backup your ProblemTracker Installation

For Access Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup database files which are to be upgraded and archive the copies in a safe location. 
    These files are shown below for a default installation.  

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Database\Bugtrack.mdb 
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder)
    shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  4. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

For SQL Server 7.0 / 2000 or Oracle Users:

For each of items below, a default path is listed.  The "<installation directory>" mentioned in the path may be "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot" for Internet Information Server users. Or, it may be a value other than the default if the default was overridden in the original installation. Typically it is at the "root" of your (virtual) web site.

  1. For each workgroup, you may backup SQL Server 7.0/2000 or Oracle databas(es) by using SQL Server or Oracle backup or data export operation. Backups may done to a hard disk as well as to tape. Please review your SQL Server or Oracle documentation for further information.
  2. Copy all ProblemTracker workgroup attachment files and archive the copies in a safe location. These files are located in the path (folder)
    shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Attachments 

  3. If you have customized the login page with your own html, you need to back up the corresponding files as well. These files are located in the path (folder) shown below for a default installation.

    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\loginbottom.inc
    <installation directory>\workgroup\Include\logintop.inc

  4. If you have implemented any additional web server security measures on your ProblemTracker workgroups, this security will be altered after running the upgrade operation on each workgroup.  Additional web server security includes the recommendations in the Web Server Security Help section or other measures recommended by your system administrator (e.g. SSL, etc.).  You will need to re-apply this additional security after you have completed the upgrade operation on each workgroup.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL USERS:  It is REQUIRED that you either copy the database file(s) to a safe place (Access only) or perform a backup (Access, SQL Server or Oracle).  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS NETRESULTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF ANY DATA AS THE RESULT OF THE INSTALLATION PROCESS.

Section 2 - Running the Installation Set up Program and Performing the Upgrade from Versions 3.0 - 3.6.1 to Version 5.5

  1. GO TO SECTION 1.0 ABOVE AND BACKUP ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMTRACKER DATABASES BEFORE PROCEEDING.
  2. ProblemTracker Version 5.5 requires a new license key. Your ProblemTracker Version 3 license key(s) will not function with ProblemTracker 5.5. Please do not install ProblemTracker Version 5.5 if you do not have your Version 5 License Keys. Installing Version 5.5 without your Version 5 keys may result in an inability to login to your workgroups (because you have more users than licenses entered) and / or unexpected changes to your users (floating users will be converted to static users if a floating license key is not entered). NetResults Sales will send you a Version 5 key if your support and upgrades subscription is current. Please contact NetResults Sales if you have licensing or subscription questions.
  3. Prior to installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5, please make sure all users are logged out of each workgroup(s). Failure to do this before installing Version 5.5 will result in your workgroups being "locked" because you will not be able to log the users out (because access to the previous version is denied until the workgroup is upgraded) and will not be able to proceed with the upgrade until the users are logged out.
  4. If you have a workgroup(s) using case-sensitive SQL Server as the database type AND you have user accounts that have the same name but only differ in case (for example, you have a user id called "user_one" and another user id called "User_One" in the same workgroup, you will need to rename one of these users before upgrading. Rename one of the user accounts so that the user ids are not the same when the case is ignored. For example, you could change the user id "User_One" to be "user1". To rename a user account, login as Admin to the workgroup(s) where this user account is present, click on the Admin icon, then click on the User Administration button. Click on the edit button to the left of the user account you wish to modify. Change the user id, then click OK to save your changes.
  5. Temporarily disable any anti-virus software while you run the Version 5.5 installation program and perform configuration steps in the Workgroup Management System (WMS). This is recommended so that your anti-virus software will not prevent the installation program or WMS from performing operations such as copying files, running scripts, configuring your web server, setting file permissions and registry entries. Your anti-virus software can be reactivated safely after you have completed the installation steps and any necessary WMS configuration.
  6. This procedure assumes that you are installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5 on the same machine where you have ProblemTracker 3 installed. If you are installing ProblemTracker Version 5.5 on a different machine than where you have ProblemTracker 3 installed, please review the following Version 5.x Move and Upgrade FAQ entry for instructions.
  7. Install ProblemTracker 5.5 or ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5.  To do this, login to the web server machine as Administrator and then run (double-click from Windows Explorer) pbtrk55.exe (ProblemTracker 5.5) or ptee55.exe (ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.5).  During the installation setup program, you will be prompted to select a server time zone. Please ensure that you select the same time zone as the time zone set in your operating system. Failure to select the same time zone as your operating system's setting will result in incorrect date and time values in your ProblemTracker data. These incorrect values cannot be corrected at a later time.  Enter your license key(s) information by going to Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker 5->ProblemTracker License Manager.  After the installation setup program has finished, you will be asked to reboot your system.
  8. Log into the Workgroup Management System by going to Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker 5->Workgroup Management System.  Click on the Admin icon and select the option "Upgrade Workgroups from versions 3.x to ProblemTracker 5.5", then click on the Continue button.
  9. In the Current Workgroup details section, type in the current workgroup name, select the current database type and web site, then click on the Continue button to proceed. 
  10. In the New Workgroup details section, enter information for the new workgroup including Workgroup Name, Description, Location, Template, Web Site, Host Name/IP Address, Port Number, and history comment. If using Access as your database type, please choose a workgroup name and location that are different than your current 3.x workgroup. This is very important because choosing an identical name will cause you to overwrite your 3.x workgroup.  If you are using SQL Server as your database type, the Version 3 database will be upgraded whether you choose a different name or use the same name. Please make sure you have a backup of your database before proceeding. Once you have entered the necessary information, if you are using Access as your database type, uncheck the box for "re-direct your Version 3 workgroup URL to your Version 5.5 database". If you are using SQL Server, you may check this box for re-direction. Click on the Continue button to proceed with the upgrade process. 
  11. A confirmation screen listing information for both the current workgroup and the new workgroup will be displayed. Click on the Back button to make any necessary changes. Otherwise, click on the Upgrade Workgroup button to complete the Upgrade operation. Click OK to confirm. A confirmation page will be displayed confirming that the workgroup files have been upgraded. Click on the Continue button to proceed with upgrading the data for the workgroup, then click OK to confirm the operation. 

    Another confirmation page will be displayed listing several areas of your database that need a time zone selection. Select a time zone for each these areas. The time zone you select can be different from the time zone you selected for your ProblemTracker server during the Version 5.5 installation setup. Click on the Upgrade Data button to proceed, then click OK to confirm.  Click OK after the upgrade operation has completed.

  12. Once the database has been upgraded successfully, a confirmation page will be displayed.  You will be prompted to upgrade your users. Click on the Upgrade Users button to proceed. Depending on the users you have in your workgroup and the number of workgroups you have, it is possible to have user conflicts that need to be resolved before you can upgrade your users. The conflicts arise because multiple workgroups have the same user id, but the user profile information (name, email address, etc.) is different in each workgroup. If a conflict exists for a particular user id, a "Yes" button will be present in the "User Details Conflict?" column. If all of the user ids listed display "No" in the "User Details Conflict?" column and there are no "Resolve" buttons in the "Action" column, proceed to step 13. If any user ids have "Yes" in the "User Details Conflict?" column, click on the "Resolve" button that appears in the "Action" column for the user account.

    The next page will display the "Existing User Details" for the user id. This information is the profile information present in the Workgroup  Management System for this workgroup because you have already upgraded a workgroup to 5.5 or you are using one of ProblemTracker's standard users (i.e., dev_mgr or process_mgr). The user account's profile information as entered in the workgroup you are upgrading will be displayed in the "Workgroup User Details" column. You can choose to do one of the following to resolve the user conflict:

    1. You can either select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column). Click on the Update button to proceed.
    2. You can select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column), then change any of the information you would like to save in the user's profile. Choosing this option will result in the user account being saved with the profile information entered in the "Resolved User Details" column. Click on the Update button to proceed.
    3. You can create a new user account to resolve the conflict. To choose this option, select the user profile information present in one of the columns (by selecting either "Existing User Details" or "Workgroup User Details" in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column), then change the user id in the "Resolved User Details" column to be different from the user id displayed in the other columns. You cannot select a user id that is already in use by another workgroup or a user id that is the same as a default user (such as dev_one, dev_mgr, process_mgr, etc.). You may also change any other user profile information in the "Resolved User Details" column, then click on the Update button to create this new user account. This will resolve the user conflict and the existing user account already present in the Workgroup Management System (displayed in the "Existing User Details" column) will be preserved. This new user account will be counted toward the license limits for the keys you have entered in the ProblemTracker License Manager. Once you have renamed the user id and click on the Update button, you will not have another opportunity to change this user's profile information until after the "Upgrade Users" process is complete.  After the users have been upgraded, you can use the Edit User option in the License Administration section of WMS to make changes to this user.

      After making your selection and / or entering the user details in the "Resolved User Details" column, click on the Update button. Click on the "Resolve" button for another user to continue resolving the conflicts.

      Users with "No" displayed in the "User Details Conflict?" column do not have a conflict present. If you wish to modify the profile information for a user which had a conflict resolved, click on the "Edit" button displayed in the "Action" column for the user account, select one of the options in the pulldown at the top of the "Resolved User Details" column to fill the user profile details in this column (the "Resolved User Details" choice will fill the column with the values that were saved for this user when the conflict was resolved), modify the profile information, then click Update to save your changes.

      Repeat this step until all user conflicts have been resolved.  All user conflicts are resolved when all users have "No" listed in the "User Details Conflict?" column and there are no longer any "Resolve" buttons in the "Action" column.

  13. Click on the Upgrade Users button. When the users have been upgraded, a confirmation page will be displayed. Click OK to return to the Administration Menu.
  14. Go back to the Workgroup Management System Home Page. To login to your upgraded workgroup, click on the key icon to the left of the workgroup name from the list on the WMS Home Page. Login to the workgroup to confirm that the upgrade was successful.
  15. Repeat steps 8 - 14 for each workgroup you have in the Workgroup Management System.
  16. There are significant changes to the way your Version 3 data will be represented after upgrading to Version 5.5. Please review the details in the Version 3.0 - 3.6.1 Upgrade Preparation information on the ProblemTracker web site.
  17. After upgrading all the workgroups to Version 5.5, login to each of the workgroups and make sure that the upgrade was successful. After doing this, uninstall ProblemTracker 3 from your machine following the steps below.

    1. Select Start-> Programs -> NetResults ProblemTracker 3 -> Modify-Uninstall ProblemTracker
    2. When the uninstall starts, click "Next"
    3. Select "Remove" option and click "Next"
    4. For SQL Server Users:  Select "Components only (leave databases)" option as SQL Server database(s) are upgraded "in place". If you select "Components and databases", you will delete the 5.5 SQL Server database(s).
      For Access Users:  Select "Components and databases" option as Access database(s) are copied before being upgraded.
    5. Click "Next" and complete the uninstallation
  18. Reactivate your anti-virus software and re-start IIS services.

Your system has now been upgraded to Version 5.5 for all workgroups.

Changes in ProblemTracker

Version 5.5

Enhancements

  • Home Page
    • Saved Charts (Metrics) can now be displayed as Home Page reports (by users with the Metrics privilege). The Home Page Saved Chart reports can also be printed and exported (as CSV files) directly from the Home Page.
    • A third report can now be displayed on the Home Page.
    • Paging has been added to Home Page text reports (Saved Queries).
    • Home Page reports (both Saved Queries & Saved Charts) can be dynamically selected without leaving the Home Page. For each of the (up to) three reports on the Home Page, a pulldown is now displayed with a list of available reports. By simply selecting a new report from the pulldown, it will automatically be run & displayed on the Home Page in place of the previously selected report.
    • For more information about the Home Page, please review the Logging In section of the User Guide.
  • Personal Preferences
    • Users can now select the characters to be used as the field (value) separator and row (record) separator when exporting data from the Query, Home, or Metrics sections to a CSV (comma separated values) file. This can be useful when exporting data to MacOS or Unix (where the row separator may need to be a single CR or LF rather than the Windows CR+LF) or when exporting data in a country that uses a comma in floating point numbers (in which case semicolon may need to be used as the field separator rather than comma). Users can also select a file extension of .csv, a file extension of .txt, or no file extension at all.
    • Users can decide whether or not to view the new Field Help on the Add, Edit, and Task pages.
    • User can specify the size for Saved Charts on their Home Page.
    • The link to personal preferences has been shortened to just the word Preferences to make room for the new user account info update from the Home Page (see User Account Management enhancements below).
    • For more information about Personal Preferences, please review the Logging In section of the User Guide.
  • User Account Management
    • Users can create their own user accounts using the Self Registration feature. Self Registration can be enabled in the General Preferences section of the Admin page. For more detail, please review the Self Registration section of the Administration Guide.
    • Users with the appropriate privilege enabled can edit their own user account information such as email address, phone number, and street address. Members of user groups with this privilege enabled will have a link called Account Info displayed in the upper right corner of the Home Page. For more information on the Account Info option from the Home Page, please review the Logging In section of the User Guide.
    • An option to allow workgroup Administrators to edit user account (profile) information has been added to the Workgroup Management System. When enabled, the workgroup Administrator can update a user's account information from within the User Administration section of the workgroup. There is no need for the "global" administrator (ptadmin) to login to the Workgroup Management System to make such changes. For more information, please review the Administration Options section in the License Administration part of the Workgroup Management Guide.
    • In previous versions of ProblemTracker, the user type Customer was available to denote external partners, vendors or customers. This user type is now called External user type in all areas of ProblemTracker. For more information, please review the Adding a User section of the Workgroup Management Guide.

 

  • Add
    • "AutoFill" is a feature that has been added to allow information about the Reporter's machine, such as operating system, browser type and version, and IP address, to be automatically filled in for fields on the Add and / or Inet pages. For more information about AutoFill, please review the Customizing the Data Record section of the Administration Guide.
    • The states available for selection on the Add page can now be restricted on a per-product basis using the Allowed Add States option in the Workflow Properties section of Define Workflow. Please review the Workflow Properties section of the Administration Guide for further details.
    • The option to include or exclude State Manager in the list of available users in the Assigned To field on the Add and / or Inet pages can be set in the General Preferences section using the preference Include 'State Manager' on the Assignee List on Add operation.
    • Product, Integer, and Floating type fields can now be set to require a selection to be made or a value to be entered on the Add page (they can be Required fields). See the Customizing the Data Record section of the Administration Guide for additional information.
    • Field Help can now be configured for each individual field in ProblemTracker. The field help will be displayed to users (as "tool tip" text) when moving the cursor over the field help icon (a yellow question mark) next to each field label. This field help is visible in the Add, Edit & Task pages. Advanced users who no longer wish to view field help can set a personal preference to exclude the display of the field help icons. More information about this feature can be found in the Customizing the Data Record section of the Administration Guide.
  • Query
    • Divider entries have been added to the Saved Queries pulldown to clearly separate Standard Saved Queries from Advanced Saved Queries.
    • When a Saved Query is selected (in the Saved Queries bar), the pulldown in the Report Layouts bar (just below the Saved Queries bar) automatically changes to the Report Layout which is associated with the (newly selected) Saved Query. This allows you to quickly find and Edit the Report Layout for a particular Saved Query.
    • The Report Layout selection for an ad hoc query (one specified on the Query page itself) has been moved to the top of the Query for Records dialog for easy access. The Report Layout property of a Standard Saved Query has also been moved to the top of page for the Add & Edit (standard) Saved Query operations.
    • When a Saved Query is run, the name of the Saved Query is displayed at the top of the Query results page.
    • Printing can be done directly from the Query results page (no need to perform a Print Preview/Format for Printing first).
    • A second set of paging options has been added at the bottom of the Query results page.
    • Record Visibility for a group of records can now be changed using the Edit Results operation from the Query results page.
    • Workgroup Administrators are now allowed to create Saved Queries and Report Layouts for any user group without having to be a member of the user group.
  • Task
    • In versions 4.0 - 5.0.2, the General Preference option Restrict Task Operation to Current Assignee was available to restrict the users allowed to task records. However, it applied to all users or none at all. This option has been changed to a user group privilege called Task Assigned Records so that you can extend this privilege only to members of select user groups. Members of user groups with this privilege enabled may perform the Task operation on any records to which he or she is assigned.
    • The user group privilege Task Records in State(s) has been added to you to restrict use of the Task operation to records in certain states by user group. Members of user groups with this privilege are only allowed to perform the Task operation on records with the Status field set to be the state(s) selected for this privilege. For example, the Development user group could be given the Task privilege, but only for records in the In Development state.
    • The user group privilege Task All Records has been added to allow members of user groups with this privilege enabled to perform the Task operation on any record in ProblemTracker irrespective of the current Assignee and current State of the record. For further information on the new Task related User Group privileges, please review the Privileges section in the Administration Guide.
    • When creating or editing a workflow transition, the New Assignee can be set to the value LoginUser, which will assign the record to the user performing the Task operation. This option is useful in situations where records are assigned to TBD or another user meant as a placeholder and the user needs to assign a record to his or her self. For further information on this and other Transition properties, please review the Workflow Transitions section of the Administration Guide.
  • Edit
    • The Edit Attachments, Edit Source Code List, and Edit Alert buttons have been replaced with icons that have more complete descriptions of each operation as tool tip text (help text that pops up when the mouse is moved over the icon). These same icons are used on the View page when displaying lists of Attachments, Source Code File Associations, and Alert Settings.
    • The OK button on the Edit page has been renamed to Update Fields (OK) to more clearly describe what is done when that button is clicked (the fields in the record are updated with the values displayed on the Edit page). Only the button label has been changed, the operation that is performed when the button is clicked remains the same.
  • Discussion
    • The Discussion feature allows a user to reply with the original thread or message content included in the new reply. This can be done by using the Reply with Original icon available in the Discussion section.
  • Metrics
    • The data generated for a Saved Chart in the Metrics section can now be exported as a CSV (comma separated values) file for use in third party tools such as Excel, Crystal Reports, etc. In Excel, you can create a graph from the data by simply selecting the data cells (and, optionally, the label cells just above and/or to the left of the data cells) and clicking on the Excel Chart Wizard icon (or selecting Insert->Chart...). After selecting Chart Type in the first page of the Excel chart wizard, you can click Finish to generate a Chart or click Next to step through the wizard and customize your Excel chart. You can then save the chart in Excel or cut & paste it into other documents.
    • Saved Charts can limit calculations to only those states in a particular State Group and/or only those users in a particular User Group. For example, this can be used to limit a workload chart to only users in the QA group or a project status chart to only active states (e.g. exclude Closed issues).
    • The option to exclude option menu items with zero values has been added to the "Perform calculations for..." section of the Saved Chart parameters.
    • For information on the Metrics feature, please review the Metrics section of the User Guide.
  • Email Notification Enhancements
    • Two new sections have been added to emails which are sent based on the email notification rules: Introduction and Signature. These can be used to provide general information about ProblemTracker, your product, links to an FAQ, etc. in the beginning and at the end of each email notification. The Introduction and Signature sections are configurable per product. Additionally, the Greeting (e.g. "Hello User,") is now configurable per product.
    • The content of the Subject and Operation Description sections of an email can now be customized for each individual email notification rule.
    • Inclusion (or exclusion) of email notification content can be done by User Group. For each User Group, you can select whether or not to include the Greeting, Introduction, Operation Description, Link, History Comment, Fields, and Signature.
    • In previous versions, the option whether to include a hyperlink in the email notification messages was set globally (for all products and users) in the Email Configuration section. This has been changed to be a user group privilege called "Link" in the Email privileges so that you can include or exclude this email content based on user group. Please review the Privileges section of the Administration Guide for more information.
    • In previous versions, if a TextArea/BigText field was empty, an email that contained the field still included two lines of hyphens (with no text in between). Now, the two lines are only included if there is some text in the TextArea/BigText field.
    • The default email preferences can now be pushed to all products in a single operation. If you use the same email rules for all products, you can use this feature to easily update the rules for all products with a single operation rather than updating each product's email rules individually.
    • When constructing the URL Link to the login page in email notification messages, the workgroup's host name and IP settings as configured in the Workgroup Management System (WMS) will be applied. A new option to account for workgroups where SSL is enabled has also been added to the workgroup settings in WMS (the URL Link to the login page for such workgroups will now begin with https: instead of http:).
    • Additional SMTP (email) authentication methods have been added to ProblemTracker to allow stronger authentication at your mail server when ProblemTracker sends email notifications.
    • The From and Reply-To Email Account fields in the Outgoing Email Configuration have been changed to allow descriptive names or other information in addition to an email address to be entered (e.g. "NetResults Technical Support" <pt_support@n2r6.com> can be used as the From & Reply-To rather than just pt_support@n2r6.com). Note: Mail servers and readers have very specific format requirements for these fields. You must use a double quote around the descriptive text and less than and greater than characters around the actual email address as in the above example. Otherwise, the email may not be sent or received properly.
    • The Send Email utility in a workgroup's Administration section now has the ability to send an email message to any user group in the workgroup (in addition to sending to individual users). You may wish to use this to notify some or all users of an upcoming scheduled maintenance operation, for instance.
    • For further information on Email configuration, please review the Email Configuration section of the Administration Guide.
  • General Preferences
    • The ability to start the automatic numbering of records from a number other than 0 (zero) has been added in the General Preferences section. The starting number can only be changed in workgroups that do not have existing records.
    • The Inet Page (add operation for anonymous users) can now be enabled / disabled via the General Preferences section. If you are not using the Inet Page, it is recommended that you disable the Inet Page.
    • For additional details on these and other General Preference settings, please review the General Preferences section of the Administration Guide.
  • Workgroup Management System
    • Three new workgroup templates have been added: Support, Help Desk, and Knowledge Base. These provide an initial ProblemTracker configuration, complete with record definition, pulldown menu values, workflow, email notifications, and sample users, for use as a Support Portal, Help Desk Operation, or Knowledge Base. Note: Use of the Knowledge Base template requires the purchase of the Knowledge Base Add-on (see below).
    • The workgroup repair operation in WMS now has the option to repair individual aspects of the workgroup: Web Files, File Permissions, and IIS Application Settings. Please review the Repair Workgroups section of the Workgroup Management Guide for more information.
    • The Workgroup Management System Repair operation (available from the Repair-Uninstall ProblemTracker Program Folder entry) now optionally repairs the IIS Application Settings and File System Permissions for the Workgroup Management System in addition to replacing any missing or outdated files. If you first run the full Workgroup Management System Repair operation, then login to WMS and perform a workgroup repair operation on each workgroup, you will restore the full IIS configuration and file system permission for your ProblemTracker installation. This can be useful if another program (or Windows Update operation) overwrites the IIS configuration or file system permissions for your ProblemTracker installation.
  • Add-ons
    • You can now use ProblemTracker to create a Knowledge Base of articles about known issues, frequently asked questions, tech notes, etc. These Knowledge Base articles may be searched and read by your users via a customizable web interface which includes search parameters that you have configured. The Knowledge Base can either be created as its own standalone workgroup or you can enable the Knowledge Base feature in an existing workgroup to automatically create a Knowledge Base from your existing data. For all Knowledge Base articles, you can configure exactly which information is visible to end users and which is only visible internally (such as internal notes, review comments, etc.). You can also configure which records in your workgroup are visible as Knowledge Base articles (thus allowing you to store draft and/or obsolete Knowledge Base articles in the same workgroup). The full set of ProblemTracker workflow features can be used with the Knowledge Base so that that your process of creating, reviewing, and updating Knowledge Base articles can be automated and enforced by ProblemTracker. The Knowledge Base add-on is an optional, separately purchased feature. It requires a separate license key to enable it. Details of this new feature are available in the Knowledge Base section of the Administration Guide.
    • The Add Record via Email add-on allows users to submit issues (add new records) to ProblemTracker by sending an email. You may wish to use this if ProblemTracker is installed on an internal web server which cannot be browsed to by external users (a web server behind your corporate firewall). Users who are out of the office (outside the firewall) can still submit new issues by sending email to a standard POP3 or IMAP email account on your corporate mail server. ProblemTracker can then read the email by connecting to your corporate mail server and Add a new record with the email content (including, optionally, any email attachments). The Add Record via Email add-on is an optional, separately purchased feature. It requires a separate license key to enable it. For more detail, please review the Add Records via Email section of the Administration Guide.
    • The ProblemTracker Application Programming Interface (API) allows you to add records to ProblemTracker from an external application. For example, you can use this feature to create a gateway between a legacy system and your ProblemTracker installation. To use the ProblemTracker API you will need to purchase the ProblemTracker Software Development Kit (SDK) and install it on the computer with the external application. Use of the API (SDK) requires a separate license key.

Fixes

  • In previous 5.x versions, when the Save Group Queries privilege was denied to particular user groups, the members of these user groups still were able to save group queries. This has been corrected to disable the ability to save group queries when this privilege is not granted to a user group.
  • In previous versions, when the Product field was configured to be dependent on another field and was visible on the Add page, the Status field was not properly updated to select the default state based on the value of the Product field. This has been corrected such that the value of the Status field corresponds to the default state of the Product selected irrespective of the Product field's dependency on another field.
  • In previous 5.x versions, when the Add & Copy operation was used to copy a pulldown field that is dependent on another pulldown and the copied pulldown field has the field property "Copy Value for Next Add" set to "No", an invalid value could be saved for the field. This has been corrected such that the correct default value is used for the copied pulldown field.
  • In previous 5.x versions, when a value larger than 2147483647 was entered into an Integer field, a system error was displayed. This has been changed such that the user will be prompted to select a value that is lower than the 2147483647 limit for the Integer field.
  • In previous 5.x versions, removing the Help privilege from a user group still allowed members of that group to access the context sensitive help links (the small help icon in the right corner below the status field). This has been corrected to remove the context sensitive help links (icon) when a user group does not have the Help privilege.
  • In previous versions of 5.x, the IIS virtual directory "ptcgi4" was created even though it is no longer used. This has been corrected so that this virtual directory is no longer created by ProblemTracker.
  • In previous versions of 5.x, when certain forms of Advanced Saved Query were associated with a Saved Chart that displayed historical data (statistics for previous dates), a script timeout could occur when running the Saved Chart if Access was the database (this did not occur with Oracle or SQL Server as the database). This has been corrected.
  • In previous versions, if the Reporter for a record was deleted any subsequent emails with the Reporter field would leave the Reporter field blank. The Reporter is now included in email notifications, even if the user account for the Reporter has been deleted.
  • In previous versions, if more than 36 characters were entered as the Label property for a RelNum type field, a system error was displayed. Now, the full 40 characters may be used in a RelNum field Label (the same number of characters allowed for other field types).

Version 5.0.2

Enhancements

  • ProblemTracker has been changed to prevent active use of a workgroup until it has been upgraded to the latest version installed (the version listed in the upper right corner of the Workgroup Management System Home Page). When users attempt to login to a workgroup that has not been upgraded, an error message will be displayed to mention that the workgroup needs to be upgraded.
  • A means of logging out users from individual workgroups has been added to the Workgroup Management System (WMS). This feature can be found on the Block / Unblock Workgroups section of WMS. This change is documented in the Blocking / Unblocking Workgroups section of the WMS Help Guide. 

Fixes

  • In Versions 5.0 and 5.0.1, the maximum number of concurrent sessions was reached in some situations where users were not logged in 
    because expired user sessions were not being removed from the database.  This issue has been corrected such that the expired sessions are removed as expected.
  • In Versions 4.1 - 5.0.1, the results of an Advanced Saved Query would not be displayed properly if the Query Phrase used multiple clauses to select multiple values for one Pulldown field (these were cases in which a single clause could be interchanged with the multiple clauses to generate the same results).  This issue has been corrected to display the query results correctly for all cases.
  • In Versions 4.1 - 5.0.1, option menu items were not displayed correctly per the order value specified when the pulldown field was configured in a dependent relationship with another pulldown. This has been corrected such that the option menu items are displayed correctly according to the value of the item's order field.
  • In Versions 5.0 and 5.0.1, when a Text, BigText, or URL type field on the Add page contained the double quotes symbol and the Add & Copy button was clicked to save a record, the text following the double quotes was truncated. This has been fixed such that all of the text is saved in the record when double quotes are present.

Version 5.0.1

Enhancements

  • In ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition, an option called "before" has been added as a means of setting an alert for a relative date / time. For example, this option can be used to configure an alert to be sent 5 days before the value of a date field in the record.
  • In ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition, when new messages have been posted to a discussion thread, there are icons in the thread list and message list to indicate where the new messages are located. In addition, the Status "UPDATED" appears in a thread's entry on the view page to reflect new messages.
  • In ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition, a field called "Discussion Subscription" has been added to the Query page to allow a user to include or exclude in the query criteria those records that contain a discussion thread(s) to which the user is subscribed.
  • In ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition, the discussion threads for a particular record are now displayed on the View page.
  • In Version 5.0, in order to change the chart layout, input records, or chart title of a saved chart, the "Edit" operation would have to be used. The chart layout, input records, or chart title of a saved chart can now be changed directly from the Metrics main page by using the Save button.
  • The ability to export the results of a History query to a *.CSV (comma separated values) file has been added.
  • A hypertext link to view the appropriate problem record and the name of the workgroup where the record is located are now included in the email notification messages sent by ProblemTracker.
  • When the option "Prompt with User Group" is configured as the New Assignee in a transition and the current assignee is a member of the User Group selected, the current assignee will be displayed as the default selection for the Assigned To field during the Task Operation. For all other cases, the members of the user group will be displayed in alphabetical order. Similarly, when the option "Prompt with State
    Group" is configured as the New State in a transition and the current state is a member of the state group selected, the current state will be displayed as the default selection for the Status field during the Task operation.
  • The ability to select multiple users to be added to the User Administration section of the workgroup has been implemented.
  • Icons have been added to the workgroup Home Page to allow a user to print the entire Home Page or choose to print one of the reports displayed.
  • ProblemTracker now supports the Netscape 7.0 browser.
  • A new option to resolve a user conflict by renaming a user id has been added for use while upgrading users from Version 3 or 4 to Version 5. Renaming a user id will result in the creation of a new user account to resolve the user conflict.
  • When selecting "All Records" as the "Input Records" when generating a chart in the Metrics section of Version 5.0, soft deleted records were included in the chart data. This has been changed such that soft deleted records will not be included in the chart data when "All Records" is chosen as the "Input Records" for a chart.  To include soft deleted records in a Metric calculation, create a Saved Query which
    uses '*' or 'Yes' as the value for Deleted and use that Saved Query as the value for Input Records.

Fixes

  • In Version 5.0, when a user was deleted from a workgroup then renamed in the Workgroup Management System, then restored in a workgroup, a system error would occur for this user upon login. The maintenance button "Fix Restored Users" has been added to correct  this issue in upgraded installations.  In addition, a change has been made to the restore operation such that this issue will not occur when restoring a user under the conditions mentioned above.
  • When upgrading from a previous version of ProblemTracker to Version 5.0 with a user group that contained a single quote in its name, a system error would occur.  This has been corrected to allow a user group name with a single quote to be upgraded successfully.
  • In Version 5.0, deleting all group saved report layouts would remove a user's ability to access to the Query page if the user did not have any personal report layouts defined. This has been corrected so that the saved group report layout "Default [Users]" will be displayed as the only option instead of generating an error.
  • In ProblemTracker 4.x and newer when creating a standard saved query while an advanced saved query was selected as the default, a system error would occur.  This has been fixed to allow a standard saved query to be added when an advanced saved query is configured as the default.
  • In previous versions of ProblemTracker, attempting to delete all states in the Define Workflow section would result in a system error. This has been corrected to prompt the user that at least one state is required in the Define Workflow section.
  • When configuring a dependent relationship between a parent pulldown menu and 2 child pulldowns in Versions 4.1 or newer, setting the default option menu item for one child pulldown removed the default option menu item from the other child pulldown.  This has been corrected such that setting the default item for one child pulldown does not affect the default item of another child pulldown.
  • When upgrading from an earlier version to 5.0, some ISO-8859-1 characters were being incorrectly detected as UTF-8 characters in the user profile information, preventing such users from being added to non-UTF-8 workgroups. This has been fixed to allow the characters to
    be correctly categorized during the upgrade process.
  • In Enterprise Edition Version 5.0, a system error may occur when replying to a discussion message in a workgroup with more than 9 discussion messages. This has been fixed to allow a reply to occur successfully in a workgroup with more than 9 messages.
  • In Versions 4.0 or newer when renaming the field labels for "Assigned To" or "Status", the new label was not being displayed during the Task operation. This has been corrected such that the actual label of the field will be shown during the Task operation.
  • In previous versions when the labels for the fields "Status", "Product", and "Assignee" are renamed, the new labels are not displayed in the Record History section of each record.  This has been fixed to display the actual label of the field in the Record History.
  • In previous versions of ProblemTracker, use of a single quote in the History Comment field while using the Edit Results operation would  cause a system error to occur and would abort the attempted changes. This has been corrected to allow use of a single quote in this situation.
  • In Enterprise Edition Version 5.0, a system error would occur when a user with a single quote present in the user's id, first or last name was invited to participate in a discussion.  This has been fixed to allow such a user to be invited to a discussion without an error.
  • In Enterprise Edition Version 5.0, the first record added via the Customer Bug Page for each product would not have the default alert settings set as expected. This has been corrected so that the default alert settings are set for the first record submitted via the Customer Bug Page for each product.
  • In Enterprise Edition Version 5.0, if a workgroup was installed on a web site using a non-standard port number, the URL provided in a Discussion email message would not include the port number, resulting in a "page not found" error when browsing to the discussion. This has been corrected to include the port number when appropriate.
  • In Enterprise Edition Version 5.0, the subscription list of a thread was not deleted when a thread was deleted, causing the subscription information from an obsolete thread to be used in a newer thread. This has been corrected to delete the subscription list when a thread is deleted.
  • In Enterprise Edition Version 5.0, when clicking on the OK button on the thread list of a record, personal subscriptions would be added for threads that already had the subscription box checked (because a user group in which the user was a member was subscribed).  This has been fixed such that personal subscriptions would only be added if the box was not checked before viewing the thread list.
  • When using a Netscape 4.x browser with Version 5.0, a system error would occur when adding a record even though the new record would still be saved. This has been fixed such that the error does not occur when adding a record with a Netscape 4.x browser.
  • When upgrading a SQL Server workgroup from Version 3.0.6 to Version 4.x, a system error would occur. This has been corrected to allow a Version 3.0.6 SQL Server workgroup to be successfully upgraded to the latest version.
  • When using a URL field in Versions 4.0 and newer, a link was not displayed in the query results when this field was included as column in the report layout. This has been fixed to display the link.
  • When using a Netscape Navigator 4.73 browser with Version 5.0, a Javascript error would occur when attempting to edit a user. This has been fixed to allow a user to be edited without an error with this browser.

Version 5.0

Enhancements

  • A new product has been added: ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition 5.0. It has all of the features of the ProblemTracker 5.0 product, plus the Alerts and Discussion features described below.
  • "Alerts" allows users to set email notification messages to be sent at a future date and time for each record in ProblemTracker. Alerts can be used as reminders for users and groups about a record. Alerts can also be used for escalation purposes to notify a user(s) or group(s) when the status of a record has not changed.  Alerts is only available in ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition (an additional license key is required for the use of Alerts).  For details, please review the Alerts section of the User Help Guide.
  • The "Discussion" feature allows users to begin a multiple discussions for each record in ProblemTracker. Discussion allows users and groups to discuss topics related to a record in parallel to the record's progress through the workflow.  Discussion is only available in ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition (an additional license key is required for the use of Discussion).  For details, please review the Discussion section of the User Help Guide.
  • "Metrics" has been added to allow an expanded charts and graphs functionality.  Metrics allows users to create saved charts and graphs for personal use and for groups. The options have been augmented to include the ability to generate charts based on a saved query to limit the data set, additional date range options greater flexibility in the formatting of each chart, support of multinational character sets, and a collection of sample charts is included in newly created workgroups.  For more information, please review the Metrics section of the User Help Guide.
  • User accounts are now created and maintained in the License Administration section of the Workgroup Management System. The License Administration section is a central interface where users from all workgroups can be administered to update user profile information and set each user's access rights to individual workgroups.  Only the user's group membership and privileges are maintained within each individual workgroup. For more information, please review the License Administration section of the WMS Help Guide.
  • The ability to configure Read Only Task Fields has been added. This allows a user to be prompted with a field during the Task operation, but the contents of the field cannot be modified. This is useful in cases where a field should be displayed for reference purposes. Date fields can be set up to be read only and initialized, allowing a date field to be set automatically by the task operation, but not altered manually by the user.
  • An operation called "Add & Copy" has been added on the Add Page. Clicking on the "Add & Copy" button after entering a new record will save the new record and also save the values entered in the fields of the Add page so they can be used to enter a second record with similar values. This feature can be used to enter multiple records with some similar information to be routed to different departments or applied to multiple products, projects, or versions as separate records. Each field can be configured to be "Copied on Next Add" in the Define Record section of the Administration page in a workgroup. 
  • The function of the "Add" button has changed. After entering the information in the fields on the Add form, clicking on the "Add" button will save the new record, but the values entered for the fields will not be saved on the Add page to be used when adding a second record with similar information. The fields on the Add page will be re-set to their default values (or blank for text fields). If you wish to have the contents of the fields saved on the Add form for the next "Add", use the "Add & Copy" operation described above.
  • The query results displayed on the Query or Home pages can now be exported to a CSV (comma separated values) text file. This can be done by clicking on the "Export" icon present on the Home and Query results pages.  
  • When the "Assigned To" and "Reported By" fields are included in the report layouts on the View, Query or Home pages, the user name can be displayed as a clickable link. Clicking on the link will display the user's profile information (such as phone number, email address, etc.) in a separate window.  To use this feature, a user group must have the privilege "View User Information" enabled in the User Group Privileges section within the workgroup.
  • Users can customize the number of lines to be displayed for large text fields on the Add, Edit, Task, and View pages. The default for this preference is 5 lines. A user can customize this setting in the "Multi Line Field Settings" field in the Personal Preferences page.
  • A print icon is now present in the View, Query, and Home pages to print the contents of the frame (where the record information or report is displayed). 
  • The Annotate function has been changed to place the Annotation on a new line at the end of the existing information in the field. In addition, the cursor will be placed on the next new line following the annotation.
  • In previous versions, the Default Personal Preferences for New Users were located in the General Preferences section of a workgroup's Administration page. This has been moved to a separate section called "User Preferences", which is also located in the Administration page.
  • The size of the History Comment field has been increased from 255 to 2000 characters.
  • The Maximum Records displayed on the Query and Home Pages has been increased from 60 to 100 records. This setting can be customized in a user's Personal Preference page.
  • When the Attachment Description is included in a report on the Query and Home pages, the text in the attachment's description is now displayed as a clickable link.
  • An expand button has been added for large text fields in the View page.  If you are using the View function to read information from a record and someone has entered a lot of information in a single field, you can fully expand the field with a single button click (then collapse it back to the default size (e.g. 5 lines scrollable) later with another click).
  • Context-sensitive Help links have been added. Most pages now have a context-sensitive Help link to jump directly into the appropriate section of the Help for the page you are viewing (operation you are performing).
  • The following Help Sections have had significant changes or new information added.  New Help Sections are designated by (*):

    Installation Guide:

    - Setup: System Requirements
    - Setup: Entering License Information
    - Setup: Web Server Security Setup: Overview

    User's Guide: 

    - Operations: Logging In
    - Operations: Adding Records
    - Operations: Viewing Records
    - Operations: Marking a Task Complete
    - Operations: Editing Records
    - Operations: Query Operations: Querying Records
    - Operations: Alerts (*)
    - Operations: Discussion (*)
    - Operations: Metrics (*)
    - Operations: Sample Saved Charts (*)
    - Operations: Printing Records

    Administration Guide: 

    - General Preferences (*)
    - User Preferences (*)
    - User Administration: Users
    - User Administration: Privileges
    - Customizing the Data Record
    - Customizing Workflow: Overview
    - Customizing Workflow: Workflow States (*)
    - Customizing Workflow: Workflow Transitions (*)
    - Customizing Workflow: Workflow Properties (*)
    - Alerts (*)
    - Discussion (*)
    - Email Administration: Email Notification Message Types (*)

    Workgroup Management System Guide:

    - Administration Options: Upgrading Version 3.x Workgroups
    - Administration Options: Upgrading Version 4.x Workgroups
    - Administration Options: License Administration: Overview (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: Adding a User (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: Editing a User (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: Deleting a User (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: Editing a User's Access to Workgroups (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: Editing a Workgroup's List of Users (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: List Users (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: License Summary (*)
    - Administration Options: License Administration: Synchronizing a User (*)
    - Appendix B: Database Administration

Fixes

  • In previous versions, the calculation in the Summary page for "average time from state 1 to state 2" was incorrect when a record looped between the states multiple times. This has been corrected as part of the "Metrics" feature to allow users to specify whether looping transitions should be considered in the calculation.
  • In previous versions, the Maximum Field Size in a report layout was not being calculated correctly when certain characters were included in a field resulting in a smaller amount of characters that could be displayed. This has been corrected so that the correct number of characters is displayed in a report layout.
  • In Netscape 6.2, the tool tip text information was not being displayed for the icons on the Home and Query pages. This has been corrected to allow the tool tip text to be displayed in Netscape 6.2.
  • In previous versions, the position of the OK and Cancel buttons were inconsistent. This has been corrected to maintain the position of these buttons on the various pages of ProblemTracker.

Version 4.1.1 and older

For a complete list of features for Version 4.1.1 and older versions of ProblemTracker, please visit the ProblemTracker Version 4.1 Features Page.

Support Resources

Support information is available in the ProblemTracker Online Help Guides. Click on the Help icon after logging into ProblemTracker. Or, from the machine on which ProblemTracker is installed, select

Start > Programs > NetResults ProblemTracker > Help Library

Then scroll down to the Support section near the bottom of the table of contents. Support is also available on the ProblemTracker web site. Browse to http://www.NRTracker.com, then hover your mouse over the Support menu (on top of web page), then click on the appropriate link in the Support menu.

And, if you are evaluating the product or have a current support agreement with NetResults, support is available via e-mail on business days (Monday through Friday, excluding holidays) from 5am to 5pm Pacific. Additional support options (e.g. phone support, extended hours) may be purchased (send e-mail to sales@n2r6.com or browse our web site in the ProblemTracker product info section for information on additional support options). Support email should be sent to the following address.

Support@NRTracker.com

When reporting a bug, please include any information displayed on the screen regarding the problem. In many cases if you get a generic database error message, you can scroll further down on the page to find more detailed error information. Please provide the required information listed at the following page to help us assist you as quickly as possible: http://www.problemtracker.com/pt_support.html.

You can also review the Online ProblemTracker Help at our web site at: http://www.problemtracker.com/pt_onlinehelp.html.

If you have feedback or questions about this release, please contact NetResults Technical Support for assistance.

Release Announcements

If you would like to be notified automatically by email when the next NetResults Tracker release is available, sign up for the NetResults Tracker Release Announcements Mailing List.

 

 


NetResults Tracker (also called NRTracker) is a web-based collaboration software for bug tracking, defect tracking, issue tracking, change management, workflow management, process management, knowledge base, help desk, and automated support portal.

 

NetResults Tracker is available as a hosted solution (Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)) or as a packaged software.