Issue Tracker Component

The Macrotone Consulting Issue Tracker component has its origin in a ‘Problem Management System (PMS)’ developed many years ago on an Oracle Database using Oracle Forms. It migrated to an Oracle Application Express (APEX) based application and incorporated ideas from a sample APEX application. This version takes the ideas and implements it upon a MySQL database using Joomla 2.5 as the interface.  As time and circumstances permit some of the original program features may/will be re-implemented on the new platform.

Wikipedia defines an Issue Tracking system (ITS, trouble ticket system, support ticket or incident ticket system) as a Computer Software package that manages and maintains lists of Issues (computers), as needed by an organization. Issue tracking systems are commonly used in an organization's Customer Support / Call Centre to create, update, and resolve reported customer issues, or even issues reported by that organization's other employees. An issue tracking system often also contains a Knowledge Base containing information on each customer, resolutions to common problems, and other such data. An issue tracking system is similar to a "bug tracker", and often, a software company will sell both, and some bug trackers are capable of being used as an issue tracking system, and vice versa. Consistent use of an issue or Bug Tracking System is considered one of the "hallmarks of a good software team".

This light-weight implementation is suitable for a small or medium sized organisation to record and efficiently respond to reported problems / issues.

Change log

Translation Credits

Requested Features

Release 1.3.1

The minor release  resolves one major problem and a few minor problems with the earlier release.  The details are shown in the 'changelog' link shown above.

The documentation is accessible from the 'Joomla extensions menu' on the right hand side of this page. The 1.3.1 documentation in PDF format is also available.

Release 1.3.0

The release  builds upon the features of the earlier releases.  The full list is shown in the 'changelog' link shown above.

Some of the main areas of change are as follows:

1. Ability to use customised CSS stylesheets in front end displays
2. Ability to add 'attachment' files to issues.
3. Event logging (initial implementation).
4. Reworking of projects table.

The documentation is accessible from the 'Joomla extensions menu' on the right hand side of this page.

The 1.3.0 documentation in PDF format is also available. There is an additional Issue Tracker Design guide which was formally part of the main documentation and it is also available to registered users in both formats.

Release 1.2.2

The release is resolve a specific problem saving issues when using the default assignee.  The documentation remains unchanged from the earlier 1.2.1 release.

Release 1.2.1

The release is intended to resolve and problems encountered in the 1.2.0 release and as reported in the Support Forum.  It will also include a few requested enhancements requested by users.

The updated release 1.2.1 documentation is available in PDF format which includes installation instructions.

Release 1.2.0

The release improves the administration side of the component with full control of email notifications and the ability to hold information on non-registered users.  It also implements front end issue editing by issue administrators and registered users.

A brief overview is presented in this article.

The full release 1.2.0 documentation is available in PDF format which includes installation instructions.

Modules

There is a released module mod_latest_issues available in the download area.  The documentation is included as part of the main Issue Tracker documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Issue Tracker Overview

The full documentation, as mentioned above, is available as a PDF file, and this document only presents a brief overview of the functionality.

There are three main parts to the component, users (who are Joomla registered user and non-registered Issue Tracker only users), projects and issues (sometimes also known as tickets, problem reports etc.)

Users:   Within the component users all have a specific role, whether it be as a customer (or user of the web site) or as a member of staff (where they may be a manager, project lead, project member etc.)  The component assigns a role to each user which is managed by the administrator.  Each user is also assigned a default project, which is used to set a default when an issue is raised. Non-registered users can be created automatically when a guest raises an issue, and these are used to assist in identification of user issues.

Projects:  These are distinct 'category like' items, which may or may not consists of separate sub-projects.  i.e. If we have a main project named 'New component', we may have sub-projects named 'Release 1.0', 'Release 2.0' etc.  As many levels of sub project can be created as desired but usually two or three is sufficient for most projects.  Projects have a description and a start and end date.  They also have a target end date, which may or may not be the actual end date of the projects.

Issues:  Issues are the problem reports themselves, raised either by the site users themselves via a front end screen, or on their behalf by a staff member within the site administration.  Issues are associated with people, as they are identified (or raised) by a person;  a person is also assigned to work (or manage) the issue through to completion.  An issue is also associated with a project or sub-project.  The issue will consist of a number of separate pieces of information such as a description;  a series of progress steps; and a resolution.  All of these are tracked by the component.

Most of the activities performed by the component take place in the back end, although certain displays are available as menu items on the front end of the site, and it is possible for site users to raise an issue (if configured).  This may be configured to require site users to register with the site or may be open.  If open then the user is required to enter certain pieces of information other wise the issue will not be saved.  Captcha entry is configurable using ReCaptcha.  There are also Spam and IP blocking configuration options.

We trust this brief overview is sufficient to cover the main features of the components and you are requested to look at the latest PDF documentation for more information.

If you find this component useful, you are requested to raise a review on the Joomla Extensions Directory, and possibly consider making a donation to assist in providing support and future enhancements.

We would like to thank the following for providing language translations for Issue Tracker.

Requested features being considered for future releases.