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Project Tracker Set up

How can I make my project use 'Project Tracker' if it is already configured to use 'Issue Tracker'?

It is not possible to do this through the UI. You would need to contact CollabNet Support team and provide the details of the projects that need to be changed to use Project Tracker.

Can I configure an artifact type to get automatically added to a project when the project is created?

Yes, your site administrator can do this by marking the artifact type as 'Default'.

What will happen if I remove an attribute from an artifact type at the project level?

If the attribute has a value in any of the artifacts of that type, it will cause the value(s) set for the attribute in various artifacts to be permanently deleted. However, the details of the removed attributes and their values will be recorded in the history section of artifacts for any future reference.

What are the preconditions and the format of the XML file that PT accepts for XML imports?

The artifact types referenced by contents of the XML file should be added (ahead of the import) to the target project. If the attributes present in the XML file are not present in the artifact type, the import takes place with warnings. The XML definition file can be accessed here: https://<Domain Name>/dtd/pt.dtd, which defines the format of a well formed XML file in order to have it imported into PT.

How does Project Tracker Integration with CVS/Subversion help?

The Project Tracker integration with CVS/Subversion simplifies tracking changes to items under version control. When enabled, the integration will automatically establish links from the Project Tracker artifact (in the artifact’s comments) to the ViewVC view of the items under version control, and from the CVS/Subversion log message that is viewable through the ViewVC pages to the Project Tracker artifacts that were specified at the time of the version control commit. To use the integration, the committer needs only to enter a Project Tracker artifact ID anywhere in the commit message. The integration also provides two levels of enforcement that can be enabled: Requiring that a valid Project Tracker ID be specified in every commit message and requiring that the committer be the assignee of any Project Tracker artifact that is specified as part of a commit message.

How can I disable email notifications from Project Tracker?

You can achieve this by disabling the 'Enable email' option in 'Project defaults configuration' page under Administration tab.

How do I ensure that the artifact details are not included in the project tracker email notifications?

You can achieve this by disabling the 'Detailed Email' option in the "Project default configuration" page under the Administration tab. Once this setting is disabled, the email notification will include only the details about the attributes that are set as identifiers along with the artifact ID. This will make sure that only users with Project Tracker - Query permission will be able to view the rest of the details.

What will happen if I remove an attribute option from an artifact type at the project level?

If the attribute has that option as its value in any of the artifacts of that type, it will cause the option value to be permanently deleted from those artifacts. However the details of the removed option will be recorded in the history section of artifacts for any future reference.

What will happen if I deactivate an artifact type at the project level?

The artifact type will not be available for entering new artifacts. However, it will be available to query for existing artifacts of that type and you can view them in read only mode.

What will happen if I deactivate an attribute in an artifact type at the project level?

The deactivated attribute will not be available when you enter new artifacts or view existing artifacts of that type. However, it will be available to query for artifacts based on a criteria for that attribute. The same rule applies for deactivated attribute groups and attribute options too.

Can we set up work flow in project tracker?

Workflow can be set in Project Tracker using dependency rules. Dependency rules are of two kinds: Action-based dependency rule and Attribute option filter. Action based dependency rules establish actions that are triggered if the conditional criteria are met. For eg, If state of a task is set to 'Started', you can enforce the user to enter the 'Expected date of completion' etc Attribute option filter defines relationships between the option values of two attributes, so that only certain values are available for the target attribute when the specific source value is selected. For eg, if value of Component attribute is set to Component 1, in the subcomponent field, it will list only the values that are subcomponents of Component 1

Is the Project Tracker artifact code unique?

Any number of projects can use the default artifact code 'SC'. User defined codes must be unique for every project. However, subprojects can use the artifact code of their parent project. NOTE: Subprojects do not inherit the artifact code of the parent project by default. If the project owner wishes to use the parent project artifact code, (s)he must specify the artifact code of the parent project during sub project creation.

Can there be two attributes with the same name?

Attributes can share a common name provided they belong to different namespaces.

Creating Project Tracker artifacts

What is an artifact template?

An artifact template is used to enter new artifacts with values for some attributes set by default. Some artifacts have identical values for some of the attributes. In that case, instead of creating new artifacts from scratch every time and set the same set of values for those attributes, you can create an artifact template with appropriate values set for those attributes alone. And, when you enter a new artifact using this template, you will see the values for those attributes automatically set in the artifact entry screen. This is done by clicking on 'Manage templates' link the 'Enter artifact page'

What is the effect of marking an attribute as 'Use as identifier'?

The value of the 'identifier' text attribute will be used as a summary in all communication generated due to changes or comments to an artifact. This attribute value is part of the email subject to help user's quickly browse email notifications. It also shows more prominently when viewing the artifact details in the web UI.

Why can't I use a list attribute as artifact identifier?

It is generally the case that many artifacts will share any particular option of a list attribute. It is better if the identifier attribute provides a summary of the artifact, which should be unique for each artifact.

Searching Project Tracker artifacts

Can I query across multiple projects and artifact types?

Yes. It is possible to select multiple artifact types as part of an advanced query. A very similar process is used to define cross-project queries which include multiple projects.

What is meant by 'availability' of a query/template?

Personal availability means that only the creator of the entity, template/query/report, will see it as part of the application. It is still possible a user might share personal queries via out of band communication, such as including the query URL within an email.

This project availability means the entity, template/query/report, will show up for easy access by all users within the project.

Can I suggest a query/ artifact template for a project?

Yes. Generally This project availability is chosen by Project Owners when they directly create saved queries or other entities. However, any user may select This project availability and the item will be queued for approval by an administrator for general use within the project.

Why do we need saved artifact type lists?

Saved artifact type lists are especially useful when you commonly report on multiple projects. They allow you to quickly define the artifact types involved in the query and move on to defining the rest of the filter criteria. Many users will have very little use for saved artifact type lists and they can safely be ignored.

What is the effect of marking attributes as 'Included in custom query'?

The basic query UI, which displays as the Query tab when creating a new query, is configurable within a project. A Project owner may choose to only enter a few of the most commonly searched attributes on this page or they could choose to include as many as possible.

What is the difference between Simple, Advanced and Cross Project Query?

Simple query filters artifacts against a single artifact type. They enable you to perform a quick search against an artifact type. The filters can be predefined by the project owner (by checking the 'Include custom query' option in Manage Artifact type' page) You can also use simple queries to search for artifacts containing a particular text string in any text attribute. Advanced query enables you to filter artifacts against multiple artifact types within the project. Cross project queries allow you to filter artifacts across projects and artifact types. NOTE: To be able to run a cross project query you need the right permissions in the chosen projects, and you can only query against attributes belonging to the same namespace.

Project Tracker permissions

As a guest user will I be able to enter an artifact?

A guest role is defined by the domain role 'Anonymous guest'. If guest access is enabled on the domain and 'Anonymous guest' role has the permission to enter an artifact , the guest user will be able to add artifacts else not. By default, this permission is not available to the guest users

How do I ensure that a project owner does not modify the Project Tracker artifact types in the project?

To achieve this, you can lock the artifact type in the 'Artifact types' page in the Administration tab. NOTE: This is a global change, which will affect all projects using this artifact type.

How to allow (registered) users to submit an artifact and restrict them from doing a query?

There are two possible ways to do this:
1) If the changes are to be implemented on *all* public projects then removing the 'Issue tracking - Query' permission from the domain role 'Registered User' is ideal.
2) If you wish to implement this for a single project, you can do the following:
i) Make the project private
ii) Create a new role with the permissions
Project - View
Project Page - View
Project Content - View
Project Issue Tracking - Submit
iii) Assign it to the special user group '*Domain Users'.
With this, the project will be visible to all domain users but the registered user permissions will not get added to the project permissions.

Why am I unable to assign artifacts to a user while being able to add this user to the CC list?

Only the users who have the 'Project Issue tracker - Assignable' permission can be assigned an artifact. For CCing, no special permissions are required.

Tips & Tricks

Is there a method to find if an artifact type has been renamed at the project level?

You can determine if an artifact type has been renamed by creating a Cross Project Query. The Cross project query page will list artifact types in all projects. The original name of the artifact types that have been renamed are added within brackets.

How can a saved query be copied from one project to another?

Saved queries can be copied from one project to another by following the given steps:
1) Navigate to the 'Query' page in 'Project Tracker' of the source project
2) Select the query that you wish to copy and click on 'Copy Selected' button
3) Click on the 'Edit' link displayed next to the copied query & set the availability as 'personal'
4) Navigate to the destination project & go to the query artifacts page.
5) You would find the personal query listed here. You can edit it and set the availability as 'This project'. This will make the query available to all users.

How do I delete an artifact?

It is not possible to delete an artifact in Project Tracker. The work around for deletion of an artifact is to move the artifact into another project with the same artifact type and then delete the target project.