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(This is a text-only version of the Issue Manager user manual.) Issue Manager version 1.1 WinnoVation Innovation through Windows... Copyright (C) 1994 Winnovation Winnovation PO Box 271071 Ft. Collins, CO 80527-1071 USA Telephone: (303) 226-8682 FAX: (303) 226-5538 E-mail: CompuServe: 71774,605 Internet: 71774.605@compuserve.com Introduction ------------ Issue Manager is a very powerful tool designed to help you track issues or action items through to their closure or completion. Issue Manager is much more than a simple to-do list; it is a sophisticated issue- tracking system. With it you can: * Track action items * Ensure that issues have a closed loop (important for ISO 9001 registration and similar quality standards) * Track customer issues until closure * Maintain a very powerful personal to-do list When an issue is created (or "opened"), it is assigned a status (default is "OPEN"). Then, each time an event happens that affects this issue, you create a change item for the issue. This change item has a date, a description, and a new status. The overall issue status then becomes the status of the most recent change item. And should this action item reach its notification/expiration date, Issue Manager can optionally notify you for a response. The complete change history is stored indefinitely, so you maintain a complete record of what was done. When an issue is closed, another change item is entered, usually with a status of "CLOSED". Issue Manager can also filter and sort the issues, making your important information that much easier to access. Packing List ------------ Your package should include the following: This manual Distribution disk License statement If anything is missing, please contact Winnovation. Installation ------------ To run Issue Manager's installation program, you simply need to run the INSTALL.EXE program. To do this, select Run... from the File menu in Program Manager, and type a:\install (change the drive letter if necessary). The installation procedure should be self-explanatory; just follow the on-screen instructions. You will have the option to add Issue Manager and other associated items to a Program Manager program group. Note: If you are running a shared version of Windows on a network, your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory will be read- only. Issue Manager may try to install a file (CTL3DV2.DLL) into the system directory, and will be unable to do so. If you have this problem, run INSTALL.EXE /N instead of INSTALL.EXE. This will install the file into the WINDOWS directory, instead of the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. To run Issue Manager every time you start Windows, find ISSUEMAN.EXE with the File Manager and drag it to the Startup group in the Program Manager. See your Windows manual if you are unsure how to do this. The installation program will leave a file called INSTALL.LOG in the Issue Manager directory, detailing exactly what files were installed on your system and their locations, and the icons that were added to the Program Manager. Registration ------------ When Issue Manager is first started, you will see a registration reminder screen. Click the Register... button and you will see the following registration screen: Enter your name exactly as shown on your license statement, and your serial number and registration code (also found on the license statement). Getting Started --------------- After starting Issue Manager, you will see a screen similar to the following: The window inside the Issue Manager main window, titled æIssues1Æ, is an issue list. An issue list is a list of issues you want to track. Each issue has a current status associated with it. Each issue also has a change history. The change history is a list of change items to the issue, and the status is the most recent change item becomes the status of the issue itself. We strongly encourage that you go through the on-line tutorial to familiarize yourself with some of the features of Issue Manager. To run the tutorial, select Tutorial... from the Help menu. Adding a New Issue ------------------ To add a new issue to the issue list, select Add Issue... from the Edit menu. The editor is shown below: The following fields are available: Creation Date: This is the date the issue is created, and will default to today's date. The date must be entered in the short date format specified in the Windows control panel (for example, mm/dd/yy). Priority: This is a priority for the issue from 1 to 99, where 1 is the highest priority and 99 is the lowest. Summary: This is the issue summary. Initial Status: This is the initial status of the issue. When the issue is created (after you click OK), an initial change item will be created for the issue with the status you specify here, and a change item description of ôIssue Opened.ö Issue Category: This is the category of the issue. The category can be used for anything you need; one example of how to use the category field is for tracking the owner of each issue. The default category list is empty, and it can be edited by selecting Category List... from the Options menu. Extended Description: This is an optional extended description of the issue. It will only show up in this dialog, and in the report. Use this field to enter any detailed information you want about the issue. Editing an Issue ---------------- To edit an issue, select the issue in the issue list (by clicking on it once), and select Edit Issue... from the Edit menu. The available fields for editing an issue are the same as those for adding an issue, with the exception that the initial status is not available when an issue is edited. Adding an Issue Change Item --------------------------- To add an issue change item for an issue, either select the issue and select Issue History... from the View menu, or double-click on the issue in the issue list. The following dialog will be displayed: This is a list of all of the change items for this particular issue. Since the above example is a brand new issue, there is only the initial change item so far. To add a change item, click the Add... button. The change item editor will then be presented: In this dialog, you need to fill in the change item date (again defaults to today's date), the new status for the issue (remember that the overall issue status will change to this new status), and the change item description. If you wish to be notified on a certain date about this issue change item, click the notification button and fill in the notification date field to the appropriate date. Editing the Status List ----------------------- To edit the status list, select Status List... from the Options menu. The following Status List Editor will be displayed: To add a new status, type the new status name into the top of the list and click Add. To delete a status, select the status and click delete. This editor also controls which statuses will be displayed in the issue list (you can filter all "CLOSED" issues so you don't see them, for example). Also, the sort order of the issues (when sorted by status) is defined by the order of the statuses in the list. For more details, see the reference section of this manual. ========= Reference ========= Command Line ------------ Issue ManagerÆs command line is the following: ISSUEMAN.EXE [Issue list file] By specifying the optional issue list file name, Issue Manager will automatically load the issue list when it starts. Alternatively, you can click on the issue list file in the File Manager, and Issue Manager will load the issue list. Context-Sensitive Help ---------------------- Context-sensitive help is available from almost anywhere in Issue Manager simply by pressing the F1 key or pressing the Help button if one is present. For detailed information on any on-screen screen item in the main window (including toolbar icons, menu items, etc.), click the context help button on the toolbar (or press shift-F1) and then click on the item in question. Toolbar ------- The icons on the Issue Manager toolbar are used for the following functions: Click To Open a new issue list. Open an existing issue list. Issue Manager displays the Open dialog box, in which you can locate and open the desired file. Save the active issue list with its current name. If you have not named the list, Issue Manager displays the Save As dialog box. Print the active issue list. Preview the active issue list as it will appear when printed. Remove selected issue from the list and store it on the clipboard. Copy the issue to the clipboard. Insert the contents of the clipboard into the issue list. Add a new issue to the issue list. Edit an issue in the issue list. Display or edit the history of the current issue. Display or edit the status list. Display or edit the category list. Sort the issue list by status. Sort the issue list by category. Sort the issue list by priority. Sort the issue list by date. Sort the issue list by summary. Start context-sensitive help. File Menu ========= New --- This command creates a new issue list. This will use the default status and category lists. To change the defaults, see the Miscellaneous Options section of this manual. Open... ------- This command opens an existing issue list. Close ----- This command closes the active issue list. If you have made changes to the issue list since it was last saved, you will be prompted to save the issue list before closing. Save ---- This command saves the active issue list using its current filename. If the issue list does not yet have a name, you will be prompted to enter one. Issue Manager can also automatically save your issue lists for you. For details how to do this, refer to the Miscellaneous Options section of this manual. Save As... ---------- This command saves the active issue list using a new filename. You will be prompted to enter a new filename. Export... --------- This command allows you to export the active issue list to a text file. Note that the status filters you have in effect and the sort order you are using will be used when printing these text files. There are two different formats you can export an issue list into: Formatted Text: This will create a report in the text file which resembles the report which can be printed using the File, Print command. This format is ideal for pasting into other documents, e-mail, etc. CSV: This creates a CSV (comma separated values) file which is suitable for importing into a spreadsheet or database. The fields are exported in the following order: Issue Summary, Priority, Creation Date, Category, Status, Change Item Date, Change Item Description, Issue Extended Description. The first line in the file will be a header showing the field names. Note that all Issue information is duplicated for every change item associated with the issue. This is the equivalent flat-file representation of what is really a relational data structure. Wrap at 80 columns: Setting this option will cause the exported report to be wrapped at 80 columns. When a line is wrapped, it is indented the appropriate amount so that the last field will line up correctly, just as in the printed reports. Note that this option is only available with the Formatted Text format, not the CSV format. Include extended descriptions: This option enables the extended descriptions to be exported. This option only applies for the formatted text reports - the extended descriptions are always exported in CSV reports. Include change items: This option enables the change items to be exported. This option only applies for the formatted text reports - the extended descriptions are always exported in CSV reports. Print... -------- This command will print the active issue list. The status filters and the sort order you have specified for the issue list display will also be used for the report. Print Options... ---------------- This command lets you specify what information will be printed for each issue in the report. The following options are available: Include extended descriptions: This specifies that extended descriptions should be printed in the report for issues that have them. Include change items: This specifies that the change items should be printed for each issue. Print Preview ------------- This command will show you what the report will look like when printed. Note that the exact pagination may be slightly different on the printer than on the preview display. Print Setup... -------------- Allows you to select the printer you wish to use, and set up any printer-specific options you may need. Exit ---- Exits Issue Manager. If any issue lists have been modified since they were last saved, you will be prompted to save them before exiting. Edit Menu ========= Cut --- Cuts the selected issue to the clipboard. Copy ---- Copies the selected issue to the clipboard. Paste ----- Pastes the issue on the clipboard into the active issue list. Note that if you paste an issue into an issue list, and the issue has a status which is not available in the issue list, then the status will be added to the status list for the issue list. Delete ------ Deletes the selected issue. Add Issue... ------------ Adds a new issue to the issue list. When a new issue is added, the following fields must be specified: Creation Date: This should be the date the issue was created. It will default to the current date. This will be the date displayed in the issue list, and the date shown on the top line of the issue in the report. This date must be entered using the short date format specified in the Windows control panel (for example, mm/dd/yy). Priority: This is a priority from 1 to 99, where 1 is the highest priority and 99 is the lowest. Summary: This is the issue summary, which will be displayed in the issue list and on the top line of the issue in the report. Initial Status: This is the initial status of the issue. When the issue is created (after you click OK), an initial change item will be created for the issue with the status you specify here, and a change item description of ôIssue Opened.ö If there is a status called "OPEN", it will be the default selection. Issue Category: This is the category of the issue. The category can be used for anything you need; one example of how to use the category field is for tracking the owner of each issue. The category list can be edited by selecting Category List... from the Options menu. Extended Description: This is an optional extended description of the issue. It will only show up in this dialog, and in the report. Use this field to enter any detailed information you want about the issue. Edit Issue... ------------- This command allows you to edit the selected issue. For a description of the fields available, see the Add Issue... description above. Note that the Initial Status cannot be changed from this dialog. If you need to change the initial status of an issue, you should edit the initial change item for the issue. View Menu ========= Toolbar ------- Toggles whether of not to display the toolbar. Status Bar ---------- Toggles whether or not to display the status bar. Issue History... ---------------- This command pulls up the change history for the issue. You can also reach this point by double-clicking on an issue in the issue list. A list of change items is shown, listed from most recent to least recent. You have the ability to add, edit, or delete change items from this dialog. If you add or edit a change item, the change item editor will be displayed. You can edit the following fields: Date: This is the date of the change item. It defaults to the current date. This date must be entered using the short date format specified in the Windows control panel (for example, mm/dd/yy). New Status: This is the issue status that the change item causes. So, for example, if the change item is to close the issue, then the new status would probably be CLOSED. Note that all of the statuses available in the active issue listÆs status list are available here. Description: This is a description of the change item. Notification Date: If the Notification check box is checked, then the notification date is the first date that notification should begin. If you put in the date that you expect some action to be taken by, then this will serve to remind you of the pending action. The notification will occur as soon as the issue list is loaded. Options Menu ============ Title... -------- This option allows you to specify the title for the issue list. The title can either be the filename of the issue list, or a title that you specify. This title will be used for the issue list within Issue Manager, the printed reports, and the exported reports. Status List... -------------- This brings up the status list editor. This editor displays all of the statuses that are available for the current issue list, the sort order for these statuses, and which statuses will be displayed in the issue list. The sort order of the issue list when sorted by status will be dependent on the status list sort order, which you set here. Also, if a status is not marked to be shown in the issue list here in the status editor, then any issues of this status will not be displayed in the issue list until the status is displayed again. The default status list can be edited - refer to the Miscellaneous Options section for instructions on how to do this. To add a new status: Type the new status name into the top section of the status list, and click Add. To delete a status: Click on the status you wish to delete, and click Delete. If there are issues in the issue list which use the status you are attempting to delete, you will be prompted to select a new status for these items. To change the status sort order: To move a status down in the sort order, click on the status and click the Down button. To move a status up in the order, click on it and click the Up button. To hide all issues of a certain status: To hide all of the issues of a certain status in the issue list (and reports/exports), click on the status you wish to hide and clear the Show in Issue List check box. To show all issues of a certain status: To show all of the issues of a certain status in the issue list (and reports/exports), click on the status you wish to show and check the Show in Issue List check box. Category List... ---------------- This brings up the category editor. This editor displays all of the categories that are available for the current issue list, the sort order for these categories, and which categories will be displayed in the issue list. The category editor works in the same manner as in the status list, described above. The default category list can also be edited - refer to the Miscellaneous Options section for instructions on how to do this. Sort by Status -------------- When this option is selected, the issues in the issue list will be sorted by status. Sort by Category ---------------- When this option is selected, the issues in the issue list will be sorted by category. Sort by Priority ---------------- When this option is selected, the issues in the issue list will be sorted by priority. Sort by Date ------------ When this option is selected, the issues in the issue list will be sorted by date. Sort by Summary --------------- When this option is selected, the issues in the issue list will be sorted alphabetically by summary. Window Menu =========== New Window ---------- Creates a new window on the current issue list. You can use this to simultaneously view two sections of an issue list. Cascade ------- Arranges all open windows in an overlapped fashion. Tile ---- Arranges all open windows in a non-overlapped (tiled) fashion. Arrange Icons ------------- Use this command to arrange the icons for minimized windows at the bottom of the main window. If there is an open issue list window at the bottom of the main window, then some or all of the icons may not be visible because they will be underneath this issue list window. Help Menu ========= Contents -------- Use this command to display the opening screen of Help. From the opening screen, you can jump to step-by-step instructions for using Issue Manager and various types of reference information. Once you open Help, you can click the Contents button whenever you want to return to the opening screen. Tutorial... ----------- Use this command to run the on-line tutorial. This exercise is highly recommended for new Issue Manager users, as it provides a quick overview of many of the tool's capabilities. Search for Help On... --------------------- Use this command to search for help on a specific topic. Using Help ---------- Use this command for instructions about using the on- line help. About Issue Manager... ---------------------- Use this command to display the copyright notice and version number of your copy of Issue Manager. Notification ============ To be notified on a certain date about an issue change item, fill in a notification date in the change item editor. Notification occurs when the issue list is loaded. This may be when Issue Manager starts, or when you manually open the particular issue list. When this notification occurs, you have two options: Cancel Notify - this will cancel the notification. In effect, it clears the notify check box in the change item, and you will not be notified again about the issue change item. Re-Notify - this will ignore the notification for this time only. The notification will appear the next time the issue list is loaded. Miscellaneous Options ===================== 3D Controls ----------- To use 3D controls, Issue Manager requires CTL3DV2.DLL. Issue Manager's distribution includes this file, and the installation program will install it in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory (or the WINDOWS directory on shared network installations). If you get a message the CTL3DV2.DLL has been installed incorrectly, this means that it has not been correctly installed in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM or WINDOWS directory. You should remove any copies of this file that are in other locations. To Disable 3d Controls: To disable the 3D controls, create a [Settings] section in the ISSUEMAN.INI file (which should be in your Windows directory), if there is not one already. Add the following line, under this section header: Controls3D=NO Specifying the Default Status List ---------------------------------- If you do not specify any default statuses, then the default status list contains several entries initially. To change the default status list for new issue lists, edit the ISSUEMAN.INI file (in your Windows directory) using a text editor such as notepad: 1. Create a [Defaults] section (if one is not there already). 2. Under this section, enter the line NumStatus=3 This specifies the number of default statuses you want (3 is shown for an example). 3. For each new status, enter a line Status1=OPEN Where instead of OPEN, you would put the status you want. These should be consecutive, starting with 1. Example file (this would give default statuses of OPEN, CLOSED, and PENDING): [Defaults] NumStatus=3 Status1=OPEN Status2=CLOSED Status3=PENDING Specifying the Default Category List ------------------------------------ The default category list is initially empty. To set the default category list for new issue lists, edit the ISSUEMAN.INI file (in your Windows directory) using a text editor such as notepad: 1. Create a [Defaults] section (if one is not there already). 2. Under this section, enter the line NumCategory=3 This specifies the number of default categories you want (3 is shown for an example). 3. For each new category, enter a line Category1=Overhead Where instead of Overhead, you would put the category name you want. These should be consecutive, starting with 1. Example file (this would give default categories of Overhead and Development): [Defaults] NumCategory=2 Category1=Overhead Category2=Development Auto-saving the Issue Lists --------------------------- Issue Manager can automatically save your issue lists at regular intervals. To enable this feature, edit the ISSUEMAN.INI file (in your Windows directory) using a text editor such as notepad: 1. Create a [Settings] section (if one is not there already). 2. Under this section, enter the line Autosave=10 This specifies the interval in minutes between auto- saves you want (10 minutes is shown for an example). Example file (this would give a 15-minute auto-save): [Settings] Autosave=15 Note: keep in mind that this will save the issue list over the existing file. If you make an edit, and decide you don't want the change after all, the auto- save may prevent you from retrieving a previous version of the file (if it has saved since you made the change). Also note that this feature will only work for files which have a filename (i.e. they have been saved to disk before). Registration and Support Information ------------------------------------ A single copy of Issue Manager is $49.95, payable in US dollars. If used on a network, Issue Manager requires one license for each machine it is running on. Site license rates are as follows: 5 users $219.95 10 users $399.95 20 users $699.95 50 users $1399.95 100 users $1999.95 For over 100 users, please contact Winnovation for pricing information. To order additional copies, print out ORDERFRM.TXT or the order form in the on-line help and mail the completed form along with payment to: Winnovation PO Box 271071 Ft. Collins, CO 80527-1071 USA For faster processing, credit card orders can be FAXed to the number listed below, or e-mailed to the e-mail address below. When your order is processed, you will receive a serial number/registration code combination, a manual, and a disk for each copy you ordered. Site licenses will receive only one code, manual, and disk, with additional manual copies available for a nominal charge. Registered users will be entitled to unlimited support and free upgrades as they become available. Support will be via telephone, E-mail and US mail. Winnovation can be reached at: Telephone: (303) 226-8682 FAX: (303) 226-5538 E-mail: CompuServe: 71774,605 Internet: 71774.605@compuserve.com