An Issue Tracker can be used to track any tasks or work that needs to be done by a group of users. Once
added by an administrator, it usually appears to the user in an
Issues List web part. The issue grid is like any other data grid offering options to
sort, filter, customize, export, and
chart the data. In addition an issue tracking workflow is preconfigured.
Issue Workflow
An issue has one of three possible phases: it may be open, resolved, or closed. Between the phases, updates can add information and the assignment can change from user to user.
To get started using issue trackers, review this topic:
Open and Assign Issues
When you open an issue, you provide the title and any other necessary information, and a unique issue ID is automatically generated. You also must assign the issue to someone from the
Assigned To pulldown list, which is
configured by an administrator. Other site users, i.e. stakeholders, may be added to the
Notify List now or when the issue is updated later.
The person to whom the issue is assigned and all those on the notify list will receive notification any time the issue is updated.
Update an Issue
When an issue is assigned to you, you might be able to resolve it in some manner right away. If not, you can update it with additional information, and optionally assign it to someone else if you need them to do something before you can continue.
For example, if you needed test data to resolve an issue, you could add a request to the description, reassign the issue to someone who has that data, and add yourself to the notify list if you wanted to track the issue while it was not assigned directly to you.
You can update an open or a resolved issue. Updating an issue does not change its status.
Create a Related Issue
As you proceed to work through resolving an issue, it may become clear that there is a secondary or related issue. Tracking such issues independently can help with prioritization and clear resolution to all parts of an issue.
To create a related issue, select
Create Related Issue from the
More > menu while viewing any issue. You'll select the container in which to open the related issue, and the current issue will be prepopulated as "Related" to the new one.
An administrator can
configure the default folder in which the related issue will be created, supporting a workflow where related tickets are used to 'escalate' or generalize an issue from many separate projects to a common location for a different group to monitor. You can change the folder from the dropdown if the default is not what you intend.
Resolve an Issue
Declaring an issue resolved will automatically reassign it back to the user who opened it who will decide whether to reopen, reassign, further update, or ultimately close the issue.
Options for resolution include:
Fixed, Won't Fix, By Design, Duplicate, or
Not Repro (meaning that the problem can't be reproduced by the person investigating it). An administrator may add additional resolution options as appropriate.
When you resolve an issue as a
Duplicate, you provide the ID of the other issue and a comment is automatically entered in both issue descriptions.
Close an Issue
When a resolved issue is assigned back to you, if you can verify that the resolution is satisfactory, you then close the issue. Closed issues remain in the Issues module, but they are no longer assigned to any individual.
The Issues List
The
Issues List displays a list of the issues in the issue tracker and can be
sorted, filtered, and customized.
A note about filtering: When you filter the default view of the Issues List grid, your filters also apply to fields within the details view of individual issues. For example, if you filter out "Closed" issues, you will no longer see any closed issue IDs in the "Related Issues" section.
Some data grid features that may be particularly helpful in issue management include:
View Selected Details
To view the details pages for two or more issues, select the desired issues in the grid and click
View Selected Details. This option is useful for comparing two or more related or duplicate issues on the same screen.
Specify Email Preferences
Click
Email Preferences to specify how you prefer to receive workflow email from the issue tracker. You can elect to receive no email, or you can select one or more of the following options:
- Send me email when an issue is opened and assigned to me.
- Send me email when an issue that's assigned to me is modified.
- Send me email when an issue I opened is modified.
- Send me email when any issue is created or modified.
- Send me email notifications when I create or modify an issue.
Click
Update to save any changes.
Issues Summary
The
Issues Summary web part can be
added by an administrator and displays a summary of the "Open" and "Resolved" issues by user.
- Click any user name to see the issues assigned to that user.
- Click the View Open Issues link to navigate to the full list of open issues.
Not Supported: Deleting Issues
LabKey Server does not support deleting issues through the user interface. Typically, simply closing an issue is sufficient to show that an issue is no longer active.
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