From EnterTrackDocs

This manual is intended as a gentle introduction to EnterTrack for people who will make requests using EnterTrack, and would like to monitor the progress of their request.

Contents 1 Logging In 1.1 Forgotten Password 2 The Main Page 2.1 Groups 2.2 Group Announcements 2.3 Group Standing 2.4 Last Updated 2.5 My Opened 2.6 My Assigned 2.7 View Issue 2.8 Print Preview 2.9 Main Menu 2.9.1 Announcements 2.9.2 Issues 2.9.3 My Opened 2.9.4 My Assigned 3 Issues 3.1 Issue Tools 3.1.1 Subscribe 3.1.2 Issue Files 3.1.3 Issue Log 3.1.4 Copy Issue 4 Creating a New Issue 5 Searching 5.1 Basic Search 5.2 Advanced Search 6 Preferences 6.1 Notification Preferences 6.2 Style Prefrences

Logging In

To access EnterTrack, first you must enter your login information—your username and password. After clicking the Login button, you will see the official EnterTrack site. If you do not have a username and password for EnterTrack, you should contact your administrator.

Forgotten Password

If you know your username but you have forgotten your password, you can click the link below the login “Forgot your password? Click Here.” Fill out the forgotten password form by entering your username and email address and clicking "Send Password". If your username matches the email address stored in the system, an email will be sent to you with a new password. You can then return to the original login screen and successfully login to the website.

The Main Page

After logging in, you have access to your personalized main page.

Groups

You are a member of one or more groups. Each group represents a collection of issues that are related in some way, depending on the way things are set up at your site. If you're a member of more than one group, you should check with your administrator to find out which issues should be created in which groups.

Group Announcements

At the top of the screen, any announcements about your group(s) will be listed. As a client, you are only able to view announcements; posting announcements is reserved for group administrators only.

Group Standing

Below that is a table of basic stats about your group(s). The group Standing is displayed followed by the Group name. Clicking the group name will redirect you to the group’s Issues page (see section “Issues: Viewing Issues” of the manual). Of the following columns, "new" displays the number of issues which have been opened recently, and "open" displays the total number of issues which are still in the process of being resolved. The last four columns list the number of issues of each level of severity: Urgent, High, Normal, and Low.

Last Updated

This section displays the most recently updated issues for your group(s), as well as the date the issue was updated and the current issue status.

My Opened

This section lists the latest issues you created.

My Assigned

This section displays the latest issues that have been assigned to you. When an issue is assigned to you, that means that it's your turn to take some action on the issue. Click on the issue name to see what you need to do.

View Issue

The View Issue tool on the upper right-hand side of the screen allows you to reference a specific issue quickly, by entering the issue number. This tool accepts numerical values only; if you want to find an issue using text or its title, you can use the Search tool described in the “Issues: Search” section of the manual.

Print Preview

Below the View Issue tool, there is a link for Print Preview. Clicking this link reloads your page in a printer-friendly format.

Main Menu

On the left-hand side of the screen, you will see the Main Menu, which remains there as long as you are on the issue tracker website. Navigation of the links and other features on the menu will be explained in later sections of this manual. However if you want to return to this screen at any point, simply click the link entitled "Main" under "Main Menu".

Announcements

If you click the Announcements link on the Main Menu, you can view all announcements for your group(s).

Issues

If you click "Issues" under the Main Menu on the left-hand side of the screen, you can view all previous resolved and unresolved issues for your group(s), as well as post your own issues.

After you select "Issues" from the Main Menu, if you are a member of more than one group, then a table will open which lists the name of the group(s) you are involved with, as well as the number of new issues, the number of open issues, and the time, date, and name of the person with the last activity for the group. To view a list of the issues, or view specific details of an issue, you must first click the name of your group under Group Name.

Once you have selected a group, you will see a page listing all issues currently open for that group, listed by summary. Note that the issues displayed are only those still open. If you want to view issues which have been resolved already, click the Show Closed link at the top of the screen. The page will reload, with the closed issues displayed. You can easily switch back to the list of only open issues by clicking the Hide Closed link at the top of the screen.

My Opened

This link (under Issues on the main menu) opens a table of all issues which you created, and which are still unresolved. Unlike the list on the main page, which is limited to five issues, this page will display all of your unresolved issues.

My Assigned

This link displays all open issues which are assigned to you. Like the "My Opened" list, it displays all issues that are assigned to you.

Issues

The main issues page displays a rather overwhelming collection of information about an issue. Below the details of the issue, the original problem report and any further events related to the ticket are listed -- the date, time, and user who posted the event are shown, followed by the actual message of the event.

After the record of old events, there is a form for you to enter a new event. You can enter your message in the "Action" text box, as well as select a status from the drop-down menu and indicate the issue’s current severity by clicking the appropriate radio button. You may also attach a file by clicking "Browse" and locating the file on your computer. Generally, you would use this to attach a screenshot of the problem you are having (i.e. an error message you are getting), a problematic file, or any other information that is too large to type in directly.

Issue Tools

Above the information about the issue details, there are links to several other useful tools for issues.

Subscribe

Clicking "subscribe" allows you to “sign up” for the issue—you will receive email notifications when changes are made to the issue or events are posted. When you subscribe, EnterTrack will figure out whether you're a client or technician for the issue based on your permissions.

If you are a subscriber of an issue, the link will read "unsubscribe", and clicking it will remove you as a subscriber.

Issue Files

Issue Files allows you to see all files which have been uploaded for the issue. The filenames and other information about the file are listed in a table; clicking the name of the file allows you to view it. You can also delete a previously uploaded file, but you should really avoid deleting any files unless it was uploaded accidentally. Below the previous Issue Files, you also have the option to upload files yourself, by browsing for them on your computer and clicking Upload Files.

Issue Log

Issue Log allows you to view all actions that have been taken for the current issue. For example, an issue log might note the day the issue was registered, the email addresses of those who were notified, a change in the issue’s status, or who is assigned for resolution of the issue.

Copy Issue

Copy Issue allows you to create a copy of the issue, with the option of modifying the information in the new issue. After clicking "copy issue", you can follow the same procedure as you do when creating a new issue, but the information about this new issue will already be copied from the old issue. This is an advanced feature.

Creating a New Issue

You can create a new issue one of two ways:

• clicking "create issue" at the top of the issue list page; or
• clicking "new issue" on the Main Menu, selecting the name of your group from the drop-down list, and clicking "Create Issue".

You must enter a summary (the title of the issue) and a problem (a description of the issue). You may also select a product (if products are in use), and indicate the severity of the issue. In addition, you are given the option to select a Due Date for the issue -- the date when you need this issue to be resolved. Finally, you can upload a file or supporting document. After you click "create issue", the issue will be entered into the system, and the appropriate group members will be notified. The issue has now been successfully “opened.”

Searching

The search tool can be accessed by clicking "search" on the main menu on the left side of the screen.

Basic Search

When you select Search, by default, the basic search page appears. Here you can enter a word or multiple words to use as your search keywords (the "search string"). The search will look for the search string in all issue summaries and problems, as well as the text of all events.

Note: If you enter multiple words, the search will only return issues that have all of the words (though they need not be in order.) If you are searching for a phrase, such as “last name,” and only want issues returned that have “last” and “name” right next to each other, then use quotation marks to enclose the words.

Advanced Search

If you want to specify certain criteria for your search, you can click the Advanced Search link at the top of the search screen.

You still have the option of entering a search string (but it is not required), as well as to select criteria from other categories. You can specify:

• group name,
• username of user who opened the issue,
• username of user to whom the issue was assigned,
• issue status,
• issue category, and
• issue product.

If you want to select multiple items from a list, hold down the control key on your keyboard, while at the same time clicking your choices. The items which you select should now be highlighted.

Preferences

If you select Preferences from the Main Menu on the left-hand side of the screen, you can change your personal information and stored settings.

Here you can:

• update your contact information (name, address, phone number, email and SMS);
• change your login password;
• add extra links to your tracker menu (this an advanced feature);
• change the word wrap character limit or disable it completely (used for making sure that issues fit on the screen);
• change the date display format— e.g. from US (mm/dd/yyyy) to European (dd/mm/yyyy);
• indicate to use the local timezone for accurate time information instead of the default; and
• change how the issue listings are displayed -- you can specify what fields you want displayed by checking off the appropriate boxes, as well as specify how to sort the issue listings.

Clicking "update preferences" will save any changes you make.

Notification Preferences

EnterTrack can notify you when particular changes take place. This is controlled by the page at Preferences -> Notification. Briefly, EnterTrack will notify you via one or more channels when you have a particular reason to be notified.

As of this writing, only two channel (email and SMS) are available, but more are planned.

The reasons you might be notified of changes are:

Issue Tech 

you are a technician for the issue that changed

Issue Client 

you are a client for the issue that changed

Group Tech 

you are a technician for one of the groups containing the issue that changed

Group Client 

you are a client for one of the groups containing the issue that changed

Group Subscriber 

you are a group subscriber for one of the groups containing the issue that changed

Issue Assignee 

the issue that changed is assigned to you

Style Prefrences

You can modify how information is displayed (your style preferences) by selecting "themes and colors' from the main menu. Here you can change the font size, font colors, and display colors. This is an advanced feature, and it is advised not to change the default settings. However, if you do, and decide you want to change them back, simply click the Reset to Defaults link at the top of the page.