Path: news1.ucsd.edu!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!swrinde!gatech!news.mathworks.com!hunter.premier.net!uunet!inXS.uu.net!news.iac.honeywell.com!dwe From: dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com (Dave Eaton) Newsgroups: comp.software.config-mgmt,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: comp.software.config-mgmt FAQ: Problem Management Tools Summary Followup-To: comp.software.config-mgmt Date: 8 Jul 1996 15:27:11 GMT Organization: Honeywell IAC, Phoenix AZ Lines: 1063 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Distribution: world Expires: 23 Jul 1996 17:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <4rr9cf$m6o@cstnews.iac.honeywell.com> Reply-To: dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com NNTP-Posting-Host: adm02.iac.honeywell.com Summary: Problem Management Tools Summary Part 3 of 3 related CM posts. Keywords: FAQ CM Problem Management X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] Xref: news1.ucsd.edu comp.software.config-mgmt:4050 comp.answers:15626 news.answers:62338 Archive-name: sw-config-mgmt/prob-mgt-tools Last-modified: 1996/07/03 Version: 3.1 Posting-Frequency: monthly -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Problem Management Tools Summary -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Introduction This is the newsgroup comp.software.config-mgmt "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) posting of a Software Problem Management tools summary. This is part 3 of the 3 part FAQ. The information contained in this summary is a consolidation of data obtained from a variety of sources around the Internet, but primarily from articles and comments posted on the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup. Additional information was obtained from othe comp.software-eng newsgroup and from the InterWorks (Technical Users Forum of Interex) CASE Special Interest Group. Check the date above to see how recent the information you are reading might be. Sharing Of Information This document, as a collection of information, is Copyright 1995-96 by David W. Eaton. It may be freely redistributed in its entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without the written permission of the copyright holder. This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. The content is the sole responsibility of the author and contributors, and does not necessarily represent the position of their employers nor an official position or opinion of Honeywell Inc. Please contact the FAQ editor regarding changes. Other Information All parts of this FAQ are posted to this newsgroup on or about the 22nd of each month. (This is done manually and sometimes work interferes with this posting, please excuse any delays.) Like most FAQ lists, these parts are archived at rtfm.mit.edu (and various other sites which archive FAQs.) The parts are named: o cm-tools = Configuration Management Tools Summary o faq = General Questions o prob-mgt-tools = Problem Management Tools Summary (this document) and may be found in directory pub/usenet-by-group/comp.answers/sw-config-mgmt. Those new to the newsgroups should read news.announce.newusers for general information. For those with World Wide Web access, hyperlinked HTML versions of these documents are available via: http://www.iac.honeywell.com/Pub/Tech/CM/index.html (If you type in this URL, remember that it *is* case sensitive.) These are updated throughout the month as changes come in. A letter is added to the version number and the date is changed with each edit to help you determine if you've already seen it. *What this is not.* If you are not sure what we mean by CM, please see our definition in question [1.2] of FAQ section 1. If you still think this will help you with your PC hardware or application configuration, you are mistaken. Please see question [1.10] of FAQ section 1 for some suggestions of other more appropriate newsgroups for your question -- do not post it to comp.software.config-mgmt. Thank you. Similarly, this FAQ is intended for tools which the problem management needs of the software development process. While some of these products also may be used to perform "Help Desk" activities, that *is not* the focust of this group. For "Help Desk" tools, refer the Help Desk FAQ posted by Phil Verghis at http://www.duke.edu/~pverghis/hdeskfaq.htm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** What's New this Month? ** 1. Updated PureDDTS writeup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still Needed The following tools have been mentioned in the newsgroups, but contact information (company name, address and phone or ftp location) as well as *user* comments are needed so they may be included in the report below. o Andromede (ESLOG) o Solomon Teamware System/STS (Neuma) (have address, still need a write-up) o Globetrotter GlobeTrack ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. Summary 2. Problem Management Overview 3. Commercial Vendor Contact List 4. Problem Management Tools Generally Available Free 5. Commercial Problem Management Tools 6. Other Tools Appendix A. References and Sources of Information Appendix B. Prob. Mgmt. Tools with World Wide Web sites 1. Summary History The first posting of this FAQ was in April, 1994. Since the newsgroup was relatively new at that time, the early FAQ was 'jump started' with information obtained from the following sources: o the Usenet newsgroups comp.software-eng, comp.os.ms-windows.apps, comp.databases.oracle, and comp.databases.sybase o the ClearCase International User Group mail list o the InterWorks (HP Workstation Users Group) CASE SIG mailing list o the Lotus Notes Users mailing list Since then, it has been updated and changed substantially as readers have supplied additional information to the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup. Contributions In addition to some of the vendors themselves, most information summarized here comes from newsgroup posts and e-mail received from end users. Our gratitude is been extended to all who have contributed. Instructions for adding or changing information in this FAQ may be found in section 1.8 of part 1, the general FAQ for the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup. Not Official Statements Please use the summary below in the spirit with which it has been supplied: for information only. These statements are composites and *do not* represent official positions by any particular responder's company. Remember that these users may not be commenting on the current version of a product. It is recommended that you do your own research before making a tool decision for your company. 2. Problem Management Overview Tool Capabilities Tools marketed as problem management tools may fulfill different functions. While not a comprehensive list, some common of the common capabilities are: o Call Tracking: - targeted towards problems reported by customers often over telephone lines - input from variety of geographically disperse locations - assignment to responsible person - status monitoring and reporting o Problem Tracking - development process management and change management authorization - work (task) management (who, what, when, due date, status) - statistics and metrics gathering and reporting - historical records and facilitation of understanding - integration with configuration management and test tools Some organizations only need one of these functions, while others need both. Many organizations choose to integrate their problem management and configuration management tools to gain better control of their development activities and to improve quality. Tool Packaging Problem management tools may be purchased in any of at least three distinct packaging methods: o Stand-alone, no integration with other tools o Purchased separately, but integrated with one or more companion software engineering tools such as configuration management and test tools - may be from the same or from different vendors o Bundled with other software engineering tools, usually a configuration management tool from the same vendor Be certain you determine your needs and confirm that the tool you select fulfills your needs. General Advice Although the statements below do not relate to a particular tool, they may provide valuable ideas for those implementing problem management. o Keep it simple. If it gets in the way people won't use it. o Make it part of your customer support process. o Make it part of your e-mail system. o Make problem management a part of the regular information flow. o Make it part of your design documentation process. o Documentation the original designer supplies seldom meets maintenance needs. The change history augments the original documentation. o Get requirements from the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) reference model. If you determine the best tool for your needs is one hosted on UNIX systems, but you must have access to it from PCs as well, consider using X-Server software on the PCs. 3. Commercial Vendor Contact List Vendors Platform availability and products are continually changing, please check vendors for current information and trade publications for new entrants. This should not be considered a complete list of all available tools. As of this writing, these vendors could be contacted as shown in this table. Since vendors are continually changing platform availability and upgrading their products, it is suggested you consult with them directly for current information before making a tool selection. Commercial Products Product Vendor Address Platforms AllChange Intasoft Ltd. PC (MS-DOS, MS Windows) Tresco House Sun 153 Sweetbrier Lane Exeter EX1 3DG UK tel.: +44-392-217670 FAX: +44-392-437877 intasoft@cix.compulink.co.uk Apriori Answer Systems, Inc. Server: HP-UX, 2 North 2nd St. IBM RS/6000, Sun 4 San Jose, CA 95113 tel.: 408-280-5110 Client: MS Windows, FAX: 408-280-1004 X-Windows (Motif, Open Look), info@answer.com character based i/f (now acquired by PLATINUM technology, Inc.) BugBase Archimedes Software, Inc. PC (Windows) 2159 Union Street San Francisco, CA 94123 tel.: 415-567-4010 FAX: 415-567-1318 CCC/Harvest Softool Corp. HP-UX, IBM RS/6000 340 South Kellogg Ave. Sun (contact vendor Goleta, CA 93117 about others) tel.: 805-683-5777 800-SOFTOOL FAX: 805-683-4105 info@softool.com (now acquired by PLATINUM technology, Inc.) ClearQuality Clarify Inc. HP-UX, IBM RS/6000 2702 Orchard Pkwy. SGI, Sun San Jose, CA 95134 Tel.: 408-428-2000 Client on Mac, FAX: 408-428-0633 PC (MS Windows, WinNT, and Win95), UNIX running Motif ClearTrack Atria Software, Inc. HP-UX, SGI, 20 Maguire Road Sun Lexington, MA 02173-3104 tel.: 617-676-2400 FAX: 617-676-2550 info@atria.com Continuus/CM Continuus Software Corp. HP-UX, IBM RS/6000, SGI, 108 Pacifica, 2nd floor Sun Irvine, CA 92718-3332 PC (MS Windows, Win95, tel.: 714-453-2200 WinNT client) FAX: 714-453-2276 or, in the UK: tel.: +44-1344-382118 FAX: +44-1344-382158 info@continuus.com Control First Repository Technology PC (DOS) tel.: 708-515-0780 800-776-2176 CustomerQ Quintus Corporation Server: HP, IBM, Sun (subsidiary of Intergraph)Client: PC (MS Windows, 301 East Evelyn Ave. WinNT) Sun, HP, IBM Mountain View, CA 94041 sales@quintus.com tel.: 415-254-2859 415-428-0211 KeepTrack! 3L Ltd. (was PC based, but Peel House it appears this Livingstone product may be EH54 6AG no longer Scotland available) Tel. +44 506 41 5959 Lotus Notes Lotus Development Corp. PC (DOS, MS Windows, 55 Cambridge Parkway WinNT, OS/2), Macintosh, Cambridge, MA 02142 HP-UX, IBM RS/6000, Sun Process Configuration SQL Software, Ltd. Bull, DEC (VMS, Ultirx, Mangement System (PCMS) Northbrook House Unix), H-P, ICL, Sequent, John Tate Road Sun, PC (WinNT coming) Hertford SG13 7NN UK tel.:+44-992-501-414 FAX: +44-992-501-616 or SQL Software, Inc. 8500 Leesburg Pike Suite 405 Vienna, VA USA 22182 tel.: 703-760-0448 FAX: 703-760-0446 PR-Tracker Softwise PC (DOS, Windows, WinNT) tel.: 206-513-0415 FAX: 206-513-0516 softwise@halcyon.com Pure Distributed Defect Pure Software, Inc. Apollo, HP 9000, Tracking System IBM RS/6000, (PureDDTS) 1309 S. Mary Ave DECstation & VAX Sunnyvale, CA 94087 running Ultrix, Tel.: 408-524-3671 Sun (SunOS & Solaris), FAX: 408-720-9200 PC (SCO UNIX) PVCS Tracker INTERSOLV, Inc. PC (Windows) 1700 NW 167th Place Beaverton, OR 97006 tel.: 800-547-7827 FAX: (503) 629-0186 Q&A Symantec Corporation PC (DOS, Windows) 10201 Torre Ave. Cupertino, CA 95014 tel.: 408-253-9600 Qualit Defect Manager Qualit, Inc. PC 801 W. El Camino Real Suite 359 Mountain View, CA. 94040 tel.: 415-964-4525 FAX: 415-964-4512 qualit@netcom.com QualTEAM and ProTEAM Scopus Technology, Inc. Server: DEC Ultrix, 1900 Powell Street HP-UX, IBM RS/6000, Suite 900 Sun, VMS, others Emeryville, CA 94608 tel.: 510-428-0500 Client only: PC fax: 510-428-1027 (Windows, WinNT) Macintosh, MIPS Razor Tower Concepts, Inc. Sun (both Solaris and 103 Sylvan Way SunOS), HP, SGI, New Hartford, NY 13413 RS/6000, Digital Unix tel.: 315-724-3540 razor-info@tower.com Remedy Action Request Remedy Corp. Server: AT&T, HP-UX, System (ARS) 1505 Salado Dr. IBM RS/6000, Motorola, Mountain View, CA 94043 SGI, Sun tel.: 415-903-5200 Client: Above plus FAX: 415-903-9001 PC(Windows, Mac) remedy@remedy.com Solomon Teamware System Neuma Technology (STS) Corporation 130 Albert Street, Suite 1105 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 5G4 Tel: 613-598-0241 FAX: 613-563-1716 Track for Windows Soffront PC (Windows, soon a 32 1806 Milmont Drive bit version for WinNT Suite 169 and OS/2) Milpitas, CA 95035 Tel: 408-263-2703 800-sof-front sales@soffront.com TrackRecord UnderWare, Inc. PC (MS Windows, WinNT, 321 Columbus Ave and OS/2) Boston, MA 02116 Tel: 800-343-7308 TrackWise Sparta Systems, Inc. PC (MS Windows) 50 Ravatt Road Port Monmouth, NJ 07758 Tel: 908-495-2025 FAX: 908-495-7235 76412.156@compuserve.com Under Control KJR Software Inc. PC (MS Windows, WinNT) 213 Deerwood Drive Kinburn, Ontario Canada K0A 2H0 Tel.: 613-839-0431 sales@kjrsoftware.com Vantive Quality Vantive Corp. HP-UX, IBM RS/6000 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. Sun Mountain View, CA 94043 Tel.: 415-691-1500 Client on Windows PC (WinNT Planned) 4. Problem Management Tools Generally Available Free Free But Perhaps Not Fully Supported There do not seem to be many public domain problem management tools available. A public domain tool is generally available at no charge if you transfer it from an archive site on the Internet using a tool such as FTP. In some cases the tool will need to be compiled at your site. Most come bundled with adequate documentation. Such tools generally are provided without support, so it may not be advisable to use them on some projects. For completeness, any tools recommended by others on the Internet have been listed here despite that potential drawback. GNU GNATS GNU GNATS (GNU Problem Report Management System) is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation and freely available according to the terms of the GNU General Public License. Commercial support for GNATS (under the name PRMS) is provided by Cygnus Support. This product which helps track software problems or change-requests. Some of its features include: o problems submitted via e-mail o uses a file system based database o each problem identified by a unique key o querying possible o can maintain audit trail of all activities concerning a specific problem o a GUI interface (via tkgnats) Responders believed that linking GNATS and the ClearCase task examples (/usr/atria/examples/task) should not be too difficult, though no responders seem to have tried this. GNATS can be obtained from one of the GNU mirrors or from Cygnus Support. For example, GNATS may be found via anonymous FTP at: site filename prep.ai.mit.edu pub/gnu/gnats-3.2.tar.gz The official PRMS Web page is at http://www.cygnus.com/data/prms.html and an unofficial page with references to other related info on WWW may be found at http://alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/gnats.html. There is a WWW frontend to GNATS; see http://alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/wwwgnats/. PTS, XPTS, and Web/PTS Problem Tracking System (PTS, XPTS, and Web/PTS) Dean Collins provides an easy way to report problems, and is oriented towards system administration. It consists primarily of an X application. There is a simple text-mode and command-line interface for reporting problems. Latest information is available on the WWW at http://www.halcyon.com/dean/pts/pts.html or by anonymous ftp at ftp.halcyon.com/local/pts. 5. Commercial Problem Management Tools Growing Number On Market It is impossible to provide user's comments concerning all the available tools. A brief summary of the tools mentioned most frequently on the Usenet newsgroup comp.software.config-mgmt is provided below so that your site may decide if it would be appropriate to consider one of these tools. These comments do not necessarily reflect the opinion or experiences of the author of this document. Contact information such as address and phone number may be found in the Commercial Vendor Contact List, elsewhere in this document. Mentioned Most Often The Scopus tool set (ProTEAM) and the Pure Software tool (PureDDTS) tend to be mentioned most often by posters to the newsgroup comp.software.config-mgmt. These are followed closely by references to Vantive Quality and ClearQuality. (This statement is provided for information only, and is not meant to indicate that these products are the "winners" of a sanctioned evaluation of tools.) AllChange AllChange from Intasoft is a configuration management system including integrated problem management and change requests (known as CRs). Its features include: o Different classes of CR o Any CR Numbering scheme o Different life-cycles depending on class o Full link to configuration items and baselines o Hierarchical CRs supported o Site definable fields o Full search and query support o Metrics generation and graphical reporting o User assignment o Full audit trail o Automatic mailing Apriori Apriori by Answer Systems, Inc. is a family of integrated applications to improve performance of support and help desk teams. Newsgroup chatter has been very light. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.answer.com/ BugBase BugBase is a PC-only tool which keeps track of problems and provides on-screen reports as text, pie charts or bar graphs. The database tracks the status, severity, urgency, and type of the defect, as well as providing for a brief description of the problem. Other fields allow additional information to be included. Sorts may be based on any field. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.archimedesinc.com/devtools CCC/Harvest CCC/Harvest provides problem management as a stand-alone tool or in conjunction with Softool's other software development tools. Electronic review and notification of status changes is part of the problem life cycle management provided. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.softool.com/ ClearQuality ClearQuality is part of Clarify Inc.'s Service Management System. While ClearSupport provides high volume call tracking, ClearQuality provides defect tracking. Information it keeps includes priority, severity, module and description. It allows related information to be attached by the user. In addition to Motif on UNIX platforms, ClearQuality's client may be run from PCs and Macintosh machines. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.clarify.com ClearTrack ClearTrack is Atria's highly customizable change request management (CRM) system that tracks defects and enhancement requests throughout the entire software development and maintenance process. ClearTrack is a comprehensive client/server system that can be implemented immediately or customized to meet the specific CRM needs of a software development organization. ClearTrack gives you the information you need to accurately track and implement change requests. ClearTrack can be used as a standalone system or in conjunction with Atria's ClearCase software configuration management product. Used together, ClearCase and ClearTrack provide a change management solution. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.atria.com Continuus/PT The Continuus/PT problem tracking tool from Continuus Software Corp. (formerly CaseWare, Inc.) is excellent and is driven from the same configuration management database as their Continuus/CM tool, providing a tightly integrated package. The system supports problem submission (either through a graphical user interface or electronic mail), on-line queries, problem reporting, and correlation of change requests to project components. Problems may be divided into separately assigned tasks which are tracked as part of problem resolution. Standard problem and task management process models and user screen formats may be used as is, or may be modified to fit customer-specified processes. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.continuus.com/ Control First The Control First product by Repository Technology (708-515-0780) provides problem tracking capability for the configuration management product PVCS. KeepTrack! Consensus of responders was that KeepTrack! was rather restrictive and that it is no longer available on the market. Lotus Notes Not surprisingly, a Lotus representative replied that they use Lotus Notes for Tech Support Calls. All customer incidents are tracked from phone call through world-wide escalation. (Although Lotus claimed to market the application and customization they use, there was no response to an e-mail request for more information.) Others using Lotus Notes admitted they had not tried a commercial system built specifically for problem management. Most used e-mail and/or automatic e-mail from Lotus Notes as part of their implementation. Depending upon how each site builds the database and forms, a Lotus Notes form may include version, client, module, priority, status, additional text, and more. Prioritization and review can be handled, though the descriptions of some implementations sounded awkward. Advantages o tailored to local process and style o better than lots of Post-It notes and yelling o tool already in use for other communication reasons o good means for wide area distribution and replication Disadvantages o difficult to extract metrics reports o performance issues (see below) o lack of integration with rest of development system Although reliability and up-time seems adequate, performance and scalability tended to be a problem when using Lotus Notes as a problem tracking system. Even on 50 MHz 486 machines, several users reported situations such as: o 20 second searches with fewer than 2000 records o over 5 minutes with 65000 records and two users o search time doubling with each new user added PCMS The configuration management tool PCMS from SQL Ltd. includes an embedded software development process management capability which can be used for problem management. Based on an Oracle database engine, it is SQL compliant. Though enhanced for version 4.0, its GUI is still trailing other implementations. One user reports they found the PCMS user interface to be one of the least intuitive and least pleasant they ever used. Furthermore, the system as a whole was very bureaucratic and time-consuming, adding a lot of overhead to the development process that couldn't be justified by the rewards. These comments have been disputed by several others in the newsgroup who claim PCMS imposes no more process overhead than the user/organization has itself chosen to use. The organizational policies are definable within the PCMS "control plan". Interactions with other tools is limited but being improved. It is integrated with a graphical desktop in Digital's COHESION Team/SEE. PR-Tracker PR-Tracker by Softwise is a low-cost shareware tool written for DOS and Windows with a graphical user interface. It may be obtained from: DOS: ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/local/softwise/prtrkdos.zip Windows: ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/local/softwise/prtrack.zip or from other sources listed on the supplier's WWW site at http://www.halcyon.com/softwise/prtrak.html PR-Tracker helps manage software development projects by tracking software bugs with problem reports. It records problem reports in a network database that supports simutaneous access by multiple users and features classification, assignment, sorting, searching, and estimation. It supports easy configuration of data collection and workflow on a project by project basis. PureDDTS PureDDTS (formerly DDTs by QualTrak) from Pure Software is one of the most frequently recommended tools in this line. Some of the DDTs advocates had been using the tool for several years and claimed they could not imagine functioning without it. While it does not provide call tracking, it does a very good job of problem management and metrics gathering. The e-mail interface allows notification of new problems and changes of status as well as submission of defects from e-mail. The tool's character-based terminal interface origins is still evident even in the newer X-Windows version, causing some users to find it harder to use than a full GUI tool. Despite that drawback, it has many strong supporters. The product includes a Web-based interface called WebTracker Lite which allows for submission and querying of records in the PureDDTS database. There is also a full-function WebTracker product available as a separate option to PureDDTS. It provides most of the functionality of the native PureDDTS client, including the ability to modify a record and generate management reports. One popular feature of PureDDTS is its distributed nature. PureDDTS supports the sharing of information between project teams located at different locations. With PureDDTS' subscription feature, a remote location can subscribe to a local project and maintain a copy of all records associated with that project in a remote database. The information is kept in-sync through an e-mail interface. PureDDTS is integrated with Purify. A developer who finds a run-time error can submit that error directly into PureDDTS. The Purify output will be included as part of the record in PureDDTS. PureDDTS is also integrated with PureTestExpert, Pure's test harness. With this integration, a testing engineer can submit failed tests caused by a bug directly into PureDDTS. Similar to the Purify integration, the test description and the results of the test are included as part of the PureDDTS record. Once the defect has been resolved, PureTestExpert can re-run the original failed test. If the test now passes, the defect will be moved to a 'verified' state. Thus, the integration allows automatic verification of bugs submitted to PureDDTS by PureTestExpert. The PureDDTS and ClearCase configuration management integration has been shipping for a while and seems to be very popular. A number of users report a high degree of satisfaction with this integration. There is a simple "query language" that allows extracting "all bugs submitted against product-x by person-y between date-1 and date-2 that have priority greater than z." Beginning in Nov. 1995, PureDDTS began including an SQL database as part of the product. It also provides an SQL interface to the Oracle database. Advantages o very easy to use platform o very flexible tool o good integration with ClearCase o offers the most benefit for the dollar o references check out well o good support o ability to link problem reports in parent-child relationships o allows some rather complex searches o very nice metrics shipped and setup with the tool o engineer can get e-mail with change-request number Disadvantages o user interface is too character-based o only available on UNIX platforms today Summarizing their installation, one person said, "ClearCase is truly a productivity tool for the engineer/programmer and DDTS is a productivity tool for the project manager." A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.mnl.com/pure/pureddts/PDdatasheet.html PVCS Tracker The PC Windows-only tool PVCS Tracker (formerly DCS) came highly recommended by those who responded. It may be used in stand alone mode or may be networked. UNIX systems may access the database via lan manager and PC/NFS. The integration with PVCS provides a development platform for PC users. Tracker has been improved for use on large projects/large development groups and the product can now use the major client/server DBMSs as the backend database engine. Alternatively, you can use the integrated dBASE 5.0 as the backend. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.intersolv.com Q&A One location provided extensive customization to the PC database product Q&A in order to perform problem tracking. While the forms could be made to suit the project needs and fairly complex queries were possible, the DOS interface and lack of integration with other development tools were cited as problems. The system had no means of notifying users of new problems or status changes via e-mail nor of providing parent-child relationships between reports. QualTEAM and ProTEAM (Scopus) More users recommended the Scopus products than any other. Most were very satisfied with the tool set, which includes call tracking (ProTEAM) and problem management (QualityTEAM). A GUI based builder provides easy modification of the user interface and allows site-specific forms and data fields. Integrations exist with several configuration management systems such as Atria Software's ClearCase. The products are also integrated with Mercury's XRunner test product. A rather unique Scopus feature provides synchronization of databases located at remote locations when needed. Several sites had used both the Scopus and the PureDDTS tool; some had both installed at the same time. Of those with both, the Scopus user interface was preferred. A few had started with PureDDTS since it was a lower cost solution in low volume. When call tracking was required, some migrated to Scopus while others added Scopus to the existing environment. Reportedly, the founders of Scopus are former Sybase employees. Thus, Scopus is very tightly integrated with Sybase, although it may be run on an Oracle database if a site so chooses. Advantages o integrated call / bug tracking / application notes o ad-hoc query builder / keyword search o ease of use o flexibility o easy to add/modify the system screens and functions o ease of customization (no programming) o ease of distribution of new customizations o get more functionality by buying than building o works well in a WAN across MAC, PC, UNIX o performance o reliability, stability, robustness o Sybase database is performing well o system support is minimal o the license "floats" o support is first-rate Disadvantages o price (particularly in low volume) o Scopus is growing and customer support has not kept up the pace o current Sybase does not have a rich set of admin tools o vendor does not provide much printing capability o you will have to buy a report writer o weak state model o invocation time is too long Some extensions users have added on their own o some of PureDDTS' XDDTS query capabilities added to Scopus o software license management Some usage statistics reported o 250 concurrent users with satisfactory performance o 200 MB of report data o 8000 new problems per month o 20,000 data records on line The training classes (held at Emeryville) come highly recommended. Implementations could be done without it, but having the class will save a lot of time. It was also suggested that new sites put together a strong, well focused team to work with Scopus consultants during installation. Relying too heavily on a vendor consultant increases your risk when they leave. Have a very thorough design of what you want and allow plenty of time and support staff to implement it. Make clear what expectations you have from Scopus for support. Several sites reported they had to make significant modifications to the out-of-the-box ProTEAM product to fit it with their work flow and company culture. Four months to a year of integration was not uncommon. One former user said that generating reports was troublesome, with data conversion being the primary compliant. Another satisfied user reported, "overall the product is filling our needs nicely." A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.scopus.com Razor Razor, from Tower Concepts, is a highly configurable problem tracking system, which comes complete with an integrated file version control package. Issue form templates are defined and tailored by each work group to contain information that will meet their needs. These forms present themselves on screen as Motif windows, employing text fields, check boxes, choices etc, for such information as... o The estimated effort/cost involved o Whether the issue is approved for resolution o The systems to be affected by the proposed change o Which product release it relates to o Its priority and phase in schedule o None, all, others, or variations of the above Each new form is automatically numbered and entered into the Razor database. These forms can then be edited and routed to team members electronically, avoiding the clumsy paper and homegrown systems that have become the norm in many companies. Every change to the form is recorded and time stamped with the user's login name, providing complete accountability for changes. Approval and signature lists can be configured into the system to make the package as open or restrictive as each site deems necessary for their process. The product is also takes advantage of e-mail connectivity. Users are able to submit new issues to the database through e-mail messages, and to use e-mail to configure queries and reports which are generated and returned by e-mail. Their database synchronization capability provides automatic coordination of multiple databases at remote sites. Razor's easily parsed ASCII database allows users to generate their own scripts for report generation and process control. A company representative stressed that it is extremely easy to try out their product. Both documentation and a full copy of the product for evaluation are available by FTP. New releases and patches are handled in the same manner. Contact razor-info@tower.com for a detailed description. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.tower.com Remedy ARS The Action Request System (ARS) by Remedy Corp. is a flexible client/server solution which is available on a wide variety of platforms. Users report that the system is effective and very flexible. Its 'help desk software' is but one of the functions available in this vertical application builder oriented toward business process management. The AR System is not an out of box solution but rather one for which effective deployment requires careful process analysis and at least tailoring of the sample application schemas provided with the product. The rich set of active link (client side, not supported by ARWeb) and filters (server side) provide extensive opportunities for validating inputs, triggering external events, computing defaults based on other input fields, etc. Remedy offers the ARWeb product for WWW access to Action Request System installations. An on-line demo is available from the Remedy web server. Via the WWW, users can submit new Action Requests (what ever they are called in the local context, .... help requests, bug reports, etc.) and they can perform QBE searches of the data base. Using the search facilities, they can check the status of prior requests as well as look for similar problems from other users. Other ARSystem facilities require an actual AR System client for access (modify, delete, etc.). A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.remedy.com TrackRecord UnderWare, Inc.'s TrackRecord allows PC users to keep track of bug reports, new feature requests, documentation, and more. Displaying information in an outline format permits manipulation in an overview manner, while still keeping all data up to date. A calendar view provides a quick look at what work items need to be addressed. TrackWise Sparta Systems, Inc. has released its Client/Server Problem Tracking system, designated TrackWise (tm), for management of defects, customer complaints, change orders, and generic work items. This product is for PCs running MS Windows. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.sparta-sys.com Under Control Under Control by KJR Software Inc. is a problem tracking and software team management tool that runs on MS Windows. It offers all the standard features, reports, and metrics of a complete problem tracking tool and extends problem tracking into software change management and team management by providing a customizable process for the review and approval of all software changes, and a means of assigning, tracking, and approving all related work assignments. Under Control is project oriented and highly customizable, allowing organizations to define and evolve a CM process that is appropriate to their culture and the needs of specific projects. Under Control is integrated to several version control tools, including MKS Source Integrity. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.kjrsoftware.com. Vantive Quality Vantive Quality by Vantive Corporation is an integrated change management system with links to several configuration management systems. In addition to status tracking, it integrates with popular e-mail packages, providing automatic routing of problems. Vantive Quality is integrated with other Vantive tools to provide such features as Help Desk support. 6. Other Tools There are other such tools available today as well as new ones entering the market. Check the appropriate industry periodicals for additional listings. Appendix A. References and Sources of Information For additional information about the topic discussed here, consider the following sources of information in addition to various industry periodicals and new data from the vendors themselves. Usenet Newsgroup [1] The Usenet newsgroup comp.software-eng articles and associated Frequently asked Questions (FAQ) lists comments on software tools from newsgroup readers world-wide. That FAQ is archived at site rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers/software-eng under the names part0 through part3. Instructions for finding the other parts of the FAQ for this newsgroup, comp.software.config-mgmt, are provided in the section 'Other Information' above. Windows NT Tools [2] Microsoft Win32 Products & Services Catalog. Published in 1993 by Microsoft Corporation as part number 098-5230. Copies may be requested from Microsoft Corporation; Systems Marketing; One Microsoft Way; Redmond, WA 98052 or e-mail: win32cat@microsoft.com Open Systems Tools [3] 1994 Open Systems Products Directory. Published in 1994 by UniForum for their members. ISBN: 0-936593-28-8. Uniforum; 2901 Tasman Dr., Suite 205; Santa Clara, CA 95054-1100. Various products mentioned in this message are the trademarks of their respective companies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix B. Problem Management Tools With World Wide Web Sites As the popularity and accessibility of the World Wide Web (WWW) has grown, tool vendors and dedicated users have begun providing tool information on their WWW servers. The content may vary widely, and some will contain significant marketing information, rather than technical details. On any particular attempt, network traffic, server traffic, or server outages may prevent access to the information. All servers may not be accessible from all sites. The related WWW servers which have been reported to this FAQ editor are: -*Vendor/Supplier WWW Servers* o Apriori information from Answer Systems at http://www.answer.com/ o BugBase information from Archimedes at http://www.archimedesinc.com/devtools o Track information from Soffront at http://www.soffront.com/ o CCC information from Softool at http://www.softool.com/ o Clarify, makers of ClearQuality, at http://www.clarify.com o ClearTrack information from Atria Software at http://www.atria.com/ o Continuus/PT information from Continuus Software at http://www.continuus.com/ o Qualit, Inc. at http://www.qualit.com o PR-Tracker at http://www.halcyon.com/softwise/prtrak.html o Dean Collins' information about PTS, XPTS, and Web/PTS at http://www.halcyon.com/dean/ o Pure Software's product PureDDTS at http://www.mnl.com/pure/pureddts/PDdatasheet.html o Intersolv, Inc. makers of PVCS Tracker, at http://www.intersolv.com o Scopus Technologies, makers of QualTEAM and ProTEAM at http://www.scopus.com o Sparta Systems, Inc., makers of TrackWise at http://www.sparta-sys.com o Remedy Corp. makers of ARS at http://www.remedy.com o Tower Concepts, Inc. makers of Razor, at http://www.tower.com o Under Control by KJR Software Inc. at http://www.kjrsoftware.com -*User Information WWW Servers* o (None at this time) -*Other Related WWW Servers* o Phil Verghis' Help Desk FAQ, at http://www.duke.edu/~pverghis/hdeskfaq.htm Additional CM related information available on the WWW is listed in section 1.7, Where else can I look for configuration management information?, in the "General Questions" portion (a separate posting) of this FAQ. If you are aware of other WWW Servers which should be added to this list (or any which should be retired), please notify the FAQ editor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- End Of This Document------------- (This message does not represent an official position of Honeywell Inc.) -- +----------------------------------+----------------------------------+ |Dave Eaton | e-mail: dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com| |Honeywell Inc. - IAC | FAX: (602)313-4064 | |16404 N Black Canyon Highway | voice: (602)313-5094 | |Phoenix, AZ 85023 | HED: AZ15/2E8 | +----------------------------------+----------------------------------+