Display information to explain what a user should enter into a Text, TextArea or Url field.

Instruction Text

Enter a sentence into the Instruction Text option. Then, choose whether the text will be cleared out when the user puts their cursor on the field.

Instruction Text Options

Configure Instructions on the Add or Submit Pages

To configure Instruction Text for a field on the Add or Submit pages:

  1. Login as Admin and click on the Admin icon.
  2. Click on the Fields link.
  3. Set the Instruction Text and Clear Instruction Text on Focus options.
  4. Click OK to save the changes.

The Field Types & Properties section of the Online Help Guide provides more information on the options available for Text, TextArea or Url fields.

Configure Instructions During Task

To configure Instruction Text for a field displayed during the Task operation:

  1. Login as Admin and click on the Admin icon.
  2. Click on the Workflows link.
  3. Select the desired workflow in the pulldown at the top.
  4. Click on the Manage link to the right of States.
  5. Click on the state that has the transition you want to modify, then click on the Transitions button.
  6. Click on the Task Fields button next to the transition you want to change.
  7. Click on the desired field and click on the Add button. Or, if the field has already been added, click on the field and click on the Edit button.
  8. Set Initialize to "Yes". Please note: Setting Initialize to Yes will clear out the existing contents of the field.
  9. Set the Instruction Text and Clear Instruction Text on Focus options.
  10. Click Update to save the changes.

More information about the options available for Text, TextArea or Url fields displayed during Task can be found in the Workflow Transitions section of the Online Help Guide.

Attach files that are not tied to a specific record and can be accessed by anyone.

There are two kinds of attachments in Tracker:

  • Record attachments are files or links that can be saved in a record (e.g. a screenshot of an error being reported or a related web site link).
  • Global attachments are files that are independent of an individual record. These can include documents that are used in your process, training materials or any other resource that is helpful to your end users. These attachments are accessible to anyone with the appropriate URL. It is not required for a user to login to Tracker to access these attachments.

Global attachments are managed in the Admin section.

Global Attachments

To add a global attachment:

  1. Login as Admin and click on the Admin icon.
  2. Click on the Global File Attachments link.
  3. Click on the Add Attachment button.
  4. Enter a description of the attachment, then click Choose File.
  5. Select the file and click Open.
  6. Click OK to save the attachment.

More information about Global Attachments can be found in the Online Help Guide.

Tracker has a wide variety of features & options, but some situations require a minimalist approach. Tracker has the flexibility to allow you to pare things down to show users the bare minimum to keep them focused on what's important.

Restricted Users

For users such as customers, vendors and end users, who only need to see the records they've reported, a Restricted user account is a great fit. No extra configuration is needed for the user to only have access to their own records. The following video has more information about Restricted Users.

User Group Privileges

A good place to scale things back is in the user group privileges. All standard users are members of the Users group and all Restricted users are members of the RestrictedUsers group. When deciding which privileges to disable for other user groups, you should ensure the privileges are also disabled in these groups since users inherit a basic set of privileges from these groups.

User Groups

To make changes to user group privileges:

  1. Login as Admin and click on the Admin icon.
  2. Click on the User Accounts link.
  3. Click on the Manage Groups button.
  4. Click on the Edit button to the left of the user group you wish to modify.
  5. Check the box for a privilege to enable or UNcheck to disable, then click OK to save the changes.

See the Online Help Guide for a description of each privilege.

View Page

Each section on the View Page is tied to a privilege so you can hide sections that are not necessary for a user group.

View Privileges

You can also set which fields are displayed for each user group. This allows you to show users only the fields they need to see.

View Page Field Visibility

To choose which user groups can see a field on the View Page:

  1. Login as Admin and click on the Admin icon.
  2. Click on the Fields link.
  3. Click on the Edit button to the left of the field you wish to modify.
  4. Scroll down to find the View Page Visibility option.
  5. Select the user groups that should be able to see the field on the View Page. To select multiple user groups, hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard as you select user groups.
  6. Click OK to save the changes.

Reports

For some users, you may want to make reports available to them without giving them access to the Search and Metrics pages. They can run reports you make available to their user group on the Home Page, but cannot run ad-hoc report or save their own. This is done by disabling the Query Privileges and selecting "Home Page Only" in Metrics Privileges.

Report Privileges

A Simple View

The end result: A few toolbar icons and only the necessary fields and attachments. Alerts, Discussions and Record History disabled.

Minimal View

Set rules for notifying users throughout your process.

Notify Based On Actions

Trigger emails based on actions such as adding, editing, processing via the Task operation, change of status or assignment.

Email Rule Triggers

For each rule, you can choose who will be notified, the subject line and an operation description, which is a quick explanation of the notification.

Sample Email Rule

Details for configuring rules can be found in the Online Help Guide.

Set Different Rules Based on a Pulldown

You can set up a different set of rules based on a pulldown. For example, if the rules are based on the Product field, you can have different content or actions triggering email notifications for each of your products.

Rules Based on Product

Perhaps you have a new product and upper management wants to keep a close eye on the issues being reported for this product. You can set the Based On property to be "Product" and add a user group to be notified when issues are added for this product only. "<pulldown0>" is a variable that will include the product name in the email.

Add Rule Based on Product

Steps for setting the email rules to be based on a pulldown can be found in the Email Rules section of the Online Help Guide.

Include Record Details in the Email

There are variables you can use in the email content to include specific details from the record. For instance, if a notification is being sent because a record was re-assigned, you can include the name of the assignee in the subject line.

Email Rule with Variable

Use One Rule for Similar Actions

Sometimes one basic rule can be used for multiple actions. In this example, the reporter is notified for any action where the record will no longer be processed (e.g. the record was closed, deferred, marked as a duplicate of an existing issue, or included in a release). A single rule can handle all of these cases by setting up a state group called "Inactive". The <new status> variable in the Subject and Operation Description will fill in the appropriate state name in the email (Closed, Released, etc.).

Use a State Group

The Workflow States section of the Online Help Guide explains how to add a state group.

Use Tracker to develop, manage and maintain your organization's training materials.

Document List

One approach is to simply keep a list of each training document and who owns it. Or, perhaps you just need to keep track of who has received training. These can easily be done by setting up a project and form. And, these can be added to an existing Tracker system while maintaining secure access (users only see the projects and forms accessible to them based on user group privileges).

Training Documents

This blog post explains how to set up a list without a formal workflow.

Review Reminders

You can set a reminder specific to each document for updating it (e.g. some require annual updates, other need more frequent reviews depending on product releases or other milestones).

Reminder to Review

Use the Alerts feature to send reminders for updating training documents.

Workflow

If desired, you can create a formal workflow for developing and publishing these documents.

Training Document Process

The Getting Started Guide is a good resource for building a new workflow. Need Help? Technical Support can answer your questions or even help configure Tracker for you.