Problem report attributes include severity, status, and proble type. Users with adminstrator access can create new attributes, update existing attributes, or delete unused attributes from the Adminstration->Attributes... menu item.
Selecting Adminstration->Attributes... from the menu displays the Attributes dialog. The Attributes has three tabs, one for severities, one for statuses, and one for problem types. Each tab contains a list of associated attributes.
The order of the attributes within each list determines the order used when the attributes are displayed in other dialog boxes. The order also determines the ranking used when problem reports are sorted using the attributes. Users with adminstrator access can easily change the ordering of the values within any attribute list by using drag and drop.
A Note on Ordering: The ordering only effects the attribute values that are currently displayed in the attribute list. If the "Show Inactive" check box is not checked when you change the order the attribute values, the placement of inactive attribute values within the ordering will not be well defined. If the placement of the inactive values is important to you, please be sure to only change the order of the values when the "Show Inactive" check box is checked.
Severities define how severe a problem is. In other words, the severity of a problem is defined by the impact that the problem has on the users. PRepS comes with several pre-defined severities that work well for most software projects.
The problem is a real show stopper. The software is essentially useless until this problem is fixed.
The problem causes part of the program to be inoperable, and there is no reasonable work around that the user can do to get around the problem.
The problem is significant, but there is a reasonable though non-trivial work around.
The problem itself is trivial, or there is a trivial work around to the problem, thus nullifying its effect.
The quality of the software is not really effected in any significant way by the problem.
The severity dialog is used to add, update, and view severities. The severity dialog is displayed by pressing the Add or View/Modify buttons on the Severity tab of the attribute list dialog.
The name of the severity. Keep is short but descriptive. This is what is displayed in the other dialogs, and in the reports.
A long description of the severity.
If this box is checked, the severity is considered active. By default, only active severities show up in severity lists.
The status defines the milestones in the life of a problem report. PRepS comes with severl pre-defined statuses.
The problem report is new, and has not been examined yet.
The problem report has been examined, and assigned, and is probably being actively worked on.
The problem report is not being activly worked on. The problem report has been placed on the back burner while more information is gathered, or other problem reports are worked on.
The problem report has been fixed, but the fix has not been verified.
The problem report has been examined, and it has been determined that there is no actual problem.
The problem report has been fixed, and the fix has been verified. By default, this is the only status where the problem report is considered "closed".
The status dialog is used to add, update, and view statuses. The status dialog is displayed by pressing the Add or View/Modify buttons on the Status tab of the attribute list dialog.
The name of the status. Keep is short but descriptive. This is what is displayed in the other dialogs, and in the reports.
A long description of the status.
If this box is checked, the status is considered active. By default, only active statuses show up in status lists.
If this box is checked, then problem reports at this status are considered "closed". Only problem reports that are at a closed status are included on the ChangeLog report. If a problem report is set to a closed status without the close version having been set, the close version is set to the default close version for the associated project.
The problem types define the general catagories of problems that can be logged.
There is a problem with the documentation. It is wrong, misleading, or incomplete.
The user is requesting a new featuer be added to the product.
The user is suggesting a way to improve the current product, or a better way of implementing some product feature.
There is a problem with the software.
The problem type dialog is used to add, update, and view problem types. The problem type dialog is displayed by pressing the Add or View/Modify buttons on the Type tab of the attribute list dialog.
The name of the problem type. Keep is short but descriptive. This is what is displayed in the other dialogs, and in the reports.
A long description of the problem type.
When entering a problem report, the default severity is automatically selected when the problem type is selected.
If this box is checked, the problem type is considered active. By default, only active problem types show up in problem type lists.