TrackRecord Product Preview

Introduction

Compuware TrackRecord is a software development tool designed to record and report information about products being developed or supported. TrackRecord records all the information relating to a project—project team members and testers, schedules and milestones, bug reports and feature requests—in an object database. You can then use TrackRecord's query and reporting features to retrieve and format the information you need to keep your project on track.

TrackRecord is part of the Compuware DevPartner Studio suite of software debugging tools, Abend-AID Fault Manager, and the QACenter family of automated testing tools.

TrackRecord supports three types of users:

TrackRecord administrator: TrackRecord includes administrative functions that can only be performed by authorized users, such as setting up user groups, importing and exporting information to and from other applications, and editing the data types used by TrackRecord. When TrackRecord administrators log in, they see an additional menu (the Administrator menu) on the TrackRecord menu bar.
TrackRecord user: Users running the TrackRecord client software access the TrackRecord database by logging in from client machines anywhere on the network. Whether users can add or modify database information, including items and reports, depends on the groups to which they belong. The access and editing privileges of each user are defined by the administrator.
WebServer user: WebServer users access the database by logging in using standard web browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.

TrackRecord is very customizable and can adapt to virtually any environment. With TrackRecord, you can track many types of information, implement full workflow to ensure a repeatable process, create multiple reports, and even generate graphs. To start off, lets see how information is entered into TrackRecord by using the item types. Click Next to continue and view information of the Item Types.

Item type

For each type of information stored in the TrackRecord database—Defects, Tasks, Team Members, and so on—you will want to store different pieces of information. For example, you might want to store a name and phone number for a Team Member and a summary and description for a Defect. The point is that the Team Member and the Defect can be easily associated in TrackRecord. Each item type has its own data entry form, which is composed of fields appropriate to that item type. These types are extremely customizable and many different fields can be added or removed very easily.

To the right is a sample Defect with its related fields (notice the ACTION and STATUS fields; this indicates Workflow, which will be mentioned later). To assist in the entering of information, Rules can be added to set or require fields over time.

TrackRecord defect

Rules

TrackRecord provides a Rules engine that you use to create policies that govern the behavior of information types. Administrators can use rules to require that certain fields of information must be supplied when certain other fields have a specified value. Administrators create rules for individual types, and can create multiple rules for any given type. Rules apply either globally, or to users who belong to specified groups.

For example, an administrator might create a rule that states, "If Priority is equal to Critical, then Fix by Date is required."Or, as seen to the right, a rule might state "If Status is equal to Assigned, then Require Assigned To.".

Using rules ensure that valuable information has been entered in to item types, but items can pass through a series of states between the time it is entered and the time it is closed.

TrackRecord rules

Workflow

A Defect, Task or other item can pass through a series of states between the time it is entered and the time it is closed. For example, when a Defect is entered it is generally in an Unreviewed state. It might then be assigned to someone, resolved and validated. This series of actions, and the states resulting from these actions, is called a workflow. Tracking the state of items allows for more accurate assessment of a project's progress. For example, program managers might determine how to best allocate resources by examining all Defects in the Pending Validation state or those in the Unassigned state.

Below are two examples of workflow. The circles represent the various states for an item type and the squares signify the actions that can be performed on an item in order to advance the item type from one state to another (depending on security). Once the item types, rules and workflow has been established, queries can pull the information out of TrackRecord for viewing.

TrackRecord workflow diagram

Queries

To use information that has been entered into the TrackRecord database, you must first identify the information in which you are interested and create a query to retrieve that data. A query defines what is displayed. It lets you formulate requests for specific data from the database. Queries let you specify criteria for retrieving information in the TrackRecord database. You select the type of item you want to find and add parameters to make your query as specific (or general) as necessary.

When you create a query, you select the type of item you want to find (Tasks in the example to the right) and the fields you want the query to search on (Date Due and Completed in the example), and add parameters to make your query as specific as necessary. You can create your own queries or use queries that have been constructed for you by your TrackRecord Administrator.

Once the queries have been defined to extract relevant data, they can then be easily placed in to outlines (and thus graphed) or milestone reports.

TrackRecord query builder

Outline and graphs

Outline Reports are dynamic reports that select, sort and format summaries of the information in your TrackRecord database. When you create an Outline Report, you insert headers into the report and associate a query with each header. When you run the report, the queries are run and the matching information is displayed in columns in the report. While you are viewing an Outline Report, TrackRecord periodically runs the queries associated with the report to ensure the contents of the report reflect the most current information in the database. Below is an example outline report and graph displaying the defects sorted by status and priority.

TrackRecord reporting

Here is another example of an outline and two graphs displaying defects by team member and priority:

And finally, an additional custom report displaying all Assignments (Development and QA) that have associated requirements. Queries can be displayed in outlines (which can be graphed) as well as in milestone reports.

WebServer

WebServer allows you to access the TrackRecord database through a web browser. When you log in to TrackRecord through the WebServer, TrackRecord accesses your user information in the database just as though you had logged in through the TrackRecord Windows client.

WebServer login

The WebServer also recognizes your security level and allows you to run the same reports you run through the Windows client. To the right is a sample outline report (Defects Assigned to Me).

Web outline report

While using the WebServer, you can create new items, view and modify existing items. For example, here is a MS Project Task that has been assigned to me.

TrackRecord web task

Integrations

DevPartner Studio Professional Edition	Automatically detect, diagnose and facilitate resolution of software errors; maximize code performance; and ensure optimum code coverage and testing in .Visual Studio 6, .NET or a combination of both. Errors can be automatically entered into TrackRecord with a click of a button, and TrackRecord can keep track of how much code has been executed and what percent of the code is changing (added/edited/removed).
TestPartner	An automated testing tool used to test GUI and non-GUI objects. If TestPartner locates an error or failure in an application, details of the failure can be submitted to TrackRecord with the click of a button.
QADirector	Test Management tool that administers entire testing suites against an application. If it detects an error, QADirector can submit the error directly to TrackRecord with a click of a button.

TrackRecord can literally track anything. These features are just a limited glimpse of what TrackRecord can do. Contact us to find out more.