BrightWork Issue Manager Overview

1
BrightWork Issue Manager - Overview
2
Contents

• Business Challenge
• Solution Description
• Customer Evidence
• Using Issue Manager
• Configuring Issue Manager
• Conclusion
• Appendix A Using Issue Manager
• Appendix B Setup and Configuration of Issue
  Manager
• B.1 Site Setup
• Creating a BrightWork Site
• Editing the QuickLaunch
• B.2 Configuring the Issue List
• B.3 Configuring the Issue Manager Reports
• B.4 Column Update Utility

3
Business Challenge

• Successful Issue Management is crucial to the
  well being of most businesses yet, many do not
  have a standard process for managing issues.
• There always is a real need for some degree of
  process and infrastructure for resolving issues
  between disparate groups e.g., overseas staff,
  suppliers, partners and customers.
• These disparate groups do not always share the
  same water coolers, corporate cultures or time
  zones, managers are no longer able to manage by
  walking about assigning work and getting status
  updates as they once were and information on
  issue progress and history lacks the necessary
  visibility.

4
Solution Description

• What is BrightWork Solutions?
• BrightWork Solutions is a work and project
  management environment that sits on top of
  Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.
• What is BrightWork Issue Manager
• BrightWork Issue Manager is one of the 6 out of
  the box SharePoint solutions included in
  BrightWork Solutions and is designed to manage
  issues across and between organizations. 
• Since it is based on SharePoint it is fast to
  deploy and easy to customize.  The solution also
  includes a number of customizable and reusable
  tools that extend the functionality of SharePoint
  for web-based issue management.

5
Customer Evidence

• Customer ProblemThe Mobile and Embedded Devices
  Division at Microsoft are involved in many
  product launches with many partners. As with the
  launch of every new product, much of the effort
  goes into managing and resolving issues to ensure
  commercial success.
• BrightWork SolutionBrightWork Issue Manager
  gives Microsoft and its partners a SharePoint
  based solution to manage and resolve issues 24/7
  around the world. Each product launch has its
  own project web so privacy and focus is ensured.
  Each partner (including Microsoft) has their own
  portfolio with tailored reports so they can stay
  on top of issue status and resolution.

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Using Issue Manager

• Creating issues is a simple process
• Users who are assigned or made owners of Issues
  receive notification emails
• Users can track changes made to list items via
  the append-only comment section and the field
  change history section
• The My Issues report allow users to see all their
  assigned items
• The Overdue Issues report allows users to see all
  Overdue items
• For more information on the user perspective
  please see Appendix A Using Issue Manager

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Configuring Issue Manager

• The BrightWork Issue form has an Advanced List
  Settings page where most of the configuration is
  done.
• Reporting web parts are all highly configurable
• For more information on configuring Issue Manager
  please see Appendix B Setup and Configuration
  of Issue Manager

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Conclusion

• BrightWork Issue Manager is a SharePoint solution
  that streamlines the issue management process
  across and between organizations.
• It uses an enhanced SharePoint form that
  includes reference numbering event driven email
  notification field change history append only
  comments and advanced layout options.
• It also includes the BrightWork Reporter a
  cross site and cross list rollup reporting
  SharePoint web part.
• For more information on the Issue Manager user
  experience and configuring Issue Manager please
  view the appendices after this slide and the
  Issue Manager section on our website
• Appendix A Using Issue Manager
• Appendix B - Configuring the Issue Manager
  Solution
• http//www.brightwork.com/solutions/issue_manageme
  nt.htm

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Appendix A Using Issue Manager
10
Contoso and FabriKam

• Christine lets Anne Wallace, her contact point at
  FabriKam, know that FabriKam now have their own
  SharePoint site for logging and tracking any
  issues that FabriKam have.

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Contoso and FabriKam

• Anne logs in and creates an Issue straight away.
  She makes herself the Owner and assigns the Issue
  to Christine

12
Contoso and FabriKam

• Christine immediately receives an email notifying
  her that she has been assigned the Issue. She
  clicks the link and begins working on the issue
  straight away.

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Contoso and FabriKam

• The Issues form includes an append only comments
  field and records changes made to selected fields

14
Contoso and FabriKam

• Anne logs issues as they arise and can track the
  progress of all the Issues FabriKam have from the
  FabriKam BrightWork site.

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Contoso and FabriKam

• Christine can use the Issue Manager rollup site
  to track the issues of all Contosos clients.
• If needs be, she can Print, Export to a formatted
  Excel document or email any of the reports.

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Appendix B Setup and Configuration of Issue
Manager

• B.1 Site Setup
• Creating a BrightWork Site
• Editing the QuickLaunch
• B.2 Configuring the Issue List
• B.3 Configuring the Issue Manager Reports
• B.4 Column Update Utility

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Appendix B.1Setup and Configuration of Issue
ManagerSite Setup
18
Creating a BrightWork Site

• Creating a SharePoint site using the Issue
  Manager template is as simple as filling out a
  form.

Christine creates a BrightWork site for FabriKam
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Editing the Custom QuickLaunch

• The BrightWork Custom QuickLaunch has a List
  Driven option selecting this option from the
  web part tool pane means the QuickLaunch draws
  its structure from the QuickLaunch list.

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Appendix B.2Setup and Configuration of Issue
ManagerConfiguring the Issues List
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Configuring the Issues List

• BrightWork lists have an Advanced List Settings
  page where much of the enhanced functionality is
  configured.

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Configuring the Issues List - Referencing

• BrightWork lists have an optional and
  configurable referencing feature that assigns a
  unique reference number to every list item.

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Configuring the Issues List - Email Notification

• Knowing when you have been assigned an Issue, or
  when a Issue you have created has been resolved,
  reassigned or had its status changed adds
  enormous value to SharePoint as a tool for
  managing Issues.

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Configuring the Issues List - Field Change History

• Form based changes made to selected fields are
  recorded including the previous value, who made
  the change and when it was made.

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Configuring the Issues List - Comment History

• The append-only Comments field allows users of a
  list to add comments to a list item. Once the
  list item is saved, the comments become
  uneditable. The creator, and the time and date of
  creation, are recorded and displayed for every
  comment added.

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Configuring the Issues List - Advanced Layout

• If there are a lot of fields, SharePoints web
  based forms can suffer from excessive length and
  scrolling. BrightWork has got around this by
  facilitating the use of FrontPage 2003 to do
  advanced layouts such as collapsible sections and
  using columns to layout fields.

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Appendix B.3Setup and Configuration of Issue
Manager Configuring Reporting Web Parts
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Configuring Reporting Web Parts

• All Issue Manager reports are driven by
  BrightWork Reporter
• Just like with any normal SharePoint web part you
  select Modify Shared Web Part to begin
  configuring BrightWork Reporter.

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Configuring Reporting Web Parts

• Majority of configuration done via tool pane
• Tool pane divided into 3 sections
• BrightWork Reporter Settings
• View Settings
• Standard SharePoint web part configuration options

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Configuring Reporting Web Parts

• Query XML File GalleryWhere XML file that drives
  report is stored3 Options
• BrightWorkServer-side gallery where the 16
  supplied reports are stored
• Custom GalleryFiles in a document library in the
  top-level WSS site
• Custom FileFile in document library in another
  site on server

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Configuring Reporting Web Parts

• Query XML File
• Defines the webs the report is to query
• Options available depend on selection in previous
  menu
• Query Source Scope
• Defines the webs the report is to query
• 5 Options
• Current Web
• Current Web and Subs
• Query XML FileDefined in the Query XML File -
  provides the ability to specify the exact lists
  and webs to be included and excluded from the
  report
• Specified WebProvide server relative URL
• Specified Web and SubsProvide server relative URL

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Configuring Reporting Web Parts

• Grouping
• Up to 4 Levels allowed
• Expanded or Collapsed setting
• Sorting
• Up to 4 levels allowed
• Ascending or Descending setting

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Configuring Reporting Web Parts

• Grouping
• Up to 4 Levels allowed
• Expanded or Collapsed setting
• Sorting
• Up to 4 levels allowed
• Ascending or Descending setting
• Link FieldThe column link that a user clicks to
  open a list item
• Open Items in New WindowHow items open when
  clicked
• Never (same window)
• Each Time (new window every time)
• Once Only (same new window)
• Column PickerFor selecting the columns to be
  included and the order in which they appear in
  the generated report

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Configuring Reporting Web Parts

• Standard SharePoint web part configuration
  options also available

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Appendix B.4Setup and Configuration of Issue
Manager Column Update Utility
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Column Update Utility

• The Column Update Utility allows you to use an
  XML file to simultaneously perform a mass update
  on all columns in all the lists in all the sites
  on and beneath a top-level WSS site. This
  includes updating the list of values in choice
  fields (for example, adding and removing values).