T E C H N I C A L B R I E F

PVCS Tracker Web Interface

® ™

Overview
MERANT PVCS Tracker’s web browser interface extends the power of issue
management to teams around the globe. The web browser interface enables direct
collection of customer feedback and provides immediate status.
PVCS Tracker’s web browser (“I-Net”) interface is enhanced with the release of
Tracker 7.0. The latest enhancements provide a consistent user experience across
PVCS Professional web browser interfaces. Performance improvements were also
added to the submit, update and query operations to promote greater efficiency while
working remotely.
Other recent enhancements to Tracker’s web interface include the ability to attach
files to change records (e.g. source code excerpts, problem descriptions, html
documents) and custom queries, as well as support for user-defined project terms,
remove from in-tray, project secure log-in and flexible query-by-ID.

Web Browser Interface Capabilities

“Web-enabled” — global access to day-to-day functions via web browser

PVCS Tracker is web-enabled, meaning that in addition to the Windows and
TrackerLink™ interfaces, it can operate with web browsers across the Internet and
intranets. You can use a browser from anywhere in the world to submit new change
requests, query and modify existing change requests, or manage the Tracker in-tray.
The benefits of using a web browser interface include:
Lower overhead, thin-client installation. To get started, a user needs only to install a
browser on the client desktop and surf to a Tracker web page. The Tracker program
is centrally installed at the web server level, with centralized upgrade ability, and no
ODBC installation or maintenance at the client. A web interface also lowers training
costs because users are familiar with browser interface and web operation.
More users than ever can provide project input, allowing more complete capture of
technical and business issues. With both anonymous submission of issues and named-
user access, non-core team members can now provide direct issue input.

Tracker’s web interface supports the following features:

• Project log-in – named users can log-in to any Internet-enabled Tracker project to
which they normally have access. Tracker also supports a unique “anonymous”
user log-in, which can provide anyone with access to the URL the ability to submit
an issue to Tracker directly. An “I-NET Administration” dialogue allows project
administrators to enable and configure projects for web browser access.
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• View and update In-Tray – Users can view their in-tray, as well as remove items
from their in-tray that they have addressed.

Figure 1: Tracker’s web browser In-Tray highlights key issues to a user.

• Submit and update records – Users can submit new issues, as well as update
existing records, via the web browser interface. User permissions follow the same
rules as the Windows client. (Anonymous submitters, a special case supported by
PVCS Tracker, can only submit issues.)

Figure 2: Users can submit and update Tracker records via an easy browser interface.

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• Add/view/update notes – users can attach, remove, and view notes that are
associated with a Tracker record. These notes can use pre-defined titles, or user
created. (Anonymous submit cannot add notes.)

Figure 3: Additional details for records can be added and updated as notes.

• Attach/remove/view files – new with Tracker 6.5, users can attach, remove and
view any type of attached files (e.g. source code, html pages, graphic images, word
documents, etc). (Anonymous submit cannot attach files.)

Figure 4: PVCS Tracker supports attaching files to records upon update of an SCR..

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• Run predefined queries – Tracker’s web interface provides access to predefined

shared and private stored queries, and allows viewing of the detailed results.
Query-by-ID can also be enabled, either automatically or following user
permission (build query).

Figure 5: User can run queries, view summary results and view record details.

• Create, modify, execute, and save customized queries — web users can build
custom queries to precisely filter project records to retrieve just the information of
interest.

Figure 6: User can create, modify, and save custom queries for greater flexibility over the web.

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• Project customizable dictionary terms — Tracker web interface follows project

terms defined for records (e.g. such as WCR), In-Tray, and submit/update
functions.

Although major Tracker functions are provided through the web interface, some
features are not available. The following Windows-interface Tracker functions are
not supported through the browser interface: project administration (users, field
values and so forth), import/export of Tracker data, notification and module
associations.

PVCS Metrics
PVCS Tracker also includes PVCS Metrics, a powerful web reporting tool. This tool
enables a Windows-client user to generate and post reports and query results to
specified web pages. It can also create trend reports based on query counts over time,
and can be setup to run at predefined intervals to automatically update the displayed
results. Anyone with access to the posted URL can view the results, providing an
immediate snapshot of project status (dashboard indication) and of changes over
time.

Figure 7: PVCS Metrics enables automatic reporting from Tracker to the web for team visibility.

Tracker Web Browser Technology Supported

For the latest systems requirements for PVCS Tracker, please go to
www.merant.com. From there, select the “Products” icon, then “MERANT PVCS.”
On the left column under “PVCS,” select “Tracker.” At the Tracker page, select
“System Requirements.”

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Copyright 2000 MERANT. All rights reserved.

PVCS and Net Express are registered
trademarks and PVCS Professional, PVCS
Version Manager, PVCS Tracker, and
TrackerLink are trademarks of MERANT. Other
trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.

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