***CVSTrac Tickets***

A ticket is an object describing and tracking a bug, feature request, project,
action item, or any other type of thing that you might want to track within a
software development team.

Unlike some issue tracking systems, CVSTrac doesn't associate significant
amounts of process overhead with tickets. There aren't any constraints on who
can change specific fields, what states can lead to other states, who can
assign tickets, etc.

**Ticket Features**

*Properties*

Tickets have the following fields available:

*: *Ticket Number* is unique to each ticket and can be referenced in
{wiki: FormattingWikiPages wiki markup} using the
{quote: #n} syntax.
*: *Title* should be as descriptive as possible since it appears in
various cross-references, reports, ticket link titles, etc.
*: *Type* describes the kind of ticket, such as _bug_, _action item_, etc.
Ticket types are configurable.
*: *Status* describes the current state of the ticket. Possible states
are also configurable.
*: *Severity* defines how debilitating the issue is. A scale from one to five
is used, with one being most critical.
*: *Priority* decribes how quickly the ticket should be resolved. This isn't
necessarily related to *Severity* (i.e. a serious bug in a non-operational
product isn't always high priority).
*: *Assigned To* identifies which CVSTrac user should be handling the ticket.
*: *Creator* identifies which CVSTrac user created the ticket (including,
possible, *anonymous*)
*: *Version* should be used to report the product version related to the
ticket.
*: *Created* shows when the ticket was created.
*: *Last Changed* shows when the ticket was last changed.
*: *Subsystem* is intended to identify which component/area has a problem.
This list _must_ be configured by the administrator.
*: *Derived From* lists a parent ticket, if any.
*: *Contact* lists a way to get hold of the problem reporter. Typically, this
is an e-mail address. Contact information is _not_ made available to
*anonymous* CVSTrac users.
*: *Description* is a {wiki: FormattingWikiPages wiki} field providing
information about the nature of the ticket.

Additional custom ticket fields may be
defined by the administrator. This could include things like billing
information, due dates, completion percentages, resolutions, reporting
organizations, etc.

*Remarks*

The *Remarks* property is a special {wiki: FormattingWikiPages wiki}
field which can be editted directly, but also has a special _append_ option
where users can add comments and discussion to a ticket. When appending, a
timestamp and user name is automatically added into the remarks.

*Related Objects*

Any {wiki: CvstracCheckin check-ins} and
{wiki: CvstracMilestone milestones} related to the ticket are listed in
their own sections.

Tickets may also have _children_ which reference them in their *Derived From*
properties. These child tickets will be listed in a separate section, allowing
a certain amount of hierarchical project task management.

*History*

A separate page containing a full ticket history provides a chronologically
ordered list of _all_ events associated with a ticket. Property changes,
remarks, check-ins, attachments, inspections, etc, are all listed here.

Changes to certain fields, such as *Description* and *Remarks* are shown in
_diff_ style.

*Attachments*

Arbitrary files may be
{wiki: CvstracAttachment attached} to tickets. This could include things
like screenshots, specifications, standards documents, etc. Attachments are of
limited size.

**Creating New Tickets**

A new ticket is created by clicking on the *Ticket* link available in the
navigation bar. A new ticket form will be opened and the user would then enter
all appropriate information.

The ticket form is a combination of text fields and dropdown menus. Dropdown
menus provide a fixed set of items to choose from and are often populated with
reasonable defaults.

A large text area is provided for the problem description. As with most
components of CVSTrac, this text area allows (and encourages) the use of
{wiki: FormattingWikiPages wiki formatting}.

As with any such system, detailed and complete information is encouraged.

**Changing Tickets**

Ticket properties can be editted by following the _Edit_ link in the ticket
view. Remarks can be added by following the _Add remarks_ link in the *Remarks*
area of a ticket view.

A ticket can be automatically associated with a
{wiki: CvstracMilestone milestone} or
{wiki: CvstracCheckin check-in} simply by mentioning the ticket in the
appropriate message using the {quote: #n} wiki markup.

In some cases, ticket changes may result in
notifications being triggered, if the
administrator has configured this.

**Undoing Changes**

When in the _history_ view, it's possible to undo changes. A user with *delete*
permissions or the user responsible
for the change can do this within 24 hours while a user with *admin*
permissions can do so at any time. An _undo_
link is included at the last item of the history page in this case.

**Deleting Tickets**

Users with *setup* permissions can always delete
tickets. Tickets should only be deleted as a last resort. If
a ticket contains valuable project history, it should instead be closed.

Users (except *anonymous*) with *delete* permissions
can delete tickets created by *anonymous* within 24 hours of ticket creation.