Overview

This section provides general information to help you start using Tracker for tracking different issues and managing information. This section will also introduce you to the various features and how they can play a role in your processes.

The first step is to determine what you will be tracking. The following questions can guide you in this step:

• What projects will be managed?
• What are the processes or forms associated with managing these projects?
• What data needs to be collected during those processes / on those forms?
• What steps are needed to complete the processes?
• Who completes the steps at each point in the processes?

Tracker is made up of:

• Project(s) – A project is a plan or design. It can be a collection of records or tasks that are completed by a particular set of users or groups.
• Form(s) – A form is a set of fields that combined make up a particular "record".
• Workflow(s) – A workflow is a set of steps that represents a process.

The relationship between Project, Form and Workflow isn’t strictly hierarchical. A Project has one or more Forms available for use in the Project. Each Form within a Project has one (and only one) Workflow associated with it for that Project (for use when an instance of that Form is created via the Add operation in that Project). The same Form may be used in other Projects with other Workflows. The same Workflow may be shared by multiple Forms (in the same Project or in different Projects). Workflow and Form are always related. Every Workflow is associated with (available for) at least one Form. An example of multiple Projects, Forms and Workflows handled in a Tracker workgroup is shown below:

Project 1

• Form 1 using Workflow 1
• Form 2 using Workflow 2

• Form 1 using Workflow 2
• Form 2 using Workflow 1

• Form 3 using Workflow 3

• Create Project(s)
• Create Form(s) and Fields
• Create Workflow(s)