Topics Covered In This Section

Selecting Forms for a Field - describes how to set forms for a field.
Removing and Re-adding Fields to a Form - describes the interaction between removing fields and field values of existing records.
Effects on Existing Records when Adding and Removing Fields - describes what occurs when fields are added to existing records.
Set User Pulldown Values for Existing Records - describes options available for setting a user pulldown's value in existing records.
Deleting Fields - how to delete a field.

Selecting Forms for a Field

A field must be added to at least one form in order to be in use in Tracker. The fields PRN, Status, Reported By, Assigned To, Deleted and Product are required for all forms. The Forms option is not available for these fields in the Fields section.

To set the forms for a field:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Fields link
4. Click on the Forms button to the left of the field
5. Any forms in which the field is already included will be listed in the Forms Using This Field column. Any forms in which the field is not yet included will be listed in the Available Forms column. The forms which are listed in the Available Forms column for selection are determined by the forms created in the Forms section.

   To add the field to a form, click on the form in the Available Forms column, then click on the Add button. To remove a field from a form, click on the form in the Forms Using This Field column and click on the Remove button.

6. Click OK to return to the Fields section

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Removing and Re-adding Fields to a Form

When a field is removed from a form, all values in that field in the records created using that form will be removed. If later the field is re-added to the form, the field's value in all records created using the form will be set to its default (the old values from before the field was removed will not be preserved). Values of the field in records created using other forms will not be affected.

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Effects on Existing Records when Adding and Removing Fields

When you add a field, all existing records will be given an initial value. For pulldown menus and release numbers, the current default value (refer to the Customizing Menu Items Help section) for the pulldown or release number is used as the initial value. For a pulldown field configured as a user pulldown, existing records can be set to a particular user. Review the Set User Pulldown Values for Existing Records section. For Date, Text, TextArea, and URL fields, the initial value is blank (no value). For integer and float fields, it is zero. For YesNo fields, it is the current default value (see Editing Field Attributes).

If you wish to have all records in the system start with the same value for this newly added field (for example, you have a special value to note that the value wasn't actually set when the record was first created), you can use the Edit Results function to update all records after you add the field. The Query Results Help section of the User Help Guide has for more information on the Edit Results function.

If a field is renamed (the Label property for the field is changed), the label for the field on the various pages (Add, Edit, Task, View, Query, etc.) will change to use the new label.

Fields that are removed from Tracker are no longer displayed, but they actually remain in the database. Additionally, when a field is removed, any references to the field (in Saved Queries, Report Layouts, and Task Fields) are removed. Records which are added after you have removed a field do not get a value for the removed (inactive) field.

If you have configured Dependent Pulldowns, removing one of the pulldowns removes the relationship between the two pulldown fields. If a parent pulldown is removed, the child option menu items become independent, and thus, are no longer limited by the value entered in the parent pulldown.

If the field you are removing is part of the criteria in a saved chart, you must edit the saved chart to remove the field from the criteria (or delete the chart, if allowed) before you can remove the field from the form.

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Set User Pulldown Values for Existing Records

When a user pulldown is added to a form that has existing records, you will be prompted to set the value of the user pulldown in these records. The value selected will be applied to all records for that form across all projects. If you wish to set the values differently based on project or some other criteria, select "TBD", then use the Edit Results operation to make changes to a set of records. You can select from the following options:

TBD - a built-in user that can be used to represent "to be determined" if the field will be set in the future or "no one" if you do not wish to select a particular user for this field in existing records.

A specific user that is currently a member of the user group associated with the field

<User who was the...> - This option allows you to choose a role-based user for the field's value according to each record's history. Tracker will locate the history entry in each individual record to find the appropriate user based on the conditions selected in the options below. If the selected user is not a member of the user group associated with the user pulldown, the user will be added to the user pulldown as an obsolete menu item. If a record does not have an entry that fits the selected conditions, "TBD" will be set as the value of the user pulldown.

Example 1: Testing Scenario A user pulldown field called "Tested By" was created to capture the QA Engineer who tested the fix for an issue.
When adding the field to a form with existing records, the records could be set by choosing:
"<User who was the>Most Recent<Previous Assignee> when the Status changed to 'Tested' coming from 'In Test'" where In Test is the state where issues are tested and Tested is the state where issues are moved after they are tested. Records that have not yet been tested (have not yet moved to the Tested state from In Test), will have the user pulldown set to "TBD".

Example 2: Development Scenario A user pulldown called "Fixed By" was created to capture the Developer who fixed an issue.
When adding the field to a form with existing records, the records could be set by choosing:
"<User who was the>Oldest<Assignee> when the Status changed to 'Fixed' coming from 'In Development'" where In Development is the state where issues are fixed and Fixed is the state where issues are moved after they are fixed. If a record went through the In Development state multiple times (e.g. the issue failed testing, was sent back to development and perhaps fixed by another developer), you may want the field to note the user who originally fixed the issue, which is accomplished by choosing "Oldest".

Example 3: Support/Help Desk Scenario A user pulldown called "Closed By" was created to capture the Support or Help Desk Engineer who worked on a ticket. When adding the field to a form with existing records, the records could be set by choosing:
"<User who was the> <Most Recent> <Action User> when the Status changed to 'Closed' coming from <Any State>" where Closed is the state where tickets are moved after they are closed. <Any State> is selected since there are multiple states in the Support and Help Desk workflow processes where tickets can be closed. <Action User> is useful in the case of the Support workflow where tickets are placed in a queue and may be closed without being assigned to the user who is closing the ticket.

When selecting this option, the following additional options will be displayed:

• Most Recent / Oldest - Choose whether the user you select is the newest or oldest entry in the record's history

• User Role - Select the user who should be set in the user pulldown field based on the record's history.

  Selecting "<Previous Assignee>" indicates that the user who was assigned to the record prior to the state selected in the when Status changed to option should be set as the value in the user pulldown field.

  Selecting "<Assignee>" indicates that the user who was assigned to the record in the state selected in the when Status changed to option should be set as the value in the user pulldown field.

  Selecting "<Action User>" indicates that the user who performed the operation that moved the record to the state selected in the when Status changed to option should be set as the value in the user pulldown field. This option is useful in cases where the action relevant to setting the user pulldown is done by a user who is not actually assigned to the record.

• when Status changed to - Choose the state that is relevant to setting the desired user as the value for the pulldown. If the form is associated with more than one workflow in the Projects section, all of the states in those workflows will be available for selection.

• coming from - Choose the previous state where the record was prior to moving to the state selected in the when Status changed to option. A specific state can be selected. Selecting "<Any Other State>" indicates that the action relevant to setting the desired user was an action where the record moved from a state other than the one selected in the when Status changed to option. Selecting "<Any State>" indicates that the action relevant to setting the desired user can be an action where the record moved from any state to the one selected in the when Status changed to option.

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Deleting Fields

Before you can delete a field, you must first remove it from any forms in which it is being used.

To delete a field:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Fields link
4. Click on the Forms button
5. Click on a form in the "Forms Using This Field" column, then click on the Remove button
6. Click OK to confirm this operation. Click OK again to confirm.
7. Click OK when the confirmation is displayed. Click OK again to return to Field list
8. Click on the Delete button to the left field you wish to remove. Click OK to confirm, click OK again to confirm, click OK when the confirmation page is displayed.

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