Overview

It is common for a bug tracking system to be called upon to handle the requirements of several independent projects. Different product development teams, or perhaps even marketing and customer support organizations may wish to use the system at the same time, with slightly differing needs. ProblemTracker supports multiple project development, including independent customization for each project - on a single server.

Shared Data Record And Workflow
If projects all share a common schema (data record) and workflow, any number of projects can be supported using a single ProblemTracker workgroup installation. The Product field (which can be re-named via the Administrator interface) can be used to distinguish records for each project. This is usually fine for smaller organizations and web site development where the same product development methodology is applied to a small number of products. In this case it is recommended that you install either the Software Development (ptdev) or Web Site Development (ptweb) workgroup, depending upon whether you are developing software or a web site.

Independent Data Record And Workflow
Another common requirement for larger organizations is that is that each project requires a customized workflow or schema (data record). ProblemTracker supports this by allowing you to install any number of ProblemTracker workgroups on the same server. Each workgroup can be independently customized and accessed via a unique URL. And, each workgroup has its own database. This allows each workgroup to operate separately. And, it simplifies the process of moving a workgroup to a new machine (without affecting the existing workgroups) should organizational changes or load balancing requirements necessitate such a move.

Installing Additional Workgroup Support
If your organization has the need for multiple workgroups, you should do the following on the web server machine on which ProblemTracker is installed.

1. Login to the web server machine on which ProblemTracker is installed as (NT/Windows 2000) Administrator.
2. Select Start->Programs->NetResults ProblemTracker->Modify-Uninstall ProblemTracker to re-run the "Setup" program.
3. Click Next on the welcome dialog. Then select Modify and click Next on the following dialog.
4. On the setup dialog titled "Selected Components", select the additional workgroups that you would like to install, then click Next.
5. Continue through the Wizard to complete installation of the additional workgroups.

Should you later decide to remove some additional workgroups, you can use the Setup program to remove (as well as add) workgroups.

The Setup program provides support for up to 5 workgroups (4 Software Development and 1 Web Site Development workgroup), and more can be installed via the instructions provided below.

Each copy uses the same name for both the installation directory and the ODBC DSN as shown in this table:

ProblemTracker Workgroup Content Directory ODBC DSN Software Development /ptdev ptdev Web Site Development /ptweb ptweb Additional Software Development #2 /ptdev2 ptdev2 Additional Software Development #3 /ptdev3 ptdev3 Additional Software Development #4 /ptdev4 ptdev4

Installing Support For More Than 5 Workgroups

You can install more ProblemTracker workgroups on a server by following these instructions (use ptweb in place of all instances of ptdev in the following instructions if you would like to start with the Web Site Development Template rather than the Software Development Template):

1. Select a name for the ODBC DSN and the installation directory. For example, "pt_tools".
2. Copy the entire ptdev directory to the new installation directory below the web server root directory. In the case of our example, pt_tools.
3. Do a text search replace on the new directory (and all its subdirectories) on the following...

   "datasource=ptdev" => "datasource=pt_tools"
   "/ptdev/" => "/pt_tools/"

4. Edit the file pt_tools\Admin\pbtrkimport.htm and replace all remaining instances of "ptdev" with "pt_tools".
5. Edit the file pt_tools\Intranet\Report\topic_report.htm and replace all remaining instances of "ptdev" with "pt_tools".
6. In the directory pt_tools\Importer\ProblemTracker30\Import\Init, create a directory named pt_tools and copy all of the files in ptdev (all of the .csv files) to pt_tools.
7. Add another System ODBC data source named pt_tools.
   • If using an Access database, in the pt_tools\Database directory, copy and rename template.mdb to bugtrack.mdb (overwriting the existing bugtrack.mdb that was copied from ptdev). Then create a MS Access ODBC System data source named pt_tools and point it at the pt_tools\Database\bugtrack.mdb file.
   • If using SQL Server, follow the instructions for setup of a SQL Server 7.0 or 2000 database. Make sure to include the Initialize the ProblemTracker Database step.
8. Repeat this procedure for any other additional installations.