NetResults Tracker Features

Version 6.5.1

Enhancements for this version can be found below. For a list of fixes in this version, please browse to the Version 6.5.1 Fixes list.

• PRN, Float and Integer fields can now be searched in the search/filter bar available on the Home and Query pages as well as the Full Text Search Box in the Standard Query page.

Version 6.5.0

Enhancements for this version can be found below. For a list of fixes in this version, please browse to the Version 6.5.0 Fixes list.

General

• New inline help features have been added. These allow you to display instructions within the pages for operations such as Add, Edit, and Task.
  • An instruction message can be configured to appear near the top of the Add, Edit, Task, Delete, and Submit pages to guide your users about how to use those operations. The instruction message can be different for each Form and Project.
  • Inline help can be defined for each Transition. An administrator can configure a summary of each Transition which will be displayed on the page which lists all allowed Transitions for a particular record. They can also configure instructional text to appear near the top of the Task Fields page which is displayed after a Transition is selected (to provide general information on how to set the Task Fields for the Transition).
  • Field Help, available in previous versions, can now be displayed above or below the fields on the Add, Edit, Task and Submit Pages for easier viewing (in previous versions it was only displayed when the user hovered over the question mark icon).
  • In all cases, the instruction text can be customized to include bold, italic, or underline characters; web links to other web pages (for instance for further help or reference material); and configurable font sizes.
• A new type of file attachment, a global file attachment, can now be created in cases where there is a need to allow users without a user session to view or download a file. You may wish to use a global attachment for any image files you display on the Login, Submit or Knowledge Base pages for your company logo or other branding. It can also be used, for example, to provide download links on the Knowledge Base page(s) for manuals, software, drivers, etc. which are stored in Tracker.
• A list of all record attachments (both file and URL attachments) in a workgroup can be displayed, searched, and sorted by PRN (record number), attachment description, and/or file name (or URL).
• Tracker can now be put into Single-User Mode to keep all users except one (administrator) from logging in so that administrative changes can be made while other users are not using the system.
• An Import tool is available to import pulldown values (option menu items).
• The Outgoing Email Authentication User Name and Password now accommodate 80 and 250 characters, respectively.

Web Browsers

• Support for Firefox version 3.5 has been added.
• Support for the Safari web browser (versions 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2) has been added.
• Support for Internet Explorer version 8.0 has been added.

Security

• New password policies can now be set in the Login Page Options section.
  • Administrators can now force a user to reset their password after a configurable number of days.
  • An option to lock out a user account for a (configurable) period of time (or until an administrator unlocks the user account) after a (configurable) number of consecutive failed login attempts has been added. The feature includes the option to send email notifications to the person whose account was locked, specified Users, and/or specified User Groups.
  • Administrators can require that passwords contain a (configurable) minimum number of alphabetic characters.
  • Administrators can require that passwords contain a (configurable) minimum number of numeric characters.
  • Administrators can require that passwords contain a minimum number of special characters, where the special characters and the minimum number are configurable.
  • Administrators can require that passwords have a minimum length.
  • Administrators can require that passwords do not match the User ID.
• An administrator can force a user to change their password on the next login.
• An administrator can manually lock a user account (no login allowed).
• Access can now be restricted by user location. More specifically, you can restrict access to only those users who are browsing from particular IP addresses (or IP address ranges). These restrictions can be independently configured for the Workgroup pages, Submit Page and Knowledge Base pages. This could allow you, for instance, to provide unrestricted access to search the Knowledge Base while restricting access to the workgroup pages (the ability to login and add/edit Knowledge Base articles) to only those users located at company headquarters or a few branch offices.

Reports

• On the Home and Query pages, there is now a search/filter bar which allows users to dynamically search within a report for only those records that contain certain words or phrases. Users can specify which fields to search/filter on as well as the type of search to be done (all words, exact phrase, etc.). If a search/filter is active when printing or exporting a report, the filtered version of the report is used (exported or sent to the printer).
• Link fields can now be used as query/search criteria on the Query Page. You can search for records with particular Link field values in one of three ways.
  • Search by key field - match all records which are linked to a record with a matching key field value. For example, match all trouble tickets with a link to a customer whose company name begins with the letter A.
  • Search by linked record - match all records which are linked to one of a set of records. For example, search for all trouble tickets linked to one of three specific customer records.
  • Search by Saved Query - match all records which are linked to records that match the criteria specified by another Saved Query. For example, search for all trouble tickets reported by employees in the Finance Department, located in Italy, who have been employees for more than 3 years.
• In addition to searching Text and TextArea fields, the Full Text Search Box in the Standard Query page can now be used to simultaneously search fields of the following types: Pulldown, Reporter, Assignee, Status, and URL.
• In the Standard Query page, multiple items can be selected as search criteria for fields of the following types: Pulldown, Assignee, Status, and Reporter. Multiple selection was previously only available through the Advanced Query page.
• Additional aging reports can now be generated in the Metrics section.
• On the Home and Query pages, there are dynamic range filters which allow the report to be further narrowed down based on ranges of values for any Date, Integer, or Float field which is in the report. The range for Date fields can be relative (for example, in the last six weeks). If one or more filters are active when printing or exporting a report, the filtered version of the report is used (exported or sent to the printer).
• An option to define the number of decimal places to be used in Table Charts has been added.

Fields

• A new Display Style, "Search Pulldown" has been added for Pulldown and History fields. Search style pulldowns allow a user to perform a search for a value instead of selecting from a list. This can be useful when a pulldown has a large number of values.
• The ability to search for fields has been added to the Fields section. Fields can be searched by Field Label (partial match) and/or Field Type.
• The ability to search for pulldown values (option menu items) has been added to the Items section. Items (pulldown values) can be searched by item name (partial match), whether or not the item is public, and/or whether or not the item is obsolete.
• The ability to print and export a list of pulldown values (option menu items) has been added to the Items section for pulldown fields. If a search has been applied, only those items that match the search criteria will be printed or exported.
• A property to control the display height has been added for Link Fields and Reverse Link Fields.
• An Initial Value can now be set for Float, Integer, Text, TextArea and Url fields on the Add Page.
• Most field types can now be set (initialized) during Task operations.
• Instruction Text can now be displayed within Text, TextArea and Url fields on the Add, Submit and Task pages. The text is initially displayed in a light colored font and disappears when the user clicks on or starts typing in the field.
• Fields can now be configured as Invisible Task Fields. These fields are not displayed during the Task operation, but are set (initialized) to a value the administrator has configured. This allows fields to be set during a Transition without displaying them to the user performing the Task operation.
• The contents of a TextArea field can now be displayed as read only when the Append option is enabled. This allows users who are adding new information to easily review previously entered information in the Field.
• A page that displays which pulldown fields are involved in dependencies is now available in the Fields section.
• An option to validate the email address entered into a Text field configured as the Unregistered User Email is available.
• The History Comment on the Edit Page now has several configuration options. In previous versions it was always optional and displayed at the top of the Edit Page. It can now be placed at the bottom of the Edit page, require the user to enter a History Comment, or be removed entirely from the Edit Page. This can be configured independently for each Form and Project.

Performance

• Performance for dependent pulldowns with large numbers of dependencies has been significantly improved. Prior to release 6.5.0 all dependency relationships were sent over the network to the web browser. In release 6.5.0, the implementation has been changed to take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies. When an Add, Edit, Task, or Submit page with dependent pulldowns is first displayed only that part of the dependency hierarchy actually in use (based on default values) is sent over the network to the web browser. Then, as the user selects pulldown values, Tracker contacts the server for the additional parts of the hierarchy that are needed and updates the dependent pulldowns dynamically. Where there are many hundreds or thousands of dependency relationships, this can significantly boost performance.
• Performance of workgroups which use SQL Server or Oracle as the DBMS has been improved when there are several hundred (or more) users and/or tens of thousands (or more) records through the use of additional indexes. New tools to add or drop secondary (non-primary key) indexes have been added.
• Performance of Home, Query, and History page reports which return large numbers of records (thousands or more) has been improved.

View Page

• The Edit and Task operations for the record being viewed are available as links within the View page.
• Values of key fields are highlighted in bold.
• Printing is available from within the View page.

Record Visibility

• Each user group now has a Record Visibility privilege "Make Visible to Groups" to allow an administrator to specify the set of User Groups they can choose from when setting Record Visibility. This allows, for instance, an administrator to specify that users in User Group A can make records visible not only to other members of User Group A, but also to members of User Groups B and C (even though the user setting visibility may not be a member of User Group B or User Group C). This can be useful when a member of a internal group should be allowed to make some information visible to members of external groups (perhaps particular customers or partners that they work with).

Submit Page for Unregistered Users

• Instruction text can be provided at the top of the Submit Page to help guide your users.
• Information can be passed to the Submit Page from another web page. This allows you to send information from a web page on your web site to the Tracker Submit Page so that fields within the Submit Page are initialized with data from your web site. For instance, if your customers login to your web site, then follow a link to submit an issue through Tracker, you can pass information about them to Tracker and automatically fill in information such as their name, phone, email address, etc. on the Submit Page.
• The confirmation page (displayed after an unregistered user submits a new issue) can now have its own Custom HTML configured for the top and bottom of the page.

Database Server Software

• Tracker supports the use of Database Mirroring for improved fault tolerance with SQL Server 2005 and 2008. With database mirroring, you can have two independent database servers that have fully up-to-date copies of your workgroup data at all times. If a single database server goes down (for planned maintenance or due to a hardware failure), the other server can transparently handle the database requests.
• Tracker supports the use of SQL Native Client for improved performance and scalability with SQL Server 2005 and 2008.
• Oracle 11g is supported for use with Tracker.

User Administration

• When adding a new user group, some default privileges will be enabled based on the type of user group (Standard/Restricted) being added. Previously all newly added User Groups had no privileges at all.
• A dynamic search (filter) option is available in the User Accounts section. The list of users which is displayed can be searched (filtered) by User ID, Name, Email, Phone, Company, User Group, and License Type.
• The ability to print and export a list of users has been added to the workgroup User Accounts section. If a search/filter is active, then only those user accounts matching the search/filter criteria will be printed or exported. This will allow you to easily print or export users from a particular company, in a particular User Group (or User Groups), etc.
• New privileges have been added to allow members of a user group to Task if they are the State Manager or Reporter of a record.
• A list of projects and forms visible to a particular user group can be viewed and managed in the Forms section of the User Groups page.
• An option to logoff all users of a particular license type is available in the User Sessions section.

To read about the features (enhancements and fixes) in Versions 6.0.0 - 6.0.1, click here.