Overview

Note: This feature is only available in ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition.

The Discussions feature is a means of allowing users to discuss various topics pertaining to a record. This allows users to collaborate without having to coordinate a meeting for everyone to contribute to the discussion. For example, a record may be assigned to a particular developer, but several developers are needed to provide input for an enhancement's design or the resolution of a bug. These discussions can continue in parallel to the record's progression through the workflow.

Discussions are also useful for archiving information for later use. For example, information on how to reproduce, workaround, or fix a bug can be addressed in a discussion thread. In a customer support organization, the discussion information would be useful to help the support team provide information to the customers as quickly as possible. Another example lies in integrating a new user into a project. The user can review the information present in the discussion to become familiar with the project's progress to date.

A discussion can be started for any record. The user initiating the discussion can invite other users or user groups to participate in the discussion. Within the discussion for each record, multiple threads can be started to discuss multiple topics. Users can post and reply to messages within a particular thread. Users can also choose to receive email messages to notify them about a new discussion or new posts to a discussion.

Enabling Discussions

Performing the following steps will allow you to enable the Discussions feature in your workgroup:

1. Enter the Discussions key in the License Manager
   A license key is required to present in the License Manager in order to use the Discussions feature.

2. Enable Discussions in the General Preferences section
   Login to the workgroup as Admin, then click on the Admin icon in the top button bar. Click on the General Preferences button, then in the "General Options" section set "Enable Discussion" to "Yes". Click OK to save this change

3. Configure SMTP Mail Server for use with Discussions
   An SMTP mail server is only required if you wish to generate notification messages related to the discussions (for inviting users to a new discussion or notifying users when a new post has been made to the discussion). This can be configured in the Email Configuration section.

4. Ensure an email address is entered for the users that will receive discussion notification messages
   A valid email address is only needed if you want a user to receive notification messages for discussions. Email addresses are entered in a user's profile in the Workgroup Management System.

After enabling the Discussions feature using the steps above, configure the user group privileges and default settings for Discussions as described below.

Discussions User Group Privileges

The following are the user group privileges related to the Discussions feature. These privileges can be set in the User Group Privileges page of the User Administration section. These privileges will only be displayed in the Privileges page if Discussions have been enabled using the steps in the section above.

View Messages
Members or groups with this privilege may view messages within discussion threads for any record the group can access.

Post Messages
Members or groups with this privilege may post a new message or reply to a message within the discussion threads for any record the group can access. Granting this privilege to a group automatically grants the group the "View Messages" privilege as well.

Initiate Discussion Threads
Members or groups with this privilege may create a new discussion thread for any record the group can access. Granting this privilege to a group automatically grants the group the "View Messages" and "Post Messages" privileges as well.

Edit Messages
Members or groups with this privilege may edit the messages within a discussion for any record the group can access. Granting this privilege to a group automatically grants the group the "View Messages" privilege as well.

Delete Messages and Threads
Members or groups with this privilege may delete the messages and / or threads within a discussion for any record the group can access. Granting this privilege to a group automatically grants the group the "View Messages" privilege as well.

The privileges above make reference to "any record the group can access". If record visibility is enabled with a workgroup, the user can only access a record or the discussion within a record if that record is visible to a user group in which the user is a member.

Default User Preferences for Discussions

The following default user preferences can be set for the Discussions feature. These settings will be used when a new user is added to ProblemTracker. These settings can be configured in the User Preferences page of the Admin section.

• New Post Notification
  This option determines when a user will be notified about discussions via email. Selecting "No Email" indicates that a user should not receive any email notification messages related to discussions. Selecting "Receive Email for each New Post" indicates that a user will receive one email notification for each new post in a discussion to which he / she is subscribed. Selecting "Receive Email for the first New Post to each Thread" indicates that the user will receive one email for the first post made to a discussion thread to which he / she is subscribed. Once a user visits the message list for the thread, another email will be sent when the next new post to the thread is made.

• Invitation Notification by Email
  This option determines whether a user should receive an email notification message when he / she has been invited to participate in a discussion initiated for a particular record. Selecting "Yes" indicates that the user should receive an email invitation for each new discussion.

• Message Display Window
  Enter the number of lines of text you wish to see when displaying a message within a discussion. The default setting is 5 lines of text.

Each user can change their own settings in the Personal Preferences page.