Log In Process

To use ProblemTracker you must log into the system. Start your web browser and go to the following URL:

http://serverName/workgroupName/ptlogin.asp

where serverName is the TCP/IP name of the host where the ProblemTracker server software is installed, and workgroupName is the name of the ProblemTracker workgroup (e.g. pteval) you wish to access. If you are not sure where ProblemTracker was installed on your network, please ask your ProblemTracker Administrator.

You are presented with the login screen. Enter your username and password to log in.

On occasion when logging in, you may encounter the error message, "Login Failed - Your previous login session is still active." This message can come up if you were previously logged in to ProblemTracker, but did not click the Logoff icon to finish your session. Select YES so that the previous session will be closed and a new session will begin and allow you to login. If you select NO, you will not be able to login to ProblemTracker.

If you are using floating licenses, it is important that you click the Logoff icon to end your ProblemTracker session when you are done. Simply exiting your browser will not end your session and may prevent other users from being able to access ProblemTracker. If you do forget to click the Logoff icon, simply login in again, answer YES when asked to delete your old session, and then click the Logoff icon on the Home page when it is displayed.

If you browse off to another site without clicking the Logoff icon to end your ProblemTracker session, you can click the Back button on your browser several times to return to the last ProblemTracker page you were on and then click the Logoff icon. Or, you can simply browse back to the login page, login again, then click the Logoff icon on the Home page when it is displayed. ProblemTracker does not allow more than one active session per user account (irrespective of license type), so if you login and then logoff you can always be certain that you have not left any active sessions around.

If your user ID is of the floating license type, you may encounter the error message, "Login Failed - The maximum number of concurrent logins has been reached. Please try again later or contact your administrator." This message is generated because the maximum number of floating license users are already logged into the system. As soon as another floating license user logs off (or is forced off by your administrator), you will be able to login to ProblemTracker.

If it is important that you are always able to login, please ask your administrator to configure you as a static license user. Static license users have a single license permanently assigned to them.

After logging in, the first screen you will see is your ProblemTracker homepage.

By default, this page has two reports, which display the records assigned to you and the records reported by you. Also present on the Home Page is a link to the personal preferences section, where you can customize various user settings, such as your changing your password and selecting date and report settings.

You can customize the following features:

• Report Layout
  You can customize the columns of the reports displayed on your home page either by creating your own saved report layout or selecting an existing saved report layout. Please refer to the section Using Saved Queries & Reports for details.
• Report Query
  You can customize the query "Assigned To Me" with a query of your choice by defining your own personal saved or advanced query and selecting it for the First Home Page Report field in the Personal Preferences page. Alternatively, you can select an existing saved or advanced query for this first home page report as well. You can customize the query "Reported By Me" using the Second Home Page Report field in the Personal Preferences page. Information on selecting the queries for the Home Page reports via the Personal Preferences page is described in the section below. Please refer to the section Using Saved Queries & Reports for details on how to create your own saved query or refer to the section Advanced Queries for information on creating advanced queries.

You can change the way the reports on the Home page are sorted at any time by clicking on the field name. The field that is being used as the primary sort field will have an arrow to the right of the field name. If the arrow is pointing down, the results are sorted by that field in a descending order. If the arrow is pointing up, the results are sorted by that field in an ascending order. Clicking once on the field with the arrow will reverse the sort order. Clicking once on any field that does not have the arrow will sort the results in ascending order by that field. Any field except large text fields can be clicked to sort the results by that field.

When the Assigned To or Reported By fields are displayed as columns on a Home Page report, the user's name will appear as a clickable link if you have the appropriate privilege. Click on the user's name to display the user's profile information as shown below.

The records displayed on each of the Home Page reports can be exported to a *.CSV file (comma separated values format) by clicking on the export icon to the right of the report name.

There are three different print icons present on the Home Page. The print icon to the left of the Personal Preferences link will print the Home Page as it is displayed (excluding the top button bar). Printing with this icon will include the "Welcome <User>" message, the date and time, and the records displayed in each report. Using this print icon will only display the records that appear on the Home Page (not all records that match the query results for each Home Page report).

Click on the print icon in the upper right corner of each Home Page Report to print all of the records that match the saved query used in the Home Page reports (including those records not shown on the Home Page when the number of records in the query results exceeds the maximum number of records displayed).

From the ProblemTracker home page, click on the link labeled "Personal Preferences".

You can customize the following features: User Password Settings

• User Password
  To change your password, type the new password into the new password and new password confirm fields.

Report Settings

• Maximum Records
  You can select the maximum number of records that are displayed per page for reports on the Home and Query Pages. The upper limit for this maximum value is 100 records.
• First Home Page Report
  You can select the saved or advanced query that will be displayed as the first report on your home page. By default, the saved query "Assigned To Me [Users]" is selected.
• Second Home Page Report
  You can select the saved or advanced query that will be displayed as the second report on your home page. By default, the saved query "Reported By Me [Users]" is selected. If you do not want a second report displayed on your home page, select the option "No Report" for this field.

Date Settings

• Date Format
  Select a format for the Date from the pulldown menu. The format that you choose will be used to display fields that contain date information within ProblemTracker.
• Time Format
  Select a format for the time from the pulldown menu. The format that you choose will be used to display all fields that contain time information within ProblemTracker. Choosing 12 hour for the time format will display times followed by AM or PM to denote the appropriate 12 hour period, such as 02:05:38 PM. Choosing 24 hour as the time format will display times without the AM or PM designation, such as 14:05:38.
• Time Zone
  Select a time zone from the pulldown menu. The time zone that you choose will be used to display all fields that contain time information within ProblemTracker. For a list of available time zones in your operating system, please refer to one of the following sections:
  Windows 2000 and Windows XP Time Zones
  Windows NT 4.0 Time Zones
• Adjust To Daylight Saving Time (DST)
  Check this box if you wish to have ProblemTracker adjust time information to account for daylight saving time. If you selected a time zone in which daylight saving time is observed, we would recommend enabling this option.

Dependent Pulldowns

• Enforce Dependency in Query Page
  Select Yes or No to determine whether the dependent relationships between pulldown fields should be enforced when using Query operations.

Multi-Line Field Settings

• Display Window
  Select the number of lines that should be displayed when editing (Edit or Task operation) or viewing (View operation) the text in a large text field. By default, this will be set to 5 lines. If the contents of a large field extend beyond the number of lines set in this preference, you will have the ability to scroll to see the complete contents of the field. On the View page if you are using Internet Explorer as your browser, you will have the option to dynamically expand the window to see the complete contents without scrolling by clicking on the "+" icon to the left of the text. On the View page, empty (blank) fields are always displayed as a single line.

Visual SourceSafe Login Settings

• SourceSafe Login Settings
  Enter your Microsoft Visual Source Safe user name and password to be able to use the Source Code Control Interface within ProblemTracker.

Discussion Settings
Note: These options will not be displayed unless you are using ProblemTracker Enterprise Edition.

• 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 any discussion thread to which he/she is subscribed. Selecting "Receive Email for the first New Post to each Thread" indicates that the user will only receive email for the first post made to each discussion thread since the user last viewed the message list for the thread. With this setting the user can tell which threads have had postings since the last time they were read, but will not have a separate email for each posting (just one per thread with new posts). After viewing the message list for a thread, a notification email will be sent the next time a message is posted.
• 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 thread initiated for a particular record. Selecting "Yes" indicates that the user should receive an email invitation for each new discussion thread.
• 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.

Login Options

• Remember Password
  You can set whether or not your browser should remember your password by checking the box labeled Remember Password and entering the password in the box provided. When enabled, the password field is automatically filled in when you log in.
• Auto Login
  If your password is currently remembered by your browser, you can enable Auto Login. This feature automatically logs you in, bypassing the log in screen and taking you directly to your home page. To enable this feature, check the box labeled Auto Login.

When you log in, you are given access to data and operations as assigned by your ProblemTracker administrator. These rights are assigned to you via User Groups. Each group defines a set of privileges, and you are assigned to groups. The total set of privileges you have is the sum of all the rights of all the User Groups that you are a member of.

Please contact your ProblemTracker administrator if you wish to receive additional privileges.