Overview

In order to use ProblemTracker, every user must log in as a registered user. ProblemTracker allows you to enter users and distinguish between internal users and external users like customers or partners. Before a user can begin using ProblemTracker, a user must be created and given access to a workgroup(s) in the License Administration section of the Workgroup Management System. After this is done, you can add a user to the User Administration section of your ProblemTracker workgroup. Within a workgroup, a user's access rights and privileges is determined by the user groups to which a user belongs.

Definition of Users by License Type

There are three types of licenses available for use with ProblemTracker: Static, Floating, and Restricted.

For all licenses only one user may be logged in to ProblemTracker per license. A static license is defined as one user account (user ID) for each license purchased. Only one user can login to the system with this particular user ID. A floating license is defined as up to 10 user accounts for each license purchased. Only one user per floating license can login to the system at a particular time. Others who try will be denied access until a floating license user logs off (clicks the Logoff icon). A restricted license is defined as one user account (user ID) for each license purchased.

Static licenses are typically used for users who regularly use ProblemTracker and therefore must be guaranteed access at any time (can never be denied access because too many users are already logged in). Floating licenses are typically used for infrequent users if it is acceptable that they may not be able to login to the system some of the time (as all floating licenses may be in use). Restricted licenses are typically used for external users (e.g. customers, vendors, partners) that should have limited access to ProblemTracker operations and data.

Users of static and floating licenses are often referred to as "non-Restricted" users (users that do not use a Restricted license) in the various Help Guides.

For more details on licensing including your License Agreement and the number and type of license(s) you have, please run the License Manager.

System Defined Users

ProblemTracker has 3 pre-defined users. These users all serve a special purpose and are not counted towards the number of users you have licensed. You cannot remove or modify these users:

• Admin
  The ProblemTracker administrator user. Admin is always a member of the Admin group. The initial Admin password is "Admin". It is recommended that you change this password.
• TBD
  TBD is used to allow users to specify no choice. This user can be used as a placeholder for records where the assignee has not yet been decided or in cases where a record has been processed and an assignee is no longer needed. You cannot log in as TBD.
• Inet
  Inet is the user used by the Internet Bug Reporting page, Adding Records via Email, and Add API features to denote a record was added (reported) by a user external to ProblemTracker. You cannot log in as Inet.

Adding a User

To add a user:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the User Administration button
4. Click on the Add User button
5. A list of available users will be displayed. Click on the username of the user you wish to add, then click on the Add button. You can select multiple users to be added by holding down the CTRL button on your keyboard while clicking on the usernames you wish to select.
6. Click OK after the operation is complete.

A user will only appear on the list of available users if the user account has been created and given access to the workgroup via the License Administration section of the Workgroup Management System.

Users that appear on the list of Available Users preceded by "*" are users that were previously deleted from the User Administration section. These users can be restored by clicking on the user, then clicking on the Add button. Click here for more information about restoring a user.

Removing a User

To remove a user from a workgroup:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the User Administration button
4. Click on the Delete button to the left of the user account you wish to remove.

Deleting a user will not affect your existing records. However, before deleting a user we would recommend that you reassign any records currently assigned to that user to TBD or some other user in the system. You can search for all records assigned to the user by using the Query function. And, you can use the Edit Results operation from the query results page to reassign all records at once, rather than individually editing each record.

If you attempt to delete a user who is still the assignee for problem records within your database, you will be prompted to select a new assignee for the problem records from a list of internal non-Restricted users in the system. Similarly, if you attempt to delete a user who is a state manager, you will be prompted to select a new state manager from a list of internal non-Restricted users in the system. If you attempt to delete a user who is selected to receive alert email notifications, is specified as criteria in any saved queries or charts, or is specified in any transitions, you will be prompted to either select a replacement user from a list of internal non-Restricted users in the system or delete the relevant alert settings, queries, charts, and transitions.

Restoring a User

If a user account is still listed in the "Available Users" list (indicating it is still active in the License Administration section of the Workgroup Management System), you can restore a previously deleted user with the steps below. If you choose to restore the user, the settings in the user's personal preferences will be preserved as they were at the time the user was deleted from the workgroup's User Administration section. A restored user which has Static or Floating selected as the license type will be only be added as a member of the Users group. A restored user which has Restricted selected as the license type will only be added as a member of the RestrictedUsers group. A user must manually be added to any other user groups after being restored.

To restore a user account:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the User Administration button
4. Click on the Add User button
5. Users who were previously deleted from the User Administration section will be denoted by a "*" in front of the username on the Available Users list. Click on the user account, then click on the Add button.
6. You will prompted that the user account you selected had been previously deleted. Click OK to restore the user account or click Cancel to abort the operation.

Editing a User

By default, only the profile information of the Admin and users that do not have access to any other workgroups can be modified in the User Administration section using the steps below. Additional rights can be granted via the Workgroup Management System to allow the workgroup's Administrators to edit the profile information for all user accounts. Information on these additional rights can be found in the License Administration Options of the Workgroup Management System Help Guide.

To edit a user account:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the User Administration button
4. Click on the Edit button to the left of the user account to be modified
5. Click OK to save the changes to this account

Please note: It is not possible to edit a user account containing UTF-8 characters from the User Administration section of a workgroup that is not configured to support UTF-8 characters. Check the Multinational Settings section of the General Preferences section to see if your workgroup is configured to support UTF-8 characters.

Assigning User Groups

To assign each user to user groups:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the User Administration button
4. Click on the Groups button
5. To add the user to a group, click on the desired group in the Not Member Of column, then click on the Add button. To remove the user from a group, click on the desired group in the Member Of column, then click on the Remove button.
6. Click OK to return to the User Administration section.

As an alternative, you can assign multiple users to a group using the instructions in the User Administration - Groups section.