WebIssues 0.9.2 Beta 3

A system supporting team collaboration across the Internet WebIssues is a system supporting team collaboration across the Internet. WebIssues can be used for storing bugs and other information with comments, customizable attributes and file attachments.
The server can be installed on any host with PHP and MySQL or PostgreSQL. The client is a native desktop application for both Windows and Linux.
WebIssues is mainly aimed at small development teams which dont need to set up an elaborate bug tracking system. It is easy to deploy and customize. It is also more comfortable to use than common web-based interfaces.
Usage
The WebIssues system is designed in a very flexible way so that it can be used in many various ways. Different groups of users, organizations and companies may easily customize it according to their needs.
Example scenarios:
Issue tracking. The WebIssues system can be used by development teams, organizations, software companies and help-desks to store issues (also called tickets or bugs). The attributes of the predefined issue type allow to manage the state of issues and to assign them to individual persons, creating simple workflows starting from gathering information and ending with confirming the resolution. Additional attributes allow to organize issues by severity, category and project version, in order to make finding relevant bugs easier. Comments allow to provide information about the issue and discuss the details and possible solutions. Attachments can be used for including log files, test data, screenshots or patches.
Project management. Other information required for managing software projects can also be stored in the WebIssues system. Some examples include technical and functional requirements, use cases, stages and iterations, tasks, features, test scenarios. The project manager may define the issue types and create attributes required for managing the state and workflow of issues in a way that is suitable for a particular project and methodology. Additional attributes can be used for organizing issues between subprojects, modules, versions etc. Its also possible to create links between various items by typing a # followed by the issue identifier and links to external resources such as web pages.
Information management. WebIssues may serve as a general-purpose system for storing, managing and accessing lists of items such as customers, products, members, or employees. Attributes can be used to store information such as addresses, e-mails and phone numbers. Those values can be displayed as separate columns in the list view and as fields in the details view. In addition it is possible to associate notes and file attachments with such items. Issues with may also represent events or announcements, whatever is needed for successful communication in an organization or company.
Storing documents. The WebIssues system may also be used as a tool for storing, organizing and sharing various documents. Individual issues may represent single documents and attachments may be used to store particular versions of a document. An advantage of storing files this way is that all previous versions are accessible and no information is lost. In addition, attributes may be used to associate additional metadata with documents, such as the author, topic or keywords, allowing to find the appropriate file more easily. The history of metadata changes is also available.
Discussion board. It is possible to use WebIssues as a replacement to mailing lists or web-based discussion boards. Each folder may serve as a single list or forum and each issue may represent a single thread of discussion with a number of comments and attachments. When needed, discussion threads can be tagged with various attributes so that they can be easily organized and filtered, giving the administrator more capabilities than most traditional systems.
Main features:
- Fast and comfortable desktop user interface.Instead of using a web-based user interface which is common to other team collaboration systems, WebIssues is a native, portable desktop application. Its more comfortable to work with by using context menus, keyboard shortcuts etc. Multiple windows can be opened at the same time and the application can be minimized to system tray and quickly opened when its needed. WebIssues caches all necessary data, so it works very fast even with low bandwidth network connections.
- Easy installation and setup.The WebIssues server can be quickly installed and configured on any web host with PHP support and access to a MySQL or PostgreSQL database. No administration priviledges and changes in system configuration are required. A simple web-based setup tool allows to quickly create the database tables and prepare the system for the first use. After that all system administration can be done using the client application. The system can be accessed inside a local network or through the Internet using regular communication over HTTP.
- Flexible and customizable issue types.Issues stored in the system may have a number of attributes for storing text values, numbers, dates, user names or choices of predefined values. The available attributes can be configured separately for each type of issues. The system has a few predefined issue types which can be modified and new types can also be defined. In addition, each issue may have an unlimited number of comments and attachments, allowing the users to discuss the issues, append additional information and store files. A history of all changes of attribute values is also available.
- Simple organization and rights management.Issues are organized in a simple two-level hierarchy consisting of projects and folders. Projects allow to configure access to particular parts of the system to individual users, so there is no need to install separate instances of the system. Folders allow to group together issues of the same type and organize them by topic or area. Project administrators can manage the folders and membership of their projects. System administrators can manage users, define projects and modify issue types.
System requirements:
- Qt libraries version 4.2 or newer
- Server: PHP version 3.4 or newer, Access to a MySQL or PostgreSQL database