We are excited to announce a new major spring 2013 release!

TargetProcess 2.24.0 includes quite a few small and big improvements. Check what we’ve done to help you work better, faster, more comfortably.

10x faster search

We’re close to less than 1 sec search time, but this new search is not only fast. The search results look nicer now, and you can open them both in new tabs and as a pop-up.

Read more  about the new fast search in our Help portal.

Relations and Relations Network Diagram

Quite often one piece of work is “informally” tied to another piece of work. For example, the core team is working on an API, and the other teams are dependent on the core team’s progress. Keeping such informal dependencies in your head can be tiresome…

Starting from 2.24 you can track such informal dependencies right in TargetProcess as Relations!

Relations Network Diagram represents a network of related entities:

Relations can be created for any entity (i.e., user story, task, bug, etc.), and they can be of great help when planning or prioritizing. Be sure to check the article about Relations in TargetProcess Help Portal. It has more screens, and explains how Relations are helpful in planning and progress tracking.

New Visual Reports:Process Control Chart and Lead and Cycle Time Distribution Report

The Process Control Chart shows cycle time distribution for completed entities (user stories, features, bugs, tasks, requests) within a certain time frame. Check the screen below. If you see user stories between the warning limit and the control limit lines, this is suspicious. If a user story goes beyond the control limit line, this is really a bad thing, and you should investigate why it took so many days to complete. These limits are calculated statistically; they depend on the overall distribution of stories in the chart.

You can find a comprehensive description of the Process Control Chart here. It includes more screenshots and some examples on how the chart can be used.

Note the new powerful filters. You’ll see more of them later. They can now be used to filter out the entities in the Relations Network Diagram and in the new visual reports.

While the Process Control Chart quickly spots the entities that took too long to get done, the Lead and Cycle Time Distribution report helps you make realistic forecasts. You can filter out any entities, just as in the Process Control Chart:

Read more about Lead and Cycle Time Distribution Chart.

Improved Views

There’s a bunch of nice improvements to the views: quick convert (all the properties are kept intact for the converted entities), assign 2+ people, switch project quickly in the Info box for an assignment, auto-convert URLs to clickable links.

Besides, starting from TargetProcess 2.24 you can add up to 60(!) custom fields to any entity.

New History REST API

Check out the  new History API in TargetProcess REST API! The old API (Histories/Changes) has been removed.
The new API will track state changes for Bugs, Feature, Impediments, Requests, Tasks and User Stories.

More info on the new History API in TargetProcess Help Portal

Fixed Bugs

#60018 Custom reports fail if filtered by ‘Date’ custom field
#59393 Culture specific Settings > Team: ‘string was not recognized as a valid DateTime’

TargetProcess is probably best known as a project management software application: moving cards on Kanban Board, planning and tracking work, checking reports – that kind of stuff. While this is most certainly true, you’re missing out if you’re not using TargetProcess for customer support. The support is mostly email-based, and runs with a free TargetProcess Help Desk app:

Easy as pie, isn’t it? However, there’s so much more under the hood, that it deserves a closer look.

Set up process and workflow

First things first. To manage the incoming customer requests, the Help Desk practice should be enabled for you process. This is at Settings-> Processes -> edit your process

Then, you need to look into the workflow for Requests and update it to fit the way you work. For instance, you might consider adding a new “Active” state for cases in progress, or “Wait for fix” to indicate that the problem is confirmed, and now it is up to developers to fix it.

By the way, did we mention that we use TargetProcess for our own customer support? Here is the screenshot of our workflow for requests:

Set up email communication

Receive emails

About 63% of all our customer requests are created from the incoming emails. Sending an email to support@yourcompany.com is a fast and intuitive way for customers to reach you.

Create an email integration profile at Settings -> Plugin to start receiving emails:

To finish the setup, follow the instructions in this guide.

TargetProcess will convert emails to a thread of comments, which is much more convenient than adding a new request every time. Requests should have the Ticket#1234 token, where “1234” is a unique ID in TargetProcess.

There’s no need to worry about this token, as the following alert is included to all the outgoing notifications:

— Please do not remove this line! TargetProcessTicket#1234 —

Customers just need to reply to the email, and TargetProcess will take care of the rest.

FAQ

1. How do I make sure all the emails are processed?
You can set up one default rule without any “when” conditions, e.g.:
“then attach to project 1 and create request in project 1”

The rules are checked from top to bottom, so it makes sense to put this rule to the very bottom. This can also be the one and only rule.

2. Can I receive emails to more than one mailbox?
Sure. Just create an email integration profile for each of the mailboxes you’re using.

3. I can’t find the Email Integration plugin in New Plugins :(
The new plugins work as standalone Windows services, so you need to start the POP email integration service on the server where TargetProcess is installed. If the service won’t start, check the troubleshooting guide or contact our support.

4. Can I create bugs or user stories from emails?
No, you can only create requests. This proves to be the best approach, in our experience, since requests need to be reviewed anyway. You can create a bug or a story, and still keep track of requests.

Keep customers up-to-date with email notifications

The easiest way to notify a customer about the progress of their request is an email notification. The notification goes to the customer as soon as a comment is added to the request:

FAQ

1. I don’t have the “Notify by email” checkboxes, what am I doing wrong?
Go to Settings -> Email Notifications and make sure that you have the notifications enabled.

2. Which sender’s address is put in the “From” field of the email notifications?
It depends.  For the workflow-based notifications, such as “New Bug added”, this is Sender Email from Settings -> Email Notifications:

When you add a comment to a request choosing to notify requester(s), the system uses Reply email. You can change this email in the project edit mode (More -> Projects  -> Edit a project):

or in the new look:

We recommend to use one and the same email address here and in the POP Email Integration plugin (see above).

3. Is there a way to notify Requesters automatically?
It is not possible out of the box. However, you can use this mashup to have the “Requester(s)” checkbox automatically checked.

That’s how the email flow looks with auto-replies turned on:

Use Help Desk portal

TargetProcess offers a free standalone application for your customers and external users to track their issues and ideas: Help Desk Portal. Help Desk is just a more convenient way for external users to interact with your team. People only need their logins/passwords to be able to use Help Desk, so if for some reason you prefer to not use the email integration (as outlined above), then HelpDesk is a good option. You can figure it out for yourself, if you want to use either HelpDesk or email integration, or both.

That’s how the HelpDesk home page looks (note the available actions):

The HelpDesk is easy to use. See TargetProcess Help Desk Portal User Guide for more info.

FAQ

1. Can I get Help Desk for TargetProcess On-Demand?
Yes. We will  install and configure it for you. See more details here.

2. Where can I get Help Desk for TargetProcess On-Site?
Check the Tools folder in your TargetProcess installation archive. The HelpDesk file along with the setup instructions can be found there.

3. Do I have to pay for Help Desk users?
No, it is free, you can have as many users/requesters as you wish. They won’t be able to log in to the main TargetProcess application, though.

4. Why can’t I log in with my TargetProcess email?
Help Desk works only for requesters, so you need to register as a new user. You can use the same login email both for HelpDesk and for TargetProcess, by the way.

5. Why am I not able to select a Product when adding a new issue?
Check this guide.

6. What is Company and how do I use it?
We’ve got a help article for that as well.

7. My Help Desk suddenly stopped working! Why?
By default, we use a special system user for authentication between the Help Desk and TargetProcess applications. Changing the system user credentials may break the integration. Read more.

Tools and best practices

Auto Reply to requester

You can set up an auto-reply generic message, letting your customers know that their request has been accepted. There is a special plugin for that, called Auto Reply To Requester. You can find it in the Old Plugins section.

You can change the subject and the body of the outgoing notification as needed.

Here’s an example from our own experience:

We have different workflows for product issues/questions and ideas. The support team is responsible for issues/questions, and they are committed to reply within one business day. Ideas (feature requests) are reviewed by the Product Owner without any SLA for response. Obviously, it would make sense to have a custom auto-reply, one for issues, and one for ideas. So, we’ve added the following condition:

#if ($Request.RequestTypeName == “Idea”)
Your idea #${Request.ID} “${Request.Name}” is accepted.
#else
Your request #${Request.ID} “${Request.Name}” is accepted.
You will be notified about any progress related to the request.
#end

Manage requests with Queue

TargetProcess has a convenient tool to work with requests: the Queue. We use it heavily every day for our own application support. Only the requests that require our attention are shown in the Queue; namely the ones with the latest comment coming from requesters, or the ones that are still active, but haven’t been answered for two days (so we can check back if everything is alright, and if we can close the request ).

You can find more information about the Help Desk Queue in this article.

FAQ / Recommended articles

1. How to work with requesters

2. How to work with duplicate requests

3. How to handle related bugs and user stories

4. Is it a must for a support person to be a TargetProcess user, or will the Help Desk access be enough?
We recommend to work from the main TargetProcess application. As a support person, you can do a lot more in TargetProcess e.g. change request states, merge requests, change requesters, create related bugs, edit comments, etc. No license is required for Help Desk, so you might save on the license costs, which is not that much, but you’ll be limited in what you can do.

See help.targetprocess.com for more tips, tricks and best practices. 

This a mid-term notice for the users of the new Bugzilla plugin released in v.2.22.10

As we noted at the time of the release,  the old Bugzilla profiles can not be converted to the new ones so far.

Hold on for a while, we’re currently working on the profiles converter, and we expect it to be coming in v.2.23.1 in a couple of weeks.

More on Bugzilla plugin

This release includes minor UX and performance improvements:

TargetProcess on-site licenses are updated automatically now as a new version is installed. There’s no need for manual updates anymore.

The upper left userbar has been redesigned.  See the screenshot below: the lower part shows how it was before, and the upper part shows how it is now. The “Help” tab is renamed to “User Guide”, Inbox moved to user name drop-down. Personal Settings are now included to this drop-down as well.

Iteration names are now shown in Release/Iteration column in inner lists (for user stories). Previously, only Release names were shown in this column.

Performance has been improved for Allocations and Assignments shown in lists.

Fixed Bugs

• Duplicate bugs on task board
• Remove “Add Milestone” link from top Add menu
• Load Report: rename Load column to Allocated
• HTML Source Tab For Comments

Version 2.21.6 has been released to free packs last Friday.

Task Creator Plugin: User Story Template

This plugin works as a template for user stories. Though not exactly a template, it creates sets of tasks on the fly. See how:

As soon as tasks are created, the command is auto-cut from user story name. So, in the end,  user story includes Design, Implementation, Testing, Specification tasks.

Go to Settings – Systems Settings – Plugins to work with Task Creator.

Application Root URL is now used for email notifications only (for TargetProcess on-site).

Now this link is used in email notifications only. No application links depend on it anymore.

New option in ‘Customize’ menus: show/hide Total sums

You can now disable/enable the Show Totals option in lists. With Show Total turned off, lists are generated much faster.

Fixed Bugs

#33434 User Story list: Effort sum is calculated for stories from one page only

#33398 Exception when  editing build with iteration moved to another project

#33172 Prioritize UserStories by Release only (leave off Iterations)

..The kanban contest started on TargetProcess Facebook page at the beginning of this week, and so far we have seen a very cool variety of Kanban boards.

If you like or are interested in Kanban you should defiantly go to our page and check it out and don’t forget to vote for your favorite ;)

But if you are using one, you should defiantly upload a picture, a short video or a note about it and join the real party, a party that you might be  going to leave with a brand new iPad!

…We are looking for the best or the coolest Kanban board out there. Hi-tech LCD screens, post-it notes, or tickets – we want to see what you use, and the best one of the lot gets to take home an iPad!

Most of you use Kanban boards in one form or another. You might be using a whiteboard, or a virtual board supported by software. You might have a small board, or you might have a large one.

All you need to do, is upload an image or a short video (no more than 40 seconds) of your Kanban board to our wall.

Now, collect likes for your submission, and the two submissions with the highest number of likes will be reviewed by our judges to decide on the first place.

The competition is for 3 weeks, so you still got time to upload today, and start collecting those likes!

Remember to check the competition rules

The contest started on the 2nd of March 2011, and ends 21 days later, on the 24th.

There’re two new features in TargetProcess v 2.20.8:

1.  Custom fields are now available in quick Add Test Case pop-up

How it was:

As a QA Engineer (Product Owner, Developer) you were working with a User Story, using Test Cases tab to review test cases for this user story. You wanted to Quickly Add Test Case, and you were in Add Test Case screen view, adding a test case.  No custom fields (such as Test Type and Risk in the screen below) were available in this view previously. You had to get back to edit/view screen for each particular test case to specify values for custom fields.

How it works now:

Custom fields for test cases are available in Quick Add test case view. You can fill in all the fields for a test case w/o getting back to a standalone test case add/edit view (click on the screen below for a larger image):

2.  Taskboard: Hide tasks completed before a particular date

How it was:

With too many tasks  in the taskboard view, all you could do (as a Scrum Master or Product Owner) was to filter the tasks by iterations/releases or by people. This helped but not always, and the taskboard would look too clogged.

How it works now:

You can hide tasks closed before a particular date. Obsolete tasks are removed from the view and this makes for a more focused planning and tracking.

Bugs fixed in 2.20.8:

#30897 Predefined Reports: projects order is incorrect; projects tree is invalid: programs are missing, projects are mixed
#31074 Cannot save project changes
#28814 My Impediments dashboard component should only show impediments for which user is responsible

This release goes live shortly after the previous one, and along with other improvements has a new essential feature — Release Milestones.

What is a Release Milestone? It’s a landmark that can be set for multiple projects and multiple releases across Release Plan to indicate some meaningful events (e.g. meeting with stakeholders, “hello world” date etc.)

You can add a Milestone both from  Quick Add menu and from Release Plan page.

You can specify name, description and date when adding a milestone, select its color (e.g. red) and pick  projects with this milestone:

Milestone is  shown as a vertical line.

As you move mouse over a milestone, Edit and Delete icons appear. You can quickly edit all the settings for this milestone, e.g. change date or change color (priority):

Or delete this milestone if it’s no longer relevant:

If milestones have a matching date, they’re shown as overlapping boxes. By mouse over, one of the milestones goes on top so you can easily edit it.

Next, Release Plan has been redesigned: now you can add a new release from Release Plan  staying on the same screen, release selection view has been improved, you can hide/show backlog (please, click on the screenshot below for a large image).

We also introduced the Today indicator:

Quick Add for a Project Release (on one screen):

Quick Release Edit (Edit icon):

Forecast is now shown with a dotted line:

Here’s the summary of updates for 2.20.7 :

Features

Redesigned Release Plan
Milestones in Release Plan
Task Board shows bugs that are not related to User Stories

Fixed Bugs

#30850 Priorities for multiple projects are wrong in TaskBoard
#30849 Clicking on incorrect entity links to view entity page (with no ACID) leads to unexpected projects context
#30809 When a generated sample project is renamed, it’s impossible to generate another one
#28806 Release plan: release boxes are shown improperly (in other projects rows) until one of them is expanded

This update has some fixed bugs and was released on September 2.

—————–

#30239 Kanban Board redesign

#30402 Performance fixed

#30361 View Link acid fixed

#30245 Predefined Reports: NRE for “Bugs by severity” report

#28477 Predefined Reports: CustomFieldNotConfiguredException in QA Report

—————–