clearquest timetracker user guide

1

User Guide for Working Time Tracking Module

ClearQuest Time Tracker

Version 1.1

LLC CM-Consult

Moscow

2010

CM-Consult & Rational-Tools project

www.rational-tools.info www.cmcons.com

[email protected]

Partners in Europe:

IBTS - International Business

& Technology Solutions http://www.ibts-online.com

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Contacts

1. Main contacts

CM-Consult company

Rational-Tools project – the new area of international tools

development

Mail site: http://rational-tools.info (English site)

Company site: http://cmcons.com (Russian site)

Blog: IBM Blog (English blog)

Twitter: http://twitter.com/rrationaltools

E'mails: [email protected] and [email protected]

Moscow o Uznobutovskaya st, 23, Moscow, Russia

o Phone & fax: +7(495) 648-63-28

Kaliningrad o Office 213, Garajnaya st. 2, Kaliningrad, Russia

o Phone & fax: +7 (4012) 563671

2. Partners in Europe

Contacts in Germany:

IBTS - International Business & Technology Solutions

Internet: http://www.ibts-online.com

E-mail: [email protected]

Scheelestr. 108, D-12209 Berlin

Tel.: +49 (0)30 755 14 304

Fax: +49 (0)30 755 14 348

http://rational-tools.info/

http://cmcons.com/

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/alex/

http://twitter.com/rrationaltools

mailto:[email protected]


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Contents

1. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS ......................................................................................... 4

2. GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................................... 4

3. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 5

3.1 PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT............................................................................................................... 5

3.2 FIELD OF APPLICATION......................................................................................................................... 5

4. GENERAL DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................................. 5

4.1 FEATURES ............................................................................................................................................ 5

5. USING THE PROGRAM ...................................................................................................................... 6

5.1 LAUNCHING THE APPLICATION .............................................................................................................. 6

5.2 APPLICATION MAIN MENU .................................................................................................................... 7

5.3 MAIN WINDOW .................................................................................................................................... 8

5.4 APPLICATION SETUP ........................................................................................................................... 10

5.5 WORKING WITH TASKS ....................................................................................................................... 15

5.6 IMPORTING A LICENSE KEY ................................................................................................................ 18



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1. List of Abbreviations and Terms

Abbreviation Expansion

CQTT Working hours management module Clear Quest Time Tracker

OS Operating System

DB Database

2. Glossary

Term Interpretation

ClearQuest Software change management system IMB Rational ClearQuest

Record type ClearQuest document/ object



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3. Introduction

3.1 Purpose of This Document

The document sets out to provide users with information necessary for efficient use of the

Time Tracker module.

The document covers the following topics:

Time Tracker functionality

User interface forms

Settings

Using the Program

3.2 Field of Application

The document relates to the CQTT module, and is intended for end users who have

experience working with the ClearQuest change management system.

4. General Description

CQTT allows you to improve the process of estimating time actually spent on tasks and

increase effectiveness of working time planning, both personal and of the whole project. It also

allows saving ClearQuest licenses used.

4.1 Features

CQTT supports the following features:

Defining personal settings for every PC user.

Protecting the system settings of change requests by administrator password.

Working with any change request.

Automatically changing task statuses upon start and finish of work.

Automatically tracking time spent on a task.

Temporary stopping of time tracking with further continuation.

Tracking of user idle time during task fulfillment.



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Switching between several user databases.

Getting personal statistics on tasks within several user databases and time periods.

Getting full information about ClearQuest tasks.

Taking into account the beginning and end of the working day.

Creating records defined in system settings right from the context menu.

Opening ClearQuest record forms.

5. Using the Program

5.1 Launching the application

To launch CQTT, click RunAll ProgramsCM-ConsultClearQuest Time

TrackerClearQuest Time Tracker. The Authorization dialog will open, where you should

enter login and password for Time Tracker (see Figure 1. Authorization dialog):

Figure 1. Authorization dialog

Authorization dialog for connecting to ClearQuest include the following fields:

Connection– ClearQuest connection name;

User Database – ClearQuest user database containing data about tasks;

Login - user name in ClearQuest;

Password – the user account password;

Keep password – flag that allows saving connection settings and credentials so

that you will not need to enter your credentials (user login and password).



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To connect to the database, enter the required data and click OK. To exit, click Cancel.

After successful connection to ClearQuest, the icon will appear in the taskbar. Right-

click the icon to open the application main menu and main window (see Figure 2. Application

main window and menu).

Figure 2. Application main window and menu

5.2 Application main menu

You can open the CQTT main window by right-clicking the icon or (if time

tracking for a task is started) located on a taskbar near the clock (see Figure 3. Main menu).



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Figure 3. Main menu

The main menu includes the following commands:

Hide/Show – shows/hides the application main window, where you can select

a task to be performed.

About – opens the window with information about the program, copyright,

licenses.

Settings – opens a window for adjusting the application settings.

Change profile – switches connection to another ClearQuest user database.

Submit – opens a menu allowing you to create ClearQuest records defined in

the application system settings.

Exit – saves all changes and closes the application.

5.3 Main Window

For working with tasks, the main application window is used (see Figure 4.

Application Main Window). To open the main window, double-click the CQTT icon on the

taskbar or select the main menu command Show/Hide.



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Figure 4. Application Main Window

The main window contains the following elements:

1. Area with general detailed statistics of all tasks by day, week, month and total.

General statistics contains the following information:

a. Statistics of the current task.

b. Statistics of all tasks within the current ClearQuest user database.

c. Statistics of all tasks within all ClearQuest user databases used in the

project.

2. Area with statistics of a current task containing information about the

workload.

3. Task selection button. Upon clicking this button, the dialog box appears where

you can select a task for fulfilment.

4. Field with the current task name. Clicking this field brings up a ClearQuest

task window (see Figure 11. ClearQuest record window);

5. Field with detailed description of the selected task.

6. Start button that starts time tracking of the selected task. Clicking the start

button will transit the task into the Opened state, and save date and time of the

beginning of the task fulfilment.

7. Stop button that stops time tracking of the selected task. Clicking this button

will suspend time tracking of the current task.



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8. Task closure button. Clicking this button will transit the task into the next

state Complete, and, if manual task closure is selected in the user settings, the

task closure confirmation dialog will open. Actual date and time of the task

completion and the workload will be saved.

9. Button that reduces the main window to the taskbar.

10. Exit button that closes the application.

11. General statistics panel containing task identifier, state, timers (total time in

seconds, time in idle state).

5.4 Application setup

To access the application settings, right-click the application icon on the taskbar and

select the Settings command in the menu (see Figure 5. Application settings).

Figure 5. Application settings

There are two types of application settings:



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User settings - allow adjusting personal work parameters, such as working

schedule, idle time, automatic start-up, etc. (see section 5.4.1 User Settings).

System settings – allow adjusting the record type use settings and correspondence

of fields (see section 5.4.2 System Settings).

Click Apply to save settings, or click OK to save settings and close the ClearQuest

Time Tracker Settings window. To close the window without saving changes, click Cancel.

5.4.1 User Settings

User settings are listed in the User settings tab of the ClearQuest Time Tracker

Settings window (see Figure 6. User settings).

Figure 6. User settings

User settings include:

Autostart with Windows – allows launching the CQTT application

automatically upon Windows start-up.



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Idle time threshold N minutes – allows specifying the idle time during which

a user does not work on the computer. Once the specified idle time is

exceeded, a dialog window appears, where the user can select whether to

include this time into working time, or not.

Working day parameter group – allows considering the working day

parameters established in the company when tracking the time spent on task

fulfilment.

o Consider duration of working day – allows specifying working day

parameters.

Start of working day – time of the working day beginning.

End of working day – time of the working day end.

o Consider duration of lunch break – allows specifying lunch break

parameters.

Start of break – beginning of lunch break.

End of break – end of lunch break.

o Routine. End of day, further work is impossible – allows specifying

the time after which the working time tracking is not performed.

Warning parameter group – allows specifying when a warning message

should appear.

o Exiting application – if this option is flagged, a confirmation dialog

will appear when exiting the application.

o Closing task – if this option is flagged, a confirmation dialog will

appear when closing the task.

o Changing profile – if this option is flagged, a confirmation dialog will

appear when changing the profile, i.e. when switching to another

ClearQuest user database.

Closure task parameter group – allows specifying the way of closing tasks.

o Closing automatically – after the task completion, it will be

automatically transited into the next state using the Complete action

configured in system settings.

o Closing manually – after the task completion, it will be automatically

transited into the next state using the Complete action configured in



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system settings, and the task window will open for confirming this

action or entering additional data (for example, comments about task

fulfilment).

5.4.2 System Settings

System settings include settings for the ClearQuest record type (see Figure 8. System

settings) and are listed in the Record type settings tab of the ClearQuest Time Tracker

Settings window. These settings allow working with the selected ClearQuest user databases.

Record type settings should be adjusted by the administrator and can be password protected (see

Figure 7. Password protection of system settings). The password will be requested upon clicking

the Record type settings. For details on setting the password, see the Administrator Guide.

Figure 7. Password protection of system settings



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Figure 8. System settings

System settings include:

Record type – allows selecting a ClearQuest record type that represents a

task.

Admin password – allows settings a password of the CQTT administrator.

Fields parameter group – allows specifying settings of record type fields and

include the following parameters:

o Headline – field containing the task record name.

o Description – field containing the task record description.

o Actual start – field containing the actual date of the task beginning. In

this field, the CQTT application will store the date when a performer

starts working on a task.

o Actual end – field containing the actual date of the task completion. In

this field, the CQTT application will store the date when a performer

finishes working on a task.



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o Work duration – field containing the workload of a task. In this field,

the CQTT application will store the data about time spent by a

performer on a task fulfilment.

Actions parameter group – contains parameters for configuring actions for the

ClearQuest record type:

o Open – action of opening a task that the CQTT application performs to

the record type when a user starts working on a task. If a task is

already in the relevant state that defines the task fulfilment, this action

will not be performed.

o Modify – action of modifying a task that allows the CQTT application

to change the task by entering new workload data.

o Complete – action of closing a task that the CQTT application

performs to the record type when a user finishes working on a task.

States parameter group – contains parameters defining states of the

ClearQuest record type:

o Assigned – state indicating that a task is assigned to an owner.

o Opened – state indicating that a task is being fulfilled by an owner.

Record types to create – allows selecting ClearQuest record types that can be

created from CQTT using the Submit command of the main menu.

5.5 Working with tasks

5.5.1 Taking a task for fulfilment

To take a task for fulfilment and start working with it, do the following:

1. In the application main window, click the task selection button .

2. In the Select task window, select the necessary query and execute it by double-

clicking the right mouse button (see Figure 9. Task selection window). From the

query results, select the necessary task.

3. During task selection, in the description field in the lower part of the window,

some description will appear.



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4. Double-clicking the task in the query results will bring up the ClearQuest task

window.

Figure 9. Task selection window

5. After you have selected the task, click OK.

6. In the main window, click the button that will start the time tracking process

for the selected task.

7. If the task is not in the Opened state, it will be automatically transited into the

next state by the Open action.

8. After the task start, the time tracking suspension button and the time

tracking stop button will become active in the main window. The CQTT

icon in the taskbar will change its color from red to green .

5.5.2 Suspending the time tracking

Time tracking can be suspended in the following situations:

1. Planned suspension is used when a performer is not going to work with a task

during a period of time (for example, he/ she needs to switch to another task, or

the working day ends, etc.) In this case, click the time tracking suspension button

. This will stop the time tracking process for the task, and the current

workload will be saved. Then the performer can select another task to do, if



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necessary. When the performer is ready to proceed with the suspended task, he/

she should select this task and click the time tracking start button .

2. Suspension due to the user idleness is performed automatically, if this function

is set up in the user settings. In this case, if the user has not performed any actions

on the computer (using of keyboard and mouse is monitored) during the specified

period, then when he/ she will proceed with his work on the computer, the dialog

window will appear (see Figure 10. Idle time registration window). In this dialog

window, the user will need to select whether to include the idle time into the

workload, or not.

Figure 10. Idle time registration window

5.5.3 Closing tasks

When a task is completed, the performer should open the main window and click the time

tracking stop button . The Complete action will be automatically performed, and actual

date and time spent on the task fulfilment will be saved. If in the user settings the manual task

closure is selected, the ClearQuest window will appear where the user can enter additional

information about the task (see Figure 11. ClearQuest record window).



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Figure 11. ClearQuest record window

5.6 Importing a License Key

Without a license key, the module works in demonstration mode (see Figure 12.

Demonstration mode). In the demonstration mode all functions are available, but the reminder

will sometimes appear notifying the user that he/ she works in the demonstration mode.

Figure 12. Demonstration mode

To import a license key, follow the steps below:

1. In the main menu, click About.

2. In the opened window, click Import license.

3. Select the location of the license key on the local disk.

4. After the license key is imported, restart CQTT to activate the key.