As the developers of IssueNet, we are often asked how we use the product internally. There are two answers to that question, the operational answer and the practical day-to-day answer. Operationally we use IssueNet for many core functions: software defect tracking, external customer support, internal IT help desk, CRM, and miscellaneous issue tracking. But what people are usually asking is: in the practical course of our days, how do we interface with the system most? It varies some from department to department, but our favorite interface is the Microsoft Outlook integration.

Let's face it, these days, we all spend a great deal of time in our email, so working directly in that environment makes us more productive. How you might ask?

• IssueNet integration to Microsoft Outlook is achieved via an unobtrusive toolbar
• Quick access to creating all types of issues and viewing existing issues and tasks
• Special functionality to easily create issues from mail messages and append messages to existing issues.

The ability to quickly create issues from email messages is extremely important, because invariably, most issues are first reported through email. The quick ability to turn those random emails into trackable, actionable issues in the issue management system means less issues fall through the cracks.

We love the integration because it is easy to use on a daily basis, but that ease of use also serves a very important role in user acceptance during a new deployment. Making issue tracking available via the user's email application dramatically increases uptake for new deployments. Email clients are typically open all day so elminating the need to launch a separate application or browser tightly integrates IssueNet into the daily routine. All this adds up to an easy, low-overhead way to manage issues.

Additional Information on Outlook Integration

• Short Video Demonstration (Elsitech.com How-To Videos Section - Video titled: "Workspace Integration to Microsoft Outlook")
• Detailed Feature-by-Feature Documentation of Outlook Integration (help.elsitech.com)

Elsinore is pleased to announce that the Beta period for the upcoming 5.0 release of IssueNet is now open. The open Beta period runs until June 2, 2008, when IssueNet 5.0 will be officially released.

As detailed in last month's preview article for the upcoming release, the focus has been on improvements and simplifications over "checkbox" feature adding. The most visible changes in IssueNet 5.0 are to the toolbars and standard views - creating a familiar MS Outlook-style view. Simplifications to certain aspects of workflow and notifications have been implemented based on specific user feedback, while updates to the main solutions reflect our continued commitment to provide best practice configurations out-of-box. The full release notes are available here.

Eligibility and Sign-Up

The IssueNet 5.0 beta program is open to all IssueNet customers with current support and maintenance. If you are interested in participating in the beta program, please contact Elsinore support . If you need to confirm whether you have active support and maintenance, please contact sales@elsitech.com. Elsinore also runs a regular live webinar schedule, which allows a full look at the new release in an hour.

Elsinore is pleased to announce that the second quarter of 2008 will see the release of IssueNet 5.0! With the 5.0 release, we have placed a dedicated focus on improvements and simplifications, while resisting the temptation to simply tack on features.

Major IssueNet 5.0 Improvements

1. UI Overhaul - Toolbars and Preview Pane
2. Workflow and Notifications
3. Wiki-based Web Help System
4. Updates to the Intercept, Assist, and Oversight Solutions

The main emphasis has been on distilling and perfecting core parts of the user experience over “checkbox” feature adding.  IssueNet is an extremely powerful product and has only become more so over the 2 years since it replaced Visual Intercept as the flagship.  Simplifying the user experience to best facilitate the use of all that power represents the essense of the 5.0 release.  We certainly kept the dreaded "Featuritis" curve in mind with this one:

The most visible changes in IssueNet 5.0 are to the toolbars and standard views - creating a familar MS Outlook-style view. Simplifications to certain aspects of workflow and notifications have been implemented based on specific user feedback, while updates to the main solutions reflect our continued commitment to provide best practice configurations out-of-box. 

Stay tuned to this space and www.elsitech.com for the official beta schedule, release date, screenshots, and comprehensive release notes!

Elsinore made the decision to switch from Compiled HTML Help edited with RoboHelp to a wiki-based help system using Screwturn Wiki.  The following is a look into the decision making process that ultimately lead to replacing RoboHelp with a Wiki.

Issues with RoboHelp

In general, we were very frustrated with RoboHelp.  After using it for many years and through several versions of our product, we had assembled a critical mass of grievances.

• Lack of flexibility around updates which were not tied to releases
• Rigidness of source code control and upgrade pains
• Web Help required rebuild of the entire project to generate .htm files, which took 10-15 minutes and required additional files to be checked into source control and then picked up by the Product build system.  This often resulted in internal builds not having updated Help files installed. 
• Updates simply took too much time, effort, and planning.  When a new help resource is available, we want to make it available quickly and effortlessly. 

Advantages of Wiki for Product Help

• Updates made in real-time
• Ability to easily link to other sources of rich content (tech tips, how-to videos, blog entries, developer labs articles, etc.)
• No need for product to "phone home" for help updates
• Source code available so customers can deploy on own network
• Extremely easy for staff to update
• Freedom from RoboHelp compatibility issues
• Free to near-free

Disadvantages of Wiki for Product Help

• Difficult to compile for a printed manual
• Difficult to implement context-sensitive help
• Conversion of existing data from RoboHelp into new format takes time
• Traditional version control approaches must be rethought

The idea of converting a large existing documentation base from RoboHelp to wiki format can be daunting.  In the end we found that it would be easier to manually convert from RoboHelp to wiki than to convert from our older RoboHelp version to newer versions.  The manual conversion also dovetailed nicely with a comprehensive review and update of the documentation.  There are also some conversion tools out there such as the RoboHelp2Wiki tool, which may be useful in the right situations.

We went with Screwturn Wiki over the other available variants for the following reasons:

• ASP.NET
• File-based
• Easy Xcopy deployment, with no need to configure outside dependencies

Summary

In the end, the ease of use and extensive flexibility of the wiki format made this an easy decision.  Our priority was to update our help on a real-time basis with a minimum of frustration for our internal staff, and those goals were best achieved by converting our help from RoboHelp to a wiki. 

We are pleased to announce that our IssueNet product help is now available online at help.elsitech.com. The system is hosted with wiki technology provided by ScrewTurn Wiki, and will completely replace the compiled HTML help (.chm) within IssueNet products with the next release of the product. Changing from compiled HTML help to online help edited via wiki technology offers several key advantages:

• Changes to help are available to all users instantaneously without the need for software updates or software "phoning home"
• Ease of editing is much greater for Elsinore staff, which leads to fresher, more relevant documentation for our users. We like when things are easy too!
• Help that is rich with content. Using online, wiki-based help allows us to quickly add instructional video tutorials, tech tips, and developer labs content directly into the relevant sections of the help.

Changing a process that has been in place for many years is always tough. Since many of our customers are software companies facing these decisions as well, we've written up a short summary of our decision making process to switch from compiled HTML help, edited with RoboHelp, to wiki-based help edited with Screwturn. Check the blog next week for that entry!

Version 4.8 of IssueNet is now available for download through support.elsitech.com by all customers with active support and maintenance. This is a relatively light release that focuses on bug fixes and improvements to drag and drop capabilities on forms. Full details can be found in the Release Notes on elsitech.com. As you may have noticed, we have picked up the pace on releases, with two in the last two months, and three over the past five months. This is a result of two factors:

1. A commitment to quickly addressing any pain points encountered by users
2. The shift to a more agile approach in our own development process

The Elsinore product team is committed to this more frequent release cycle, as we feel it ultimately raises the quality of the product and incorporates customer feedback at a more rapid rate.

Email Integration

IssueNet 4.7 has been released and is now available for immediate download. [Press Release]

The latest IssueNet release is headlined by integration to Exchange Server, which allows issues and tickets to be created or updated via email messages. The message syntax is simple enough to be implemented in a simple link or command typed into the email subject, which allows Blackberry® and other mobile device users to submit, close, and approve issues on the go.

The release also includes several other bug fixes and product enhancements which are detailed in the 4.7 Release Notes, and is available for download from support.elsitech.com for all customers with current support agreements.  Questions regarding the release or current support status should be directed to support@elsitech.com or the support line at 866.866.0034.

Update: Offer Extended Through March 31, 2008 

First, I want to take a moment to thank all the Elsinore customers for another successful year.  Thanks to our existing and new clients, Elsinore is beginning its thirteenth year in business.  With that said, we want to offer something to our existing clients as well as any new clients looking to come on board in February.  I am not sure how many of you have seen our dashboard product, Insight.  But it is really helping aid organizations in productivity by displaying high level reports that you can drill down to specific issues and tasks.  To thank our customers, we would like to offer a free, unlimited license of Insight to anyone spending $5K with us at anytime in February or March.  If you have any specific questions, you can contact sales@elsitech.com.  You can also take a look at the product on the demo site here http://www.elsitech.com/Evaluation/Online-Demos.aspx.

An IssueNet system is very accessible. Options such as a full .NET API and a SOAP API provide limitless integration options for those with the time and expertise. However, a quick-and-dirty option is often preferable. With the absence of an industry standard .NET scripting platform and the general inflexibility of a command line interface, another option is needed. This is where the IssueNet tasks for MSBuild come in. Don't let the name fool you-- MSBuild is as useful for common scripting as it is for building projects.

MSBuild tasks are compiled in .NET dlls, then configured in XML project files, and can be executed from the command line. Standard tasks include Touch, MakeDir, and FindUnderPath. 3rd parties have implemented task libraries with functionality ranging from file access to XML manipulation. IssueNet tasks include the following:

• ExecuteIssueNetQuery - Execute a stored query in an IssueNet system. The results will populate an MSBuild item.
• CreateIssueNetObjects - Creates one or more objects in an IssueNet system. The objects are passed in as MSBuild items.
• UpdateIssueNetObjects - Updates one or more objects in an IssueNet system. The objects are passed in as MSBuild items.
• LinkIssueNetObjects - Links together two objects in an IssueNet system.
• TransitionIssueNetTasks - Transitions one or more tasks in an IssueNet system. The objects are passed in as MSBuild items.

These tasks accomplish 90% of what our customers are doing with the full API, and getting up and running is a bit simpler.  The following MSBuild project file executes a query in order to transition tasks:

   1:  <Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

   2:      <UsingTask TaskName="Elsinore.Engine.MSBuild.Tasks.ExecuteIssueNetQuery" AssemblyFile="Elsinore.MSBuild.dll" />

   3:      <UsingTask TaskName="Elsinore.Engine.MSBuild.Tasks.TransitionIssueNetTasks" AssemblyFile="Elsinore.MSBuild.dll" />

   4:   

   5:      <Target>

   6:          <ExecuteIssueNetQuery ConnectionName="$(IssueNetConnectionName)" UserID="$(IssueNetUserID)" Password="$(IssueNetPassword)" QueryName="MyTaskQuery">

   7:              <Output TaskParameter="Results" ItemName="QueryResults" />

   8:          </ExecuteIssueNetQuery>

   9:   

  10:          <TransitionIssueNetTasks ConnectionName="$(IssueNetConnectionName)" UserID="$(IssueNetUserID)" Password="$(IssueNetPassword)" Objects="@(QueryResults)" TransitionName="Start" />

  11:      </Target>

  12:  </Project>

The following occurs in the execution of this file:

• Line 1 is the standard outer Project tag for an MSBuild project file.
• Lines 2 and 3 declare that we are using two tasks from the IssueNet library, ExecuteIssueNetQuery and TransitionIssueNetTasks.
• Line 5 delimits the beginning of our target. This file only has one target. However, MSBuild allows multiple targets to be defined and selectively evaluated.
• Line 6 executes a query named "MyTaskQuery" and Line 7 stores the results in an item "QueryResults".
• Line 10 executes a transition "Start" on each task in "QueryResults".

We've even released a MSBuild HTTP Gateway for those adventurous enough to expose the functionality over the web.  If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments.

Elsinore is on schedule to release IssueNet 4.7 at the beginning of February, and a beta is now available. This short beta period will allow you to test drive and provide feedback on a couple of significant new features, performance enhancements, and fixes.

The most significant new feature of 4.7 is integration to Exchange Server. The integration allows issues, tasks and other items to be created and updated via e-mail sent to a designated e-mail address. The integration also provides the ability to execute workflow transitions and workflows via e-mail. The message syntax is simple enough to be implemented in a simple mailto link or a simple command typed into the e-mail subject. More sophisticated messages can update multiple properties of an item or append information in multi-line text fields. The goal of the integration was to make execution of simple e-mail commands obvious and more sophisticated updates and workflow actions possible. In addition to e-mail based issue submission and updates, we are very eager to see organizations use the integration to allow users to execute workflow transition and other workflow actions via Blackberry and other mobile devices.

We have also seen a lot of increased interest in use of IssueNet Workspace. If you are not familiar with Workspace, it is a series of integrations which allows you to access your issue management system from within Outlook, Visual Studio, and Project. Workspace also allows you to leverage features specific to the host application such as creating issues from e-mail items or importing issues and tasks into a project plan. Accordingly, 4.7 makes it easier for users to access Workspace by allowing users to launch it from the IssueNet Central deployment site. In the past Workspace required an installation package. Now it can be launched from a URL like all other IssueNet Products.

4.7 also includes a round of performance enhancements and bug fixes. If you are interested in evaluating the beta contact John Lockhart at: john.lockhart@elsitech.com.