Problem Management Tracking Tool
December 17, 2010 11:25 AM   Subscribe

I am implementing problem management within our business. Looking for a recommended, scalable, configurable problem management tracking tool.

I am implementing problem management within our organization. We are looking for a work flow tool to track requests to investigate a problem (preferably with email notification), accept/decline requests, track problem investigations (with custom categories), configurable reporting capabilities (time to accept/decline, time to resolve by multiple categories, number of problems by type, etc.)

This tool must also have a public view where our end users can track the progress of problems at a high level. There should also be a private component where specific details would only be available to a select number of authenticated users.

Ideally, authentication via Windows domain and a IE-compatible browser interface would make this even better.

This tool doesn't have to be free, and as we're looking for an enterprise-solution, probably won't be.

Any help would be appreciated!
posted by multiphrenic to Technology (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Good luck. I haven't seen many good problem tracking tools.

The best solution I have heard actually didn't use a tool, but instead used a desktop search application, similar to Google desktop, I think it specifically used Copernic.

For your solution, using the same idea, I would create the following folders
Problems - Users would document issues here, in a Word or ASCII text document
Details - Details can be documented and linked from the Problems folder
Work in Progress - Holding site where accepted problems could be moved
Denied - Holding site where rejected problems could be moved
Fixed - Resolved issues would be moved here

You can create more folders or subfolders for each custom category you want.

The desktop search would be set for each user to index these folders.

The nice thing about this solution is it is extremely low cost, it uses Windows authentication to manage which users have access to each folder, and users can quickly find if their problem has been previously documented and the status of requests, based on which folder the document is in.

Hope this helps. Memail me if you have any questions.
posted by I am the Walrus at 12:34 PM on December 17, 2010


Best answer: Footprints is a decent package and can probably do what you need.
posted by alfanut at 2:23 PM on December 17, 2010


We've been using Spiceworks for tracking problem tickets in our 80-100 person architecture office. We've got two installations, one for IT issues and one for administrative support. Once the mid- and senior staff figured it out, it's been working pretty well. There is a semi-free / advert supported version.
posted by Prince_of_Cups at 4:12 PM on December 17, 2010


Jira. Could easily be configured to do everything you describe. Has the added bonus of being able to track time spent actually solving the problem.
posted by jopreacher at 5:09 PM on December 17, 2010


Response by poster: Walrus: I am trying to avoid a manual process as much as possible. The process needs to be scalable as our team may eventually be the Enterprise solution across the organization (60,000+ users).

I've looked at Jira but was put off by the amount of work it seemed to require to configure.

I have just looked at both Footprints and Spiceworks. I think Footprints looks like a much better Enterprise solution but I will give both a shot. Thanks again everyone.
posted by multiphrenic at 9:18 AM on December 22, 2010


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