IC Tracker

IcTracker is a compact, easy-to-learn, web-based tool set that helps any business or work group define projects, assign tasks, streamline work flow, communicate among team members, assure accountability, track problems, store documents, keep records, and generate reports.

While IcTracker’s features and functions anticipate your project management needs, they don’t over-define your process or dictate your managerial style. User-defined custom fields and preferences let you tailor the application to your own best way of working, using terminology suited to your industry and to the task at hand.

Because the interface is simple, clear, and thoughtful, you can learn your way around the product by using it. When you have questions, context-sensitive help on screen, or this manual, will answer them quickly. Time to mastery is not the only saving you’ll experience. IcTracker runs on your company’s intranet, or on the Internet, depending on your preference, and interfaces with your database through an IIS server. On the client side, nothing is required but a Windows desktop and a browser. One reason IcTracker is so reliable is that there isn’t much to break down.

Getting Acquainted with IcTracker

The IcTracker Class System

Like many networked applications, IcTracker has two classes of users, Normal and Administrative. In addition to the privileges granted to every user, Administrators are entitled to create and maintain Departments, Personnel records, and IcTracker Application Parameters.

System Requirements

All you, the Normal User, need to be up and running on IcTracker is a workstation running Windows 98 or later, and a web browser, Internet Explorer version 5.5 or later.

To find out what browser version you are running, start your current browser.

On the top of the browser window, at the far right, click Help. At the bottom of the drop down menu, click About Internet Explorer.

If you need to update your browser, obtain the latest version free from the Microsoft Download site at http://www.microsoft.com.

For web server system requirements, please visit the IC Soft website at http://www.ic-soft.com/products/ictksysreq.htm.

Before You Start

Before you, the Normal User, can begin using IcTracker, you will need to receive these things from your Administrator:

· A user ID

· A password

· A Department assignment

· A link to your company’s IcTracker website

Logging On

Open your browser and go to your IcTracker website.

To create a shortcut to the IcTracker Login Page, right click anywhere on the Login screen to access the desktop menu. Halfway down the menu, click Create Shortcut. In the dialog box that appears, click OK. This will install an IcTracker icon on your desktop.

In the fields provided, enter your User ID and your password.

Click Login.

Check the box below the Password field to have IcTracker remember your password each time you login.

You can also use this screen to retrieve a forgotten password.

Your home page

The first time you log on to IcTracker, it takes you to the IcTracker Home Page. This page gives you a top down view of the application, access to lists of all existing Departments and all Projects currently underway. If your job requires you to oversee everything that’s going on in your company, this is a good place to start your workday with IcTracker.

Your Home Page is the place from which you can perform three important functions to personalize IcTracker.

§ Change your preferences

§ Change your password

§ Change your background image

You also have the option of choosing a Home Page (Project Summary View) that gives you an overview of the Projects in your own Department, and a convenient interface that lets you drill down into each of them quickly.

Once you know your way around IcTracker and how it fits into your work style, you can use the Preferences link on the IcTracker toolbar to choose the Home Page that’s most efficient for you.

Whichever Home Page you choose, it, like every IcTracker screen, displays the IcTracker tool bar in the left hand column. With this application map always in place, you’ll never lose your way.

Toolbar tour

Clicking your way through the toolbar is a good way to get familiar with IcTracker.

Home brings you to your chosen Home Page.

Department give you a listing of every departments in your

licensed copy of icTracker, and allows you to choose one.

View/Edit shows you all Projects, Tasks, and Problems and allows you to make changes in them.

New allows you to add a Project, Task, or Problem.

Search allows you to search for Projects, Tasks, Problems or Documents.

Reports allows you to print icTracker reports.

Documents lets you view documents by Department, Project, Task, Problem, or by the staff member who originated them.

My Desktop gives each user an instant overview of all Projects, Tasks, Problems, and Documents in which s/he is involved.

My Sites lets each user view and search all web sites s/he has stored in icTracker.

Staff Contacts is a work-related address book, with contact information for department and project colleagues.

Administration accesses the full menu of administrative functions.

Preferences allows you to personalize many features of icTracker.

Help Desk accesses product documentation and online help.

Send Feedback makes it easy to share comments and suggestions with IcTracker developers.

Sign Out closes the application.

Quick Access provides quick access to a Project Detail page, a Task Detail page, or a Problem Detail page. If you already know the Project ID, Task ID, or Problem ID, simply enter the ID and select ID Type and click on Go image icon to quickly jump to the detail page.

Switch changes position of your toolbar (Left position or Top position).

Clicking on the Switch toolbar changes position of your toolbar to the Top position with the following menu.

icTracker Home Page with the toolbar on the top provides more room for the application. You can click on the Switch menu item to switch back to the toolbar on the left position.

icTracker: For people who work on the Web

icTracker is a small footprint, no bloat application expressly designed to facilitate how people work today. Deployable via intranet or on the Internet, it offers workers at multiple sites a virtual nexus for sharing storing work-related information. Created for use in a Windows environment, icTracker integrates the database, browser and email applications you already have in place, so you never have to exit your virtual workspace in order to use familiar tools. Keeping track of the most complicated projects, and managing the most far-flung team is easy once you know your way around the application.

Getting acquainted with icTracker: Five key ideas

icTracker starts with only a few simple, powerful assumptions about how things get done. Functions it performs are built around these key ideas. Learn these words, and icTracker is easy to understand and use.

Department

A Department is a group of workers organized around a common goal. Depending upon your workplace, a Department might be a separate company within a larger conglomerate; it might be a workgroup charged with carrying out a particular kind of work (for example, Human Resources, Product Design, or Customer Service); it might deal with a discrete group of resources (for example, Fossil Fuels, Solar Power, Nuclear Energy).

Your Administrator must assign you to a Department before you’ll be able to work with IcTracker. Once you belong to a Department, you’ll be entitled to originate Projects, Tasks, and Problems, and your name will appear on all the drop down menus that display your department’s human resources.

Project

A Project is a goal-oriented activity performed by one or more members of a Department. A Project has a defined start and a defined finish. It produces a measurable result. Completing a Project requires an expenditure of time, money, and resources.

Every IcTracker User is entitled to originate a Project within his or her Department.

Task

A Task is an identifiable piece of work that needs to be done by one or more members of a Department if a Project is to be completed successfully. Like a Project, it has a start date, a finish date, a person who defines it, and a person responsible for its accomplishment.

Every IcTracker User is entitled to originate a Task within his or her Department.

Problem

Whether your industry refers to them as bugs, issues, or demons, problems are the obstacles you encounter in successfully accomplishing a Task or a Project. They are the things that go wrong, the schedules that slip, the bit of code that crashes the machine. Success in a Project requires identifying Problems, assigning responsibility for them, and resolving them.

Every IcTracker User is entitled to originate a Problem and to assign it to himself or another Department member for resolution.

Document

A Document is an artifact generated by the staff of a Project. Within IcTracker, the term “document” is format-agnostic and may refer to any type of file, whether it was created in Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher, or any other application. Documents can be attached to Projects, to Tasks, or to Problems, and accessed from all Summary View screens.

Every IcTracker User is entitled to attach a Document to a Project, Task, or Problem. Categories of Documents (e.g. Project Reports, Expense Reports, Emails, Images, etc.) are created and maintained by IcTracker administrators.

Working with Projects

Choosing your view

Think of your IcTracker application as a brand of car. Think of your Department as a particular vehicle. The Project Summary View is the dashboard of that vehicle. It lets you monitor your car’s performance and the state of its various internal systems at a glance. It also gives you instant access to what’s under the hood.

The four buttons at the upper left of the Project Summary View screen – Short, List, Detail, and Tab - give managers and team members a choice of how minutely they want to monitor their Department’s activity.

SHORT is the jump-in-and-get-to-work view. It shows you what’s going on without going into detail. View, Edit, View Task, and View Problem icons attached to each Project let you navigate quickly to exactly the place you want to be to find the information you need or to make necessary changes to a particular Project.

LIST is the global Project Summary View. It allows you to quickly see the state of Projects relative to one another. Providing at-a-glance information about project status, time frame, complexity, and number of outstanding issues, the Project Summary View helps managers and others get the big picture.

DETAIL offers a narrative view of projects, displaying the Project Description (definition) in addition to quantifiable information.

TAB is the search results page like view. It displays the project name, description, status, project manager, and its start date.

Whichever view you choose, IcTracker provides both icons and hypertext links to take you exactly where you need to go next to work efficiently.

The drop down STATUS menu, the ADD, SEARCH, and PRINT buttons appear in all views, giving you instant access to these functions.

How to enter a new Project

1. Access the New Project page one of two ways:

· On the Toolbar, click