• Registered: 2008-12-01
  • Posts: 5

Topic: Issue/Bug tracking - as a feature for PunBB

This is a suggestion for the next major version of PunBB.
A major business need is: issue and bug tracking.

Organizations and business needs ways to track questions and problems from the community, and reply to customers. Many organizations set up issue tracking systems, but they all lack good social tools.

MERGING OF ISSUES & SOCIAL

There seems to be new work in the area of bridging customer support, social networking, and forums. In particular, I have seen http://getsatisfaction.com/ which provides "forums" for lack of a better word for various companies' to have virtual customer support. I have tested several issue trackers (mantis bt, traq, etc.). Many trackers downsides, or too much complexity for small/medium sized projects, and lack a good public UI or way for the public to collaborate/comment on bugs.

POSSIBLE DIRECTION FOR 1.4

I suggest that a great development direction for Pun 1.4 is to adapt PunBB to also be an issue/bug tracker. This is a good differentiation from other forum software.   Various features common to issue trackers could be added to the existing PunBB, e.g.:
   ~ Assigning priorities to threads
   ~ Assigning ownerships to threads
   ~ Assigning status to threads
   ~ Assigning due-dates to threads
   ~ Adding additional sorting and filtering views
   ~ Toggle of public vs. private threads
   ~ There are many other common issue/bug management features
The result of a few additions is that PunBB would provide a complete environment for guests, members, and staff to post issues.

What PunBB needs is some serious enterprise features, not just more social features.

Michael

  • Slavok
  • PunBB Developer
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  • From: Russia
  • Registered: 2008-06-11
  • Posts: 1,238

Re: Issue/Bug tracking - as a feature for PunBB

I think, the features that you have described can be included in one or more extensions. Not in the Forum core. Most of the users don't need priorities and ownership to threads, for example. They need a fast and lightweight forum. Lets think here how we can group these features, this will become a base for extensions.

Slavok's Website

  • Registered: 2008-12-01
  • Posts: 5

Re: Issue/Bug tracking - as a feature for PunBB

Thanks for your reply!
Certainly these could be a plugin, and simple issue tracking features are easily combines.

Forums are increasingly becoming a commodity, with many similar options. While many small and amateur sites will always want a pure forum system, a simple forum has minimal business use. Businesses need to track specific communications and problems with customers.  So as you plan future versions or plugins, you might consider directing PunBB into more of a social networking, CRM, or issue tracking direction.

I think there is strong business needs for issue tracking.

Michael

4 Reply by MattF (edited by MattF 2008-12-09 23:16)

  • MattF
  • Senior Member
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  • From: South Yorkshire, England
  • Registered: 2007-03-15
  • Posts: 1,956

Re: Issue/Bug tracking - as a feature for PunBB

michaeld wrote:

Forums are increasingly becoming a commodity, with many similar options. While many small and amateur sites will always want a pure forum system, a simple forum has minimal business use. Businesses need to track specific communications and problems with customers.  So as you plan future versions or plugins, you might consider directing PunBB into more of a social networking, CRM, or issue tracking direction.

I think there is strong business needs for issue tracking.

What you class as a business necessity does not apply to all. A bulletin board is not intended to be a C.M.S or a bug/issue tracker. Why consider evolving the base into something that is for a certain niche requirement? The company themselves should design their own system around the core, or hire someone to do that work, unless an extension already exists to fulfil that need.

Also, saying that a bulletin board has minimal business use is just plain false.

MattF's Website

  • Registered: 2008-12-01
  • Posts: 5

Re: Issue/Bug tracking - as a feature for PunBB

MattF wrote:

What you class as a business necessity does not apply to all. A bulletin board is not intended to be a C.M.S or a bug/issue tracker. Why consider evolving the base into something that is for a certain niche requirement? The company themselves should design their own system around the core, or hire someone to do that work, unless an extension already exists to fulfil that need.

Also, saying that a bulletin board has minimal business use is just plain false.

Thanks for your comments.

My perception is that the market is flush with forum systems. Of course there are many sites which run pure forums, but many organizations and businesses already have some type of need to have user accounts. Integration can be provided by external authentication (which I have contributed -- see http://punbb.informer.com/forums/topic/20436/ )

But sites that have paying customers or members, typically have a major need for communicating with those people. Similarly, many projects, including Pun, need ways to track bugs. Existing bug trackers (including Trac) are very focused on the bug and the tracking, and are poor at discussion.

Thus, it is my suggestion that a strong long-term direction for Pun is to steer towards a hybrid that includes tracking. I think that opens a new market of users and customers for Pun.

As for myself, I don't care. I need a forum today, and have switched to bbPress. So you can take my comments with a grain of salt -- they are just some comments about what I think will make Pun remain relevant in the future.

Michael

6 Reply by MattF (edited by MattF 2008-12-10 11:01)

  • MattF
  • Senior Member
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  • From: South Yorkshire, England
  • Registered: 2007-03-15
  • Posts: 1,956

Re: Issue/Bug tracking - as a feature for PunBB

Extensions should be where all additions such as those are kept. That doesn't mean to say that I don't think some of those things don't have a use, however. I was merely pointing out that one persons idea of what is essential is very narrow. It applies personally rather than globally in most cases. To try and steer development in that direction is a fallacy, however.

The extensions will grow as the 1.3* base grows and matures. Plus, the extension system allows for those types of addition to be incorporated in a more consistent fashion than before, making inhouse design slightly simpler.

The point was not intended to be argumentative, but merely to point out that the base ought to remain as is, i.e: small and to the point. The extension system itself lends itself to any ulterior requirements, without having to guide development that way. smile Plus, Informer are a company, so I would assume that certain niche extensions might be negotiated for a fee. big_smile

MattF's Website

7 Reply by whatrevolution (edited by whatrevolution 2008-12-17 00:06)

  • From: Paducah, KY
  • Registered: 2008-02-21
  • Posts: 60

Re: Issue/Bug tracking - as a feature for PunBB

I agree with the tone that Matt has set forth, and would add that Michael has already brought Trac into the discussion; and that is where my mind immediately went.  Informer, Flux, and myself use Trac, so for this community I would look toward an extension which is able to pull changeset data from a Trac project, bind a forum to a Trac project, and bind a thread to a file or ticket.

There is no need for this in the core, we can do this ourselves via extensions on the PunBB side, and via Plugins on the Trac side.

whatrevolution's Website