This information is now obsolete and is retained online only for archival purposes.
The information contained in this summary is a consolidation of data obtained from a variety of sources around the Internet, but primarily from articles and comments posted on the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup. Additional information occasionally is emailed directly to the author. Check the date above to see how recent the information you are reading might be.
This document, as a collection of information, is Copyright 1995-2002 by Dave Eaton. It may be freely redistributed unedited in its entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without the written permission of the copyright holder. This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. The content is the sole responsibility of the author and contributors, and does not necessarily represent the position of their employers nor an official position or opinion of any company. Please contact the FAQ editor regarding changes.
Various products mentioned in this FAQ are the trademarks of their respective companies.
All parts of this FAQ are posted to this newsgroup on or about the 22nd of each month. (This is done manually and sometimes work interferes with this posting, please excuse any delays.)
Like most FAQ lists, these parts are archived at rtfm.mit.edu (and various other sites which archive FAQs.) The parts are named:
For those with World Wide Web access, hyperlinked HTML versions of these
documents are available via:
http://www.daveeaton.com/scm/
(If you type in this URL, remember that it is case sensitive.)
These are updated throughout the month as changes come in. A letter
is added to the version number and the date is changed with each edit
to help you determine if you've already seen it.
If you are not sure what we mean by CM (or SCM), please see our definition in question [1.2] of FAQ section 1. If you still think this will help you with your PC hardware or application configuration, you are mistaken. Please see question [1.10] of FAQ section 1 for some suggestions of other more appropriate newsgroups for your question -- do not post it to comp.software.config-mgmt. Thank you.
Similarly, this FAQ is intended for tools which address the problem management needs of the software development process. While some of these products also may be used to perform "Help Desk" and other activities, that is not the focus of this group or this FAQ. For "Help Desk" tools, refer the Help Desk FAQ posted by Phil Verghis at http://www.philverghis.com/helpdesk.html.
This is not a definitive list of all available tools, nor is it intended to be. It is not a recommendation or endorsement of any of the tools mentioned. As noted above, it is a composit of opinions from the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup. If you have a tool you would like others to know about, please join the discussion.
Instructions for adding or changing information in this FAQ may be found in section 1.8 of part 1, the general FAQ for the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup.
Since vendors are continually changing platform availability and upgrading their products, it is suggested you consult with them directly for current information before making a tool selection.
Commercial Products
Product Vendor Address Platforms
+1CR +1 Software Engineering Sun (SunOS and Solaris)
2510-G Las Posas Road,
Suite 438
P.O. Box 6041
Camarillo, CA 93011
tel.: 805-389-1778
info@plus-one.com
AccuRev/Dispatch AccuRev Inc. Solaris, Compaq Alpha Unix,
62 Harvard St. HP-UX, IRIX, RS/6000, FreeBSD,
Brookline, MA 02445 Linux (Intel and PowerPC),
tel: 617-566-3914 WinNT Win2K client/server, Windows
fax: 617-566-5035 9X clients.
info@accurev.com Mac, more Unix, Java "soon"
Aegis Abacus Systems Pty Ltd. PC (MS Windows
27 Ellindale Avenue, variations only)
McKinnon VIC 3204
Australia
tel: +613-9576-7355
FAX: +613 9576-7396
AllChange Intasoft Ltd. PC (MS-WFW, MS Windows
Tresco House Win95/98, WinNT), Sun Solaris
Westpoint Court
Exeter EX5 1DJ UK
tel.: +44 (0) 1392-447780
FAX: +44 (0) 1392-447781
sales@intasoft.co.uk
Apriori Computer Associates Server: HP-UX,
International, Inc. IBM RS/6000, Sun 4
One Computer Associates Plaza
Islandia, NY 11749, USA
tel.: +1 631 342-5224 Client: MS Windows,
FAX: +1 631 342-5329 X-Windows (Motif, Open
cainfo@cs.com Look), character based i/f
BugBase Archimedes Software, Inc. PC (Windows)
2159 Union Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
tel.: 415-567-4010
FAX: 415-567-1318
CCC/Harvest Computer Associates HP-UX, IBM RS/6000
1 Computer Associates Plaza OS/2, Win/NT)
Islandia, N.Y. 11788 Sun (contact vendor
tel.: 1-800-225-5224 about others)
FAX: 1-516-342-5224
Distributed Defect IBM Corporation Apollo, HP 9000,
Tracking System IBM RS/6000,
(ClearDDTS) 1 New Orchard Road DECstation & VAX
Armonk, New York 10504 running Ultrix,
tel.: 1-888-SHOP-IBM Sun (SunOS & Solaris),
FAX: 1-800-IBM-4YOU PC (SCO UNIX)
ClearQuality Clarify Inc. HP-UX, IBM RS/6000
2702 Orchard Pkwy. SGI, Sun
San Jose, CA 95134
tel.: 408-428-2000 Client on Mac,
FAX: 408-428-0633 PC (MS Windows, WinNT,
and Win95),
UNIX running Motif
ClearQuest IBM Corporation PC (WinNT, Win95/98/2000)
1 New Orchard Road
Armonk, New York 10504
tel.: 1-888-SHOP-IBM
FAX: 1-800-IBM-4YOU
Census MetaQuest Software Inc. Server:
416 de Maisonneuve West PC (WinNT, Win95/98)
Suite 401
Montreal, Quebec Client:
Canada PC (WinNT, Win95/98) and
tel: 514-341-9113 Web browser (PC/Mac/UNIX)
FAX: 514-341-4757
info@metaquest.com
Change Synergy Telelogic AB HP-UX, IBM AIX,
(World headquarters) Linux,
PO Box 4128 PC (MS WinNT, Win2K)
Kungsgaten 6 SE-203 12
Malmö, Sweden
tel: +46 (40) 174700
FAX: +46 (40) 174747
info@telelogic.com
US headquarters
Telelogic North America Inc.
9401 Jeronimo Road
Irvine, CA 92618 USA
Tel: +1-949-830-8022
Fax: +1-949-830-8023
Control First Repository Technology PC (DOS)
tel.: 708-515-0780
800-776-2176
Control First is also sold as:
TRUEtrack TRUE Software
300 Fifth Avenue PC (DOS)
Waltham, MA 02154
tel.: 781-890-4450
FAX: 781-890-4452
info@truesoft.com
Defect WorkFlow (DWF) SoftQuest Systems PC (MS Win95, WinNT)
P.O. Box 1124
Rehovot 76267
Israel
tel.: 972-8-940-9727
info@softquest.co.il
DTS Open System Consultants any UNIX host supported
Pty Ltd by Perl
24 Bateman St
Hampton VIC 3188
Australia
tel.: +61 3 9598 0985
Fax: +61 3 9598 0985
info@open.com.au
ExtraView Sesame Technology Servers: UNIX, Linux
269 Mount Hermon Road WinNT
Suite 100
Scotts Valley, CA 95066 Client: Any platform hosting
tel: (831) 461-7100 Netscape or MSIE,
FAX: (831) 461 7104 PalmOS on Palm VII Wireless
info@sesame.com
GLOBETrack GLOBEtrotter Software Digital Unix, HP-UX,
300 Orchid City Dr. #131 IBM RS/6000, Linux (Intel),
Campbell, CA 95008 SGI, Sun (SunOS/Solaris),
tel.: 408-370-2800 Web interface for PC/Mac
FAX: 408-370-2884
info@globes.com
IssueView IssueView.Com PC (Windows)
17 El Camino Corto
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
tel: 510-304-1096
Support@IssueView.Com
KeepTrack! 3L Ltd. (was PC based, but
Peel House it appears this
Livingstone product may be
EH54 6AG no longer
Scotland available)
tel.: +44 506 41 5959
Lotus Notes Lotus Development Corp. PC (DOS, MS Windows,
55 Cambridge Parkway WinNT, OS/2), Macintosh,
Cambridge, MA 02142 HP-UX, IBM RS/6000, Sun
NeumaCM+ Neuma Technology
Corporation
1730 St. Laurent Blvd.,
Suite 200,
Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada K1G 5L1
tel.: 613-738-3156
FAX: 613-738-7210
sales@neuma.com
OmniTracker OmniNet GmbH Clients: Win95/98/NT/2K
Orchideenstrasse 39, Web-Front, Java-Frontend
90542 Server: WinNT/2K
Eckental, Germany
tel.: 011-49-9126-259790
iwe@omninet.de
PR-Tracker Softwise PC (Windows 95, 98,
tel.: 425-513-0415 WinNT, 2000, ME)
or: 888-324-3988
FAX: 425-513-0516
or: 888-324-3980
sales@prtracker.com
Problem Tracker NetResults Corporation PC (Win95/98/NT)
444 High St.
PO Box 1238
Palo Alto, CA 94302-1238
info@n2r6.com
tel.: 650-473-3933
FAX: 650-473-3934
PVCS Dimensions MERANT Bull, DEC (VMS, Ultirx,
701 East Middlefield Rd Unix), H-P, ICL, Sequent,
Mountain View, CA 94043 Sun, PC (WinNT coming)
tel.: 800-872-6265
FAX: 650-404-7217
Corporate Headquarters:
The Lawn
22-30 Old Bath Road
Newbury
Berkshire, England RG14 1QN
tel.: +1635 32646
FAX: +1635 33966
PVCS Tracker MERANT PC (Windows)
701 East Middlefield Rd
Mountain View, CA 94043
tel.: 800-872-6265
FAX: 650-404-7217
Qualit Defect Manager Qualit, Inc. PC
801 W. El Camino Real
Suite 359
Mountain View, CA. 94040
tel.: 415-964-4525
FAX: 415-964-4512
qualit@netcom.com
Siebel Siebel Systems, Inc. Server: DEC Ultrix,
1855 South Grant Street HP-UX, IBM RS/6000,
San Mateo, CA 94402 Sun, VMS, others
tel.: 650-295-5000 Client only: PC
or: 800-647-4300 (Windows, WinNT)
fax: 650-295-5111 Macintosh, MIPS
info@siebel.com
Razor Visible Systems Sun (both Solaris and
248 Main Street SunOS), HP, SGI,
Oneida, NY 13421 RS/6000, Digital Unix,
tel.: 315-363-8000 Linux, PC(Win95/98,
FAX: 315-363-7488 WinNT)
razor_sales@visible.com
Remedy Action Request Remedy Corp. Server: AT&T, HP-UX,
System (ARS) 1505 Salado Dr. IBM RS/6000, Motorola,
Mountain View, CA 94043 SGI, Sun
tel.: 415-903-5200 Client: Above plus
FAX: 415-903-9001 PC(Windows, Mac)
remedy@remedy.com
SWBTracker Software with Brains, Inc. PC(Windows 95, 98, NT4)
649 Branch Dr.
Toms River, NJ 08755 USA
sales@softwarewithbrains.com
TeamTrack TeamShare, Inc. Server: PC (MS WinNT,
1975 Research Parkway, Win2000)
Suite #200
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
tel.: 888-832-6742 Client: Web browsers MSIE & Netscape
FAX: 719-599-4498
salesinfo@teamshare.com
Track for Windows Soffront PC (Windows, soon a 32
1806 Milmont Drive bit version for WinNT
Suite 169 and OS/2)
Milpitas, CA 95035
tel.: 408-263-2703
800-sof-front
sales@soffront.com
TrackRecord Compuware Corporation PC (MS Windows, WinNT,
31440 Northwestern Highway and OS/2)
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
tel.: 248-737-7300
marketed by
Compuware NuMega Lab
9 Townsend West
Nashua, NH 03063
800-4NUMEGA
TrackWise Sparta Systems, Inc. PC (MS Windows)
1 Bethany Road, Suite 90
Hazlet, NJ 07730
tel.: 888-261-5948
FAX: 732-203-0375
sales@sparta-sys.com
Vantive Quality Vantive Corp. HP-UX, IBM RS/6000
1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. Sun
Mountain View, CA 94043
tel.: 415-691-1500 Client on Windows
PC (WinNT Planned)
Visual Intercept Elsinore Technologies, PC (MS Windows 3.x,
Inc. Win95, WinNT)
7200 Falls of the Neuse Road
Suite 302
Raleigh, NC 27615
tel.: 919-532-0022 ext.408
FAX: 919-532-0023
jlm@ciinc.com
This product which helps track software problems or change-requests. Some of its features include:
GNATS can be obtained from one of the GNU mirrors or from Cygnus Support.
For example, GNATS may be found via anonymous FTP at ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/gnats/ or ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/gnats. A web interface to gnats, gnatsweb, is distributed with gnats itself.
TkGnats information and the latest version of TkGnats may be found at http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~macdonal/tkgnats.html.
samba-bugs bug reports and now used
on other projects, is web based and written in C. It is released as free
software under the GPL. Information may be found at
http://samba.anu.edu.au/cgi-bin/jitterbug
and a guest interface to the rsync JitterBug provides a
reasonable demo at http://samba.anu.edu.au/cgi-bin/rsync
The non-guest interface has many more features, of course.
A french version of JitterBug may be found at
http://jitterbug.websitewatchers.com/
.htaccess
and UNIX passwd authentication options are also supported.
Most aspects of a support group can be configured from a web page with its
own group password.
Contact information such as address and phone number may be found in the Commercial Vendor Contact List, elsewhere in this document.
Its features include:
The tool's character-based terminal interface origins is still evident even in the newer X-Windows version, causing some users to find it harder to use than a full GUI tool. Despite that drawback, it has many strong supporters.
The product includes a Web-based interface called WebTracker which allows for submission and querying of records in the ClearDDTS database. It provides most of the functionality of the native ClearDDTS client, including the ability to modify a recorf and generate management reports.
One popular feature of ClearDDTS is its distributed nature. ClearDDTS supports the sharing of information between project teams located at different locations. With ClearDDTS' subscription feature, a remote location can subscribe to a local project and maintain a copy of all records associated with that project in a remote database. The information is kept in-sync through an email interface.
ClearDDTS is integrated with Purify. A developer who finds a run-time error can submit that error directly into ClearDDTS. The Purify output will be included as part of the record in ClearDDTS.
The ClearDDTS and ClearCase configuration management integration has been shipping for a while and seems to be very popular. A number of users report a high degree of satisfaction with this integration.
There is a simple "query language" that allows extracting "all bugs submitted against product-x by person-y between date-1 and date-2 that have priority greater than z." Beginning in Nov. 1995, ClearDDTS began including an SQL database as part of the product. It also provides an SQL interface to the Oracle database.
Advantages
A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/clearddts/ MS Windows users may want to look into ClearQuest at http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/clearquest/
ClearQuest is a flexible system, allowing the designer to create data fields, forms, life cycles (i.e. state machines), and process rules via either Perl or VBScript. ClearQuest uses a RDBMs as the back-end datastore, supporting Sybase SQL/Anywhere, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle.
ClearQuest provides the end-user with both a Win32 and Web interface. Customizations and administration are done on via a Win32 interface. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/clearquest/
The MetaQuest Software Inc. product Census is an MS Windows-based issue tracking system that can track defects, enhancement requests, test cases, timesheets, support calls, and more. Some of its features include:
The system supports problem submission (either through a graphical user interface or electronic mail), on-line queries, problem reporting, and correlation of change requests to project components. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.telelogic.com/
Features include:
A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.sesame.com/ and http://www.extraview.com/.
IssueView by IssueView.Com is customizable Windows based bug tracking software. It has a multi-project Explorer style interface. Tracking projects are displayed in a Tree on the left, and issues within the selected project are displayed in a powerful datagrid. IssueView supports custom Filters, Reports, Attachments, Drag-and-Drop, and much more. Both Microsoft Access and SQL Server databases are supported. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.IssueView.com/,
Others using Lotus Notes admitted they had not tried a commercial system built specifically for problem management. Most used email and/or automatic email from Lotus Notes as part of their implementation. Depending upon how each site builds the database and forms, a Lotus Notes form may include version, client, module, priority, status, additional text, and more. Prioritization and review can be handled, though the descriptions of some implementations sounded awkward.
Advantages
OmniTracker by OmniNet GmbH is a professional action and request management and tracking system available for a broad spectrum of service delivery organizations and application areas such as: Help-Desks and Call-Center, Quality-Management, Service-Management, SLA-Management, Activity-Management, Problem- and Bug-Management, Change-Management. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.omninet.de/.
PR-Tracker by Softwise includes features such as customizable data entry, workflow, views and queries; one click queries; reports; email notification and attachments. PR-Tracker Web implements problem tracking over the internet or an intranet with the same user interface as PR-Tracker. PR-Tracker and PR-Tracker Web can be integrated so that data collected from both products can be stored in the same database.
More information and downloads are available on the supplier WWW site at http://www.prtracker.com
ProblemTracker by NetResults is a Web-based tool for bug tracking and change management. Some of the features include
A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.problemtracker.com/.
The configuration management tool PCMS Dimensions PVCS by MERANT (formed by the combination of Micro Focus and Intersolv) includes an embedded software development process management capability which can be used for problem management. Based on an Oracle database engine, it is SQL compliant. Reports are that the system as a whole is very bureaucratic and time-consuming, adding a lot of overhead to the development process that couldn't be justified by the rewards. These comments have been disputed by several others in the newsgroup who claim PVCS Dimensions imposes no more process overhead than the user/organization has itself chosen to use. The organizational policies are definable within the PVCS Dimensions "control plan".
Interactions with other tools is limited but being improved. It is integrated with a graphical desktop in Digital's COHESION Team/SEE.
The integration with PVCS provides a development platform for PC users. Tracker has been improved for use on large projects/large development groups and the product can now use the major client/server DBMSs as the backend database engine. Alternatively, you can use the integrated dBASE 5.0 as the backend.
A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.merant.com
The former Siebel/Scopus Technology products QualTEAM and ProTEAM have been replaced with a new offering combining features from Siebel's product and these, which Siebel acquired.
A user writeup and description of the new product is needed. Please submit comments to the newsgroup and directly to the FAQ editor.
A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.siebel.com/
Issue form templates are defined and tailored by each work group to contain information that will meet their needs. These forms present themselves on screen as Motif windows, employing text fields, check boxes, choices etc, for such information as...
The product is also takes advantage of email connectivity. Users are able to submit new issues to the database through email messages, and to use email to configure queries and reports which are generated and returned by email. Their database synchronization capability provides automatic coordination of multiple databases at remote sites. Razor's easily parsed ASCII database allows users to generate their own scripts for report generation and process control.
A company representative stressed that it is extremely easy to try out their product. Both documentation and a full copy of the product for evaluation are available by FTP. New releases and patches are handled in the same manner. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.razor.visible.com
Users report that the system is effective and very flexible. Its 'help desk software' is but one of the functions available in this vertical application builder oriented toward business process management. The AR System is not an out of box solution but rather one for which effective deployment requires careful process analysis and at least tailoring of the sample application schemas provided with the product.
The rich set of active link (client side, not supported by ARWeb) and filters (server side) provide extensive opportunities for validating inputs, triggering external events, computing defaults based on other input fields, etc.
Remedy offers the ARWeb product for WWW access to Action Request System installations. An on-line demo is available from the Remedy web server. Via the WWW, users can submit new Action Requests (what ever they are called in the local context, .... help requests, bug reports, etc.) and they can perform QBE searches of the data base. Using the search facilities, they can check the status of prior requests as well as look for similar problems from other users. Other ARSystem facilities require an actual AR System client for access (modify, delete, etc.).
A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.remedy.com
Software with Brains, Inc.'s SWBTracker is bug tracking and release management software for small- to medium-sized software development companies. It supports multiple users, customizable defect classifications, automatic e-mail notifications, customizable reports and queries, and defect submissions by remote users. A supplier WWW site is available at http://www.softwarewithbrains.com/
If you are aware of other WWW Servers which should be added to this list (or any which should be retired), please notify the FAQ editor.
--------------- End Of comp.software.config-mgmt FAQ Part 3-------------
(This message does not represent an official position of any company.)
-- Dave Eaton Former FAQ editor OBSOLETE! (Retained online for archive purposes only.)