Package org.osid.tracking

The Open Service Interface Definitions for the org.osid.tracking service.

See: Description

Package org.osid.tracking Description

The Open Service Interface Definitions for the org.osid.tracking service.

The Tracking OSID provides a means for tracking Issues. The Tracking OSID is part of a service cluster that includes the Resourcing OSID, Ontology OSID, Workflow OSID, and Process OSID. Each of these services defines a set of service operations to construct an overall work management system.

Issues

Issues are OsidRelationships between a customer and a Queue. The effective dates of the Issue represent the opening and closing of the Issue. An Issue defines some built-in states indicating if the Issue is resolved, waiting for a response, or blocked on another Issue. Additional states can be modeled orchestrating the Process OSID or through the Workflow OSID.

Issues can be related to each other in various ways.

Subtask Issues

Issues can be created off of other Issues in the SubtaskIssueAdminSession. The subtask is an Issue in itself which can have its own relationships including additional subtasks. A Tracking OSID Provider may prevent the resolution of a master issue unless all the subtask Issues have been resolved.

Duplicate Issues

Issues can be linekd to each other to indicate that two Issues are duplicates of each other. A Tracking OSID Provider may implement a behavior to replicate operations across duplicate issues.

Branched Issues

A branched Issue is created from a root Issue where new tasks need to be assigned and tracked separately but it is desirable to link these new tasks to the data in the root Issue. The difference between a subtask and a branched Issue is that a branched Issue is independent of the root Issue.

Blocking Issues

Blocking Issues indicate an Issue is blocked in the resolution of another Issue .

Log Entries

Issues have logs to provide a record of actions and comments.

Queues

A Queue is an OsidGovernator that governs the constraints and processing of a set of Issues. All Issues belong to one Queue.

Topics

The Ontology OSID can be orchestrated with the Tracking OSID to assign a topic ( Subject ) to an Issue. The orchestration requires relating a Queue to an Ontology and can be explicitly managed using the OntologyAssignmentSession. An Ontology serves to restrict the set of topics an Issue can be assigned.

An Issue is defined as having a single topic that is directly accessible from an Issue that may be assigned directly in the Tracking OSID. However, a view of the hierarchy of assignable topics can be created using the Ontology OSID where the Ontology Id is orchestrated with the Queue Id . For convenience, a simple non-hierarchical list of topics can be accessed directly in the Tracking OSID.

To summarize, assignment of pre-determined flat lists of topics can be performed directly in the Tracking OSID while managing the set of assignable topics or viewing the topics in a hierarchy is performed using the Ontology OSID.

Issue States

Issues define a set of basic states to indicate if they are new, reopened, closed, or resolved. To create other states requires the Process OSID where a Queue Id is orchestrated with a Process Id. To view the flow of an Issue through its steps to resolution, the Workflow OSID can be used for a more sophisticated view and tighter management controls through a custom state model.

Assigning Resources

Issues can be assigned a Resource which generally represents the person assigned to the case. Simple Resource management is provided by the IssueResourcingSession. More sophisticated Resource management and automated resource matching and assignment may be orchestrated using the Resourcing OSID.

When using the Resourcing OSID for automated assignment it may be useful to manage competencies based on experience with the topic of an Issue to determine the best match with a Resource. In this scenario, orchestrationof the Resourcing OSID with the Learning OSID should be considered which involves linking a Subject in the Ontology OSID with an Objective in the Learning OSID.

A tracking service has many aspects that can be independently integrated and consequently the Tracking OSID is at the intersection of several other OSIDs.

Front Office Cataloging

Queues and Issues may be organized into federatable OsidCatalogs.




Copyright © 2011 Ingenescus. All Rights Reserved.

This Work is being provided by the copyright holder(s) subject to the following license. By obtaining, using and/or copying this Work, you agree that you have read, understand, and will comply with the following terms and conditions.

Permission to use, copy and distribute unmodified versions of this Work, for any purpose, without fee or royalty is hereby granted, provided that you include the above copyright notices and the terms of this license on ALL copies of the Work or portions thereof.

You may modify or create Derivatives of this Work only for your internal purposes. You shall not distribute or transfer any such Derivative of this Work to any location or to any third party. For the purposes of this license, "Derivative" shall mean any derivative of the Work as defined in the United States Copyright Act of 1976, such as a translation or modification.

This Work and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE WORK OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE WORK.

The export of software employing encryption technology may require a specific license from the United States Government. It is the responsibility of any person or organization contemplating export to obtain such a license before exporting this Work.