Workflow Control

Ownership
Ownership is an integral part of Truereq's Workflow features. When a user creates an item in the Tree, that user is set as the default owner. This user may then change the owner to any other user who has Administrative or Normal privileges. Owners are allowed full editing privileges for an item, and are allowed to create and manage the phases and sign-offs for a given product, requirement or issue. Only the owner of a phase can mark that phase as complete.

Tip: When you first start working with Truereq, create a plan identifying who your Administrator and Normal users will be, and who the owners for each item should be.

Planning your product lifecycle
Truereq's Workflow features allow you to customize how you track the process of product development. In Truereq, products, requirements and issues go through a series of steps, called "phases," each of which has a start and end date. How you set your start and end dates will affect what status a phase will be in at any given point. The possible statuses for a phase are Upcoming, In Progress, Pending, Due, Overdue, or Complete.

Setting up phase lists

1. From the Edit menu select Phase Lists.
2. In the dialog box, select Product, Requirement, or Issue to set up a phase list for that type of item.
3. Click Add to add a phase to your selected type of item. The default name is "New Phase Type."
4. Double-click in the Phase field to edit the name of the phase. Type in your phase name.
5. If you would like a phase to be included by default in the phase list of new items in the Tree, check the Always Included button.
6. Enter information for the other fields as follows:
   Owner - Choose a default owner for each phase from the dropdown menu. (Optional field)
   Duration - Choose a default duration, in days, for that phase.
   Days Pending - The number of days in advance you want to notify gatekeepers (users who must sign off on a phase) of an upcoming sign-off. Double-click in the Days Pending field of your new phase to edit it.
7. Repeat as needed to add phases for your products, requirements and issues. When you are done, click OK to save your changes and close the Edit Phase Lists window.

Once you have set up your phases lists, as just described, you are ready to add a phase to a product, requirement, or issue.

Adding phases

1. Select a product, requirement or issue in the Tree.
2. Click on the Overview tab to show the Overview tab card.
3. Click on the phases right-tab card to show the phase and sign-off setup card. The phase list area in the top half of the card shows the list of phases for that item. Note that any of the phase lists for which you checked Always Included appear here automatically.
4. If a phase was not marked as Always Included and you want to add it, click Add to add a phase. Fill in the information for that phase, using the following information:

• Phase - Click in the field to see a dropdown list with the phases you added to your phase list. Choose the first phase.
• Section - This is a custom field where you can divide your phases into sub-parts. Type in the name of the subpart if you want to use this. (Optional)
• Owner - This is the owner of the item during that phase. You can assign different owners for different phases. (Optional)
• Start - Clicking in this field brings up a calendar which allows you to select a target start date for your phase. Click on the up arrow in the upper right corner of the calendar to close it and save your date.
• End - Enter the target end date for your phase.
• Completed - The owner can click on the Complete checkbox after, and only after, all of a phase's sign-offs have all been completed. Once this occurs, the owner can then move the item into the next phase. Until all sign-offs for a phase are completed, this box is grayed out.

Adding sign-offs
For each phase you can create a sign-off list of people who need to sign off on different parts of that phase before the owner can mark it Complete. These sign-off users are called gatekeepers. Only Named Users can be gatekeepers, and only the gatekeeper of a specific sign-off can check that sign-off box. The sign-off list is located in the bottom half of the phases card.

To add sign-offs:

1. Click on a phase.
2. In the Sign-off List on the bottom half of the card, you will see the sign-offs for that phase. Click Add to add a sign-off.
3. Fill out the fields for the sign-off:

• Description - Short description of the subject of the sign-off.
• Sign-off By - Choose the name of the gatekeeper from the dropdown list of Named Users.
• Date - The date is automatically copied from the phase end date, above.
• Sign-off - Once a gatekeeper has verified that the subject of the sign-off is complete, he clicks the Sign-off checkbox to verify its completion.

Working with notifications
Notifications are one of Truereq's powerful tools. Notifications are sent to the owners of phases and issues, and to gatekeepers (users who are assigned sign-offs). Users will receive a notification when the phase, issue, or sign-off is first created, when/if it is changed, and at specific points during the item's lifecycle. An item's lifecycle can be seen as going chronologically through the following statuses: Upcoming, In Progress, Pending, Due, Overdue(if not completed on time), and Complete.

Truereq has designated the following colors for each status, which make them easily recognizable in the Executive Dashboard and in Reports (discussed in the Truereq Tools section, below).

• Upcoming - gray
• In Progress - green
• Pending - dark blue
• Due - orange
• Overdue - red
• Done - light blue

You can set the beginning of the Pending phase by editing the phase list, and setting the Days Pending period. The Due phase is defined as the 24 hours before the end date of a phase.

Owners receive notifications when a phase, issue, or sign-off is in the Pending, Due, and Overdue phases. If a sign-off for a particular phase is overdue, the gatekeeper and the owner of that phase will receive a notification.

If you wish to view your notifications for a particular item, turn to the notifications tab card for that item and you will see your sign-offs for the Pending, Due, and Overdue phases. Double-click on any notification to see its details. Truereq will automatically go to that item in your Tree and switch to the phase tab card.

Note: When you first log in to your Workspace, any current notifications will appear in a popup notifications window. You can double-click on any notification in the popup window to view the phase tab card for that notification.