The Reporting Plugin offers many solutions that make it easier for users to work with Redmine. For example, the list format of the project list, which, in addition to the typical card display or tabular view, can also display your projects in various graphical ways. With the help of the Live Search, you can also quickly narrow down your project search to specific entries.
Improved issue list of the Reporting Plugin
With the recently released plugin version 3.0.3, the issue list has been revised. Thanks to the new functions, your project team can now also use the issue list in such a way that certain tasks can be found more easily. This makes for a more effective way of working and in turn has a positive effect on task processing.
New functions at a glance
Besides additional filters and columns, the ticket list of the Reporting Plugin v3.0.3 provides a revised list view. By default, tickets are displayed as a table for each project as well as for all projects.
The Reporting Plugin has developed a solution to adapt the view graphically. The following views are now available to our plugin customers and hosting customers:
- Conventional table view
- Issue dependencies
- Tree Map - Spent time
- Tree Map - Total spent time
- Tree Map - Watcher
- Tree Map - Estimated time
- Tree Map - Round Trips
- Tree Map - Round Trips (Total)
- Tree Map - Total estimated time
Treemap view of the issue list
The new tree map graphic focuses on different values of a ticket list. Which values are displayed depends on the selection made. Since tree map visualisations are often used for hierarchical structures, the view can be applied to the ticket list very nicely. For example, to identify the tickets with the most time spent, observers, effort estimates, etc., you can use the tree map visualisation.
Flowchart diagram for issue dependencies
Also new in version 3.0.3 is the display of ticket dependencies using a flowchart diagram. A practical feature of Redmine is that you can link tickets. You can do this within the same project or between different projects that you have access to.
If there are project-related or cross-project dependencies between the tickets in your Redmine (which use subsequent values), this will be displayed with the corresponding new view of the ticket list. The following ticket dependencies are visualised in the ticket list by means of a flowchart diagram:
- Related to
- Blocks
- Blocked by
- Procedes
- Follows
- Subtasks
The Issue dependencies option will only show tickets that are in one of the above dependencies. If no dependencies exist, no data will be displayed in this view. In this case you have to switch to the normal table view.
Until now, the challenge for many project managers was to identify dependencies among issues and to find out how they are connected to each other. The earlier you identify important dependencies, the lower the potential risk for conflicts during the course of a project.
The issue list and the previous filter options can be used to list existing dependencies. But it is difficult to recognise the actual relationship between the tasks on the basis of a list of issues.
The links between them will become more comprehensible to the user with the help of a visualisation. Which, by the way, not only makes the administration of complex issue constructs much easier.
The new function of the reporting plugin for the Redmine issue list fills this gap. It shows whether dependencies exist between different tickets, and if so, which ones. If various tasks block each other, this is immediately comprehensible. This gives you the opportunity to intervene in the processing sequence at an early stage.
Tip: If your team sees and understands the dependencies between the different tasks, it is easier for them to concentrate on the relevant tasks. This in turn has a positive effect on meeting deadlines and the planned completion of the project.
Live search of the issue overview
The live search for the issue overview is located above the issue list. It is an input field that allows you to quickly find tasks with the help of certain parameters, especially in extensive issue lists.
If you use the search field by simply typing in a term, the issue title (topic) and the issue description will be searched for the stored word.
Since Redmine stores all its data in fields, you can also use the live search to browse only certain fields for the searched terms with the help of the field search. You can see the possible fields by hovering the mouse over the search input field:
- subject:term
- desc:term
- id:term
The upper/lower case has no relevance in Live Search. If you want exact search results of several words, write the search terms within inverted commas (“foo bar”). If you want to exclude a word from the search, simply put a minus sign in front of the search word (-bar). Just try it out in our online demo.
Useful for
The Reporting plugin described here is a commercial product from AlphaNodes. It is suitable for companies with multidisciplinary IT and business teams that use Redmine as a project management tool and need a better overview of schedules, progress, budgets and complex ticket relationships.
All information about our extensions for Redmine is available on the product page. The functionality can be tested extensively in our online demo. An overview of all features is available here.