The system provides a workflow-based collaborative issue management system that enables you to track, manage, and resolve various product/process related issues across your enterprise as well as with suppliers and customers. The system issue management helps to speed identification, communication, and resolution of quality problems or design changes to your product.

Your system administrator has configured the issue creation process so that it is optimized for your enterprise. For example, in a company that designs or manufactures computer motherboards, you may have the issue types: Design, Defect, Documentation, and Implementation. Depending on the issue type selected, the workflow processes for each status may already be defined by default, thereby ensuring that all new issues are captured and managed in a way that is consistent with your company's product development processes.

You can link issues to new change requests and change orders, effectively copying required information from the issue to the new change request or change order.

   To create an issue:

1. On the Create Issue: Select Issue Type page, select the appropriate Issue Type and click Continue.

   User-defined issue types enable your enterprise to build categorizations for different types of issues so that you can apply consistent review and approval processes to different categories of issues. For example, for each issue type, there is a specialized workflow that best suits the review and resolution process required by the particular type of issue. Issue types best suited for your enterprise's product development processes are listed in the Issue Type field. For details about your enterprise's issue types, contact your system administrator.

2. On the Create Issue page, provide the required primary attribute information, as well as any required user-defined attribute information. Depending on the configuration of the issue type selected, you can specify a subject for the issue. Following are the possible subjects of an issue:

   • Item Number

   • Item Revision

   • Component

   • None

   The person or group in the Assigned To field is defaulted based on the item or component role specified in the assignment rule for the issue type. If no item or component is selected, you can enter a valid assignee name.

   Note: You are not required to select a subject for the issue. If you prefer not to assign a subject to the issue, select the blank or empty value. If no item or component is selected, then your (the requestor's) name becomes the default value in the Assigned To field.

3. Depending on the configuration of the issue type selected, you may be required to provide data in any of the following sections (in addition to any user-defined sections or pages) when creating an issue:

   • Lines

     Issue Lines capture all the details that comprise an issue--lines make up a "to do" list for a particular issue. Just as there are types of issues, you have types of issue lines. These issue line types have been configured by your system administrator to best serve the needs of your business. Optionally, click Add Line Subjects to create multiple lines for the selected line type. In the Search and Select: Add Line Subjects page, you can select multiple line subjects at once to add to the issue. Start After and Complete Before fields on the line enable you to manage the line based on header statuses. If you are using a line workflow, these fields enable you to manage the line workflow initiation automatically. The line workflow starts once the header enters the Start After status specified on the line.

   • Dependencies

     The resolution of an issue may depend upon a particular Idea, New Item Request, Change Request, or Change Order being approved. An issue may also be required by or implemented by a change request, or change order. To ensure this relationship is captured in a new issue, specify what the issue is related to (for example, a change request or change order), and then specify the nature of the dependency.

   • References

     You can specify that the issue references an item. A reference to an item may also include the item revision.

   • Workflow Approval

     Workflow Routings or Approvals may be defined for any status of the issue based on the issue type. The issue type selected determines the workflow process steps defaulted in for each status. A workflow process may include steps to request approval, request comment, FYI, or a custom workflow process. For some steps you may be required to select an assignee and specify whether the assignee is mandatory or optional. You can add additional workflow process steps and update a step to add Assignees if a workflow is associated with the status; however, you cannot delete any assignees or steps that were defaulted in based on the issue type. You can remove any Steps or Assignees that you add.

   • Attachments

     You can attach files from your desktop or a repository. You can also attach text or a URL. When you attach a file you can specify an Attachment Category to classify the file. The valid Attachment Categories are created by your system administrator.

   After providing the required information you can Submit the new issue, which starts the Workflow for the first status and notifies the assignee. If you have not completed adding all the information, click Save for Later. You or anyone with the appropriate role can update the issue later on.

4. After submitting and creating an issue, you can view and update the following information:

   • People

     You can directly add people to an issue and assign them a role. Depending on how the issue type was configured, a number of people may inherit a role on the issue (based on the issue type). You cannot delete inherited people or modify their roles. If you specify an item as the subject of the issue, all people with a role on that item may also inherit a role on the issue if their item role has been mapped to an issue role; to change the role or delete any of these people from the issue, their roles must be changed or deleted at the item level.

   • Action Log

     The Action Log displays all actions (and associated comments) executed against or posted to the issue in a threaded discussion format. You can respond to requested comments or reply to specific comments, thereby creating a threaded discussion within the context of the issue.

   • Workflow

     Issues are managed through their statuses and associated workflow processes. Each status can have one workflow associated with it, and that workflow is automatically launched when issues achieve a particular status. You can explicitly promote or demote an issue to its different statuses (defined by the issue type). Issues may automatically be promoted (or demoted) to the next status after the completion of the workflow in a specific status (as defined by the issue type).

     If you abort an issue, that issue's status is changed to Not Submitted for Approval, and all dates are reset. You can reset and restart a workflow; if an aborted or reset workflow is restarted, a new instance of the workflow begins with the first step.

     If you add or remove people from a step in the workflow, be sure to Refresh Assignees--doing so ensures all new assignees are added to steps in the workflow before it is submitted.

   To perform an action:

See: Performing Actions

   To create a relationship:

See: Creating Relationships

   To add an attachment to an issue line:

See: To add an attachment to a change line:.

   To create a change order from an issue:

See: To create a change order from a change request/issue/idea:.