5. ClearDDTS (Commercial Problem Management Tools)
Description
This article is from the Problem Management Tools FAQ, by Dave Eaton dwe@arde.com with numerous contributions by others.
5. ClearDDTS (Commercial Problem Management Tools)
ClearDDTS (formerly DDTs by QualTrak) from Rational (formerly Pure
Atria) may be used as a stand alone product or in conjunction with the
ClearCase SCM tool. Some of the DDTS advocates had been using the tool
for several years and claimed they could not imagine functioning
without it. While "call tracking" is a form of problem management, the
manufacturer says it is not designed to provide sophisticated call
tracking. It does do a very good job of problem management and metrics
gathering. The email interface allows notification of new problems and
changes of status as well as submission of defects from email.
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
* very easy to use platform
* very flexible tool
* good integration with ClearCase
* offers the most benefit for the dollar
* references check out well
* good support
* ability to link problem reports in parent-child relationships
* allows some rather complex searches
* very nice metrics shipped and setup with the tool
* engineer can get email with change-request number
Disadvantages
* user interface is too character-based
* only available on UNIX platforms today
Summarizing their installation, one person said, "ClearCase is truly a
productivity tool for the engineer/programmer and DDTS is a
productivity tool for the project manager."
A supplier WWW site is available at
http://www.rational.com/products/clear_ddts/ MS Windows users may want
to look into ClearQuest at
http://www.rational.com/products/clearquest/
Continue to:
My Books
