Overview

The FDO Open Source development process uses "Artifacts" to track and manage defects, enhancements, and tasks. All changes to FDO source code must be tied to an artifact. The Project Tracker application provides a database for storing artifacts along with a web based interface for entering, modifying, and querying artifacts. Each artifact type has a unique collection of "Attributes" (or fields) much like the attributes in a database table. Attributes are presented in "Attribute Groups" that gather related attributes into logical groupings. Users are associated with artifacts via special "User Attributes". All users associated with an artifact are notified any time the artifact changes.

FDO Open Source Artifact Types

FDO Open Source supports the following three artifact types:

• Defect - Used to record and track bugs in an existing component or feature.
• Enhancement - Used to record and track the development of product enhancements.
• Task - Used to record and track work that needs to be done and work in progress.

All of these artifact types have a common collection of Attribute Groups (found here) that are used for tracking the status or lifecycle of artifacts, providing information about code submissions, and for associating users with artifacts.

To understand how artifacts progress through their lifecycle go here.

Defect Artifact Type

Defect artifacts are used to record and track bugs in an existing component or feature.

Attribute	Description
Synopsis Attribute Group
Summary	Brief one line description of the artifact.
Defect Severity	Severity of the defect with respect to the usability of the product, one of:   Critical – defect that results in program crash, data corruption, or data loss.   High – frequently encountered defect without a known work-around.   Medium – defect that has a workaround.   Low – low impact defect.
Details Attribute Group
Description	Detailed description of the artifact. Attach any supporting materials, documents, screenshots, etc. to the artifact.
Steps to Reproduce	Step by step instructions describing how to repoduce the defect.
Version	Version of the product this artifact was logged against.
Component	The component this artifact affects. See Components and Subcomponents for a list of the possible values.
Subcomponent	The subcomponent this artifact affects. See Components and Subcomponents for a list of the possible values.
Platform	Platform associated with this artifact.
Operating System	Operating System associated with this artifact.
OS Distribution and Version	Particular distribution and version of the operating system associated with this artifact.
Attribute Groups Common to all Artifact Types

Components and Subcomponents

Component	Possible Values for Subcomponent

Enhancement Artifact Type

Enhancement artifacts are used to record and track the development of product enhancements.

Attribute	Description
Synopsis Attribute Group
Summary	Brief one line description of the artifact.
Details Attribute Group
Description	Detailed description of the artifact. Attach any supporting materials, documents, screenshots, etc. to the artifact.
Justification	Description of why this enhancement is a good idea.
Attribute Groups Common to all Artifact Types

Task Artifact Type

Task artifacts are used to record and track work that needs to be done and work in progress. Note that tasks need not be related to product development activities. Some examples of non development related tasks might be: document a process, write a document on security, define or modify governance rules, things related to conference preparation, etc.

Attribute	Description
Synopsis Attribute Group
Summary	Brief one line description of the artifact.
Task Priority	Priority of this task, High, Medium, or Low.
Details Attribute Group
Description	Detailed description of the artifact. Attach any supporting materials, documents, screenshots, etc. to the artifact.
Need By Date	Date by which this task needs to be completed. (optional)
Task Progress Attribute Group
Planned Start Date	Date this task is planned to start.
Planned Completion Date	Date this task is planned to be completed.
Actual Start Date	Actual date this task was started.
Actual Completion Date	Actual date this task was completed.
Percent Complete	Percentage of the work on this task that is currently complete.
Progress Notes	Notes describing the progress made to date on this task.
Attribute Groups Common to all Artifact Types

Attribute Groups Common to All Artifacts

These attribute groups are common to all artifact types. These groups are related to tracking status and resolution, documenting relevant information about project submissions, and the artifact user associations.

Attribute	Description
Status Attribute Group
Priority	Development priority of this artifact P1 - P5, where P1 is the highest priority.
Artifact Status	Current status of this artifact. See Artifact Lifecycle.
Status Explanation	Explanation of the current artifact status.
Target Milestone	Planned milestone by which this artifact should be resolved.
Artifact Resolution	How this artifact was resolved. See Artifact Lifecycle
Resolution Description	Description of the resolution to this artifact.
Build	Build number that includes a resolution for this artifact if applicable.
Submission Reviewed	Indication of whether the submitted resolution has been reviewed, Yes or No.
Review Comments	Comments from the Reviewer regarding the submitted resolution.
Duplicate Artifacts	List of artifacts that are duplicates of this one. Required if the resolution is "Duplicate".
Related Artifacts	List of artifacts that may be related to this one.
External ID	External ID that can be used to reference an item in another system that corresponds to this artifact.
Submission Notes Attribute Group
Developer Notes	Notes about this code submission to developers regarding unit test results, work yet to be done, and/or changes that may affect other developers.
Testing Notes	Notes about this code submission regarding how to test the code and/or regressions that should be run.
Documentation Notes	Notes about this code submission regarding changes that may affect documentation.
Localization Notes	Notes about this code submission regarding changes that may affect localization.
Integration and Build Notes	Notes about this code submission that may affect integration or builds.
User Association Attribute Group
Assigned To	The person this artifact is assigned to.
Reviewer	The person responsible for reviewing this artifact's resolution.
Verifier	The person responsible for verifying this artifact has been resolved.
Interested Parties	Anyone interested in monitoring the progress of this artifact.