[rt-devel] Sick hack

[Feargal Reilly]

On Sat, 14 Jul 2001 02:08:12 -0400
Jesse <jesse at fsck.com> wrote:

> I guess I didn't post my latest hack to rt-devel, but to rt-users.
> Anyway, it's um..worse ;)
> 
> http://fsck.com/rt2/Scope/Weekly.html
> 
> login as guest/guest.  This is still proof-of-concept level. I haven't
> applied any design to it yet ;)

It being a report, design is actually pretty important - i.e. readability.
Remember, it's mostly management types who read these things, who often like to print such things out, just to waste paper.

First off, I'd clean up the date headers if I could (e.g. Tue 2001-07-10) though I know you're probably thinking that people may want to define their own limits (A 24-hour support centre may want reports on a per-shift basis). But do include the day name, many people aren't sure of today's date, let alone last tuesday's.

The only potential problem with popups is if you have to read everything with your mouse. Most people prefer skimming through such things. For example, the following report doesn't actually tell me anything:

500: Having a problem
inbound Keyword Give Keyword Keyword outbound comments inbound comments Keyword outbound mail inbound mail resolved

Possibly of more use would be listing the keyword values explicitly, and including the actor info where appropiate

503: Having a problem
Requestor: John Doe <john.doe at example.com>
 Client: Acme Forks Ltd. <bob>
 Software: Outlook Express <bob>
 Symptoms: Error Message 1234 <bob>
 Cause: Ace Networks dropping connections. <bob>
History: Inbound mail <john.doe at example.com>, Owner <bob>, Outbound comment <bob>, Inbound comment <mary>, Outbound mail <bob>, Inbound mail <jon.doe at example.com>, resolved <bob>

Now I see that John Doe is whining yet again, (really must up his maintainence contract), that it's another problem thanks to Ace Networks. Oh, and Mary actually helped out!

And I can see all this from the copy I printed out to read on my way home.

-- 
Feargal Reilly,
Systems Administrator,
The CIA.

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