Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation yesterday at the TIES Leadership Camp. I had a lot of fun presenting!

I promised in my last post that I would give some more details out of the presentation. Here they are:

Issue Tracking:

Why did Hopkins choose Request Tracker?
1. It will run on almost anything.
• RT runs on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and most other flavors of Unix. End users have contributed a port to Windows 2000 and Windows XP also.
• It can be accessed via any web browser from any platform or via email.
2. It is database flexible.
• RT stores all its data inside an SQL database, so you can use Crystal Reports and similar tools to generate precise reports.
• RT can be used with MySQL or PostgreSQL, Oracle, or MS SQL Server
3. Support is widely available.
• Commercial, paid support is available for ongoing support needs as well as installation and development of new features.
• Active mailing lists are available for users to post questions and get answers from other RT users.
4. The price is right!
• If you donít wish to have any paid commercial support, the cost of the software is free!
• It will run on relatively inexpensive hardware.

Forums:

Why did Hopkins choose phpBB?
1. It will run on almost anything!
   • Runs on any major operating system that can run web serving software and PHP. This includes Windows, Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X
   • Requires a database server running MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, or Microsoft Access
2. The price is right!
• phpBB is licensed under the GPL and is free to download and use.
• It will run on very inexpensive hardware.
3. It is easy to administer
• Designed to be administered from the web.
• Even complex tasks such as setting up users can be done with very little interaction from the adminstrator.
• Users can reset their own passwords.

I’ll speak more to why we are using issue tracking software and forums in my next post.