Track and Manage Tasks, Defects, and Features

Issues help you track new feature requests or enhancements, assign tasks to team members, or file bugs.

You can create, update, and search issues from the Issues page, Agile boards, and from IDEs. You can also use REST APIs to create, retrieve, and update issues (see REST API for Managing Issues in Oracle Developer Cloud Service).

In a project, you can create an issue as a Task, Defect, or a Feature. If your team uses an Agile Scrum board to update issues, Epic and Story types of issues are also available. An Epic is a larger issue typically comprised of multiple smaller sub-issues or Story issues. An Epic can span multiple sprints and must have sub-issues.

Here's a summary of the key steps you’d perform to create and track issues.

1. If you’re a project owner, set up products, components, and releases of your project. These would be useful when you and your team members create and assign issues to identify tasks, defects, and features.

   If the default fields of issues don’t meet your requirement, create custom fields.

2. Create issues and assign them to your team members.

3. Update issues.

   You can update issues from the Issues page or from an Agile board.

Set Up Issue Products and Custom Fields

Before creating and assigning issues to project members, you can define products, components, default owners of components, and releases of your project. You can create multiple product categories, components, and sub-components; customize the releases; and add custom fields for your project.

You must be assigned the project Owner role to add and manage issue products, components, and custom issues.

Create and Configure Issue Products

When you define a product, you also define its releases and components. A product is a category that represents an entity. A component is a subsection of a product. A release is a release name or number of the product.

You can create multiple products for a project and select them from the Products drop-down list on the create or edit issue page. Each product must have at least one component and one release. For example, you can create a Report product with 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and PS1 as its releases, and Sales, Marketing, and Demographics as its components.

You can define products, components, and releases from the Products tab of the Administration: Issue Tracking page.

To open the Products tab of the Issue Tracking page:

1. In the navigation bar, click Project Administration .
2. Click Issue Tracking.
3. Click the Products tab.

This table describes the product management actions you can perform.

Action	How To
Create a product	Click + New Product. On the Create Product page, in Name, specify a unique product name. To create a release, click + New Release, and enter a release name. To make a release the default release of the product, click Mark as Default . To create a component, click + New Component, enter a component name, and select its default owner (optional). To make a component the default component of the product, click Mark as Default . To create a Found In tag, click + New Found In Tag, and enter a tag name. Click Done. To reorder a release or a component, mouse over the name and use the drag-and-drop action to move it up or down.
View or edit a product	From the products list, select the product. On the right side of the page, view or edit its details.
Delete a product	You can’t delete a product until issues or merge requests refer to it. First, remove all issues and merge requests that refer to the product, and then remove the product. In the products list, click Delete to the right of the product name. In the Delete Product dialog box, click Yes to confirm.

Create and Configure Issue Custom Fields

If the default fields of issues don’t meet your requirement, you can custom fields for the issues of your project. You can create and manage the fields from the Custom Fields tab of the Issue Tracking page. While creating or updating an issue, the custom fields are available in the Details section of the New or Edit Issue page.

1. In the navigation bar, click Project Administration .
2. Click Issue Tracking.
3. Click the Custom Fields tab.

You can create these types of custom fields:

• Single line input text
• Single selection
• Multi selection
• Long text input
• Time and Date
• Check box

This table describes the custom field management actions you can perform.

Action	How To
Create a custom field	Click + New Custom Field. On the Create Custom Field page, in Name, specify a unique name. In Label, enter the field's display label. If you don’t want the custom field to appear as a parameter when new issues are created, deselect the available for New Issues check box. From the Type drop-down list, select the field type. If you select Single Selection or Multi Selection, click + New Value to specify the field’s options. Click Done.
View or edit a custom field	From the custom fields list, select the field. On the right side of the page, view or edit its details. You can’t change a custom field's Name or Type. To edit the value of Name or Type, remove the custom field and create the custom field again.
Hide a custom field	From the custom fields list, select the field. On the right side of the page, select the Obsolete (hidden) check box.
Delete a custom field	In the custom fields list, click Delete to the right of the field name. In the Delete Custom Field dialog box, click Yes to confirm. All existing issues are automatically updated to remove the custom field.

Create Issues

You can create an issue from the Issues page, Agile boards, IDEs, and from REST API. When you create an issue, it’s assigned a unique ID and is added to the issues list on the Issues page.

When you create an issue, you specify its summary, type, severity and priority, due date, tags, and release. You can assign the issue to a team member or to yourself, or leave the field blank to assign the issue later to a team member.

Create an Issue from the Issues Page

1. In the navigation bar, click Issues .
2. Click New Issue.
3. On the New Issue page, in Summary and Description, enter the issue’s title and description.
4. In Details, specify the issue type, its severity and priority, product details, release, ownership, and project tags.
5. In Time, specify the due date and estimate (in days).
   One day is estimated of 8 hours. To specify 3 hours, enter 0.375. To specify 2 days and 2 hours, enter 2.250.
6. In Agile, specify the effort estimate in Agile story points.
7. If there are any custom fields defined in your project, fill in the details, as required.
8. Click Create Issue.

Create an Issue from an IDE

You can create and manage issues from Eclipse IDE, NetBeans IDE, and JDeveloper.

• Manage DevCS Issues in the Eclipse IDE

• Manage DevCS Issues in the NetBeans IDE

• Manage DevCS Issues in JDeveloper

Search Issues

You can search for issues using the pre-defined filters under Standard Searches, My Searches, Shared Searches, or Global Searches. If you can’t find the issue, you can run a basic search or an advanced search.

To run a basic search, use the Search Issues box in the upper-right corner of the Issues page. You can search for a term in the summary, description, or comments of issues. To clear the search term, click Clear Filter .

To run an advanced search, use the Advanced Searches link. You can search for issues using various parameters such as sprints, product, version, date, owner, type, and priority.

To save the search query as a filter, click Save this search. To see the search query expression, click Show Search String. Later, if you want to edit the search query, click Edit this search.

Save a Custom Search

You can save your basic or the advanced search query as a custom search filter for future use.

1. On the Issues page, run a basic or an advanced search.
2. On the search results page, click Save this search.
3. In the Save Search dialog box, enter the search name.

   The custom search filter is available to you only. To share the search filter with project members, in the Save Search dialog box, select the Shared check box. In Share with the following users, select the users with whom you want to share the search query.

   To share the search filter with all project members, select the Share with everyone check box.

4. Click OK.

If you didn’t select the Shared check box, the search query appears as a filter under My Searches. If you selected the Shared check box, the search query appears as a filter under Shared Searches. If you selected the Share with everyone check box, the search query appears as a filter under Global Searches.

To edit a custom search query, mouse over the query under My Searches and click Edit . To delete a custom search query, mouse over the query under My Searches and click Delete .

Share Custom Search Filters

You can share your existing custom search filters with other project members, which they can use to view the issues as you want.

Element	Description
Share a search filter with specific project members	In My Searches, mouse over the filter link, and click Share . In the Start Sharing Search dialog box, select the project member names in Share with following users. Click OK. The filter link moves from My Searches to Shared Searches.
Share a search filter with all project members	In My Searches, mouse over the filter link, and click Share . In the Start Sharing Search dialog box, select the Share with Everyone check box. Click OK. The filter link moves from My Searches to Global Searches.
Stop sharing a search filter	In Global Searches or Shared Searches, mouse over the filter link and click Stop Share . In the Stop Sharing Search dialog box, click OK. If the search query is being used by other project members, the dialog box shows their list. When you stop sharing a search query, it’s removed from the Shared Searches or Global Searches list of all project users.

View and Update Issues

To view or update an issue, click the issue’s summary or the ID link on the Issues page. An issue link could also be found in the recent activities feed, wikis, Agile boards, and merge requests.

While updating an issue, you can change its status, properties, reassign it to another member, and change its priority or severity. You can also add comments in the Comments tab, upload attachments in the Attachments tab, and check the update history of an issue in the History tab. Updates made to issues can also be tracked in the recent activities feed of the Project Home page.

Resolve an Issue

You can resolve an issue as Fixed, Invalid, Duplicate, Will not fix, Works for me, or Need info.

1. Click the issue link to open it in the Issues page.
2. From the Status drop-down list, select Resolved.
3. From the Resolution drop-down list, select the resolution.

   Sub-status	Description
   Fixed	Indicates the issue has been fixed and is awaiting feedback from the QA team. After verifying the fix, the QA team sets the issue’s status to Verified or Closed.
   Invalid	Indicates the issue isn’t a valid issue.
   Will not fix	Indicates the issue won’t be fixed.
   Duplicate	Indicates the issue is a duplicate of an existing issue. Enter the issue ID of the existing issue in Duplicate Of.
   Works for me	Indicates the issue can’t be reproduced.
   Need info	Indicates the current issue description is insufficient to reproduce the issue and more information is required.

Mark an Issue as Duplicate

If find a duplicate issue, mark it as a duplicate and specify the original issue.

1. Click the issue link to open it in the Issues page.
2. From the Status drop-down list, select Resolved.
3. From the Resolution drop-down list, select Duplicate.
4. In Duplicate Of, enter the original issue ID or the summary text, and select the original issue.
5. Click Save.

Update Time Spent on an Issue

When you work on an issue, create a time spent entry each time you update the issue.

1. Click the issue link to open it in the Issues page.
2. In the Time section, click Add Time Spent.
3. In the Add Time Spent dialog box, in Time Spent, specify the number of days you’ve spent on the issue.
4. To subtract the value specified in Time Spent from the existing value of Remaining (if set), use the default Reduce remaining ... days by entered Time Spent option.

   If Remaining isn’t set, then the value specified in Time Spent is subtracted from Estimate. The option is disabled if the Estimated field isn’t set.

   To specify the remaining days manually, select the Set to option and specify the remaining estimate.

5. In Comment, add a comment.
6. Click OK.

The Time Spent Log section shows the time spent entry of the time spent and updates the graph. To edit the time spent entry, click Edit and update the fields in the Edit Time Spent dialog. To remove a time spent entry, click Remove and update the fields in the Update Time Spent dialog box. The remaining time is adjusted automatically.

Associate an Issue with a Sprint

You can associate an issue with a sprint from the Edit Issue page. You can associate only one sprint with an issue.

1. Click the issue link to open it in the Issues page.
2. In the Agile section, from the Sprint drop-down list, click the search box, and select the sprint from the list.
3. Click Save.

Create a Relationship Between Issues

You can create a parent-child relationship between issues.

Action	How To
Create a child issue to an issue	You can create multiple child issues to an issue. Click the issue link to open it in the Issues page. Click + New Sub-issue. Enter details for the new issue and click Create Issue. In the header, click the parent issue ID to open the parent issue. In the Associations section, verify the child issue ID.
Add a parent issue to an issue	You can add only one issue as a parent to an issue. Click the issue link to open it in the Issues page. In the Associations section, in Parent Issue, enter the issue ID or summary text of the parent issue, and select it. Click Save.

Update Multiple Issues

On the Issues page, you can update multiple issues in a batch to apply the same update.

1. In the issues list, press the Ctrl key or the Shift key and click the rows of issues.
   You can also use the Space bar and Up-Down arrow keys to select the issues. To select all issues, click Select All.
2. Click Update Selected.
3. On the Mass update page, select the check boxes of fields to update and specify their values.

   Note that the Component check box is enabled when its Product is selected.

   The contents of Found In and Release are determined by Product. If Product isn’t specified, the intersection of all known products is used. For example, if product P1 has Found In set to 1.0, 2.0 and product P2 has Found In set to 1.0, 1.5, then with no product specified, the Found In is set to 1.0. The same logic is applied for Release too.

4. Click Next.
5. On the Issues will be Updated page, verify the summary, and click Save.

Issues that fail the update are listed with a description of the error. To resolve the error of multiple issues, select the error issues and click Update Selected. You’re navigated to the Issues Selected page where the previous changes you made are shown.

If all issues are successfully updated, you’re navigated back to the Issues page.

Update Issues from IDEs

You can also update the issues from IDEs such as Eclipse IDE, NetBeans IDE, and JDeveloper.

See these for more information:

• Manage DevCS Issues in the Eclipse IDE
• Manage DevCS Issues in the NetBeans IDE
• Manage DevCS Issues in JDeveloper

Watch an Issue

You can set up a watch on an issue and get email notifications when a project user updates an issue, adds a comment, or adds or removes an attachment.

Action	How To
Issues assigned to you	By default, you get email notifications of issues assigned to you. If you aren’t getting the email notifications, select the Issue updates, attachments and comments check box in your user preferences page. In the branding bar, click the user avatar, and select Preferences. Click the Notifications tab. Select the Issue updates, attachments and comments check box, if not selected. To the left of the User Preferences title, click Close to return to the last opened page.
Issue created by another user	In the branding bar, click the user avatar, and select Preferences. Click the Notifications tab. Select the Issue updates, attachments and comments check box, if not selected. To the left of the User Preferences title, click Close to return to the last opened page. Open the issue in the Issues page. In the Details section, in CC, enter and select your name. You may also enter other names of other users if you want to notify them too. Click Save. To stop watching, remove your name from the CC field.
Issues you created but are assigned to another user	By default, you get email notifications of issues created by you. When you create an issue and assign it to another user, your name is set in the CC field of the issue. Open the issue in the Issues page and verify your name in the CC field of the Details section. To stop watching, remove your name from the CC field.