The Inside Track: Altru Bug Filing
Published
Have you ever called or chatted into support and received news that the issue you reported is not working as designed? At some point, no matter how long you work with a particular software you will run across something that may not be working as intended or designed. In the Altru world, we call these bugs.
Today, we want to share with you our internal policies and procedures about how we handle bugs. The good news is that big changes are coming this year (based on your feedback) that will impact both you and your organization…in a great way! Our hope is that by sharing this information, there will be less confusion and more transparency in the way we do things.
When it comes to filing a bug there are a lot of moving parts. Whether it's something that's not working at designed or it's a feature request, our team treats them all with the utmost urgency and priority. Here at the top 4 questions when it comes to bugs in Altru.
It’s not always the easiest to tell if something is not working as designed. Our support team is trained to lookout for these types of issues, so you’re in good hands! Here are some key things to look out for when you think you’ve stumbled upon a bug:
If you are ever unsure, it’s best to create a case with our team. We are happy to look into it. It's likely something we’ve seen before and we will be able to fix it in a short call! Also, Knowledgebase is a great resource to search and find known issues and featured workarounds.
Once we’ve determined that something is not working as designed, there is specific information the support team needs in order to file the issue with product development. The first and most important are the steps to duplicate. We need to know what steps were taken before the issue occurred. These steps are critical for our R&D teams to find the issue and ultimately develop a fix. It can take anywhere from 1-3 days to get a bug filed and this is dependent on the required information needed. To help us out, make sure to have this information handy when talking to a support analyst:
We generally expect the turnaround for resolution to be in our next release. Our releases are bi-monthly so the timeline for a resolution is usually between 45-60 days. However, if we believe that your issue is data related, we generally expect a quicker resolution since we do not have to roll out a fix to all our clients. We also take the severity and priority of bugs into consideration when planning the fixes. If we believe a bug to be high priority, we rank the bug as such and communicate that it is a “must fix”. This often means it’s guaranteed to be in the next release (if not sooner) and our product development team will drop everything and begin working on that specific issue. Our product development team is committed to working around the clock for critical issues that prevent sales from occurring or when something is down.
The bug notification process is a bit different than a normal problem/how-to support case. For a normal support case, the support team contacts customers every 2 days. However, once we’ve determined something is a bug the communication process is a bit different. Starting in the 2nd half of 2015, you will start getting updates/notifications of open bugs every month! We think this will help to keep you informed and up to date on the time to resolution and what items are still outstanding. You will also be notified via Case Central for any bugs that are fixed in a release. With every release, we drop new features but we also fix lots of bugs. If your organization reported a bug that’s being fixed in a release, the contact on the case will be notified.
Today, we want to share with you our internal policies and procedures about how we handle bugs. The good news is that big changes are coming this year (based on your feedback) that will impact both you and your organization…in a great way! Our hope is that by sharing this information, there will be less confusion and more transparency in the way we do things.
When it comes to filing a bug there are a lot of moving parts. Whether it's something that's not working at designed or it's a feature request, our team treats them all with the utmost urgency and priority. Here at the top 4 questions when it comes to bugs in Altru.
1. How do you know when something is a bug?
It’s not always the easiest to tell if something is not working as designed. Our support team is trained to lookout for these types of issues, so you’re in good hands! Here are some key things to look out for when you think you’ve stumbled upon a bug:
- Configuration is key! Many times issues can be mistaken for bugs if the configuration is off. If the configuration is correct and the issue is still occurring, it’s likely a bug.
- Filtering – Are there items missing from system generated reports or lists? If you’ve checked and cleared the filters and data is still missing, this is an indication of a bug.
- Errors – anytime you see an error that has XML, SQL, overflow, subquery, Server Error, file could not be downloaded, etc you probably have a bug on your hands.
- If something is functioning in a completely different way than you expected, this could also be a bug.
If you are ever unsure, it’s best to create a case with our team. We are happy to look into it. It's likely something we’ve seen before and we will be able to fix it in a short call! Also, Knowledgebase is a great resource to search and find known issues and featured workarounds.
2. What information is needed to file a bug?
Once we’ve determined that something is not working as designed, there is specific information the support team needs in order to file the issue with product development. The first and most important are the steps to duplicate. We need to know what steps were taken before the issue occurred. These steps are critical for our R&D teams to find the issue and ultimately develop a fix. It can take anywhere from 1-3 days to get a bug filed and this is dependent on the required information needed. To help us out, make sure to have this information handy when talking to a support analyst:
- Altru version
- Brief description of the problem
- Browser version (Ex. Internet Explorer 11)
- Video or screenshots
- Customer Authorization Form
3. How long does it take to get bugs fixed?
We generally expect the turnaround for resolution to be in our next release. Our releases are bi-monthly so the timeline for a resolution is usually between 45-60 days. However, if we believe that your issue is data related, we generally expect a quicker resolution since we do not have to roll out a fix to all our clients. We also take the severity and priority of bugs into consideration when planning the fixes. If we believe a bug to be high priority, we rank the bug as such and communicate that it is a “must fix”. This often means it’s guaranteed to be in the next release (if not sooner) and our product development team will drop everything and begin working on that specific issue. Our product development team is committed to working around the clock for critical issues that prevent sales from occurring or when something is down.
4. What is our notification process for bugs?
The bug notification process is a bit different than a normal problem/how-to support case. For a normal support case, the support team contacts customers every 2 days. However, once we’ve determined something is a bug the communication process is a bit different. Starting in the 2nd half of 2015, you will start getting updates/notifications of open bugs every month! We think this will help to keep you informed and up to date on the time to resolution and what items are still outstanding. You will also be notified via Case Central for any bugs that are fixed in a release. With every release, we drop new features but we also fix lots of bugs. If your organization reported a bug that’s being fixed in a release, the contact on the case will be notified.
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05/04/2015 10:51am EDT
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