This is one of the tier 1 standards. See full list on the main page.
An issue tracking system is a way for software to track needed updates, features, bugs, and any other necessary changes. These can be internal to the software development team, or external and available for the user community to see and use as well.
An issue tracking system allows for improved visibility within the development team on what is happening in the project. Issues can be assigned to individual developers, developers can search through past issues to determine who on the team has expertise on different areas of the codebase, and conversations can occur as posts within issues which allows for ideas to be documented and other team members to jump in with their own expertise. It also helps ensure that known issues are not forgotten because they live with only one person.
If you decide to use an external ticketing system that users can access (e.g. GitHub issues), this can help users report issues directly to the development team, again helping to ensure no loss of information. It can also encourage collaboration with users if they can see current issues with which they can assist.
Some common STScI issue tracking systems include:
- GitHub issues (external)
- Gitlab issues (internal)
- JIRA (internal)
There are also other options available online for both internal and external use.
A note: If you decide to use an internal issue tracking system like JIRA, you will need to prepare another method for the user community to contact you about potential issues (e.g. the JWST Help Desk).
If your project is already hosted in a GitHub or GitLab repository, the issue system is already built in and you can begin using it immediately. See here for more information about GitHub issues; GitLab issues work similarly.
To use JIRA, you'll need to create a project and then you can begin creating issues