Use CTRL+ and CTRL- to zoom in and out in your browser

In this article I’ll describe some options for keeping track of business issues or tasks so that you and your team don’t forget them.

In a systemised business, if an issue arises, you don’t want it to be forgotten before you resolve it. You may need to manage safety issues, customer complaints, corrective actions, system improvements, quality management issues or just action lists for your team members. You need a system for issue management. In this article we’ll discuss some options.

Essentials

To track issues, you need to have a way of

• Recording the issues as they arise
• Assigning the issues to team members to resolve
• Having a list of current issues so that you won’t forget them
• Dropping issues off the list when resolved

Levels

We describe here three technology levels for your issues: (1) paper or whiteboard (2) document and (3) bug tracker. Your choice depends on the number of issues and the complexity of your business, not on how clever you are about technology. You’ll be cleverest if you select the level appropriate for your business needs. It could be that you have a high tech business and you find that a whiteboard is best.

Tips for all levels

• Give each issue a number
• Have a system for managing issues through their life cycle (a workflow). This include a set of stages or statuses. Write down a definition of each stage (see later in the article).
• Draw a simple diagram of the life cycle.
• If possible use colours.
• Educate your team carefully about the system so that everyone is clear.
• Set an example by always following the system you created and insist that your team follows it too.
• If the system is becoming too hard to maintain or you are drowning in its volume, it is time to move to the next level.

Statuses

Here is a simple set of stages (statuses) for issues.

Issue tracking tools

Level 1 — Handwritten on paper or a whiteboard

Tips:

• Spend time designing a good form or whiteboard layout. Have space on it to mark the life cycle stages and for extra notes.
• Before you give an issue on paper to an Issue Owner, write onto it the action required then make a copy. If the Issue Owner loses it, you still have your copy.
• Use colours if possible.

Level 2 — Using a document or a spreadsheet

Manage your issues in a spreadsheet or in a table in a document:

• A spreadsheet is better because you can sort issues more easily.
• Include these columns: Issue number | Date created | Title | Description and comments | Status | Owner | Due date | Date closed.
• Contact us to order our low cost issue manager spreadsheet with instructions.

Spreadsheet tips:

• Turn on Wrap text for cells that contain descriptions and comments
• To create a new line within a cell in Excel, press ALT+ENTER and in OpenOffice Calc, press CTRL+ALT+ENTER

Level 3 — Bug tracker software

Software developers have created a variety of issue management programs for their own use. Many of these are free open source software. While these are all intended for the software development environment, if you spend a short time configuring one, it works well for managing business issues. We are successfully using the popular free Mantis Bug Tracker (http://www.mantisbt.org/). The diagram at the top of this article shows the workflow that we configured for a quality management system improvement suggestions database.

Once you move up to bug tracker software, you may find yourself using it for all kinds of action lists.

Contact us to order our low-cost report that explains how to configure Mantis for business systems. We charge a small fee for our report, but please remember that the software itself is free.