David Myers. Ticket Tracker: An Electronic Web / Database ...

David Myers. Ticket Tracker: An Electronic Web / Database Ticket System Using Oracle 8 and PHP 4. A Master's paper for the M.S. in I.S. degree. July, 2002. 55 pages. Advisor: Stephanie W. Haas The Information Systems group in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina tracks and solves user requests from the members of the department. A web database system is used to effectively record and document the requests and solutions. The goal of this project was to develop a system with improved technologies and user interfaces to replace the current system. The process included the systems analysis of the current system, development of the relational database and user interfaces, and subsequent testing of the new system with the members of the Information Systems group.

HEADINGS: Database -- Management -- Systems Web Databases Systems Analysis Information Storage and Retrieval--Design User Interface -- Design User Interface -- Analysis

TICKET TRACKER: AN ELECTRONIC WEB / DATABASE TICKET SYSTEM USING ORACLE 8 AND PHP4

by David W. Myers

A Master's paper submitted to the faculty of the School of Information and Library Science of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in

Information Science.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina July, 2002

Approved by: _______________________ Advisor

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 2 Background ................................................................................................... 4 Statement of Need......................................................................................... 6 Prototype Development ................................................................................. 6 Project Scope ................................................................................................ 7 Resources ..................................................................................................... 7 Critical Success Factors ................................................................................ 8 Deliverables................................................................................................... 8

SYSTEM ANALYSIS............................................................................................ 9

DESIGN and DEVELOPMENT of TICKET TRACKER ..................................... 16 Database Design ......................................................................................... 16 Interface Design .......................................................................................... 18

TICKET TRACKER PROTOTYPE USER TESTING.......................................... 22

NEXT STEPS and IMPLEMENTATION............................................................. 24

FINAL COMMENTS ........................................................................................... 25

APPENDICES .................................................................................................... 27

Appendix A Participant Email Recruitment................................................ 27 Appendix B PTS, Entity Relationship Diagram ........................................ 29 Appendix C PTS, Data Dictionary............................................................ 30 Appendix D PTS, File Inventory .............................................................. 33 Appendix E PTS, Web Interface Samples ............................................... 34 Appendix F Ticket Tracker, Entity Relationship Diagram........................ 39 Appendix G Ticket Tracker, Data Dictionary............................................ 40 Appendix H Ticket Tracker, SQL Statements .......................................... 42 Appendix I Ticket Tracker, File Inventory .............................................. 43 Appendix J Ticket Tracker, Web Interface Samples ............................... 44 Appendix K PTS, User Questions........................................................... 51 Appendix L Ticket Tracker, Usability Tasks............................................ 53 Appendix M Ticket Tracker, User Questions ........................................... 54

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INTRODUCTION

The Information Systems Group for the Epidemiology Department, within the School of Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill, provides a wide variety of technical support and services to the department. One of the group's primary responsibilities is dealing with computer problems and issues that are experienced by the department's faculty and staff. An electronic ticketing system is used by the department to effectively track, coordinate, assign, and fulfill the requests for service that come to the group. The current system is freeware that was downloaded from the web over three years ago. When originally installed and implemented, the system suited the needs of the group. Over time, the group's needs have begun to outgrow the abilities of the system. The client for this project is an administrator who works with the information systems group and has decided that they need an improved system.

The purpose of this project is to create an in-house ticketing system that meets the specific needs of the Information Systems Group. The new system will use Oracle 8 as the database backend and PHP 4 as the middleware for web connectivity.

The objectives for this project are: 1. Perform a system analysis of the current system to understand how the system functions, and how it is used by the group members. This will include analyzing the documentation and setup of the current system, and interviewing the technicians about their usage likes and dislikes of it.

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2. Design and develop the prototype of the new system that will replace the current system. This will include developing the database, programming the middleware connectivity, and creating the web interfaces.

3. Perform user testing to evaluate the web interfaces of the new system.

Terminology The technicians within the information systems group are the users of the current Problem Tracking System (PTS) and new Ticket Tracker system. The members of the Epidemiology department are the customers, who send problems that are turned into tasks, or tickets that the technicians must solve.

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