Integrated Git issue tracker

Forget about setting up a Git repository and an issue tracker locally only to have an integrated Git repository with a bug tracking system to run your software project.

With Assembla, you have an integrated system at your fingertips - just install a Tickets tool and a Git tool to your Space - that’s it, you are done setting up, let the work begin. Out of the box, you will be able to reference tickets from your commit messages - just write “re #1” in your commit message and a link to the commit will appear on ticket #1.

Even more integration?

Oh BTW, you can have Server Side Hooks in a SaaS Repository.

Cloud repository hosts have failed us. The power of hosting your repository locally is the ability to implement Server Side Hooks. These hooks allow you to control your repository and the source code contained within.  Its super convenient for an organization with many contributors to a single repository. You can syntax check code, ensure commit messages are proper, add the power of automation or anything else you need your repository to do better than if you were relying on external webhooks.

To add a Server Side Hook in your current Assembla Repository - go to the Settings Page -> Server-Side Hooks:

• Git: pre-receive, post-receive and update hooks

• SVN: pre-commit, post-commit, pre-revprop-change and post-revprop-change hooks

• Community Supported: Submit your own hooks or partake in the fruits of another’s labor

• Prevent commits that do not comply with your Coding Standards

• Validate commit messages for status updates and valid ticket reference

• Create Workflows with specific status and ticket changes or kick off external procs

We are very excited about Server Side Hooks and hope that you find them as useful as we do. Take a look at some of our other available Repository Features

Yesterday, this report showed only a daily cumulative quantity of tickets, we have improved upon it.

Do you use estimates on your daily work? - Good news, today you can choose "Ticket Estimate" from the “Type” select box.

You will be able to see the same Cumulative Flow chart, but this time you will see the sum estimation of your tickets (per status).

Which type of Estimating do you use?

• Do not use estimates: Default estimate value is 1.0, so you will get the same graph as Ticket Count.
• Show estimated total time: Estimate value is saved as a float value representing the total time, you will see a cumulative report of tickets total time.
• Show estimated points: In this case you can manually set points to each ticket, the result will be a summation over time of points in tickets.
• Estimate as T-Shirt sizes: (Small / Medium / Large): Same as estimated points but with predefined values.
  • Small => 1.0 points.
  • Medium => 3.0 points.
  • Large => 7.0 points

We have been collecting this data for a week so far - full month Cumulative Flow Chart will be available in three weeks. If you use estimates on tickets, then this upgrade is for you. Enjoy!

Read more about how Assembla can help You.

The Tickets tool has an all new reporting UI.  You can find it under the Metrics subtab of the tickets tool.  This is a big leap forward for Assembla.  Our old reports (ticket metrics) were not useful, and we did not use them.  The new reports are redesigned to fit our continuous development process, so that every report has a purpose.

Please go and look at some of your reports, under Tickets/Metrics. You will probably learn something.  I did.  The first thing you will see is the “Contents” page.  This is a list of reports with a picture and an explanation of what the report  shows you.  Here are some new highlights:

Cumulative Flow Diagram

Cumulative Flow is so important that we will post a more complete article about it.  It shows you the status of open tickets, for each day that you have been working on the current milestone.  If you run a Scrum process, it will show you a burnup chart.  If you run a continuous or Kanban process, it will show your velocity, and what status tickets are piling up in.  Here is an article that shows the basic shape of Cumulative Flow.

Here a report for Assembla.com development.  You can see that we stopped doing releases during Christmas break, leading to a bulge in orange "Deploy now" status.

Velocity

A simple way to see weekly velocity – by number of tickets, or by points.   Use this to see your ups and downs, and to estimate your future capacity.

Here is an Assembla velocity report. We use ticket count (every ticket is one point).  You can see a decline in closed tickets during Christmas week, and a half week (through Wednesday) at the end.

Stuck Tickets

If you run a continuous process, you want to focus on tickets that do NOT move to the next step in a short period of time. Those are the things that will cause problems for your lean process.  The Stuck Tickets report shows them.  You enter a number of days, and it shows Current tickets that haven’t moved in that time.

These tickets have been stuck a long time!  I'm asking my guys to fix that.  I cut off the field at the end of the line that shows the date.  It sorts the oldest tickets to the top so you can see the biggest problems.

BONUS – User reports

The user report has some nice new graphics.  This report is amazingly useful  for me.  It shows user activity across all Assembla tools.  You can link to it from the Tickets user report, which shows the tickets a user is working on, or from the “reports” link on the Team page.

The left panel shows the times that a user submitted events, in your time zone, or their time zone.  The right panel shows the type of things that they are working on.  The rest of the report shows everything that they are working on, in detail.

You can see that I now have a management job where I comment on tickets but don't post code commits or handle merge requests.  There's a lot more detail further down the report.

We have a lot of credits for these new features.  Hank Lander worked through the requirements.  Ryan Yeske came in and added sophisticated new data structures to track the cumulative flow.  Felipe Artur, Kivanio Barbosa, and Andres Aguilar implemented the reports.  Paco Lule made design improvements. Leandro Camargo brought all these pieces together to bring the reports to completion. 

We just released a frequently requested feature - an implementation of Story tickets with subtasks. You can use the subtasks in a Scrum planning process, or you can use them as an informal to-do list. To see this new feature, go to the Tickets/Planner UI, and open a ticket by selecting the little triangle on the side. This opens a “task tray” under the ticket. You can write into the form to make a list of subtasks. You can create a to-do list in a few seconds, right there in the task tray. You can also drop other tickets into the task tray.

Tasks move with the parent Story ticket. So, if you sort the Story, or move it to the Current column, or to a different milestone, the tasks go with it. Use this relationship to make a list of tasks that should be completed before you release the parent Story.

You can also see the Tasks on the “Related Tickets” tab of the parent Story ticket, and you can add or edit tasks right inside the Story ticket.

The tasks are complete tickets, so you can assign them, discuss them, and see them in Cardwall and List views.

In the old Outline view, parent and child tickets are only loosely related, and child tickets do not move with the parent. The Outline parent tickets create an “epic” relationship, where you can release each tasks separately on the way to completing a major feature. We’re going to remove the old Outline UI in favor of the more modern Planner, but will offer a way to build the Epic relationships. Many Outline users told us that they wanted “move with the parent” behavior. So, now you have it with the expanding tasks on the Planner. Please switch over to the Planner UI.

Here are two ideas for using Stories and Tasks:

1) You can use Stories and Tasks in a classic Scrum planning process where you write Story tickets, and put them in your backlog, without tasks. The Story ticket describes the function, not the implementation. It includes a summary of the user goal and functional requirements, for example “I am a user and I want X, so I use the system do this action…” Then, after you pull a ticket over to the Current work column, you expand it by adding more detailed implementation tasks. Then you finish all of the tasks, and close the parent Story.

2) You can use this to make your backlog smaller and easier to handle by grouping several backlog tasks together under one functional story. You can drag and drop tickets into the story tray under a parent ticket. The Tasks are hidden in the Planner view, but are still fully functional tickets in the other views.

Assembla is pleased to officially announce the release of Assembla Touch for Android, a free, full-featured app that brings Assembla's task and project management features to anyone with an Android phone or tablet.

The new application syncs with any project that has the Tickets tool installed. From your Android device, you can easily see and search project tasks, create new tickets, edit/comment on existing tickets, view your activity stream, and even attach files such as screenshots and optionally include device info and errors logs as ticket comments – perfect for Android application development and testing.

Note: While Assembla Touch for Android has been available on Google Play for over two months, version 1.0.2 was recently released on December 18th. For those that have found Assembla Touch prior to 12/18, please make sure to update to the most recent stable release.

Key Features:

Create New Tickets in Seconds:
Think of a great idea or something that needs to be done while you’re on the go? Quickly create a new ticket in seconds. Assign it to a team member to work on or maybe to you to add more details later - either way, it is posted so it will not be forgotten.

Attach Pictures:
It's easy to attach a picture from the phone to a ticket. This is the feature that I use most frequently. Simply sketch something on paper or a whiteboard, snap a picture, and add it to a ticket.

See What’s Going On:
View your full activity stream or filter the stream events for specific projects. Click on ticket activity to access the ticket via the app where you can edit, add comments, etc.

Mobile Development and Testing:
If you have ever developed and tested mobile apps, you know how difficult it can be to pinpoint bugs/issues due to unknowns like what was the state of the device when the error occurred, exactly what device and what version of the OS is it, etc., but Assembla Touch for Android makes this easy.

Test your app from mobile devices. When errors occur, simply snap a screenshot and attached it to a new or existing ticket via Assembla Touch. Include the device info and error logs and now your team can fix the problem without spending excess time trying to diagnose the problem. 

We find this to be extremely useful and a must for anyone testing mobile applications or mobile-optimized sites.

Find What You’re Looking For:
The homepage allows you to easily access tickets assigned to you and tickets you follow. You can filter all project tickets by project, milestone, or user. A search conveniently lets you find the ticket you need, when you need it.

Security On the Go:
Assembla Touch uses HTTPS to communicate with Assembla servers so that your password is never exposed on public networks.  Additionally, authentication and authorization uses oAuth2 so your password is not stored in the app. 

Get the App:

Download the app today on Google Play. For users with iPhones and ipads, learn more about Assembla Touch for iOS devices and download it today in the App Store.

Let us Know What you Think:

Since this is the first official release, we would like to hear from you. Please leave your comments below and we will take them into consideration as we continue to improve the app. 

Assembla’s free full-featured Tickets tool helps teams plan agile releases and collaborate on tasks.

Months ago we announced our Agile Planner as a free starter package.  Since then, we have improved integration of the Planner with the other ticket views, including the Cardwall view of current team tasks, and the incredibly versatile List view.  To make our offer more useful, we are now giving teams free access to our full-featured Tickets tool for up to 4 users.

What is included in the free configuration:

• Ticket List view which provides powerful custom reports and layouts. Organize tickets/tasks by release, user, team, etc.
• Agile Planner View to create, organize, and manage tasks and Agile releases with an elegant drag-and-drop user interface.
• Cardwall View to visually see tasks as “cards” on a virtual task board and watch tasks move through different stages of the development workflow. Perfect for team using a Scrumban or Kanban methodology. 
• Ticket settings where you can create custom ticket fields and workflow columns.
• Metrics such as burndown charts, cumulative flow diagrams, user reports, status reports, and much more.
• A real-time activity stream and customizable email notifications providing essential project visibility.
• Assembla Touch, a mobile app that allows your to create and manager ticket from your iPhone or iPad. Android app coming soon. 

After months of testing and feedback, we will roll out our new ticket layout as the default view to all existing users. The new two-column layout moves the discussion up to focus on the description, comments, and activity, making it easier to read and collaborate on tickets.

Additionally, we have moved ticket information like attachments, related tickets, followers, etc. into a tabbed view which allows us to add new features like related Merge Requests to ticket details. The tab view also provides more room to work on these tabs (file attachments, related tickets, followers, etc.). The right side bar displays the content within the tabs for easy access. 

New Layout:

Move between old and new layout

If you don't like the new layout, you can go to your ticket/settings page > Default Views > and un-check "New layout enabled."  Before we remove the old layout completely, we will follow up and find out why you are using the old layout.
 

Thanks to the tickets and design team and specifically Maxi Perez Coto and Sergio Romano for putting together the new layout.

Update: We listened to your feedback and made many improvements to the new ticket layout based on the comments below. Learn more here. 

Assembla is proud to announce the official release of Assembla Touch, a free, full-featured app for the iPhone and iPad that brings Assembla's task and project management features to anyone with an iPhone or iPad.

The new application syncs with any project that has the Tickets tool installed. From your iOS device, you can easily see project tasks, create new tickets, edit or comment on existing tickets, attach files, and move tickets around between milestones. 

Key Features:

Create new tickets in seconds:
Think of a great idea or something that needs to be done? Quickly create a new ticket in seconds. Assign it to a team member to work on or maybe to you to add more details later - either way, it is posted so it will not be forgotten.

Make mobile testing faster and more efficient:
Assembla Touch makes mobile testing a breeze. Find a bug or issues? Just snap a screenshot on your mobile device, go to the application, and attach the screenshot to a new ticket - you never have to leave your phone or tablet.

We find this to be extremely useful and a must for anyone testing mobile applications or mobile-optimized sites.

Works from anywhere - even when you're not connected:
Assembla Touch syncs your project data onto your mobile device meaning it is always available, even when you are not connected. You can create new tickets and edit existing ones while "offline" and simply sync when you can connect.  

Plan sprints and iterations:
Assembla Touch provides a mobile version of Assembla's Agile Planner making it easy to plan your next sprint or iteration by moving tasks from your backlog into your next release. Drag and drop task into the desired order and your team will know exactly what to work on next. 

Find exactly what you're looking for:
View tickets by project, milestone, users, or use a search filter to find exactly what you need, when you need it. You can search across multiple projects and and milestones.

Security on the go:
Assembla Touch uses HTTPS to communicate with the Assembla servers so that your password is never exposed on public networks. 

Download the app today from the App Store. 

Let us what what you think:

Since this is the initial release, we would like to hear from you. Please leave your comments below and we will take them into consideration as we continue to improve the app. 

Update: For our Android users, we are working on the Andorid app that should officially be released in a few weeks. 

We have stopped offering Trac for new spaces.  We strongly recommend that new users and projects adopt Assembla Tickets with svn or git. We built the integrated Assembla tools as an upgrade to Trac more three years ago.  Now, we will focus on improving the quality of the newer Assembla features.

We will continue to support our existing Trac users with reliable service.  Some of those existing Trac users have been with us for many years.  When we first launched Assembla.com, we wrapped some on-demand features around Trac.  This started as a side project for us that I think was the best on-demand Trac hosting, and eventually attracted more than 100K users.  Now, dozens of vendors provide Trac hosting, and Assembla is no longer the best Trac host.  During the last nine years the Trac Project has helped tens of thousands of teams "write great software while staying out of the way."  We are grateful to the developers, including founders Daniel Lundin and Jonas Borgström, for bringing us this software.

Assembla has outgrown Trac.  We built our own Tickets and Source/repo tools to get better features, integration, localization, multi-tenancy, and spam protection.

Current users of Trac/hg and Trac/git may continue to use these tools for a limited time.  We will no longer offer Trac/hg, Trac/git, and Trac/svn for new installations. We will remove the Trac/hg and the Trac/git tools in the coming months, providing ample time to migrate out of these tools. Trac/svn is very popular at Assembla.  We will maintain it as long as we need to maintain it for existing users.

We highly encourage all users of these tools to switch over to our integrated code browser and ticketing tool.  For more information on migrating from Trac Tool to Tickets Tool, please read Migrating from Trac to Assembla Tickets. 

We hope that you will find that by removing some tools we are able to deliver a better core product.  If you have any questions or want help migrating to our integrated tools - please contact support (support@assembla.com).