Savane - Cookbook: recipe #256, Key Features

recipe #256: Key Features

Here is a list of Savane Key Features:

• 100% Libre Software, under GNU GPL:
  • Any company with Libre Software expertise can provide support and can base a business on it.
  • Customers are allowed to run and modify the software to fit their needs.
• Web Architected: Accessed via a web browser from any location at any time, no client-side installation, saving time and simplifying maintenance.
• Internationalized, using GNU Gettext, in many languages like French, German, Italian, Swedish, etc.
  • Screenshots: In English -> In French
• Neat menu design: left menu for site wide links, top menu for contextual menu (via the dropdown submenus, only one click is necessary to access any page relevant to the context).
  • Screenshots: Left menu and top menu, Top menu in different contexts, dropdown submenus
• CSS Themes allowing you to adapt Savane to your Institute/Corporation color charter.
• Markup system for users to format text whenever it makes sense.
  • Screenshots: Full markup in news item, Rich markup in comments, Basic markup in attached file comment, Links and items id references
• Group Types configuration: on the same site, you can provide different sets of features to hosted groups ('group' is the word for 'project' in the savannah jargon) depending on their type, preconfigure features, allowing them to use the platform in different fashion.
  • Screenshot: Configuring a group type
• Multiple Projects: one Savane installation is enough to host as many projects as you want. You do not need to perform one installation per project. Features can be activated both at the group type level (becoming the default features for projects of that type) and at the project level.
  • Screenshots : Select Active Features, Homepage Feature Group Type Conf set by site admin
• Powerful Users Management:
  • Project admins can easily add new members by searching for their name or login, while users can themselves request to become members.
    • Screenshots: Admin adding new members, User requesting inclusion
  • Project Members Roles to control access and give privileges to members: project admin (configure the project, manage members), tracker manager (can assign items, set priority and close items), tracker technician (can be assigned items).
    • Screenshot: Setting permissions
  • Squads, meta-users, are small teams of project members that share items assignations.
    • Screenshots: Setting up a squad, Squad profile
• Issue Tracking:
  • Provides Support Request Tracking, Bug Tracking, Task Management, Cookbook (Documentation Management) and Patch Management.
  • Same codebase and therefore common interface to all trackers: -easy for users to get a grip on-, software easy to maintain and to improve.
  • Query Forms inside Display Criteria boxes to filter items list
    • Screenshots: Using basic query form, Using additional time constraint, Using advanced query form with multiple selection, Using a project-defined query form, Defining a query form for the project
  • Multicolumn sort in items list.
  • Fields usage and values completely configurable by projects, additional custom fields available.
    • Screenshots: Editing usage of the field category, Editing values of the field Category, Creating a custom selectbox field, Then adding values for this custom selectbox field
  • Dependencies between all items in the database (all trackers and all projects).
    • Screenshots: Adding several dependancies, using checkboxes after providing a search string, List of dependancies of an item
  • Transitions management allowing to enforce a specific workflow or to automate parts of the workflow
    • Screenshots: Forbidding some transitions, Automatic transitions
  • Mail Notification per categories in addition to usual mail notifications.
  • Posting Restrictions allows projects to restrict posting by users according to their level of authentication (members, logged-in users, anonymous users) for each of the tools.
    • Screenshot: Setting posting restrictions
  • Tracker Configuration Copy: project admins can easily duplicate the setup of the tracker from one of their project to another of their projects.
  • Duplicate post check mechanism.
  • Clever Mandatory Fields mechanism: accept the form and prompt for the missing fields.
    • Screenshot: Forgotten mandatory fields
  • Digests of items: display in one page a detailed list of items with the fields you selected (convenient to review job ongoing or accomplished with a nice printout around a coffee table).
    • Screenshots: Use the display criteria to preselect items, Then select fields to print, Finally get the printout and click on "Printer Version" in the left menu
  • XML Exports can be easily scheduled.
    • Screenshot: Viewing scheduled exports, scheduling an export
  • Users can Vote for items they think important.
  • Recipes (items in the Cookbook, the documentation tool) can be tied to specific context and users roles: if so, they will show up in the Related Recipes left menu entry.
    • Screenshot: Showing related recipes
• News manager.
• Anti-Spam Tools:
  • DNS blacklist configurable per site.
  • SpamAssassin Checks with Bayesian Filters, delaying post of anonymous users (or even logged-in but non project members users, configurable per site), avoiding potential spams to trigger mail notifications.
  • Content Spamscore allowing users to flag as spam what they think is spam, hiding content of items flagged as spam (but not deleted to prevent data loss in case of false positives).
  • Users Spamscore allowing site admins to easily ban spammers who created user accounts.
  • Etc (read recipe #254 as an example of possible anti-spam policy with Savane).
• Source Code Managers Integration
  • Can build unix groups and users accounts from Savane database allowing to easily provide any SSH-secured services, with control over write access.
  • Natively support Subversion (SVN), CVS and GNU Arch
  • Can annotate items by Subversion commits
    • Screenshot: A task annotated by SVN commits
• Bridge to GNU mailman
  • Can be used to set up, reconfigure, reset passwords, of mailing-list provided by GNU Mailman.
  • Provides a frontend to use Savane session to access private archives.
• PAM authentication: can optionally be activated to allow login via AFS, Kerberos, etc, in case you have such central server and users do not want to have a specific password for Savane.
• Users Personal Area ("My")
  • Enable users to easily get access to all the items related to them, list their groups
    • Screenshots: My Incoming Items, My Items, My Groups, My Bookmarks (optional)
  • Users can tune their account in many ways
    • Significant Arrangements enable users to update their Identity Record (real name, provide Resume, etc), their Authentication Setup (registration of SSH Keys, of GPG-keys, opened sessions management, etc) and their Mail Setup (Edit Notification Settings, Cancel Mail Notifications, etc)
      • Screenshots: Edit Notification Settings: when to be added in Carbon-Copy list of items, Edit Notification Settings: customized subject header, Edit Notification Settings: mail reminders, Cancel Mail Notifications
    • Further customization enable users to tune the interface to their preferences (Timezone, Color Theme, Order of comments in items discussions, etc) and to activate Optional Features (like Bookmarks).
• Site Admin Area
  • Management of submitted projects via the task tracker.
  • Easy monitoring of users suspected to post spam.

Want to see all of that in production? Check our Use Cases / References page.
Looking for Commercial Support? Check our Commercial Support page.

Attached Files