feature request: title field is obsolete functionality

msad60 · 2009-01-29 21:51:04

we are using your software and have cleanly migrated from another solution. we have no real issues with glpi and it is great! one difference between glpi and other software is that glpi includes a "Title" field. we find this field to be totally obsolete. indeed, all we require is a ticket number, and a ticket description. we would like to use the ticket description in all the places that glpi uses the "Title". we consider it non-essential to have our users put both a Title and a Description of the incident. in fact, we consider it non-productive to include both. only a number and an actual description of the problem are neccessary.

i would like to suggest a preference in glpi settings that allows the UI to replace all instances of Title with Description and to hide or turn off Title for all instances. We do not want users to see the field, nor admin/tech to use the field.

is this possible currently? do you consider it a valid feature request? thanks very much for your time and for this great product!

JMD · 2009-01-29 23:57:21

Hi,

one difference between glpi and other software is that glpi includes a "Title" field

Totally wrong, A lot of helpdesk software use a title or short description and a description !

we find this field to be totally obsolete

This is your opinion....

we consider it non-essential to have our users put both a Title and a Description of the incident. in fact, we consider it non-productive to include both. only a number and an actual description of the problem are neccessary.

Please.... who can do more can do less

You could only use description if you want, there is no problem with that.

It would be difficult to spend energy for this kind of feature...

wawa · 2009-01-30 09:56:27

msad60 wrote:

we are using your software and have cleanly migrated from another solution. we have no real issues with glpi and it is great! one difference between glpi and other software is that glpi includes a "Title" field. we find this field to be totally obsolete. indeed, all we require is a ticket number, and a ticket description. we would like to use the ticket description in all the places that glpi uses the "Title". we consider it non-essential to have our users put both a Title and a Description of the incident. in fact, we consider it non-productive to include both. only a number and an actual description of the problem are neccessary.

you consider it non-productive.
This field wasn't it the old versions of glpi. It has been added because users asked for it.

msad60 wrote:

i would like to suggest a preference in glpi settings that allows the UI to replace all instances of Title with Description and to hide or turn off Title for all instances. We do not want users to see the field, nor admin/tech to use the field.
is this possible currently? do you consider it a valid feature request? thanks very much for your time and for this great product!

I consider that everybody wants different things. the simpliest solution, in your case is just to remove it from the page by commenting the code

msad60 · 2009-01-30 19:36:12

My apologies if anyone is offended, but this is a Suggestions forum is it not? Consider this case:

1.) Staff finds broken hardware.
2.) Incident is reported to the helpdesk via voice, email, or on paper.
A.) Staff Name
B.) Problem Description:
I.) Location
II.) Nature/Origin/Past
III.) Results/Situation/Present
IV.) What's been tried/Suggestions/Future
C.) Contact Info
3.) Incident number is generated.

Is this not enough information? Ok then, if you needed to categorize just one more piece of data about this incident, and it could be anything, what would it be? Honestly, do you think a Title is going to be more important than a Hardware Category, Location, or Budget Code? Doubtful.

The Staff member could use any number of ways to contact you about this incident, and none of them would require a Title of any sort. See these examples:

1.) During a phone conversation or message, would the Staff need to verbally declare a Title before or after speaking about the issue itself? That would be awkward.
2.) If an email were sent regarding it, the email would naturally contain a Subject, and this should be translated as a Title, right? Maybe... but how often do your Staff put in useful information there? Think of the email subjects you get at a helpdesk regarding issues... they're vague, repetitive, and hardly useful. But which part of the message does count? The Body, which contains a description of the problem!
3.) If a hand written note is used as the submission method, is the Staff going to put a Title on a line by itself at the top of the note? I've certainly never seen any such thing, and wouldn't waste my time doing it on my own notes. Notes are usually the form of communication with the least amount of information!

wrote:

You could only use description if you want, there is no problem with that.

The main issue we see with doing this right now is that the front/tracking.php pages do not display the Description at all. So if the Title is omitted, the UI is very awkward. I am thinking I can address this myself with light modifications to the code. Hopefully this is the only thing we would have to modify. Can you think of anything else?

wrote:

It would be difficult to spend energy for this kind of feature...

Yet arguably this is the kind of feature that makes your product more useable. It is cleaner, makes more sense, the system contains less data, and as an incident life cycle encounters human interaction, the interaction is made better for each person. Aren't many Staff already annoyed at having a problem and having to report it to someone? Why make the experience more confusing?

wrote:

This field wasn't it the old versions of glpi. It has been added because users asked for it.

So it was assumed that every user/case needed/wanted it? I'm glad that GLPI has been respondent to it's community! But a simple option to leave it out would improve things for us as well!

wrote:

the simpliest solution, in your case is just to remove it from the page by commenting the code

OK, we had thought of this and are planning on it. This helps the UI. But what else could we do to cleanly remove it? How difficult would it be to modify the system's code? Would GLPI not function without this Title field? I am considering a way it can be done properly with GLPI so as not to break things.

Can anyone provide a valid use case for the Title field? Pardon my insistence, but I am trying to improve your software.

Thanks for your consideration.

remi · 2009-01-30 20:02:00

> Can anyone provide a valid use case for the Title field?

In each mail you send/receive each day you have an Subject (title) and a Body (Description)

I think this is really usefull.
All mailer I know only display the Subject in the list.

GLPI does the same.

++

P.S. a solution could be : if empty(title) title=beginningof(description)

msad60 · 2009-01-30 20:19:41

wrote:

In each mail you send/receive each day you have an Subject (title) and a Body (Description)
I think this is really usefull.
All mailer I know only display the Subject in the list.

I agree! However, see my previous post:

wrote:

2.) If an email were sent regarding it, the email would naturally contain a Subject, and this should be translated as a Title, right? Maybe... but how often do your Staff put in useful information there? Think of the email subjects you get at a helpdesk regarding issues... they're vague, repetitive, and hardly useful. But which part of the message does count? The Body, which contains a description of the problem!

Essentially, making use of Title as it is inherited directly from an email's Subject is dependent on a 2 things:
1.) An intelligent end-user
2.) Optionally, A commonality between incidents. For example an intelligent end-user would use the same or similar Title for incidents that were related.

Now I'll provide some of the most common email subjects that I see on a weekly basis regarding incidents:

Subject: "its broken"
Subject: "computer"
Subject: "is it down?"
Subject: "can't log in"
Subject: "no internet"

How often are these email subjects actually right in helping us diagnose the problem? Maybe 10% of the time at most. As we know, "no internet" often requires a solution that has nothing to do with the network. Many times it's user-error, software configurations, or broken hardware!

In essence, having the user provide a Title is like asking them to best-guess as to what the problem really is. Since they won't generally know, why bother asking? Instead, streamline their UI so that you only get the relevant information to getting the issue fixed.

Thanks for your help on:

if empty(title) title=beginningof(description)

We will look into this! I am glad to hear some responses on this thread.

Forum GLPI-Project

Announcement

#1 2009-01-29 21:51:04

feature request: title field is obsolete functionality

#2 2009-01-29 23:57:21

Re: feature request: title field is obsolete functionality

#3 2009-01-30 09:56:27

Re: feature request: title field is obsolete functionality

#4 2009-01-30 19:36:12

Re: feature request: title field is obsolete functionality

#5 2009-01-30 20:02:00

Re: feature request: title field is obsolete functionality

#6 2009-01-30 20:19:41

Re: feature request: title field is obsolete functionality

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