Redmine

h1. Getting Started

This is a guide to the basics of Redmine, written from a new user's perspective.  We'll avoid the fancy stuff for now and just go over *_creating a project_*, _*working with issues*_ and _*the basic workflow*_.

h2. Step One -- Creating a project

Before you let loose your development team, you'll want to set up a project for them to work on.  This can be done as the Admin user (username and password are both "admin").  Click on _*Projects*_ (upper left), then on _*New Project*_ (upper right).  Fill in all the data.  A description of some of the fields can be found [[RedmineProjectSettings|here]]. The only box that might be confusing is the Project Identifier -- this is used internally by Redmine (for URLs and other things).

h2. Step Two -- Get some Users

You'll want to get a few users registered, so that you can assign them to the project. Note that by default, you must activate users manually.  So after a user fills out the registration page, you must log in as Admin, navigate to Administration:Users, and set the Filter to All. Activate users as necessary. 

Once active, you can assign a user to a project. When you do this you can specify one or more _*roles*_ that they play. The default options for roles are:

* Manager

* Developer

* Reporter

These roles affect what each user is allowed to do within each project.  It should be noted that assigning a role affects permissions in two different areas.  

First, a role will affect permissions across all aspects of a project.  For example, the Manager role will allow a user to create new (sub)projects, to manage the Forums, the Wiki, the Repository and anything else (in general) within a project.  By contrast, the Developer role will not be able to edit the Project or delete messages from the Forums.

Second, a role will affect permissions on the Workflow.  In general, a new Issue progresses through various states from *New* to *In Progress* to *Resolved* to *Closed*.  One of the key differences between Managers and Developers is that Managers are allowed to Reject issues, but Developers are not. (More on this below in the explanation of Workflow).

h2. Workflows...You Can't Explain That!

_*Workflows*_ are how Redmine tracks issues from creation through completion.  The default Workflow contains the following states:

* New

* In Progress

* Resolved

* Feedback

* Closed

* Rejected

By default, anyone who's logged in can create an issue (Bug or Feature), but only Managers can Reject them or Reopen a closed issue.

h3. Resolved vs Closed?

There's a lot of discussion on the internet about this, but the general consensus is that Resolved means a Developer thinks he's fixed the bug, and Closed means the original reporter or a Manager has signed off on it.  Many blogs talk about this -- such as http://journal.sifterapp.com/blog/2011/07/resolved-vs-closed/.

h2. Step Three -- Create Issues

TBD

h2. Step Four -- Work on Issues

TBD

h2. Step Five -- Close Issues

TBD