You definitely need to install web-based bug tracker. It's hard to track issues using forum board - you may check some free online trackers with google or here, and this one looks good imho.
Since Dave has limited resources (time) available for enhancing the product, shouldn't he be spending all of it on developing the product ? ... as opposed to researching, installing and learning how to use a brand new service ?
Given the small number of defects and deficiencies so far ... and Dave's history of addressing them ASAP ... wouldn't it suffice to just have an online Spreadsheet (Google or Microsoft) which he controls (posts real reported issues) and everyone else has a link to access (read) this information ? ... something simple with columns like ...
When (was the issue reported)
What (is the issue)
Who (reported it)
Current Status (acknowledged/Not an issue, under development, addressed)
Associated Notes (could include a link to the forum topic)
There should really exist at least a sort of bug tracker. I know this from experience with the same kind of projects sometimes even bigger as Dave´is working on. Without it it is a mess and the main team members are going to be firefighters with all the questions.
A bug system gives the possibility for the beta testers to register findings, and the development team can make a priority list to work on.
We are already a long time working with the free "MantisBT" bug tracker, but there are more possibilities. Also a simple online sheet could do the job. But it is important to give only serious Beta testers access to it....
Best regards,
Eric
http://www.lunarsoftware.eu - Lunar Software ERP database Development. Manufacturing processes, Document management, QMS, Stock management. Standalone solutions or connected to Helios Orange and other ERP systems.
There are a lot of bugs and suggestions coming in so it would be helpful to have some type of facility where testers could compare notes. This would help avoid duplicate bug reports which sometimes slow things down. But I don't want to spend too much time learning a new program right now.
Eric: I've actually installed a copy of MantisBT on our server, and it seems to be working except that it gives me the following error at the top of every page:
"SYSTEM WARNING: 'date_default_timezone_get(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Los_Angeles' for 'PST/-8.0/no DST' instead' in '/var/www/vhosts/neosoftware.com/httpdocs/mantisbt/core.php' line 274"
