Journals

Aug 14, 2017

Use the Journal screen to manually set the compatibility status for applications based on known testing results and to record notes about the testing and remediation of applications. For example, when testing shows that there are issues with an application on a particular platform, you can change the compatibility setting to Known Issues for the corresponding report and enter notes to explain the issues. The amber Known Issues icon will then replace the standard and custom RAG symbols in relevant reports. The journal feature therefore provides a way of manually changing the RAG status for individual applications.

The top part of the Journal screen lists all of the applications in the portfolio. This has features for sorting, filtering and grouping the applications, as described for the Application List.

The lower part of the screen shows details for the application that is selected in the list above. It shows the latest notes that have been entered for the application, the application’s details (name, manufacturer, version, and the location of the source files) and a list of any existing manual or external data journal entries that relate to the application. AppDNA handles manual journal entries and external data journal entries through the same journal mechanism. This means that you can delete individual external data journal entries on this screen.

Use the Report drop-down list to select the technology or platform you are working with. The lower part of the screen then shows the application’s RAG status for that report and you can create a new journal entry for that report. You cannot change a journal entry, but you can delete a journal entry and add a new one. However, the mechanism is designed to provide a history of entries.

Only the icon of the most recent journal entry is shown on reports. This means that if the latest journal entry is derived from external data, this is shown on relevant reports and the icon from any earlier manual journal entries is not shown. However, this situation generally only arises if you configure the external data after entering manual journal entries. If necessary, you can add the manual journal entry again.

Compatibility status options

Unknown – This is the default setting and the icon is never shown in reports. You can use this option to store notes about the testing and remediation of the application without changing the RAG status in reports.

Compatible – Indicates that testing has shown that the application works on the target technology. When the most recent journal entry has this status, the Compatible icon replaces the standard, custom, and action RAG icons in relevant reports and the RAGs become green.

Known issues – Indicates that testing has shown that the application has issues on the target platform. When the most recent journal entry has this status, the Known issues icon replaces the standard, custom and action RAG icons in relevant reports and the RAGs become amber.

Incompatible – Indicates that testing has shown that the application is incompatible with the target platform. When the most recent journal entry has this status, the Incompatible icon replaces the standard, custom and action RAG icons in relevant reports and the RAGs become red.

Create a journal entry

1. From the AppDNA menus choose Manage > Journals.
2. In the list in the top part of the Journal screen, select the application for which you want to add the journal entry.
3. In the Report drop-down list, select the report to which the entry relates.
4. Select the appropriate compatibility status option.
5. Enter notes that explain the rationale for the compatibility status and record any other relevant information.
6. Click Save (on the toolbar) to save the entry.

Delete a journal entry

1. From the AppDNA menus choose Manage > Journals.
2. In the list in the top part of the Journal screen, select the application for which you want to delete an entry.
3. In the list of journal entries at the bottom of the screen, locate the journal entry that you want to delete. This can be a manually entered journal entry or an external data journal entry.
4. Click the icon in the Delete column.
5. Click Save (on the toolbar) to save your changes.