show/hide this revision's text 3 8.0 sexycharts

Are there reports in FogBugz?

You'll find that many of the kinds of reports you really need can be done by setting up an appropriate filter in FogBugz. For example, "what are all the bugs assigned to me that need to be fixed for the next release, grouped by area and listed in order of priority?" This is not really a generic reporting capability but it's almost always good enough. As of FogBugz 7, you can also export the results of a filter to Excel.

After running a filter or clicking List, there is a summary at the bottom of the page entitled "Cases on this page". So, if you use the gazillion filter options on the Filter page to narrow things down, this summary gives you the total count of cases returned by that filter, the total estimated time for those cases, and the number of cases that don't have a time estimate.

Generate Charts For Filters

As of FogBugz 8.0, you can generate a chart breaking down cases in any filter. You can also view line graphs of the number of cases matching the filter or the number of estimated hours over time.

alt text

See this post for full details.

Evidence Based Scheduling

FogBugz comes with reports for each project which will help you figure out when your project will be completed.  Based on the release you select, FogBugz will show you a probability distribution (using your developer's estimates) of when your software is going to ship. You can also see your ship dates over time to see if your project is slipping. You can also see developer ship date graphs that let you know which developers are overloaded and which are likely to be idle.

Grace Hopper is blocked waiting for Alan Turing to finish!

Exporting Data and the XML API

FogBugz allows you to do a whole host of things using the FogBugz 6.0 XML API.  You can create cases, view cases, look at timesheets, discussion topics, subscribe to cases and more.  But for someone who just wants to export data into excel, the API can be really useful.  It's only three steps.

  1. Go to <YOUR FOGBUGZ SITE URL>/api.asp?cmd=logon&email=youremail&password=yourpassword in a browser, and you should see a token string given back.  Copy this string -- the data between <token> and </token>
  2. Go to <YOUR FOGBUGZ SITE URL>/api.asp?token=tokenfrombefore&cmd=search
    &q=yourquery&cols=yourcols     . See the API documentation for more info about the q (ie. query string) and cols (ie. columns) parameter.  But a typical one to get all case data including events, and the title of the case from the Frogger project but just active cases would be ...cmd=search&q=project:frogger%20status:active&cols=sTitle,events
  3. Once you get the url right in step 2 and you see your XML data, just copy and paste the url and go to excel and select file->open, but paste in the url.  Excel will download the XML for you.

Well, that's just not good enough!

FogBugz 7 now has a plugin architecture which allows many different ways of reporting. Check out the FNN plugin by JohnFx for one. Here's a list of all plug-ins. If what you need is not there, it's relatively easy to write your own. You can find a wealth of info at https://developers.fogbugz.com.
show/hide this revision's text 2 deleted 1160 characters in body; added 104 characters in body

There are also summary reports automatically generated by As of FogBugz :7, you can also export the results of a filter to Excel.

  • If you are in List View (as opposed to Grid View), you will also see a series of reports down the left hand side, such as "Open cases by project", "Open cases by release", etc.

    FogBugz 6.0 comes with reports for each project which will help you figure out when your project will be completed.  Based on the release you select, FogBugz will show you a probability distribution (using your developer's estimates) of when your software is going to ship. You can also see your ship dates over time to see if your project is slipping.   Then you You can drill down to each developer to also see if anyone is developer ship date graphs that let you know which developers are overloaded and which are likely to be idle.

    CaseDetective for FogBugz produced by imij software and DBxtra for

    FogBugz  are two programs produced by 3rd party software companies that will slice and dice your data however you want!  See their sites for more info, screenshots and pricing.

    Download the CaseDetective Free Trial
    • Download the DBxtra for FogBugz Free Trial

    As another alternative, Tableau Software 7 now has a demonstration plugin architecture which allows many different ways of how they have used their software to create Visual Analytics for FogBugzreporting.

    You can also use Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, or something like Crystal Reports to create custom reports using Check out the raw FogBugz dataFNN plugin by JohnFx for one. The FogBugz database is Access or SQL Server and Here's a list of all the major reporting software packages will be able to create custom reports based on FogBugzplug-ins.

    To make this relatively painless for If what you need is not there, we provide the following step-by-step guides with screenshots:

  • Create Reports Using AccessCreate Reports Using Excelit's relatively easy to write your own. You can find a wealth of info at https://developers.fogbugz.com.

    		•
    show/hide this revision's text 1

    Are there reports in FogBugz?

    You'll find that many of the kinds of reports you really need can be done by setting up an appropriate filter in FogBugz. For example, "what are all the bugs assigned to me that need to be fixed for the next release, grouped by area and listed in order of priority?" This is not really a generic reporting capability but it's almost always good enough.

    There are also summary reports automatically generated by FogBugz:

    • After running a filter or clicking List, there is a summary at the bottom of the page entitled "Cases on this page". So, if you use the gazillion filter options on the Filter page to narrow things down, this summary gives you the total count of cases returned by that filter, the total estimated time for those cases, and the number of cases that don't have a time estimate.
    • If you are in List View (as opposed to Grid View), you will also see a series of reports down the left hand side, such as "Open cases by project", "Open cases by release", etc.  

    Evidence Based Scheduling

    FogBugz 6.0 comes with reports for each project which will help you figure out when your project will be completed.  Based on the release you select, FogBugz will show you a probability distribution (using your developer's estimates) of when your software is going to ship. You can also see your ship dates over time to see if your project is slipping.  Then you can drill down to each developer to see if anyone is overloaded.

    Exporting Data and the XML API

    FogBugz allows you to do a whole host of things using the FogBugz 6.0 XML API.  You can create cases, view cases, look at timesheets, discussion topics, subscribe to cases and more.  But for someone who just wants to export data into excel, the API can be really useful.  It's only three steps.

    1. Go to <YOUR FOGBUGZ SITE URL>/api.asp?cmd=logon&email=youremail&password=yourpassword in a browser, and you should see a token string given back.  Copy this string -- the data between <token> and </token>
    2. Go to <YOUR FOGBUGZ SITE URL>/api.asp?token=tokenfrombefore&cmd=search
      &q=yourquery&cols=yourcols       . See the API documentation for more info about the q (ie. query string) and cols (ie. columns) parameter.  But a typical one to get all case data including events, and the title of the case from the Frogger project but just active cases would be ...cmd=search&q=project:frogger%20status:active&cols=sTitle,events
    3. Once you get the url right in step 2 and you see your XML data, just copy and paste the url and go to excel and select file->open, but paste in the url.  Excel will download the XML for you.

    Well, that's just not good enough!

    CaseDetective for FogBugz produced by imij software and DBxtra for FogBugz are two programs produced by 3rd party software companies that will slice and dice your data however you want!  See their sites for more info, screenshots and pricing.

    As another alternative, Tableau Software has a demonstration of how they have used their software to create Visual Analytics for FogBugz.

    You can also use Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, or something like Crystal Reports to create custom reports using the raw FogBugz data. The FogBugz database is Access or SQL Server and all the major reporting software packages will be able to create custom reports based on FogBugz.

    To make this relatively painless for you, we provide the following step-by-step guides with screenshots: