RedmineStudio Review Methods and Outlook Integration

Introduction

This is an explanation of RedmineStudio’s review issue creation feature.
This article covers review method settings and the advanced Outlook integration feature.

By integrating with Outlook, scheduling reviews becomes much easier.
Please read through to the end.

Review Methods

RedmineStudio divides review methods into two categories based on “whether participants need to physically gather”.

• Desk Review
  • A review where each reviewer examines the deliverables individually. The organizer publishes the deliverables, sets a deadline, and requests the review. Reviewers examine the deliverables by the specified deadline and provide feedback if necessary.
• Face-to-Face Review
  • A review where reviewers and organizers gather together. The organizer explains the deliverables while reviewers ask questions and provide feedback. Since participants need to gather together, a date and time when everyone can attend must be coordinated.

These are categorized based on the actual work required, and are different from general review types or specific review methodologies, so please keep this in mind.

How To

Specifying the Review Method

Here’s how to specify the review method.

Enabling “Review Method Specification”

Open the Review tab from the settings screen and check “Review Method Specification”. This setting is retained, so you only need to do this once.

When enabled, an item to specify the “Review Method” will be displayed on the review screen.

Specifying the Review Method

Select either “Desk Review” or “Face-to-Face Review” as the review method. “Desk Review” is selected by default.

• Desk Review
  • Select the period in days. Set the deadline by which you want reviewers to complete their review. The default is set to 3 days.

• Face-to-Face Review
  • Select the session date and time. Choose a date and time that works for all participants. If Outlook integration (described below) is enabled, you can also add an Outlook appointment at the same time as creating the review issue.

Outlook Integration

Enabling “Outlook Integration”

Open the Review tab from the settings screen and check “Outlook Integration”. This setting is retained, so you only need to do this once.

Creating an Outlook Appointment

When “Outlook Integration” is enabled and the review method is set to “Face-to-Face Review”, a checkbox for “Create Outlook appointment” will appear. If you check this box and click “Create Issue”, the issue will be registered and an Outlook appointment will be created at the same time.

This appointment reflects the “session date/time” and “reviewers” that were set on the review screen. By clicking “Meeting Request”, you can also send an attendance request email directly to the reviewers.

The appointment details are also automatically populated with the configured items. Edit as needed.

Scheduling with Outlook

This feature uses Outlook’s scheduling functionality to easily find time slots when all participants are available. When “Outlook Integration” is enabled, a “Schedule with Outlook” button appears. Select reviewers and click the button to open the Outlook appointment screen with the reviewers already added as attendees.

Click “Scheduling” here to see a list of all selected reviewers’ schedules. Since you can see everyone’s schedule at a glance, select an available time slot.

When you close the appointment screen in this state, the selected time slot will be reflected in the “Session Date/Time” on the review screen. You don’t need to save the appointment at this point. If you also want to create the appointment, use the “Create Outlook appointment” feature described above.

Conclusion

This concludes the explanation of review method settings and Outlook integration.

Scheduling reviews with busy people can be challenging, even just deciding on candidate dates.
We hope this helps make that process a little easier.

See you in another article.