Re: [Phpgroupware-users] User poll on Timetrack modifications

[Brian Johnson]

Some clarification and possible start of discussion:

Be aware that the addbook and addressbook are two separate modules - addbook
separates contact entities into two distinct tables (individual and organization
where each organization can have multiple individuals linked to it but an
individual is not required to be linked to an organization) - addressbook 
currently
has one record per entity that includes the individual and company data (hence 
six
individuals in a company result in six records that must each contain the full
company data)

The issue/problem of private and public records really revolves around the 
shifting
of one access right to another.  If we allow users to enter contact data in 
order
to create new porojects linked to them, how do we prevent the user from then 
making
it a private record and prevent others from seeing it.  The question is 
complicated
by the ability to make it private to some users and not to others.  For 
starters, I
think the priority is to prevent the users from deleting a contact record in
addbook (one phpgw module) that is referenced by timetrack (another phpgw 
module)
that should be solved by a phpgw_links table and having addbook check this table
before it deletes a record (this concept has been discussed on the developers 
list
and designed to expand to support all modules for cross linking information).  
The
links concept could then be extended to also overide access changes but there 
are
still potential problems - eg. user A makes a contact that is visible to user B 
who
links it to a project.  User A made the contact private but only allowed user B 
to
see it - what does user C see when they want information about that project?  
What
about two contact modules (one for corporate data and one for private data)?  
Maybe
that's the answer instead of trying to tie them into one module?

Anyway, those are some of the points whose outcomes that I hope the timetrack 
user
base will influence (in a manner that eases the end user's experience and seems
logical).  I want to standardize our company's contact storing system to avoid
duplication but I don't have a grand plan for how it will all work - I just know
that if I can get the main modules that we use to work together better, it will 
be
a step in the right direction

I hope phpgw looks close enough to what you want that you decide to use it.  My
priorities are to create a timetracking system whose contacts can sync to Palm 
PDAs
and editable invoices can be created from the recorded time data.  Future
priorities include better integration with an accounting package (the phpgw 
module
ck-ledger looks like a possibility)

Currently I have timetrack working with addbook, but don't have addbook checking
for links yet.