Radtracker: a web-based open-source issue tracking tool

Radiology departments are besieged with a multitude of information systems, each needing significant technical support. Information systems include the dictation system, the radiology information system (RIS), the picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), and every workstation and acquisition modality along with any dedicated system such as a teleradiology solution or specialized reporting tools. Typical radiology departments have very limited resources available to provide support. The challenges facing technical support are in responding to mission critical applications during a failure, building a knowledge base for each system, and providing clear communication with the users of the system experiencing problems. We have constructed a web-based support method that addresses the 3 main challenges of supporting so many different information systems with a formalized response mechanism. The website allows anyone to easily submit issues by describing the problem and selecting a specific category. Each support person subscribes to categories for which they are qualified. High-priority issues will be sent automatically to the alphanumeric pagers of the support personnel with the description of the problem. Drill down capabilities on the website allow searching of resolved and unresolved problems. Automatic emails are sent out to the person submitting the problem every time an action is taken to keep them in a closed loop. This tool pools the limited resources of the department and formalizes response mechanism to provide optimal support to the users.