If you follow RT releases and are familiar with our release policy, you know that the update from RT 4.4.1 to 4.4.2 is a point release. Point releases in the middle of a stable series usually contain bug fixes, smaller feature updates, and possible a security update. The 4.4.2 release, however, has much more in it than a typical point release and we wanted to highlight some of the more important features now available.
New Logos
We have had the Best Practical logo for many years and we have used it as the default logo for Request Tracker as well. We're excited to now have new product logo for RT and you'll get it in RT 4.4.2.
As always, RT remains completely configurable so if you have a company or other logo in place you can keep using that.
Reports Menu
We have restored the Reports menu to the top menu bar. Long-time RT users may remember that RT used to have a reports menu back in the 3.8 series. When 4.0 came out, it was removed because there were significant updates to the Query Builder and the reports provided in the Reports menu were fairly easy to build in the Query Builder. But we've heard from many users since then that they still liked the convenience of having standard reports for users who were less familiar with all of the options available in the Query Builder.
It's a small initial step for now, with us bringing back the same reports that were there previously. However, now that the menu is back, it will be much easier for us to add new reports over time based on user and customer feedback.
In the meantime, RT continues to have many ways to pull out important information, using searches. If you are comfortable with the Query Builder you can create custom reports by saving a search and creating a dashboard for yourself or other users.
Time Tracking Updates
In RT 4.4.0, we integrated some time tracking automation from an extension that helped manage time recorded on parent/child tickets. While these features worked well for some users, we discovered that some of the background actions weren't clear to all users and could create confusion. We have updated these parent/child time tracking features to make them more predictable and flexible. If you are using these features, you can find a more detailed description of the changes in the release notes.
New Condition and Action Management
Scrips are one of the most powerful features of RT as they let you build automation into every update made in RT. RT comes with a default set of conditions and actions to help you build in these custom workflows, but in the past it required server-level access to add and update conditions and actions.
The 4.4.2 release adds new menus for admins to be able to manage conditions and actions directly. This was available previously as an extension, but it's so useful that we wanted all RT admins to have it. In addition to the new admin pages, we have also included more documentation on creating and using your own conditions and actions. We hope this will make these features more accessible to many more RT admins and users.
Security Updates
The 4.4.2 release includes a set of security updates, so upgrading gets you patched for these as well. If you can't upgrade to 4.4.2 right now, you should download the patches appropriate to your version of RT and apply those.
Many More Updates and Features
In addition to the above, there is a long list of other useful changes that come with 4.4.2. We hope you'll be able to upgrade soon and get access to these updates and new features.