UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

The web-based project management system Redmine can document, work on, and trace project tasks in working groups. Relationships between individual tasks can be defined and connections to other elements in Redmine (e.g. documents, wikis, software source code) can be easily established. The progress of individual tasks can be tracked using status information and a percentage of completion. Tasks or sub-tasks can be assigned to individual project participants, who can in turn assign them to other project members (e.g. to clarify questions). In this way, a detailed overview of the project can be created with little effort, so that all project participants can always keep informed about the current status of things.

Although Redmine is generally very well suited for managing small to medium-sized projects, it particularly excels in projects involving software development. The Redmine installation offered at the RRZK allows users to fully integrate and use the version control system git directly from Redmine. This means, among other things, that access to the git repository is directly linked to membership in the project and can therefore be easily determined by the project manager. It also means that, for example, bug reports (tickets) can be directly linked to changes in the source code, making it particularly easy to trace which errors in the software were fixed and when. This function can even be used without additional clicks in the web interface.

Functions of Redmine

If you have not worked with Redmine before, it is best to take a look at the screen shots of Redmine that we have compiled on our own page for you. There you will also find references to Redmine guides on the internet that are particularly suitable for beginners.

For users who already know Redmine, we have also written RRZK-specific details on our own page.

Redmine at the RRZK

At the RRZK, a Redmine server is operated at the address redmine.uni-koeln.de. Members of the University of Cologne with a staff or student account can log in directly with their account, but are initially not assigned to any project.

If you would like to have your own project area created for your project, please use our contact form or send an email with the following information to redmine-adminuni-koeln.de:

• Name of the project (no more than 30 characters),
• Short description (one or two sentences that characterize the project),
• Indication of whether git is needed in the project or not,
• Account name of the staff account of the project responsible person.
  This account will be registered in Redmine and is the one who can also admit other users to the project. This level of permission (project manager) can also be delegated, so that other project members can also have the permission to add or remove users from the project.
• If in addition to members of the UzK with a staff or student account, external members (e.g. from other universities, MPI, etc.) should also participate in the project, please also provide their names and email addresses, so that a user account can be created for each of them in Redmine.

The Redmine service is operated in consultation with the data protection officer of the UzK in such a way that accesses and project information are deleted after certain periods of time. For example, unused accounts of external users are deactivated after one year and deleted after another year. Similarly, projects are frozen after one year of inactivity and deleted after another year. Please take this into account when planning your use of the Redmine system. For data that needs to be kept for longer periods of time, it is possible to download individual information from Redmine, for example, as a PDF file and then save or archive it in an appropriate place.