acGarage Introduction: Kaizen for activeCollab upgrades, hacks and housekeeping
Come, join acGarage, sign up now!
The term kaizen (Japanese for “improvement”) is a Japanese word adopted into English referring to a philosophy or practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, business activities in general, and even life in general, depending on interpretation and usage.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to this introduction to acGarage. I am your host, Nirav Mehta. In this quick intro, I will tell you why we built acGarage, what it provides, how it works, and what you can expect from it.
First, an important message.
Watch this video carefully. It can dramatically reduce the time you spend in managing your activeCollab setup.
Let me start by sharing my own experience.
How we resisted upgrading activeCollab
We setup our activeCollab system with version 1.1.5. We loved it for collaboration and project management. We even hacked it to suit our needs. activeCollab team kept releasing newer versions and we kept watching. We resisted redoing our hacks. And consoled ourselves by saying “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. But we really missed all the great features of new versions.
We finally upgraded after 9 months.
Upgrade Problems
The problem was that a typical upgrade process takes about an hour and involves tracking and downloading the latest version, unzipping it, uploading 2500 odd files to the server, running the upgrade script, testing to ensure everything is working, and cleaning things up. And this was the best case example. If something went wrong, it would be a nightmare.
We would rather set up the latest version on our development server before making it live.
All this was time consuming.
Consider the fact that there was a new activeCollab release every month. And then new versions of modules and themes. Tracking, upgrading and getting all these to work requires time and technical expertise. Most people just give up.
Everyone has the same struggle
We felt all activeCollab users must be facing the same struggle. So why not solve this for everyone?
And that’s why we spent last two months building acGarage.
Introducing acGarage
acGarage is designed to simplify upgrades and system administration with activeCollab. We want you to focus on managing projects, not activeCollab!
acGarage is starting with three components. (and we plan to add more)
Component 1: Upgrades
First, is upgrades. We will upgrade your activeCollab core, custom modules, themes and even hacks. You subscribe to acGarage, and we take care of all upgrades. It’s that simple.
As of now, acGarage supports the latest beta and stable versions of activeCollab. Planning, Reports, Notifications and Lightbox modules. Access, Chocolate, Green and Ocean Blue themes. And our own hacks to activeCollab.
Let me tell you more about acHacks.
Component 2: acHacks
acHacks is the second component of acGarage. They add useful yet missing features to activeCollab. acHacks are complimentary to all acGarage subscribers. We will release a new hack every month and maintain it. When you subscribe, you automatically get all these hacks and their updates.
Component 3: Housekeeping
The third component of acGarage is Housekeeping. acGarage will automatically perform routine system cleanups and maintenance. This may include emptying the trash, deactivating passive users or projects, and completing child items whose parent is complete.
Just set your housekeeping preferences on acGarage and we will carry them out every month.
Ok, so this is all great. How does it really work?
How does it work?
Most of this is very simple. We track and test new versions, and apply fixes if any. Once we are happy, we upload them to your server. So you get year long updates, without spending your own time.
I am very excited about acGarage because of the value it provides. Let me summarize what you’d get when you sign up.
What do you get?
First, you get AppsMagnet’s proven expertise. We have solid activeCollab experience and are deeply involved in improving it. We ensure everything works. We work hard so that you don’t have to.
acGarage is a managed service. Once you sign up, we take care of the upgrades and housekeeping. Our upgrade process is specially designed for minimal downtime and it just works.
acGarage is the first and only comprehensive upgrade, development and housekeeping service for activeCollab. acGarage is not just upgrades, it’s continuous improvement.
It’s kaizen for activeCollab.
Costs and Savings
Let’s talk about money. If you were to do these tasks yourselves, you would spend about 107 hours a year. That’s 2 hours every week. At the rate of $20 per hour, that’s like $2000.
Compare that to the acGarage’s 2 minute signup process and $199 price tag. You are getting huge savings. And you can use those 2 hours saved every week on something more productive – like growing your business.
Summary
To summarize, acGarage is the managed expert service for continuous improvement of your activeCollab setup. It includes upgrades, hacks and housekeeping. You can sign up for an annual plan for only $199.
Thank you for watching this introduction.