Next, we thought of adding some color to the dashboard. So here we are introducing graphs (bar charts)

Time Reports Plus KPI

With this new release, 4 main KPI’s i.e. paid, unpaid, billable, non billable will be shown as a bar chart.

Also the current week is shown as a graph . This feature will give you a quick view about your current week progress.

Now, Time Reports Plus loads current month time records by default. So, most required KPI’s will be at your finger tips. You can always set filters according to your need and get required reports.

Earlier Time Reports Plus screen

What we realized was that the older TRP (Time Reports Plus) module had all sought after information related to time reporting, but  it did not have was a seamless, one screen, experience in a typical time reporting workflow.

To get different perspectives on the time tracked, you’d have to change summarization parameters to look at key performance indicators – for example, hours billable, pending, non billable etc. We felt this was a little tedious.

This time, we placed the most important KPI’s and right on the time reports page. So you can easily evaluate them, and do not have to run filters again and again.

Here’s the new look of Time Reports Plus:

The New Time Reports Plus with KPIs at a glance

Here are the KPIs we’ve included.

Comparison KPIs: This Week vs Previous Week & This Month vs Previous Month’s time tracked.

Time by Billable Status Billable, Pending, Non Billable, Paid time tracked.

Summary KPIs for Projects, Users, Job types, Project Category, Task Category and Company.

• Project – see time tracked on all projects
• Users – time logged by different people in your team
• Job Type – gives clarity regarding time spent on each type of work
• Task Category – summarized view of time logged in different categories
• Project Category – figure out what type of projects are consuming time
• Company – time spent for each client

I believe you’ll find these KPI’s useful.

Try out Reports Plus today!

Post a comment and give us feedback!

The result of that thinking and a few iterations is available to all. Here’s a summary of what we have changed and why…

BEFORE: Project Reports – Velocity, Burn Down, Hours and more

AFTER: Revamped Project Reports

1. Key Performance Indicators

We moved Key Performance Indicators to left and highlighted velocity and hours. We felt those are the two most important numbers to track. The project progress indicator was switched to a simpler bar and we added a clear label for the forecasted completion date. Next milestone is played down, but available for anyone who wants to see what’s coming next (this is especially useful in individual projects)

2. Burn Down Chart

The most important thing about a burn down chart is the slope at which it is going down – indicating the velocity at which the project is moving and giving you an estimate of when the project is likely to complete. Earlier it took the full width of the screen. It is now smaller, but still conveys all important information.

3. Hours Chart

Hours chart shows weekly tracked hours, total estimated hours and total tracked hours till date. We trimmed this chart too – and even made the columns slimmer! Hovering your mouse over any circle reveals more information.

4. Tasks Progress

This is a new block we added to project reports. In activeCollab 2 days, we showed tasks in different categories, but workflow labels provide a more accurate representation of task status. Custom workflow labels and their colors will be the same across the system.

5. Most Active & Open

The list of most actively worked upon tasks was not given priority earlier. It is now right in front center. This list tells you which work is keeping your team occupied currently.

6. Longest Overdue

The other important list is tasks that are overdue for a long time. These are items that either need some love to complete them, or an edit that removes the due date on them!

7. Project Status Overview

The project status overview block comes only for collections of projects – for instance when you’re viewing report for “All Projects” or projects for a particular company. This was earlier a new tab in its own but we’ve merged it with project reports. The list is easy to read – shows overall progress, project name, leader name, percentage completion, number of tasks done and total tasks, total hours tracked – and optionally the next milestone in this project.

System Stats

Not visible in this screenshot are quick stats about the system – total projects, users, files, their size etc. This block was only in companies tab earlier, and is now moved to project reports, below the tasks progress block.

Do you think these changes make reports more usable?

Do you like these changes? Do they make it easier to get a sense of how well your projects are doing? What would you like us to improve further?

Post a comment and let us know!

Suggested upgrade for people you use multiple languages with activeCollab.

Up To The Minute Reports

Because it is so useful, people want to use it more and more. So when people realize that Reports module updates its data every day, they sometimes get disappointed. Reports module gathers data for every week in one slot, much like an iteration, and takes a snapshot via the daily scheduled task within activeCollab.

Now there are two reasons to update reports daily:

1. Taking this snapshot can be resource intensive – especially with very active systems.
2. A working day is dynamic. A lot changes in projects every day. Some people log their hours at the end of the day. All this can be best captured at the end of the day / start of next day.
3. And well, only the Burn Down, Hours Chart and Work Summary charts are updated daily. All People / Company reports and Most Active / Longest Open reports are always latest!

But many clients told us that they would like to get up to the minute reports. The latest 1.8 release of Reports module will please them! We have added a “force update on access” option in admin. Turn it on and Reports data will be updated every time someone accesses Reports. This may take a while if you have lot of updates but will get you latest burn down, hour logs and work summaries.

Update Reporting Data On Every Access

Changelog for version 1.8

Here’s a list of all changes in this version.

Enhancements:

• 

  All Dates in Smart Date Selector

  Added “All Dates” to the smart date selector.

• Added an option to force update reporting data every time someone access reports.
• Better localization support.
• Added support for Confidential Items module. Confidential Items won’t be shown in Reports – except for their inclusion in summarized totals.

Bug Fixes:

• Trashed milestones and time records were included in some calculations.

Now there is something else that deserves some mention here.

Feature Requests We Did Not Include

We got a few feature requests that we did not include. Here are those requests and why we have not included them.

Skipping Items Under Unknown Milestone

The argument was that it is items under milestones that contribute to project’s current plan. The project as it stands today is defined with milestones. So completing these items, and tracking their burn down is most important. Client also suggested keeping this as a per project option.

We did not do this because we believer items without a milestone are equally important for a project. We are interested in completing the whole project, not just a few milestones. Most projects slack in the last 10%. Items lingering without a milestone slow the project down. They are the items nobody wants to do. They are the items that are merely “wishes” and not “requirements”. They are the items that need to be dealt with – processed, deleted or deferred.

Unless they are visible, they will not be dealt with. So we decided to keep them around.

Not including Pages / Discussions in Burn Down

Client mentioned that Reports module includes Pages / Discussions in the burn down chart and that should not be the case. Pages or Discussions can’t be completed, so they should not be included in Burn Down.

And that’s right. Pages or Discussions can’t be completed (OK, Pages can be archived and Discussions can be Locked). And the Burn Down should only include anything that’s completable.

Fact is Reports module already works like that. Burn Down will only include items that can be completed. So it does not include Pages / Discussions. But it does include Tasks attached with Pages. Because they are work items too. activeCollab too works in the same way.

Hiding the Hour Chart if not using Time Tracking Module

One client mentioned that they don’t use time tracking, hence would like to remove the Hours Chart from Reports module.

This is a good reason actually. We believe in reducing clutter and if one is not using time tracking or estimates, removing the Hours Chart makes sense.

But hours are used in a lot of places. Certainly on the project reports, but also on the people reports, in people’s activity scores, and also in company reports. Removing hours chart wouldn’t be sufficient. We will have to remove everything that is depended on time records. This is a big change, so we have deferred it. If there is enough demand for it, we will build it!

Showing Project Specific Categories in Work Summary

Many clients have asked to show project specific categories in Work Summary chart.

This is useful, but easier said than done. Work Summary chart shows a trend of open / completed items in different categories over a period of time. Project categories can change any time. So we need a consistent reference point to show the trend. Which is why we use Master Categories to plot the Work Summary chart. Everything that does not fall under any Master Categories, goes to Others.

Removing “Other” Category from Work Summary

Similarly, a client said they don’t use the “Others” category so it should be removed.

Unfortunately, it can’t be removed since it’s the “catchall” category.

Getting The Latest Version

You can download the latest version from our members area. If your annual support / upgrades plan has expired, you can renew from within the members area to get access to the latest version.

What Do You Think?

What do you think about the latest version of Reports Module? How have you been using it? What would you like to see in future? Post your comments here. We are listening!

We have significantly improved the localization support in this version. Translated strings now show at all places and are dynamically loaded from your activeCollab.

Now even send Reminders in Spanish from Reports module. We have full localization support.

Here’s what included in this release.

Feature Additions

• Improved localization support. Now all labels can be translated and work well
• Project name in summary boxes are now clickable and linked to Project Dashboard
• Added links to all “Recent Activities” and “Upcoming Items” in People reports
• Omitted projects under “Project Template Group” in projects list
• Moved Reports Module loading indicator higher for better visibility

Click here to learn more about Reports module and how it can benefit you.

Issues Fixed

• Next Milestone Date is now adjusted according to user’s timezone
• Fixed: HTTP Request Error – if Calendar module is not installed
• Fixed: If admin entered hours for other people, they were still reported under admin
• Made “wmode opaque” for Reports flash file. Will show Project List / Status / Quick Add windows above the Reports module now.
• Fixed: If person was not assigned any project, DB Query Errors were generated.
• Fixed: All items going in “Other” category
• Fixed: Estimates staying flat if there were no tasks on tickets
• Fixed: Date time field mismatch in DB Queries for end dates
• Fixed: Clicking a ticket from Person Card did not work

We recommend all current users to upgrade to the latest version. This upgrade can be done simply by replacing all files in their correct locations over FTP.

Click here to learn more about Reports module and how it can benefit you.

Reports Module is one of the most successful activeCollab related products developed outside A51.

That’s right. Hundreds of customers use Reports module and they all find it invaluable. Here’s a comment we got a few hours ago:

I use both your Reports and Planning modules. LOVE them both.
– Monica

We eat our own dogfood. We use our products daily and listen to our customers. Frankly, we developed Reports module for our own use. When we couldn’t imagine living without it, we released it as a product.

Sometimes you download software and you just can’t believe how bad it is, or how hard it is to accomplish the very simple tasks that the software tries to accomplish. Chances are, it’s because the developers of the software don’t use it.
– Joel Spolski on Eating your own Dogfood

Thankfully, our software does not fall in this category.

The Story Behind Reports Module

It’s been over a year we launched the Reports module. We were using activeCollab for managing projects and needed a better reporting system. We wanted to track velocity of projects (rate at which they are completing), iteration charts (kind of work done each week) and insights into most active and longest open items. We also wanted to track what items needed attention and were risky / dependent on others.

We started generating these reports using SQL queries on activeCollab database. We created a few MySQL views, ran a set of queries and exported a CSV file at the end.

One day, I resolved to make this look prettier and put together a dashboard with charts and lists populated from these queries. I polished it over the next few days and put it up on our activeCollab setup. The reaction was “WOW!” We kept it going for a while, but Reports module was destined for something bigger.

Software Services vs Products Dilemma

If you are a software services company, you write a lot of code. You build tools that save you time. Most of these tools have great value, but only for you. At times, you dream of generalizing these tools and releasing them for greater good. But often they end up as internal side projects. Sometimes you release them, but can’t give them enough attention since you already have other paid projects waiting.

I’ve been through this experience two dozen times. In last 12 years at Magnet, I’ve initiated about 22 products. Most died. Some were released as open source. Some became popular. Some took life of their own. None gave us revenue we could sustain. Paid consulting projects kept running the company and product ideas remained only a wish.

I was not going to repeat that mistake this time.

If you do it, do it for good

When I decided to release Reports module to public, I was clear it had to be a long-term product, a paid product and something that I will pay enough attention to. No more side projects. I wanted something that will become a business in its own.

Reports Module Sales Trend

Over the last year, Reports module has evolved. Nine releases in a year, many bug fixes, enhancements and a major overhaul, Reports module has come a long way. We have also seen sales grow after our initial launch, slow down, and then pick up once again after the major 1.6 version launch. We have incorporated a lot of user feedback (we feel privileged to have participating customers!)

Today, Reports module gives us insights. It helps us track project progress, how the team is doing and even the overall system usage. There are enormous improvements in the “prettiness” too!

Reports Module in Feb 2009 (click for full view)

Reports Module in Feb 2010 (click for full view)

We have our wish list open though, and there are improvements we are planning for this year.

activeCollab team did a comprehensive review of the module – features, usefulness and its working. At the end, they said:

Reports module can be a very useful and handy tool, especially if you’re working with clients and great number of people. Everything is accessible easily, available at one place, and simple to set up.

Everything is accessible, available and simple! – that sums up our principles for developing software. We use them on all our software and are glad activeCollab team recognized them clearly. (I hope they finds Reports module useful for tracking their projects as well!)

I want to end this post with a summary of I think contributed to our little success with Reports module (and our other products).

Success Factors

• Unexplored, super niche market: Reports module was the first commercial module for activeCollab. First reporting tool of its kind. activeCollab has a small, but participating and forward thinking customer base. This really worked.
• Accessible, available, simple: Our focus is always on keeping only what’s important and making it easily accessible. Things that would take you hours to do, we want you to do them in minutes. We want everything simple and easy to understand. We spend more time thinking about simplifying our products, than in writing code! Everything from our products to demo videos is designed with our users in mind.
• Community participation: We made it simple to give feedback. We’ve had some great feedback from customers and we improve our products with that. Participating on activeCollab forums helped establish credibility as well.
• Long term vision, self-interest and passion: I founded Apps Magnet to be a sustainable long-term business that makes money by making people more productive. I am passionate about programming, productivity and making a difference. Apps Magnet is an expression of my passion. We make products that we want, we build them with passion, and are happy to find enough customers who share this passion.

Thank you for reading! I wish you a passionate and productive day today!

(dancing balls image from Flickr)

Guido mentions that since activeCollab is web based, it is much easier to get all parties involved together. Communication is smoother and customers can participate in the development process.

They also use our Planning and Reports modules for activeCollab and said:

Reports we use internally for all projects and looking around to see how many hours the various components in a project cost and whether it matches the data in the planning module.

With this understanding we can better estimate for new projects, see where any bottlenecks, thus increasing our efficiency.

I am glad our products help increase efficiency and better track your projects Guido!

Thanks for sharing your story.

How are you using activeCollab / our products?

So, What’s New?

A whole lot. Almost everything actually! We rewrote the whole system. Here’s a summary of what’s changed.

Reporting engine revamp

Reports now include checklists, tasks, milestones and tickets. Daily snapshots have higher accuracy and are in line with activeCollab’s access privilege system. The core reporting engine is robust and well tested.

Person Reports Card

Detailed People reports added

You can now keep track of your team’s activities. See detailed statistics about work activity, project assignments and compare people using the Activity Score. Assignment chart shows you items assigned to a person across projects while Hours chart shows the actual hours spent across assigned projects. You can filter people by name, role and company as well as see performance in given date range.

Company Reports added – including overview of projects for that company

Another major addition is Company Reports. You can now see project status summary for all projects of a company on one screen. Filter to see only Active Projects or All Projects.

Ability to send a reminder from within Reports module

Reporting without the ability to take action has limited use. You can now send a reminder / followup / appreciation right from Reports module. Appropriate person will automatically appear in the To field, and you can add any other user using intelligent auto complete system. You can do use this quick action system from all reports – Projects, People and Companies.

Printing improved significantly

Printing now works much better, and works for all three reporting screens. We have even included a summary at top.

Company Usage Stats

System usage statistics as part of company reports

There is no way to find out how many total, open and closed tickets you have in activeCollab. No way to find out disk space usage or number of users either. System usage statistics – available under Companies Reports – provide you detailed usage statistics about your activeCollab system. You can narrow down by client companies to see their usage patterns too.

Project status summary added to Project Reports, including forecast

Get a summary of project’s progress at a glance with the Project Status summary panel. You can see % completion, leader, group, next milestone and a pie chart indicating progress. Hovering over gives you additional details. Project’s Velocity (speed of completing items) is highlighted. And we have even added a forecast date for project completion. It studies the last few weeks’ items – opened, closed, reopened, added – and predicts a completion date.

HTTPS support

Reports module now works well over HTTPS too! Thanks to everyone’s patience on this!

Revamped interface

We are proud of user interface redesign in this release! We spent numerous hours getting the details right. We hope you will appreciate it.

Permissions and configuration for Reports from AC Admin section

You no longer need to edit PHP files to change settings. You don’t even need to go to System Roles to give permissions to view Reports. We have added a Reports Configuration option in activeCollab administration screen. You can configure permissions, date format, weights to use in activity scores and other settings from there.

Fine grained access control – rights inherited from activeCollab

Reports module now will only include those projects, companies and users that are visible to the currently logged in user. It will show reports according to access rights of current user. You can now rest assured that users won’t get access to any unauthorized information. Rights are inherited from activeCollab and you can also set permissions for the three types of reports from Reports module configuration screen in activeCollab administration section.

Possibly a hundred other small improvements!

There are many other enhancements! Lots of tweaks to make your reporting easier, faster and more productive for you. We have paid attention to the details so that you can focus on taking decisions based on these reports.

Wow, that’s a lot! Is there a demo?

We don’t have a live demo, but invite you to our short introduction video on Reports Module. It will show you all types of reports available and how you can use them. You can also see some screenshots from documentation page.

Looks good. I want to get insights on my projects too!

Sure. Go ahead, click here to purchase Reports module ($69) and download it instantly. Installation instructions are included in your download.

You can learn more about Reports Module here.

Learn More – View Demo Video – Buy Now ($69)

Thank you Santa!

Thank you Santa for this wonderful Christmas gift!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you from Apps Magnet team!

(Santa Clause photo by Matti Mattila)

Price is $69. And it’s worth much more!

If you are an existing customer, you can download the latest version using the same download link as you got in the original purchase email.

More updates and demo video coming soon.