Here’s what has changed:

Planning Module

Fixed the unrecognized tag item_priority issue in printing the plan.

Reports Module

Will install even if Tickets Master Categories don’t exist.

Time Reports Plus Module

• Fixed Mass update required page reload to come back to Time Reports Plus
• Fix for incorrect user / project URL in time records

As usual, you can download these updates from our members area.

Suggested upgrade for people you use multiple languages with activeCollab.

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.

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)

System Usage Statistics

Reports module tells we I have 41 active projects now, and have logged close to 22,000 hours of work on those projects. We have tons of work items completed, 2GB worth of files, and we are going strong.

And when I looked at the overall project summary, it told me we are 91% done, yet will never finish our projects. We have logged close to 4000 hours over the last 3 months and have items that are due for more than 290 days.

Summary - All Projects

And if that was not enough, we are closing work only at a rate of 12 items per week.

Few!

I planned to spend about 10 minutes reviewing the reports since I just wanted to test before wrapping up the build. But I spent well over half an hour – with occasional “wow’s” and “aha’s”, and “damn’s” in between.I think I am loving it.

Here are some other revelations / insights:

• Lot of team members use the system to just log hours (since it’s mandatory to log hours)
• Some tell me they will log hours, but never do! I could actually send them a reminder right from the Reports module.
• We don’t use the estimates feature of Planning module. Most items are not estimated.
• It’s actually good to have “Never” as the forecast date! It means my team has enough work  for a while
• Most of the clients are involved only in posting comments on discussions. May be we can get them more involved on features / bugs.
• We have many old clients in the system who are no longer active. May be it’s time to check how they are doing and if they have more work for us

My final reaction: this is deadly. This version of Reports module is just too dangerous. It’s sizzling hot. It must be handled with care.

Take care!

What if you can take some action right on that reports page?

That will make reports even more valuable. Imagine seeing a burndown chart and firing an email to your project lead – either congratulating on the consistent progress or inquiring into the causes of recent decline in project velocity.

We experienced a sudden flash of creativity while we were building people reports for the next release of Reports module for activeCollab.

We are incorporating a simple feedback mechanism on reports – ability to send an email to your team while you are viewing the project / people / companies reports. You can invoke it by a keystroke or clicking a button. You will be able to do that from any screen – project reports, people reports or companies reports.

Do you think it will be useful to you?

(PS: The bad part: This will delay the release by a few days. But we’ll complete it ASAP!)

Here are the basic steps in upgrading Reports Module for activeCollab.

1. Ensure you have the latest version of Reports module.
2. Unzip the module on your computer. You should see a folder named “for-upload”.
3. Go to your activeCollab installation website. Go to administration panel.
4. Click on “Modules”, then “Reports Module”.
5. Click “Uninstall” to remove the current version of Reports Module.
6. Upload files from the “for-upload” folder to your server via FTP / SCP. Overwrite existing Reports module files in activecollab/application/modules/reports/ and public/assets/modules/reports/ folders. Make sure you upload files to the right locations and are not overwriting any folders other than the two above.
7. Go back to activeCollab administration screen -> Modules -> Reports Module.
8. Click “Install”. This will taken a snapshot of your data again and set up the Reports module.
9. Confirm that “can_use_reports” permission is enabled on appropriate System Roles as you need.
10. Upgrade is complete! You can now enjoy the fresh new Reports module!

This version adds many powerful features and works with latest stable activeCollab version. Here is what has changed.

• Reports module now works with AC 2.1. Also added installation checks.
• You can now see reports grouped by activeCollab project groups.
• Added support for updating reports daily. Default changed to daily updates.
• Reports now also include Pages – active (open) / archived (closed), and hours logged on them. They also show up in most active and longest open lists.
• If project names are too long, the project drop down used to be too wide. Fixed.
• Confirmed that the module works over SSL as well.
• Increased memory limit and execution time limit while installing. This will make it work for setups with many projects / tickets.

We are excited about this release and got great response within minutes of releasing it! Here’s a customer feedback:

Thank you. This is an amazingly powerful and useful tool and on top of making it compatible you added all the extra power features that were suggested! I’m ecstatic.

– WillemN from gfxi

If you are an existing customer, you get upgrades free for one year and would have already received it. If you are interested, you can buy Reports module from activeCollab from here, it’s only $69.

As always, we look forward to your ideas, suggestions and feedback!

Here’s the list:

• Updating reports data everyday, instead of every week
• People Reports – list of members, their hours worked, tickets posted / closed (want your suggestions here)
• MIS Reports – project costing and profitability?
• Add tasks from Pages too
• Bug fix: If project names are too long, the view gets cut
• Improvement: Insert reports data in batches of only 100 rows at once to avoid query length limitations

What do you think will be most important? What features would you like?

Please post your comments on our Get Satisfaction page and let us know what you think. Feel free to add share any other ideas too!

What do you think?

Are you ready to buy? It’s just $39!