Mizen (part of Planning module) is our ambitious undertaking to make getting things done a delight!

We are making improvements iteratively. Adding small features and enhancements with each release. And I think some of the recent changes we made are solid steps towards our vision…

Quick Jump, Cleaner UI and Workflow Label indicators

We updated Mizen’s design to be cleaner and more understandable – colors, fonts, lines, borders, spacing… It feels a lot more stable now and to my eyes a lot more usable as well.

At the top, we added quick jump selectors. If you have a long list of tasks, the grouping parameters will be available as “jump to” choices helping you navigate faster.

You’ll also see a colored strip in front of task entry indicating its workflow label. This will make it easier to identify and work with items that need your attention.

Update a task while leaving a comment

We’ve brought task actions into commenting – so you can change the status, label, assignee or category of the task as you post a comment. Much like how you can do it on the activeCollab task page.

Update using Auto Updater and Give us feedback

All this and more is available with Mizen. And Mizen is currently available as part of Planning module.

If you have purchased Planning module already, you can get the latest update from our My Accounts area, or better still, use Apps Magnet Auto Updater to check for and install updates automatically.

And we’d love to hear your feedback on these changes! Do post your comments here.

Planning Module is our most loved, most recommended, best selling product. 892 clients and getting stronger every day!

Top feature requests for Planning Module are better printing, editable Gantt charts, resource management and task dependencies. Now these are major items and while we are putting forces behind them, I wanted to get one release out that fixes some odd issues and adds subtle, but very useful enhancements.

So we released Planning Module 1.7 today. Here’s list of all changes.

Enhancements:

Friendly and Numeric Hour Formats

• Limit what sections users can see within Planning module – Outline, Cards or Timeline. Now you can give clients access only to Timeline.
• Estimates / Actual Hours can now be seen in numeric format within Planning module. Select this from the Settings menu at top right.
• Force update parent estimates even when their existing estimates are greater than the sum of estimates of children. Select this from the Settings menu at top right.
• Brought back maroon color highlight on overdue items
• Rescheduling a Milestone from activeCollab now correctly adjust start dates
• Adjustment to fonts for better Unicode support

Fixes:

• Error when saving a plan
• Expand All does not expand all on reload
• outline.png image missing from Quick Start page

Finely Crafted Permissions in Planning Module

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 Planning Module? How have you been using it? What would you like to see in future? Post your comments here. We are listening!

I just released Tickets Plus version 1.3 and Planning Module version 1.6.1. Both are important bug fix releases. I recommend you upgrade – especially if you did not upgrade to Tickets Plus 1.2 or Planning 1.6 last time.

Here’s a list of fixes for your reference.

Tickets Plus Module v1.3

• API functionality broke with Tickets Plus. Fixed. Thanks to Jacob Hrinko for reporting
• Milestone dates were messed up when created from Template Project. Fixed. Thanks to Student Express for reporting this.
• Added method setResolution() for backward compatibility with AC 2.3.1 or earlier
• Added compatibility with Tickets Merge version 1.1
• acHack: Latest Comments First did now work. Fixed.

Planning module v1.6.1

• Could not complete tickets from Planning module. Fixed. Thanks to Jody Botham
• Milestone dates were messed up when created from Template Project. Fixed. Thanks to Student Express for reporting this.
• Added method setResolution() for backward compatibility with AC 2.3.1 or earlier

Thank you for your continued support and awesome participation in the Get Satisfaction community

Wishing you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Regards,
Nirav Mehta and Apps Magnet Crew

PS: I am working on another product – an add-on for the popular WP e-Commerce plugin for WordPress. Just like Planning Module, it can boost productivity by 10X. We have reached version 0.5 there, and I just opened first cut of the sales page today. You may want to check it out and give me feedback: http://www.storeapps.org/

PS2: Thanks again!

Upgrading Planning module to version 1.6 or Tickets Plus module to version 1.2+ requires some work, else you may see errors

Upgrading to Planning Module 1.6 (or Tickets Plus 1.2+) requires some extra work – apart from the standard “upload the ‘for-upload’ folder and install module from admin” procedure. Since we have decoupled Planning module and Tickets Plus, and that Tickets Plus is now a module, we need to bring the installation back to a cleaner state before uploading Planning module / Tickets Plus files.

Here’s what needs to be done:

• Uninstall Planning module from activeCollab admin (this is not mandatory, but will keep things simpler). Rest assured, uninstalling Planning module won’t remove any of your data.
• Do not uninstall Tickets module. Uninstalling Tickets module removes all tickets from the system. You don’t want to do that.
• Delete the activecollab/application/modules/planning folder from the server.
• Delete config/tickets_plus_config.php file as well.
• It’s best to re-upload Tickets module folders from original activeCollab source. But at least, delete following four files from activecollab/application/modules/tickets/helpers folder: function.object_category_icon.php, function.select_assignees_box.php, function.select_box_redirect.php, function.select_workflow_status.php
• You can now upload all contents of for-upload folders from Planning and Tickets Plus module .zip files.
• Now, go ahead and activate Planning and Tickets Plus modules from admin.
• Clear compile and cache folders from your server via FTP / SSH.
• Go to Tickets list in a project. You should see the live search box near the top.
• Verify Planning module is working fine.
• That’s all! Enjoy the upgrades now.

What kind of errors are expected?

You may see Smarty Error and Fatal error: Call to undefined method Tickets::getWorkflowStatuses(). They may come from a file in Planning or Tickets module. Both can be resolved if you follow above instructions.

activeCollab 2.3.2 is the only officially supported version now

Please note that we only support activeCollab 2.3.2+ now. Our products may work with earlier versions (they generally do) but we won’t be able to support activeCollab compatibility issues if any.

Will this upgrade break anything else?

We don’t think so. This undefined method problem is the only one we anticipate. If you notice any other issues, please report them on our support forums.

I had made changes to tickets_plus_config.php. How do I apply them again?

Copy over planning_config.php from activecollab/application/modules/planning (if you are using Planning module only) or tickets_plus_config.php from activecollab/application/modules/tickets_plus as config/tickets_plus_config.php. Now make changes to this file. Your updates will be used by both Planning and Tickets Plus modules.

We are releasing Planning Module 1.6 today. The best got better!

Highlights of this release are:

• Tickets hacks are now a separate module – Tickets Plus Module and include major enhancements
• You can now work full screen with Planning module
• Some long standing bugs are gone – private milestones and version conflicts are the main ones
• Planning Module (and other latest releases) now officially support activeCollab 2.3.2 and onwards (we are dropping support for older versions)

Upgrading requires some work, else you may see errors

Upgrading to Planning Module 1.6 requires some extra work – apart from the standard “upload the ‘for-upload’ folder and install module from admin” procedure. Since we have decoupled Planning module and Tickets Plus, and that Tickets Plus is now a module, we need to bring the installation back to a cleaner state before uploading Planning module / Tickets Plus files.

Click here for upgrade instructions.

Common Questions you may have

Why are we separating Tickets hacks as a new module?

Short answer: operational efficiencies.

Long answer: Tickets enhancements have been a huge success. As we call them – they are like a warrior’s sword. A warrior needs to keep his sword sharp. And we plan to enhance Tickets Plus regularly. We started selling Tickets Plus as a separate product couple months back but included all files in Planning module for your convenience. This means every time a new version of Tickets Plus comes out, we also need to roll out a new Planning module version. We would also need to closely coordinate development of both products. And as we released a new version of either of them, customers will have to upgrade them too. This was getting complicated. Hence we decided to split. We can now work independently on each product and you can now upgrade them independently as well.

Do I have to pay again for Tickets Plus?

No! Tickets Plus module is complimentary to all Planning Module customers even now. All Planning Module customers will see new Tickets Plus Module downloads in their accounts. Use links there to download your copy of Tickets Plus.

Why are we dropping support for older activeCollab versions?

Frankly, to make our (and yours) lives easier. We believe activeCollab 2.3.2 is a solid version, and everyone should upgrade to it. Secondly, supporting multiple versions took longer time in development, testing and customer service.

If you are using older version of activeCollab, you can download / use earlier version of Planning / Tickets Plus modules.

Should I upgrade?

Oh yes!

My license has expired. What should I do?

Please renew your license. This will give you an additional year’s upgrades and will help us continue bringing improvements!

When will “Feature X / Y / Z” be available?

We are defining priorities for the next version of Planning Module. There are some ideas we are considering – like better printing, multiple projects in outline view and resource management. Please post your suggestions on our forum and vote for features you like.

Here are full release notes.

Release Notes

Enhancements

• Separated Tickets Plus from Planning Module
• Tickets Plus: Live search on Tickets List view
• Tickets Plus: Added In Progress workflow status
• Tickets Plus: Workflow names and CSS associations updated, so you can now easily change workflow status labels
• Tickets Plus: Quick Update now only changes responsible person so other assignees are preserved
• Tickets Plus: Enhanced List and Print views
• Full screen mode: Planning Module can now fill your entire browser screen via Full screen mode.
• Added support for Confidential Items Module: You can now make items confidential from Planning Module itself.
• Added Actual Hours field in CSV export

Fixes

• Milestones were created as Private for Private Projects
• Cards view search function was broken. Fixed.
• Tickets Plus: Drag and drop did not work in tickets list
• Notifications said “Created” when the item was updated

Next Actions

• Login to your members area and download the latest versions (you can also renew your license from there)
• Buy Planning Module today if you haven’t already done so – it’s still our most loved product!

Ok, so I just sent out an email announcement about the latest release of Planning module – version 1.4. This update provides a lot of long pending (and eagerly awaited) features and fixes many issues. we strongly recommend all customers to upgrade. And if you haven’t bought Planning module yet, you should get it right away!

Enhancements:

• Print from Outline and Card views
• Full localization support. You can now even change names for Tickets, Milestones, Tasks etc in Outline / Card view
• Works with activeCollab Small Biz edition too
• Updated icons – added colors! Let us know how you like this!
  
• Tickets listing in AC can now show details with single click, assignees, due dates along with category icon, workflow status and a quick Edit link. Thanks to Frederik (Dwarf), mphillips, MarkOs, bean_nwfc and other contributors on activeCollab forum post
  
• Project selector now longer shows up at start up. Only when you click “Open”.
• Increased height of Project selector for readability with long list
• Alert boxes now show up near the top, making them easier to find
• Enhanced error checking during save and notification sending
• Created new project from template now advances Start dates too.
• Completed or Inactive projects too can be edited with Planning module now.
• Merged hacks and Planning module files for easier installation
• Other small fixes and performance improvements

Issues Fixed:

• Quick Update completes / reopens ticket correctly now
• Error on line 1066 in Planning class. Solved.
• Administrators did not get access to Planning module on fresh install.
• HTTPS gives error on IE7/8
• Very slow to load projects’ list
• Set mode to opaque, for pop ups to show correctly over Planning module
• Changing only Priority for tasks did not save
• Clearing a field deleted item in Outline view.

We plan to update our documentation and create some more tutorial videos for Planning module in near future. Will keep you posted!

And hey, we want to hear your feedback on this version. Please try it out and let us know your comments!

Thanks a ton!

Guido Jansen of Realvine blogged about how they use activeCollab for managing their Magento development projects. The post is in Dutch. (English translation here – thanks to Google!)

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?

If you’ve been bugged by a bunch of email notifications coming your way when you save project plans with Planning module, we finally have a solution.
We are releasing Planning Module 1.3 today. This is a minor upgrade and bug fix release. Thanks to all users for their contributions and comments (especially bug reports!)

Enhancements:

• Export the plan as a CSV / XML file
• Permissions can now be managed using Planning section in AC Admin
• Enable Save only if plan was changed.
• Can now open Planning module for a completed / paused project too

Bug Fixes:

• Notifications being sent on item reassignments (NOTE: Required update to a core AC file in “resources” module.)
• Fixes to avoid duplication of project items.
• Checklists & Pages show correctly in Calendar view now
• Ensured Activity Logs are created correctly. (Needed for Reports module)
• Dragging multiple items plan showed error in some cases – fixed
• Changing priority of tasks did not save

As usual, you can download the latest version using the same download link that you received in the original purchase confirmation email.

Feedback, comments, praises and bug reports most welcome!

We received dozens of fan mails and thank-you notes after the last major Planning Module upgrade – version 1.2. We are thrilled by customer feedback and glad that the module is really helping people plan their projects 5 times (or more) faster! Some customers even said that they bought activeCollab because of Planning module! That makes us proud!

At the same time, we received bug reports and tweak requests. And here comes another release of Planning Module! It adds few features and fixes some annoyances. We recommend you upgrade.

BTW, if you don’t like to keep upgrading modules and activeCollab yourself, we offer an annual upgrade and housekeeping service – acGarage.

Here are the changes in this version.

Enhancements

• Updated error handling during server problems. Session time out, PHP errors and others are treated distinctly now.
• Increased the width of “Recover Project” message for readability. (thanks to Jani Kiviranta)
• Now stripping invalid characters from plan before XML handling. (thanks to Brian and others)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed number of issues with notification sending. (thanks to Randy, Alexey and others)
• Start and Due dates now span full days in Gantt chart. (thanks to Franklau for reporting this)
• Top menu toggle button labels can now be translated. (thanks to Jani Kiviranta)
• IE7/8 gave “HTTP Request Error” over HTTPS (thanks to Chris)
• Updated upgrade instructions. (thanks to Anthony for pointing to confusion)

The last version (1.2) was a significant upgrade and added support for multiple projects on Gantt chart, calendar for start/due dates in Outline, an administration panel, branding removal option and many other features. Click here to review release notes of version 1.2.

How to Upgrade?

You can always download the latest version of Planning Module for activeCollab using the download link in your purchase confirmation email. If you can not find your purchase confirmation email send us the email address with which you purchased the module.We will resend the email with download link.

Upgrading is done by uninstalling the module and then installing it. First go to activeCollab Administration – Modules. Uninstall current Planning module. Then upload new version files to your server. Go back to activeCollab Administration and install Planning module. That’s all!

acGarage customers have already been upgraded with this latest release!

BTW, if you have not yet signed up for acGarage, it’s a great time to do so. We can upgrade both your activeCollab setup and Planning module in one go!

How to Buy?

If you have not yet bought the Planning Module, you can buy it now. It’s only $149.