It has been an exciting week for AppsMagnet. We already released the amazing features for  Communications module and now it’s  the Chronograph module.

We have improved the  UI of Chronograph time sheet.Also, you can try out the new feature of tracking time for past week via Time Sheet.

A special thanks to one of our valued customers Mr.Doug Steinberg for not only reporting the timezone related issue but also  assisting our team for resolving it.

Give in your comments about our added features….We want to know how you liked them.

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”  Peter F. Drucker

We understand how vital a good communication model is for your teams progress and thus our foremost task since March was to revamp the existing Communication Module.

The dev team worked on various aspects and tested and retested the changes to finally create our Best version till date.

Earlier the user had carry out a two click process to actually communicate with a  fellow member. Our target was to make this way shorter that is one click and you are there.So we built a interface where people could just click to communications and it would open up right in the next panel.So no extra work of going elsewhere.

In this bargain of revamping we ended up removing the “Project Level” communications.Our idea was as all the communication happen on a single page. one can quickly find the project related communications.

Removed Project Level Communications

However the initial beta testers gave us a different feedback. Apparently it was one of the most loved features and so we decided to add the “Project Level Communications” tab back to the Revamped Model.

Added Back Project Level Communications

So, here we are with a single page view to all your communications and also with the most loved Project Level Communication tab right where you like it.

Go check us out…

You can access Project Level Communication as you accessed it before. And the Communications tab is available in Project Section.

Hope you will find the revamped look useful…

Let us know how it helps you to narrow down your search/saves your time…We are eager to get your feedback….!

Last May, we introduced an invisible customer support help desk system for activeCollab using Tasks Plus module. With that system, you can setup a support email address and all emails coming to that address will become “support tickets” within activeCollab. This allows you to solve clients’ queries right within activeCollab. You don’t need another support / helpdesk system. Hundreds of people are using this system now and it’s grown well over the time.

But what about issues you get over phone? Or when clients forgot to send it to the support email and emailed you directly?

That gap is bridged too now!

In last release of Tasks Plus, we introduce a feature to create support tickets from activeCollab on behalf of your client.

You can create new support tickets while you are on the phone with your clients, and when your team replies (by posting a comment), it will go to your client as if they initiated the original support ticket. You won’t miss a single support request now!

Here’s how it works:

Go to any project that is configured to receive support tickets – ones you set in incoming mailbox filters.

You’d see a “Create Support Ticket” button next to “New Task” button in top right toolbar.

Click on “Create Support Ticket”.

Enter the details, type your client’s name and email, select the mailbox (if there are multiple mailboxes associated with this project) and save!

Support Ticket Form

What do you think? Do tell us how you’d use this new feature by posting a comment! Thanks!

Our modules are compatible with activeCollab 4.2.6.

Wanted to clarify since I made a typo and wrote “not compatible” instead of “now compatible” in our last email to customers! Sorry about any confusion I may have caused!

You can download the latest versions using Apps Magnet Auto Updater module in your activeCollab installation or from our My Account area.

Communications module has always been about easy, formal or impromptu, live discussions for your teams and clients. We’ve recently did a complete overhaul and you can see the results in the annotated screenshot above!

• Each “communication” is now called a “channel”
• When you click on “Communications” icon in bottom bar of activeCollab, you now directly get to the latest channel. We got rid of the intermediate dialog box.
• The design is modern and clutter free. Less clicks, more talk!
• You can continue to control exactly who can participate in a channel, upload files, get sound notifications and more…

What do you think of the redesign? Post a comment and let us know!

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.

In the last blog post, we discussed about “Why You and Your Team Should Be Tracking Time“.

If you are convinced about the utility of time tracking, here’s something you’d find useful…

If you are using activeCollab, you know that it comes with a great set of time tracking options. You can log time on projects or tasks. You can do it from a particular task or from Quick Add or from Time Reports.. You can even use a desktop tool to track time.

Even our own Chronograph module allows quick time tracking based on timers.

We are now taking things a step further. Chronograph module now makes time tracking even easier (especially for those folks that resist time tracking) with weekly timesheets!

Just click on “Fill Timesheet” link from Chronograph icon (in the bottom, notification bar of activeCollab), and add time for the whole week – on tasks and projects as needed. Click “Save” and all your time will be logged in one go!

And because a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a quick screenshot on how this works…

click for larger view

Do you think this will increase time tracking in your team? Was it something you liked?

Post a comment and do let us know!

Thanks.

12th February 2014 marks Apps Magnet’s fifth anniversary!

Five years ago we started with our reporting module for activeCollab – the first premium extension for activeCollab. Then came planning module and a whole many others!

And we are celebrating!

From Feb 12 to Feb 28, we will have a new offer or giveaway everyday. Each offer will be valid for two days.

Visit our homepage every day for a new offer!

Thank you!

Five years is a big achievement in today’s fast paced technology world! We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in the journey so far, and we are experiencing a deep sense of gratitude for you today…

• Thanks to our awesome customers for supporting us… Buying our products, sending feedback and appreciations, recommending them, talking about them on activeCollab forums, sharing your ideas for new products, sponsoring development of new modules, standing by while we solve issues and most importantly, for your faith!
• Thanks to activeCollab for creating a kickass collaboration system that’s an amazing platform to extend… For letting us poke around and create modules, for listing them on the site, for handling support questions from our customers, for validating our ideas and tolerating with us 😉
• Thanks to Nathan Sudds, Guy Cortesi, Stas Kuzma, Fei Yan, Leon Poole and all other third party developers for solving customer problems, innovating, supporting community members and for their untiring passion to improve.
• Thanks to Malay for your absolute leadership and commitment towards Apps Magnet and our customers, to Sandhya, Ravi and Nishit, and everyone else on the team who’s made it their own company and worked day and night, have accepted my critic, surpassed all challenges and always given their best.
• Thanks to Nikita, my wife, Sanya, my daughter and my parents for supporting me throughout, for letting me work on this dream, even when I was supposed to be with them. You are truly my source!
• Thanks to everyone who’s met along the way, emailed us, talked to us, inspired us, criticised us, asked for a refund, spread the word…. You have all contributed to our lives immensely.

Thank you!

One common complaint we’ve heard from our clients again and again is the lack of adoption of activeCollab / web based collaboration in their team. The owner / project managers / leaders want everyone to use activeCollab to manage all the work, but as you keep going down the hierarchy, the interest and participation keeps reducing.

There are a number of techniques you can use to get people to use activeCollab more.

• Convincing them…
• Coercing them…
• Cajoling them…
• Punishing them…
• Hoping they use it…

All these will help, but it’d be much better if your team used the system by their own.

So we did an experiment…

We built a leader board of our team’s activeCollab use. People get scored based on the tasks they complete, comments they make etc. Everyone in the team can see their rank and who’s topping the charts.

Leader Board – Rank & Activity score.

Surprisingly, this resulted in breakthrough improvement in activeCollab usage. People started completing old tasks. Started tracking time. And started tracking more activities within the system than earlier.

Why?

Because everyone wants to win!

And there is a word for what we did. It’s called “Gamification“.

According to Wikipedia:

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems. Gamification is applied to improve user engagement, return on investment, data quality, timeliness, and learning.

Gamification techniques strive to leverage people’s natural desires for competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, and closure. Gamification encouraged team’s productivity in our case.

So we went ahead and incorporated this concept in Reports Plus module and created a leader board.

Just like a sports leader board, Reports Plus leaderboard lets one check activity scores and ranks of team members. This board creates a sense of competition among your team. And everyone strives to reach the top – resulting in higher usage of activeCollab.

People may feel jealous but jealousy is love in competition.

Where do they see leader board?

• Click on your avatar image in left most menu. You will see your own rank and score next to your avatar in the pop out.
• Click on the rank / score to go to the full leader board.
• You can also access the leader board from Reports menu in left menu and then clicking on Leader board.

Try it with your team today!

We’ve included the leader board and ranking system in the latest version of Reports Plus. So download it today and try it with your team. Let us know your experiences and suggestions!

First of all Happy New Year..Hope you had a great year 2013.

We at Apps Magnet are ready to serve you for another year 2014. We will support you throughout this year and make sure you will get maximum value out of our products.

In the process, we updated Reports Plus module which is also compatible with activeCollab 4.1.6.

We changed a view of a project stats in a Reports Plus module and added some new stats like number of tasks in each workflow labels and total files, complete & open tasks, discussions etc. We have also worked on to make Reports Plus module faster.

Hope you will enjoy the new look and speed of a Reports Plus module.

Hours Chart

Burn Down chart

Tasks in Progress and Project Stats

Here’s the change log.

Reports Plus 4.1.2 [2014/01/06]

Enhancements:
+ Remove flex file from Reports Plus module.
+ Merge javascript files into single file to load javascript faster.

Fix:
- People leader board was not loaded (javascript file was missing).

Reports Plus 4.1.1 [2014/01/03]

Enhancements:
+ Company Tab merged with Project Tab
+ SHows number of tasks in each labels
+ Shows top five "Longest Due" items.

Fix:
- Time Reports Filters were not showing sorted items for Selected Users, Selected Projects