activeCollab 2.3.2 is available for download from your activeCollab.com profile:

Installation and upgrade instructions are available in documentation section of the website. If you have any questions, or need our assistance, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Thank you for your continuous support!

Highlighted features:

• Track time in multiple activeCollab installations
• Support for multiple timers (only one can be active at a time)
• Submit time for a project, a ticket or a task
• Complete a ticket or a task with time submission
• Idle time detection
• Minimal interval and rounding 

While still in beta and still Windows only, with new activeCollab Timer 1.0.2 release we have covered the following issues: 

• fixed problem with UTF8 characters
• fixed HTTPS server connection 
• storage location OS dependent 
• fixed submitting time entry attached to project
• fixed communication with server which has mod_security enabled
• only one instance of the application can be running at the time

Application is available for download on the activeCollab Timer page in the Download section. Try it out and tell us what do you think!

Today we're presenting first three modules developed by USWebStyle:

1. Quick Access

The small icon that appears on top of the logo in the header of your activeCollab is link to Quick Access tool. Placed here, it’s always available from any page of your system. By clicking on it, a form that will list all your Projects on the right side and available project objects on the other appears. Choose a proper project and object type, you’ll get to that page in no time. 

Basically Quick Access is much like Quick Add tool that is a part of activeCollab and you can use it as a shortcut to your favorite project tab and start working. Big helper if your connections is slow. 

Price: $9.99

2. Auto Join

If you wish to point your client directly to the project you’re working for them, without them seeing the Dashboard, this module will enable you to do so. It will lead people straight to the desired project right after they log in to activeCollab. 

Set it up on users profile page, in the options many, and determine the exact project where user will land. You can even set the period for how long that person will be redirected here. Also, you can set it up to be a permanent destination for that user, if you wish. 

Price: $25.00

3. Shadow Viewer

This module will empower you to log in as any other user and see if you have set the Role and Permissions for that user in the right manner. You can check what User will be able to see and make sure you haven’t give them access to anything that shouldn’t be visible. 

You’ll find Shadow Viewer option on the User’s page under the Company profile and by clicking on this button, you’ll be in a different environment. 

Price: $45.00

All of these Modules are designed to follow activeCollab graphical identity completely. Quite handy and easy to use, each of the mentioned tools will make your work in activeCollab even more pleasant and enjoyable.

activeCollab 2.3.1 is available for download from your activeCollab.com profile:

Installation and upgrade instructions are available in documentation section of the website. If you have any questions, or need our assistance, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Thank you for your continuous support!

One of the crucial things on each project is total amount of time spend working on that particular project. This information can help you calculate the costs, find out how effective your team is, etc.

In activeCollab project time reports can be easily extracted: just visit the project's Time tab and click the Report button in the top right corner. All time reports previously created will be displayed in the drop down menu, and you can choose the one you need. Each of these filters will be applied to this project only. 

If you wish to create different report, just click the New Report Button. To have a report that lists all project's time, set it up in this way:

1. Name the report ("Total Time", or however you wish)
2. Type in the Report Group name (optional)
3. Decide whether the report will be summarized per user or not
4. In Assigned to field select Anyone
5. In For Day field choose Any Time
6. In Status field select Any

Created report will enable you to see the total project time without much difficulties. You can also change report criteria (Assigned to, For Day and Status), and create more specific time reports (for example: time logged by one person, time logs for specific date, display all billed time...)

All reports created this way (as project reports) will be available in each of your projects, as well as in the global Time reports. 

Yes, that was just a joke! Did you really think that we would ever develop an application such as activeCollab slaveMaster edition? Features that we made up to be a part of this imaginary tool, such as “I’m in front of the computer” button, Brake Prevention Bullwhip noises, Smart Meetings Module, Strict Workflow and Task Dependency, are exactly the opposite of what we wish to integrate into activeCollab and all products that we may develop in the future. 

We strongly believe that the best results are accomplished when people have freedom of choice and creativity. Software tools should be designed to support teams and the way they work, not to limit their creativity and enforce rigid workflows. 

Having that as our credo, we continue to develope activeCollab keeping the following guidelines in mind:

• User friendly, intuitive and not intimidating
• While certain level of control is important, clear communication comes first
• Welcoming instead of overly formal
• Open and flexible, instead of rigid and closed
• Smart defaults instead of a million configuration options
• Built with extensibility in mind
• Use open standards whenever possible, but don’t get ideological about it so that it bogs down development

These are some of the reasons why activeCollab will never be a tool such as activeSlave Master! And shame on you if you thought it was :)

First of all, remember that you’ll only be able to see the assignments related to the projects you’re involved with. Regardless of the System Role you're having, Assignment tool is treating you as any other user, and will display only the assignments from the projects you're working on. So, if you wish to see list of assignments in all projects, first make sure you're among the people who are working on each of those projects.

To create a Filter that will show you the list of your Team Members' assignments, apply following steps:

1. Go to the Assignments page and click the New Filter button
2. Define a filter Name and a Group that filter belongs to by filling out the gaps in the first part of the New Filter form. Group is optional and can be created just by typing in the name you wish. You can use the group you have already created by writing the same name in this field. 
3. Decide whether this filter will be available to the other users or not. We suggest you set up this filter as private, if you're the only one in charge for the people management and assignment delegation.
4. If you wish to see assignments from all members of a specific company, select Member of a Company value for Assigned To field and pick a company that you want. 
5. If you wish to see the assignments of an individual team member, choose the Selected User... value for Assigned To filter and choose the person you wish. 

This is basically it, but you can set additional filters as well - select specific projects (note that activeCollab will still limit you to projects that you are assigned to), status, time frame, etc.

• When blank project is created (not based on a template), activeCollab will add everyone who's marked to be automatically added to new projects and set their permissions accordingly. If you don't wish someone to be automatically added to all new projects you are creating, go to that person's profile, click on Change Settings link on the right and make sure that Automatically Add to New Projects is set to No:

• When project is created from a template, all users who are added to People tab of the template project will be automatically added to the new project. People with Automatically Add to New Projects option set to Yes (as described in #1) will not be added to that project, unless they are directly involved with the template. 

In this way you can have full control over people who will be added to new projects, whether based on a particular template, or not.

Planning Module is another additional module for activeCollab developed by guys from AppsMagnet company. Most of the users who have tried Reports Module are using Planning as well, because it’s a good mix to use them both in activeCollab. 

This module brings a different perspective into the project organization - you can schedule and arrange everything you wish to be done inside the project, from one place. A bird-eye view will enable you to create, edit, replace and remove all project items and put them exactly where you want. 

After the installation (that is quite simple, just follow the instructions given in the package you get after the purchase), Planning Module will be available as an additional tab in all of your Projects.

Three preview types that are offered will emphasize different aspects of your project:

1. Outline

Outline view gives a clear perspective of the project structure. You can see all your Milestones with included Tickets and Tasks here, as well as Checklists and Pages you have created. Tree like form will make it easier for you to see and organize all items in a way you wish. Colored labels of each item makes simple to track and spot them visually. 

You can even create, edit, reorder and delete project items directly from the Outline form. After clicking the Save button everything will be saved and all new and changed items will be posted in activeCollab. 

2. Cards  

Cards are bringing the project items under the spotlight. They remind of a big post-it notes where you can write everything down and make all necessary adjustments (such as set a visibility level, category, priority, define assignees, manage subscribers, choose the start and due date, make a time estimate...).

Another handy thing you can set up here is the Ticket Status. Planning Module brings new Status labels for Tickets in activeCollab - New, Reopened, Acknowledged, Assigned, Resolved and Close. 

3. Timeline   

Here you can see the Gantt Chart of your project. All Milestones, Tickets, Checklists and Tasks are displayed with their start and due dates. 

You can even have more than one project included in this preview, and have all related projects available on one sheet of paper. 

Planning Module has a clear goal - to help you organize and arrange your projects. It’s not always easy to know where are you headed with some ideas, and Planning Module may make things easier for you. 

As the name it self refers to, this module’s basic purpose is to generate different kinds of reports based on the data you already have in your activeCollab. 

After buying (for the price of $69) and installing (it’s simple, just follow the instructions from readme.txt), Reports Module will be available on the system level. Only people you allow to will be able to access and create reports that you let them to create. 

Reports module can create reports based on three criteria:

1. Project 

Project reports, for all projects, or some particular project, are displayed graphically as charts that shows:

• burn downs - open items in your projects over time. The higher the trend is the more work you’ve left to do. 
• hours - allows you to track relation between estimated hours and actual time that’s been logged. Estimated hours will be visible only if you’re using the Planning Module (developed by AppsMagnet, as well) because activeCollab doesn’t support this feature. 
• work summary - displays opened and completed items based on the category they belong to. 

Besides charts, you can see some general data related to your projects, such as the preview of opened and completed items, amount of hours spent, percentage of the closed items, upcoming Milestone and Velocity. Velocity is, according to Nirav, rate of completion of your projects. 

An interesting addition are Most Active & Open and Longest open list of items. It can point you to some of the forgotten Tickets, or unfinished Checklists. 

2. People 

This criteria allows you to see individual reports for every person with an account in your activeCollab. 

Displayed as report cards, this reports will enable you to see what that person is responsible for, how active she was, where exactly is she assigned and how much working hours has she logged. 

This tool should help you manage people you’re working with and give you a close insight in productivity rate of your team. 

3. Companies 

In this section you can see full report for you Company related items in activeCollab. Here you can see how many projects you have opened, how many user you have, how many items you have opened and closed on the system level. Also, you can see some basic data for each of your projects here. 

If you wish to list this information for one of the Client companies you can easily do that by choosing the Company you wish. 

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.