| 1 - NEW USER INTERFACE IMPROVES USER EXPERIENCE |
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Design improvements for individual contributors and project managers will be immediately noticeable. The new @task interface includes:
- A complete restyle of all user interfaces and iconography to increase recognition and intuitiveness of user experience
- Font and formatting changes were made for improved readability throughout the application
- Incremental navigational and usability enhancements
Improvements to the user interface were seamlessly integrated into the existing user experience in order to eliminate the need to retrain users. Early feedback from customers indicates new users will find a less-intimidating environment, while long-time users will recognize many of their suggestions have been incorporated into this latest edition.
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| 2 - IMPROVED FINANCIAL REPORTING FACILITATES GREATER DETAIL OF PROJECT FINANCIAL ANALYSIS |
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Combined Cost Reporting – With this release, @task users
can now create itemized cost reports that include totals
from any combination of the items listed below with a single
report. Reports can also show variance within planned and
actual costs, revenues, etc.
- Labor hours, costs and revenues
- Expenses
- Fixed costs and revenues
These costs can be broken down monthly or weekly, which
enables users to create reports such as the following:
- Project monthly run-rates
- Annual financial forecasts broken down by month
- Planned vs. actual variance reporting
- Detailed project cost breakdown (labor, expenses, fixed
costs, etc.)
Report on Specific Timeframes – In addition to associating financial sums to planned
start or finish dates on a project,
@task now allows users to define more
specific time intervals. For example, it
is now possible to run quarterly planned
cost reports for a portfolio of projects,
and review just the costs that occurred
during a specified quarter, rather than
the entire project lifetime. This allows
organizations to report on financial
information in a format that matches
those used for general ledger.
No configuration changes are required to leverage these improvements. Simply create
new reports using “Project (Financial Data)” as the reportable object.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
The following changes were required to support this feature:
- Expenses now have a Planned Date field for when the expense is expected to be
incurred.
- @task realizes Fixed Revenues on a project or a task upon completion and not
upon creation. This may impact current revenue values in the system, based on the
completion status of the object.
Project or Client-Level Billing Rates – Client and project-level billing rates now accommodate the
needs of services organizations that require greater flexibility specific to a given client or
project. Services firms that have varying billing rates based upon the type of work they are
doing or the billable rate for a specific customer are now able to apply those rates to individual
projects within @task.
To use the Client / Company Billing Rates feature:
- Go to: Setup > Organization Setup > Companies > Edit Company
- Click on the Company Billing Rates tab
- Add Job Roles and their Billing Rates as desired
Any new project created for that client will now have the job roles and the associated billing
rates added directly to the project. Alternatively, project-specific billing rates can be setup under
Manage Billing Rates in the Finance submenu. This functionality is also helpful for managing
interdepartmental chargebacks.
TECHNICAL NOTE: This feature modifies the billing rates for job roles only and not for
individual users. In addition, tasks must have a Revenue Type of Role Hourly to leverage these new
billing rates.
Custom Data Support for Expenses – Expenses can now allow for the entry of Custom Data to provide
greater insight into expenses and also maps to the standard fields found in third-party financial
software making the import of data easier. (@task also allows the addition of dropdowns, multi-select
text areas and/or calculated custom data fields within expense reports.)
To use Custom Data within Expenses:
- Go to: Setup > Custom Data
- Create the parameters for the object
- Create a category type of “Expense”
- Go to a project and click Project > Finances > Manage Expenses
- Find the Add Custom Data icon for the expense
- Select a category from the dropdown menu
- Fill out the form
- Click Save
To view your custom data you will need to create a custom view for expenses that include the
new field(s) you have added.
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