CRM-Project Rollup 7 out now: Drag & Drop and 37 additional features

Highlights at a glance:

• Drag & Drop in Microsoft CRM
• Generate projects from orders
• Add activities directly in Gantt
• Increase in the speed of the graphics 
• Integration of important project management functions:
  - Remaining effort calculation 
  - All four predecessor- successor relationships are available
  - Indication of buffer time between project nodes
• Many more new reports for even more transparency

List of the enhancements

Gantt

• New project nodes and activities can now be added directly in Gantt and in the Work Breakdown Structure. A clear context menu appears by right-clicking. The following elements can be added
  • Activities: task, fax, telephone call, e-mail, letter, appointment, service activity, rendered service, resource usage, material usage.
  • Project nodes: program, project, project phases, sub-projects, work packages, milestones.
• For the first time, drag & drop is available in Microsoft CRM. Now all elements, ranging from a small task to entire parts of a project, can be moved easily in Gantt with drag & drop and thereby re-arranged in the structure.
• The system now offers valid dates when project trees are set up. For example, the system suggests start dates based on predecessor project nodes and automatically adds them into new elements. Users can change this value at any time. If the parent project node does not have a start- or end date, the system will take into account the previous nodes. If no dates are available, the current date is used..
• In the project tree it is now possible to select several elements at once and mark them as complete.
• The duration can now be directly edited in Gantt and the end date can be changed to suit the wishes of the user.
• The predecessor and successor relationships can now be combined in many additional ways. Furthermore, duration between nodes can now be defined.
  • Finish- Start (FS)
  • Start-Start (SS)
  • Finish- Finish (FF)
  • Start- Finish (SF)
• Creating and maintaining predecessor and successor relationships in Gantt can now be done easily with drag & drop.
  How predecessor and successor relationships are viewed can be now adjusted. Via a check-box in the header, the correlation between predecessor and successor can be shown or not.

Graphical improvements

• In Gantt, the nodes which are set to "in processing" that have start dates in the past and in which no time entries have been made, are marked.

Time entry (Fast Time Entry)

• The start date of an entry is automatically set to the current date, for more comfort. When making several entries on the same day, the end time of the previous entry will be automatically suggested as the start time for the next entry.
• Entries can now be edited or even deleted directly in Fast Time Entry
• Fast Time Entry remains compatible with cost-effective ESS licenses from Microsoft, despite its advanced functionality. It recognizes this type of license and adapts to it.
• Team members can now enter the "Effort Time to Complete (ETC)" directly in the Fast Time Entry. Project Managers receive information regarding deviations in the original planning.
• Project members can close work packages when entering their times into the system, if no further activities are open.
• Records that have been generated in Fast Time Entry are now marked. Customers can now, for example, configure their Outlook filters for Fast Time entries and give the user the ability wether or not to display the entries. 

Project Planning

• The inheritance of responsibility for a project node can now be activated or de-activated. The inheritance is set as standard.
• Closing a project is only now possible when all trips, vouchers, and activities related to the project are closed. The project manager can also be informed, if necessary.
• The managed properties have been changed. Users can add further status reasons to projects. New status reasons receive a serial number in the standard number range.

Order

• Projects can now be generated directly from orders. All information relevant for the project is then automatically passed on.
• When creating projects from sales orders the user can now select a project template. The information from the order is combined with that of the project template and a complete project can then be created solely based on this data.

Planning table

• Project controlling in the planning table has been enhanced. It is possible for every team member to compare the projected and the actual man days.
• Employees can be sorted according to service criteria when allocating work in the planning table. Alternatively, work can be allocated to services.
• A notification function for project teams has been implemented. Project managers inform their team members and responsible service managers via e-mail as soon as they are planned for a project.  Appropriate e-mail templates are included in the scope. The project manager can select the desired project node by right-clicking in Gantt. The system finds the employees associated with the project and sends them an e-mail informing them of their assignments.

Reports

• Work in Progress: This report graphically shows you the current project progress. On top of that a tabular gives overview of all orders, invoices and an aggregated summary to compare single line items.
• Employee Timesheet: This report presents employee time entries on internal and external projects in a selected time period. There are 3 views available:
  - Graphic analysis over a time period
  - Itemized list of all time entries per day
  - Itemized list of all time entries grouped by project
• Time reported versus billed: This report provides a selected employee with a comparison of reported and billed project times. This analysis can be seen in both a graphic or tabular form on a monthly basis and in total.
• Forecast Utilization: This report creates a forecast of remaining man-days for on-going and planned projects over the next 12 months. A consolidated graphic overview as well as a detailed list view of all projects is available.
• Human Resources: This report gives the HR Manager an overview of important information regarding a selected employee. Annual leaves, absences, as well as reported hours can be seen at a glance.

Dashboards

• Employee Dashboard:
  
  • List Overview: My coming Absences
  • List Overview: Compensatory Leaves
  • List Overview: My comming Subtitutes
  • List Overview: My Skills & Competencies
  • Chart: Anual Leave an remaining Leave
• Human Resource Dashboard:
  
  • Chart: Anual Leave and remaining Leave per Business Unit
  • List Overview: Employee Development regarding Competencies
  • Chart: Anual Leave and remaining Leave for all Employees
• Project Manager Dashboard:
  
  • Chart: Man-Days – Assigned vs. Actual
  • Chart: Budget vs. Costs
  • List Overview: My Current Project Nodes
  • List Overview: My Coming Project Nodes
  • List Overview: Project Nodes with differing Effort to Complete
  • List Overview: My Ending Project Nodes
• Project Employee Dashboard:
  
  • List Overview: My Activities by Due-Date
  • Chart: Activities by Type
  • Chart: Man-Days – Assigned vs. Actual for my Project Tasks
• Project Portfolio Dashboard
  
  • Chart: Man-Days – Assigned vs. Actual for all Projects ending next 3 Months
  • Chart: Projects per Employee
  • Chart: Top 10 Projects in Progress by Man-Days Projected
  • Chart: Top 10 Planned Projects by Man-Days Projected

Architecture

• The number of hours worked by a full-time employee per workday can now be individually defined. An appropriate value can be defined in the settings. 8 hours is standard. Entries between 0 hours and 24 hours are possible.
• Confidential personal information can be managed via Field Level Security.
• To simplify license management, the CRM display name can now be retrieved with copy & paste.
• Gantt, Planning table, Resource Management, Billing &Invoicing, the Work Schedule, both global views for resource management, and the company-wide Gantt are now much faster.
• All the graphics (incl. Silverlight components) are now compatible with Office 64bit.

The roll-up can be imported into Microsoft CRM 2011 in a few minutes. The marketing material, training documents, manuals, demo systems, webcasts, and screen galleries will all be available by end of August 2012.

Our existing customers can download the rollup from the Customer portal. Prospective customers can request a trial version here.