November 2024 Release Notes

Last Updated on Nov. 5, 2024

We are rolling out our 2024 Second Half (2H 2024) release on Saturday, November 16 and we're excited to share these highlights.

What's New -

1. Draft Schedule [Early Access Beta Release]

• Goal: Providing accurate profitability data to evaluate resource planning options

With this new feature, you will have the ability to create tentative resourcing plans by experimenting with different staffing options. You can assign hours to various roles, and adjust resources to evaluate potential configurations. By utilizing the cost and rate data associated with each role, project managers can analyze and compare the financial implications of different staffing options. This allows for informed decision-making based on budget constraints and profit goals. Once the preferred staffing choice is selected, the draft hours can seamlessly be copied into either booked or requested hours within the active schedule, ensuring a smooth transition.

Following the November release, a small group of select clients will gain early access to the beta version of this feature. This exclusive early access period will allow these clients to test the functionality and provide valuable feedback, helping us refine and optimize the feature before broader availability. Over time, access will be gradually expanded to a wider audience, ensuring a controlled rollout while addressing any potential issues and incorporating user feedback to enhance the overall experience.

2. Engagement Manager (EM) Team

• Goal: providing a new way to manage engagement & contract line item data

We've introduced a new Engagement Manager (EM) team structure, which allows multiple users to take on the role of EM. This change provides a more flexible and collaborative approach to managing engagement and contract data by enabling a designated set of users to share responsibilities. It also reduces the need to rely on broad cost center-level controls for data access, giving organizations a more tailored and secure way to manage sensitive engagement information while ensuring the right individuals have the appropriate access.

3. Splitting void and delete invoice permission

• Goal: Implementing a more precise invoice workflow

This change introduces the ability to separate the "can void and delete invoices" permission into two distinct permissions. By splitting these permissions, organizations can now create a more precise and controlled invoice approval workflow. This added flexibility allows for finer-grained access control, ensuring that users can be granted the appropriate level of responsibility when handling invoice voiding and deletion, leading to improved security and accountability in the invoicing process.

4. New Permission for accessing resource's reported time

• Goal: Introducing a non-cost center or project based resource time view

We're expanding access to resource time cards to be based solely on direct management structure, moving beyond the current project-based or cost center-based setup. This means that managers with the appropriate permissions will now be able to view their team members' reported time through both the time entry view and the time card search, regardless of project or cost center affiliations. This streamlined approach ensures that direct managers have a clearer, more comprehensive view of their team's time tracking, making it easier to monitor and manage resources effectively.

5. New Permission for accessing resource homepage

• Goal: Introducing a non-cost center based resource home page access

We're introducing the ability to provide access to the resource homepage based solely on direct management structure, as opposed to the current model which relies on cost center permissions. With this change, managers will be able to view a resource's schedule data directly through the homepage, as long as they have the appropriate permissions. This adjustment simplifies access control by aligning it with organizational reporting lines, making it easier for direct managers to stay up-to-date with their team's availability and scheduling without needing additional cost center permissions.

6. Reporting scheduling enhancements

• Goal: Increasing run frequency of scheduled reports

We have increased the number of scheduled report runs from once to four times within a 24-hour window. This enhancement provides our customers with more frequent access to updated operational data from Projector, enabling them to refresh their Projector BI dashboards or external data visualization tools more regularly. By offering more timely data updates, customers can make better-informed decisions and ensure that their reporting tools reflect the most current information available.

7. Bulk Role data update

• Goal: Updating project role data efficiently

In our May release, we introduced the ability to perform bulk updates for project roles, specifically allowing updates to role descriptions and end dates. Building on that enhancement, our upcoming November release will further streamline project management by adding the ability to bulk update two additional fields: role UDFs (User-Defined Fields) and purchase order numbers. This new functionality will make it even easier to manage large sets of project roles efficiently, and to reduce manual effort.

8. Web Services

• New web services:

  1. PwsGetProjectRoles

  2. PwsGetProjectRateTypes

  3. PwsGetProjectTaskTypes

  4. PwsGetProjectTasks

• Updated web services (non-breaking)

Web Services Data Structure Updates

9. What's Fixed -

Fixes and other Improvement Highlights

If you have any questions about our November 16, 2024 release or need more information, reach out to Projector by BigTime anytime at support@projectorpsa.com.