We are excited to introduce the new expansions to the Boards page, expanded alerting functionality and much more. This release has many new features, below is a quick list before you start reading.
Boards Page Filters
Categorized Requests on Boards Page
Send One-Off Alerts & Messages, by Project
Expand & Collapse All Project’s Categories
Customizable, Global Default Alert Template
Improved Year Selector on Calendar Pickers (when changing dates)
1-Click “Project Start Date” as the First Day for Assignments & Requests
Boards Page - Option to Display Requests Only on Dates of Need
BOARDS PAGE FILTERS
With this release, we are bringing the power of the chip filters you love to the Boards Page, allowing for more complex filtering of People and Projects, as well as usage of your Custom Field filters.
Project Filters
The project filter bar running across the top of the Boards Page will have all your standard filter options, as well as any Custom Field Project filters you setup. Some exciting new filter options for you to notice are the “Hide Empty Projects” and the “Only Show” options. These filters will easily help you limit down to just looking at the projects or data you are wanting to see. You will also notice that there is no “status” filter option as the Boards Page always pulls in just active Projects.
Resource Bench Filters
The resource bench is also getting a boost from the introduction of filter chips to the Boards Page. Now when you click the bench filter popup, you will get any applied chips, as well as the ability to select any standard or Custom Field filters (for people).
CATEGORIZED REQUESTS ON BOARDS PAGE
The Boards Page now shows your Request cards broken down in each Category they belong to instead of all combined together at the top of each Project. For each Category that has open Requests, you will get a Request count after the Category name. Once the Categories are expanded, you will see a blue section containing the Request cards.
SEND ONE-OFF ALERTS & MESSAGES, BY PROJECT
One of the most exciting features of this release is the ability to send one-off Alerts or Messages to People assigned to a Project. This can be done from the Boards or Project Gantt Page by clicking the “...” more button on the Project name bar and then clicking “Send Assignment Alert” or “Message People.” These features are great for blasting out Assignment “look-aheads” to everyone on a job or to quickly send a Message to everyone at a site in the event of an emergency or other critical message.
One-Off Alerts
Once you click “Send Assignment Alerts,” you will be prompted with a modal that allows you to select the date range that you would like to Alert assigned People for. You will also get to choose if you want to send those Alerts immediately, schedule them out or save them as drafts. Once you make these selections, you will then get to edit the one-off Alert template that will go out. After you are satisfied with the Alert template, you can do a final review of the list of People who receive this Alert before sending.
One-Off Messages
With one-off Messages for People assigned to a Project, you don’t have to build out a template, but can instead type any free-form content you want. Messages are great for information that isn’t about specific assignments. After you click “Message People” you will be presented with a modal that allows you to select the date range that you would like to message assigned People for. Once you make this selection, you will be shown the standard messaging modal you are familiar with, loaded with all the People who were assigned in your specified date range AND who are setup to receive Messages from the LaborChart platform.
EXPAND & COLLAPSE PROJECT CATEGORIES
As the number of Categories used within a Project starts to climb, it can be cumbersome to open and close them one by one. Now, with the new expand/collapse all buttons, you can expand or collapse all the Categories within a Project with 1 click.
CUSTOM, GLOBAL DEFAULT ALERT CONTENT
Although LaborChart has supported custom Alert content for individual Projects previously, we are excited to be able to offer the ability for you to customize your default Alert content globally. With this functionality, if you have permission to access the “Assignment Alerts” Settings tab, you can build out a custom template that will be used for Alerts whenever a Project doesn’t already have a specific Alert template set.
IMPROVED YEAR SELECTOR ON CALENDAR PICKERS (when changing dates)
Needing to jump a few years out on a view or make a Request for a year out? With the new year-selector on all date pickers, there is no more hassle of clicking through a long list of months to get to the date you want.
PROJECT START DATE AS REQUEST/ASSIGNMENT START OPTION
To expedite your efforts to forecast your upcoming jobs with Requests, then load them with Assignments, Project start dates are now automatically pulled in as a start date option for Assignments and Requests, only when they are set in the Project.
BOARDS PAGE - OPTION TO DISPLAY REQUESTS ONLY ON DATES OF NEED
Assignments only show up on the Boards Page when your selected viewing date falls within their active work days. Historically, Requests have always shown up whether they covered the viewing date or not. Now that we have a great way to view Request over large spans of time with the Project Gantt Page, we’ve introduced the ability to configure your Boards Page to only show Requests that your viewing date falls within. This mirrors the behavior of the Assignment cards. If you would like to enable this feature for your personal user account, go to your Settings Page, then click the “View Preferences” tab and turn the “Show Requests per Viewing Day Only” switch on.