Documentation:ActiveCollab/Dashboard

From UBC Wiki

If you’ve ever worked on a project in Basecamp, chances are you are quite familiar with the Dashboard tab. This is good news as the Dashboard in activeCollab is quite similar.

The activeCollab Dashboard can be split up into three main groups: tabs, sidebars, and buttons.

Tabs

The tabs, found on the left side, present their information in lits and are the most prominent feature of the dashboard. There are four tabs present on the dashboard: Recent Activities, Active Projects, New / Updated, and Late / Today.

Recent Activities

The Recent Activities tab is the default tab on the Dashboard and is the one you are greeted with when you first log into activeCollab. This tab presents the user with an interactive chronological list of - as the name suggests - recent activities. These "activities" consist of almost anything that can be done in activeCollab such as creating a new ticket, commenting on a discussion board, or logging billable hours. A recent activity is presented on the list by an icon of the activity, followed by an activity description, "starring" button, parent project link, and timestamp of activity completion.

The activity description is structured in the same way for all activities starting with the name of the person that performed the action, followed by the action itself and finally the object that the action refers to. Clicking on the name of the person will take you to their profile, while clicking on the object itself will take you to that particular object, whether it's a comment or a new task in a checklist.

The "starring" button can be used when a user feels that the object in the activity description is special in some way and wishes to notify people to pay special attention to this object. The button can also be used to make searching for the particular object easier. Starred objects can be viewed by all users by clicking on the Starred button which can be found in the top button banner present on most activeCollab pages.

The parent project link takes the user straight to the Overview page of the project that the given activity belongs to.

Active Projects

The Active Projects tab simply lists all projects that you are a part of that haven't been Paused, Completed, or Cancelled. (Please refer to the Project Overview section of this guide for more information on how to change the status of your project)

The Active Projects list displays the project icon, project name, project client and a progress bar for the project, in that order.

Clicking on either the project icon or project name will take you to the Overview tab of that particular project.

The progress bar of the project presents a visual representation of the percentage of tasks and activities completed in the particular project.

Lastly, the Active Projects tab offers the user the option to place any of their active projects onto the Favorite Projects sidebar. This can be done by simply clicking on a project from the list and dragging it to the Favourite Projects sidebar found on the right side of the Dashboard.

New / Updated

The New / Updated tab lists information about recent additions or updates to a project done by other users. These additions can range from writing comments to creating new pages and adding tasks to checklists. The New / Updated tab also features a number next to its title name which represents the quantity of new notifications in the tab. The New / Updated tab only lists new additions made since the last time the user logged into the site.

Each of these project "objects" created is represented by a "starring" button, the object type, the object's name, the time of creation, the author, and the parent project.

The "starring" button can be used when a user feels that the object in the activity description is special in some way and wishes to notify people to pay special attention to this object. The button can also be used to make searching for the particular object easier. Starred objects can be viewed by all users by clicking on the Starred button which can be found in the top button banner present on most activeCollab pages.

Clicking on the object name will take the user to the object's page, while selecting the author's name opens up the author's profile page. Lastly, clicking on the parent project link opens up the Overview page for that particular project.

If a user accesses the object's page - either through the New / Updated tab, or by accessing it from some other area of activeCollab - that object will be taken off the New / Updated list. Furthermore, clicking on the Mark All as Read link at the bottom of the tab will remove all objects from the New / Updated list and also remove the tab from the Dashboard altogether (until a new update needs to be noted on the tab).

The Open in Separate Page link, situated at the bottom of the tab, presents all the information in the New / Updated tab in a full page view.

Late / Today

The Late / Today tab displays all the assignments that have not yet been completed and are officially late or due on that very day. Please note that this tab does not appear on the Dashboard if there are no assignments that are late or due on the current date. The assignments are ordered in a list from the oldest due date to the most recent due date, which means that assignments that have been late for the longest time take precedence in the ordering. Each of these assignments is presented on the list by a "starring" button, followed by a "Complete task" checkbox, an overview of the assignment, and a description of how late the assignment is (or if it's due on the present day).

The "starring" button has the same functionality here as it does in the Recent Activities tab. Please refer to section 1.2.1.1 Recent Activities for more information.

The "Complete task" checkbox offers the user the ability to check off any completed activity, whether it's a task, milestone, or ticket. Once an activity has been checked off by the user it is taken off the Late / Today list. The action of checking off a Late / Today activity is recorded by activeCollab as a completion in the Recent Activities tab where it may be accessed once again by clicking on the crossed out activity link. Furthermore, completed activities may be accessed through "Archive" links found throughout the activeCollab interface. These "Archive" links are expanded on in the sections for all activities that feature archives.

Sidebars (Dashboard)

The sidebars can be found on the right side of the activeCollab Dashboard. The three main sidebars are called: Important, Favorite Projects, and Who is Online?.

Important

The Important sidebar presents information that requires the user's immediate attention.

An activeCollab user can set up and send reminders about a particular aspect of the project to other users. These reminders can be viewed by clicking on the "reminder" link present on the Important sidebar. Clicking this link will open up a pop-up window with details on all the reminders a user has received. Each reminder may have a link (outlined in red letters) to a particular part of the project along with details of when and by whom it was sent and an optional message from the sender.

Please note that if you do not have any notifications or reminders, the Important sidebar may not be present on your Dashboard.

Favorite Projects

The Favorite Projects sidebar presents all your favourite projects in a list. Each favourite project can be accessed from this sidebar by simply clicking on the project's name. To remove a project from the list, simply click on the "X" icon that appears as you scroll over the project's name.

For instructions on how to set up a favourite project, please refer to section 1.2.1.2 Active Projects.

Who is Online?

The Who is Online sidebar displays all the users in the system that have been online in the past 15 minutes. Clicking on one of the names displayed will take you to that person's profile. Clicking on your own name will take you to your own profile, where you can update your personal information.

Buttons

The buttons can be found on the top right of the activeCollab Dashboard. Furthermore, all of these buttons can be found on almost all of the project pages and tabs in activeCollab. There are 9 buttons and one link found on the Dashboard: People, Projects, Docs, Calendar, Assignmt., Search, Starred, Quick Add, Print View, and Profile (link).

People

The People button takes the user to a page that lists all the companies in the activeCollab system. Clicking on a company name leads to an overview page for that company.

Each company overview page lists the name of the company, its address, and the company's phone number followed by a list of all the people that work under that company name. Each person in the company list is identified by a profile picture followed by the person's name and title (if a title s provided) and the date of the last time that person was logged into the system. Clicking on the person's name will take you to that person's profile. Clicking on your own name will take you to your own profile, where you can update your personal information.

Projects

The Projects button is split into two sections: the main button (which has a pencil and ruler as an icon and has "Projects" written below it), and the "Jump to Project" button (identified as a black downward facing triangle right next to the main button).

The main Projects button sends the user to an expanded version of the Active Projects tab also found on the Dashboard. This page lists all active projects that the user is involved in. Each project is represented by its own project icon, name, leader, and progress bar. Clicking on the project name will take the user to the Overview tab of that project, while clicking on the name of the leader of the project will take the user to the leader's profile page. The progress bar graphically displays the percentage of tasks completed in a given project. An "Archive" button can be found below the list of all the active projects. Clicking this button will take you to the Projects page for any projects that have been Paused, Completed, or Canceled.

The "Jump to Project" button, on the other hand, does not open a new page, but a simple pop-up. This pop-up window displays all the active projects the user is currently involved in. This button can be used for quickly jumping to the Overview page of a project, by simply clicking on the project's name in the pop-up window. If you have established Favorite Projects through the Active Projects tab, these will appear first on your list of projects that you can "jump to".

Docs

The Docs button links to a page where all general, global documents are stored. These documents are available outside the scope of any project. This section of activeCollab can be particularly useful for company-wide files such as policies and memoranda. A user may add files to this section by creating a new text document directly in activeCollab or by uploading a file.

The list view of a document comprises of a "pin" button, a document description (name, upload date, author, category) and "edit" and "delete" buttons if the current user was the one that uploaded the document. The "pin" button can be used to place documents at the top of the document list. Clicking on the name of the document or its icon will either open that document or allow the user to download said file, depending on its filetype, while clicking on the author's name sends the user to the author's profile page. Furthermore, clicking on the category in the document description lets the user view all documents in that particular category. Lastly, the "edit" button lets the user change the title of the document as well as the document's category and the "delete" button sends the file to the "trash" bin.

To add a new text document, the user can simply click on the New Text Document button found in the top right corner of the Docs page. This will take the user to the text document creation page where the user can input a title and the body of the document they are working on. Furthermore, a category for the document as well as notifications for other users can be selected from this page. Please note that document categories can be managed only by the administrator.

Clicking on the Upload File button found in the top right corner of the Docs page allows the user to upload any file they wish from their computer. It's as simple as choosing a file to upload, choosing the file's category and, if the user wishes, choosing which people to notify of the upload.

Calendar (button)

Clicking on the Calendar button takes the user to a view of the global calendar. This calendar contains information on upcoming dates in all projects that the user is involved in.

The Calendar page is interactive in the sense that every event on the calendar can be visited, "starred", or checked off as complete right from the page.

To visit the event's page, a user can simply click on the title of the event, regardless of whether it's a milestone, ticket, task etc.

If the user feels that an event is important in some way and they wish to "star" it, or they simply wish to check off the event as complete, they may do so by opening a single day's "event" view. A circle symbol can be found in the header (on the right side) of each day in the calendar that contains an event; clicking this circle opens up the "event" view for that day. From here, each event is categorized depending on which project they belong to. An event in this list is presented by a "starring" button followed by a "Complete task" checkbox, a priority level symbol, and, lastly, the event type and name. Clicking on the "starring" button will cause the event to be starred (all starred events/activities can be found by clicking on the Starred button in the top toolbar), while clicking on the "Complete task" checkbox will cause that event to be recorded as complete. If a checkbox is already checked and the event is denoted as complete, clicking on this checkbox once more will reopen and mark said event as incomplete. Furthermore, clicking on the event's name will take the user to that event's page.

Another way to access all events in a single day is by clicking the number (which denotes the day of the month) found on the left side of each day's header. This will take the user to a separate page where only that day's event will be displayed, offering the same functionality as clicking on the circle symbol, but in a larger view independent of the calendar page.

Navigating months on the Calendar page can be achieved by clicking on the "previous/next month" buttons found on the left and right side of the page header which displays the current month. The previous and next month buttons are marked with the date of the previous and next month, respectively.

If a user has the iCalendar (or similar) application, they may wish to subscribe to an activeCollab iCalendar feed. This can be done by clicking on the iCalendar link found right below the actual calendar on the Calendar page. From here, the user can simply click on the URL feed to subscribe to the calendar feed and have all milestones directly in their calendar application.

Assignmt.

The Assignmt. button offers the user a clean view of all the active tasks that have been assigned to them across all active projects they are involved in. All tasks are ordered by priority and can be filtered in three categories: Late (tasks that are late), Today (taks due on the current day), and All. The drop-down menu named "Filter" can be clicked to change the active filter. For more information on tasks and their various features please refer to the Checklists, Pages, and Tickets sections of this guide.

Search

The Search button, unlike most of the the other buttons in the button header, does not open a new page for the user. Instead a pop-up is presented with a search field and three search categories: In Projects, For Users, and For Projects.

The In Projects category offers users the ability to search for any items in a project such as tasks, milestones, tickets, pages, filenames etc. This option also allows users to search for categories and custom tags implemented or created by users. Tags can be added to milestones, checklists, discussions, files, pages, and tickets. Please refer to each feature's section on how to add tags for that feature. Once an item has been found using this search option, it is displayed with a "starring" button, item title, and author, all of which can be interacted with. The user can "star" the item, visit the item's page, or visit the authors page by clicking each of the display features respectively.

The For Users category allows users to search for exactly that, users. Users can be searched by full name, but also by first name, last name or middle name (given that they're provided). A match in this search type results in the "searched for" user's profile picture followed by that user's name. The user's name can be clicked on to visit that user's profile page.

The For Projects category allows users to search for projects given that they know at least a portion of the project's name (if the project name consists of more than one word). If a user knows a single word in the project's title, then they can find that particular project using the search function. A search match in this category displays the project's icon, followed by the full project name and the projects progress bar. Clicking on the project name takes the user to that project's overview page.

Lastly, if a user wishes to perform a search in a separate window (not a pop-up), they may right click on the Search button and select either Open Link in New Tab or Open Link in New Window (given that the user's browser allows for this).

Starred

The Starred button opens up a pop-up window with a list of objects that have been starred by the user. An object can be "starred" by clicking on the star icon found next to all applicable objects such as milestones, pages, tasks, timerecords, etc. Starring is a useful bookmarking tool that is not tied down to a specific function. It can be used by the user in whichever way they see fit.

The Starred list offers links to the starred object's page, the profile page of the author of the said object, and the overview page of the project that the object belongs to. Furthermore, any starred object can be directly un-starred from this list by clicking on the star icon. The list also displays the starred object's priority level (if such a level is set) and, if the object's due date has passed, how many days the object is late.

Lastly, if a user wishes to have the Starred list in a separate window (not a pop-up) for easy access, they may right-click on the Starred button and select either Open Link in New Tab or Open Link in New Window (given that the user's browser allows for this).

Quick Add

The Quick Add button opens up a pop-up window that allows the user to quickly add any kind of object in any project they are currently involved with. This can be done by simply choosing the project that the object should be added to and the object type and then clicking on the Continue button. This will take the user to the object creation page.

The object creation page allows the user to fill out all of the objects content by filling in the required fields. Furthermore, most objects can have assignees or can send notifications to people depending on their object type. Lastly, attachments, categories, and milestones can be tied to certain object types by clicking on the respective links found below the entry fields for an object.

Print View

The Print View button (identified as a button with an icon of a printer on it) can be found right under the main button toolbar and can be used by the user to create a printer friendly page of whatever they are viewing on activeCollab. Clicking the button will open a "print preview" page. This page can be printed by clicking on the Print button found in the top right corner of the page. If a user wants to exit this view and simply return to their previous page, they can click on the Close Preview button.

Profile

A Profile link can be found right above the main button toolbar (next to the Logout link) which allows the user to update their personal information and settings. The Profile page has four different settings tabs: Update Profile, Change Settings, Change Password, and API Settings.

The Update Profile tab allows the user to change their personal information.
The following is a list of all the available fields:

  • Email
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Title
  • Office Phone Number
  • Mobile Phone Number
  • Instant Messenger Address

The Change Settings tab allows the user to modify certain settings/preferences such as date and time format and themes.

The following is a list of all the available settings:

  • Date Format
  • Time Format
  • First Day of the Week (This is the day of the week that the Calendar will start on)
  • Timezone
  • Daylight Saving Time (Yes/No)
  • Default Assignments Filter (All, Late, Today. For more information check the Assignmt. section of this guide.)
  • Theme (Change your default activeCollab theme)
  • Visual Editor (Yes/No. The visual editor is a feature in activeCollab that allows for easy formatting in text entry fields. Example features that the visual editor offers for a text entry field: paragraph types, style types, bolding, italicizing, underlining, bullets, numbering, uploading images, etc.)

The Change Password tab simply allows a user to change their existing password.

Basecamp vs. activeCollab Dashboard Comparison Table

The following is a table comparing the Dashboard features of Basecamp and activeCollab (click on the buttons in the table header to sort a column alphabetically):

Feature Type Basecamp activeCollab
Active Projects - / tab (list) No Yes
Calendar embedded / - Yes No
Calendar tab / button Yes Yes
Docs - / button No Yes
Favorite Projects - / sidebar No Yes
Important - / sidebar No Yes
Late / Today - / tab (list) No Yes
My info / Profile link Yes Yes
People - / button No Yes
Print View - / button No Yes
Projects (Your) sidebar / button Yes Yes
Quick Add - / button No Yes
Recent Activities list / tab (list) Yes Yes
Search tab / button Yes Yes
Starred - / button No Yes
Templates tab / - Yes No
Time tab / - Yes No
To-Dos / Assignmt. tab / button Yes Yes
Who is Online? - / sidebar No Yes