Early Preview of ZilicusPM 5.1 Project Management Softwar

Early Preview of ZilicusPM 5.1 – Online Project Management Software

Zilicus, the technology company that offers award winning online project management tool – ZilicusPM, will be releasing next version – ZilicusPM 5.1 – Online Project Management Software in next week.

I am really excited to share early preview of ZilicusPM 5.1, the next version of your favourite project management software. As promised earlier, ZilicusPM is going to be yet more engaging, comprehensive, collaborative and intuitive for project teams. As always we are releasing ZilicusPM 5.1 after listening to our customers’ voice. And we are really happy to align ZilicusPM product roadmap to meet your requirements.

Here are some the features being introduced in ZilicusPM 5.1 – Online Project Management Software

Configurable Working Days

ZilicusPM has already reached multiple geographical regions (45 countries). These countries have different date, time formats and time zones. ZilicusPM already support all these. With the launch of ZilicusPM 5.1, we have introduced a configuration entity using which, user can configure working days in a week for their organization.

Resource Load Chart

It is important for a project manager to know whether a given team member is available to take up a given task even before assigning that task to him/her. It is also important to understand whether project team members are under-assigned or over assigned otherwise it will definitely impact project delivery.

Though ZilicusPM already made available resource utilization report for a project, by introducing Resource Load Chart in ZilicusPM 5, ZilicusPM gives project managers a real time view of resource load across all projects as well as resource load for a given project.

Do you know Resource Load Chart is colour coded

The colours in load chart clearly display how whether a given team member is under allocated, optimally allocated or over-allocated. And the cell value clearly shows how many hours are allocated/assigned.

Resource load chart in ZIlicusPM

Real time Resource Availability

Now project managers and planners have excellent utility to help them in assessing whether a team member can be assigned a given task based on his availability across all projects. This view shows his/her current assignments (in number of hours), hours required for current task and total assignment in a what-if way.

It is like WHAT IF of resource assignment

What-if analysis for resource allocation

Real time resource availability for a task

Search Tasks In a Tasks List

ZilicusPM user interface for project team members has been redesigned for more intuitiveness and higher usability. Now users can search tasks by name. It is pretty quick. Once task is searched, its details like start date, description, due date, predecessors, task comments and other related information can be seen on same page.

Search Tasks in a project

Track time against risks, issues and miscellaneous items

For ZilicusPM’s integrated time tracking tool, we have gone further and based on customer feedback we have introduced a time tracking feature which allows team member to track time against issues, risk or miscellaneous items for a given project. Of course, these timesheet entries can be viewed, using timesheet reports. Project managers can also view timesheet details for team members.

Track time for project Issues, Risk and Adhoc-Items

Enhanced Google Docs Integration

ZilicusPM 5.1 has been tightly integrated with Google Docs (Google Drive). Users can work with their Google Docs and search those using ZilicusPM. In the latest version of ZilicusPM, you can browse through your Google Drive folders and select desired document or search for it. Once selected, you can link it to a given project.

ZilicusPM5.1 and Google Docs Integration, search google docs

Project reports

We have introduced project specific reports as well as portfolio level reports. Resource load chart reports are available at portfolio level and it gives real time resource load for a given user across all projects. You can select duration for which you wish to view resource load chart, it can be a month, quarter, a year or a specific selectable duration. You can as well view timesheet details report at a portfolio level – you can specify for which duration, whether billable only or non-billable only or both entities to be listed.

Similarly these reports are available within the context of project with specific details such as –

Timesheet activities report within project context helps project manager to assess un-assigned and unplanned activities in his reports.
The resource load chart report for project shows how a resource is assigned tasks within the context of project.

Project-Timesheet-for-All-Activities

Enhanced User Interface for Team Members

As a team member, you can see which all tasks are pending and ongoing, which tasks are due to start tomorrow onwards and which all tasks are already marked completed by him/her. This page has been redesigned to show more details, help team members in making informed update for tasks. It shows task details like start date, due date, actual dates, assignees, predecessors, task comments, easy to navigate links and buttons.

Enhanced My Task View in ZilicusPM

Delegate Project Planning to Team Leaders

Some of you have requested this feature and yes, we heard you. Now project managers can delegate their project planning activities to project leads. ZilicusPM already introduced project resource group feature, using which project manager can segregate group of team members based on functional expertise, assignments, etc. A given group can have group leader.

Delegate project planning to project leaders

ZilicusPM is taking this concept forward and now enables project manager to empower these project group leaders to create, modify project schedule.

Of course there are many other enhancements being introduced in this release, such as Request Task Update as illustrated below.

Request Task Update

Project manager may be interested to know what is happening for a particular task/activity. ZilicusPM makes it easier for Project manager to send a request to respective team member. He/she just has to select a given task and click on ‘Request Status Update’.

The official announcement of release of ZilicusPM 5.1 will be made in the next week.

As I mentioned earlier, we have already started working on ZilicusPM 6.0. So you can expect more innovative and useful ways of managing your projects.

Why not be part of an vibrant and exciting group of ZilicusPM community? Share your view & discuss your problem areas in managing projects. click here to sign up for ZilicusPM – online project management today.