Aphex Blog

What's New in Aphex: September 2023

Written by Millie Barratt-Boyes | Oct 2, 2023 11:08:32 PM

We've really turned up the heat this month - introducing new Status and Delay Tracking!

All your advice over the last while has pushed us to make recording delays faster, simpler and more flexible than ever.

There's lots to love, but highlights include editable Task Status, plus one-step delays and delaying the path of promised tasks.

And to top if off, you'll also find a new customisable Task Panel loaded with everything important, complete with a detailed, interactive Activity Feed.

Trust us, this is one you'll want to check out!

 

Customisable Task Panel

Work the way you want with the new, reorderable Task Panel.

Packed with everything you need, the new panel is a one-stop-shop for editingtrackingcommenting & inspecting

Use the Thumbs Up or Down to log delays, and open the Activity Feed to find every change ever made. 

And it's not just a pretty list - it's fully interactivefilterable & collapsable!

1.  Drag and Drop Panel sections into your own order

Make sure the most important information is always in reach by re-ordering the panel sections. This will be remembered per user per projects, so you can have your own custom arrangement for each plan!

2. Edit everything  

Before, the Task Panel could only handle specific, small edits. To make any proper changes to things like Resources or Related Tasks, you had to look elsewhere.

Now, everything is editable in the Task Panel, allowing you to continue planning without opening any pop-up windows, or messing around with Gantt columns.

3. Collapse and expand the Activity Feed

The new Activity Feed is perfect for keeping track of Task changes, but we haven't forgotten about all those little screens out there!

Having the Activity Feed open all the time could chomp up valuable screen space, so we've made it totally collapsable. Meaning you can decide when it's important to see, and when it's not.

And the cherry on top? We'll remember your preference so that it's still collapsed the next time you open up Aphex. 

 4. Filter and interact with the Activity Feed

The Activity Feed goodness doesn't just stop there. Instead of being a tangled list of everything, the new Feed is filterable, so you can choose from viewing All Activity, Comments & Documents or Dates & Progress. 

Perfect for those of you tracking something specific!

Plus, lots of entries inside the Feed are clickable. Did you remove a linked task a while back and want to track it down? Just open the Activity Feed and click straight into the removed predecessor. Boom 

New Delay Tracking & Task Status

We've streamlined the entire delay process to put you back in control. Think less interruption & less jumping tasks.

1. Three new, simplified Task Statuses

To keep things as straight forward as possible, we've updated the Task Status options to indicate three clear states:

  • Planned 
  • Promised 
  • Done

In Progress, Assumed Completed & Completed have been retired and migrated to the new Statues.

2. Streamlined, one-step delays

Instead of clicking through a five step guided flow to log a delay, you can now add & customise everything in one step.

Delays can be Move or Extend updates, and improvements can be On Schedule , Move or Shorten.

Days of impact used to be limited to four, but you can now enter in any amount you need.

3. Integrated comments & documents 

To add extra context, comments and documents (&images) can be added to your Progress Updates, and these appear integrated in the Dates and Progress feed.

4. Pass on delays to promised tasks

And finally, one of the most requested features ever - you can now pass on delays to promised tasks!

Before, if one of your commitments needed to be moved, in order for any following tasks to shift, each task needed to be moved manually (with individual delay reasons added). Not the type of busywork you need to be spending your day doing!

So now, when you add a delay to a promised task, you'll be asked if you want to apply that same delay amount and reason to any promised predecessors.  

Automations & Custom Project Permissions

We couldn't unleash all these new features without giving teams faster ways to execute Status updates, and better ways to control permissions.

1- Task Status is now an editable property

Task Status is now editable just like any other property. If you only want to promise one specific task, no problem! The new Status Column will do the trick.

Or, you have a group of tasks you want committed to, why not select them all and multi-edit to Promised?

2- Status Automation

Or, if once a week you want to turn everything in the past to Done, then try the new Automations during the publishing process!

3- Task Status Permissions

And to make sure commitments are kept and it's not the wild west, Projects can control who has the ability to edit and regress Task Status:

  • Admins Only
  • Admins & Owners
  • Admins, Owners & Assignees