RELEASE NOTES

New Features & Enhancements: Version 24.03 - August 2024


System Graphics

• Updated Project Ally logos

• Added ability to customize line below first set of buttons to go with firm colors, if desired


Project Tasks

• Changed the sort order to sort by Status (Not Started, Ahead, On Schedule, Behind, Completed) so that the Completed items would drop to the bottom of the list:

  • Projects > Administration > Project Tasks
  • Staff > [staff name] > Tasks Assigned


Project Fees

• Added button to Project > Fees > Direct Expense Projected tab so you can Update All DPE rates based on rates entered in first row (in case you don’t want to use current DPE rates)

• Added safety feature of requiring Hold Ctrl+Shift (PC) or Control+Shift (Mac) keys to be pressed to Update All billing rates for phases.

• Added safety feature of requiring Hold Ctrl+Shift (PC) or Control+Shift (Mac) keys to be pressed to Update All DPE rates for phases.

• Moved the “Client’s Name for Phase/Service” field to the Phase Summary tab, in case it is ever needed (for example, the phase name may need to reflect client’s name for the phase on invoices)


Project Budget tab

• Added red warnings and tooltips (messages that appear when mouse is hovered over a field or text) to warn if Expense Factor information is missing for a Project.



Projects > Forecast

• Fixed bug where, depending where the Project Ally window was on your screen, the dialog box for Forecast now will always open in the center of the Project Ally window

• Improved Projects Dashboard so now you can open multiple projects to make adjustments easily, such as to %Complete, by clicking on Project’s name and then clicking on Performance To Date tab for that project to adjust % Complete


Contacts

• Lunch & Learn recommendation: Enter the term Lunch & Learn with the date [Lunch & Learn 7/31/24] plus some key words (such as “PVC" for a PVC Vendor) into the Notes field: Contacts > [company name] > Company Detail > Contacts tab > Notes field.  If contact info is always entered for Lunch & Learn providers, then going forward folks can search on keywords such as “lunch” or “PVC” in the notes field to help recall lunch & learn info


Time Tracking

• Bug Fix (this may have been effecting office administrators) - if a timesheet does not have any projects listed, it no longer unnecessarily checks for unused project time records

• Added “weekend” dark gray indicator color above direct time area on timesheets

• Improved Annual Report headers (Tracking > Time Tracking > Time Reports tab > Annual Reports section) so reports will be more readable across multiple pages



New Features & Enhancements: Version 24.02 - April 2024


Company Header & Footer Settings

• Access the Settings area by going to the Integratis Inc I-Logo > Company Info tab (not all users have privileges for this area)

• Now your firm’s logos for headers and footers on documents are a .jpg image instead of a text calculation. This improves consistency of the look of documents across various printers


Marketing

The “Standard” formats (formats other than the SF330 and VA A/E forms) have been improved, including:

  • can turn off/on the inclusion of page numbers
  • automatically calculates if projects on a staff resume are past projects or “individual experience” and adds the asterisk after the project name as well as includes the footnote



New Features & Enhancements: Version 24.01 - January 2024


Projects

• Changed the second line of the Project Name from “Project Name 2” to “Owner Entity”, to help clarify the purpose of the second line of the Project Name

• Per customer request, a Project’s Archive Status choices are now:

Pending (instead of Bus. Dev.)

Active

Archived

-

Marketing


Projects > Fees > Prime Detail

• Per customer request, when a new phase is created, the “Show Phase/Service in Work Schedule Chart” box will no longer be automatically checked


Projects > Budget > Project Budget

• Improved the Budgeted Profit % on the Project Budget tab to no longer require that time be entered on a timesheet for it to calculate. The Expense Factors used will now be based on the Contract Date Year.  Enter 1/1/2024 [current year] if you’re not sure of the Contract Date, on the Projects > Details > Project Info tab. The Contract Date field is to the right of the Project Name field


Projects > Administration > Project Schedule

• Improved Update Schedule script


Projects > Forecast

• Added back the Forecast button to the Projects area because the Project Schedule was too hard to find behind the company Logo

• Created a Forecast dialog box with buttons to more easily select the different types of gantt charts and Projects Dashboard

• Added caution colors to Forecast > Active Projects tab to highlight projects without %Complete and Budget Hours entered

• Improved Forecast > charts by removing projects with hours or profit less than or equal to zero (such as projects with no data entered)


Staff > Sign Out Log

• Improved Sign Out Description so, for example, users can enter whether they are working at the office or at home

• Added Last In/Out field to hold date when In/Out was last changed (to help show if entry is current)

• Added Note field so, for example, users can enter a date when someone returns from vacation or when parental leave ends

• Automatically prompts for Sign In and Sign Out when files are opened or closed. This feature can be turned on or off by administrator via the Appearance tab in the preferences area. It is currently OFF.


Tracking > Expense Reports

• The layout for Expense Reports will now go to two or more pages, if necessary, and print up to 65 line items


Projects > Marketing

• Improved all forms

New Features & Enhancements: Version 22.06 - November 2022


Projects > Fees > Phase List > Prime Detail

• Added “Projected Start Date” and “Projected Done Date” fields to Projects > Fees > Phases tab. Including these fields on the Phase layout (which are the same fields that are on the Project Schedule) will make it easier for project managers to enter a best guess at “Projected” dates while creating each Phase. These dates can easily be edited here or from the Projects > Administration > Project Schedule tab as the schedule develops more


Projects > Fees > Phase List > Phase > Consultant Detail

• Improved "Compensation With MarkUp" field at Projects > Fees > Phase > Consultant Detail tab:

  • If you would like to vary the "Compensation With MarkUp” amount slightly because of an “oddball” amount calculated by multiplying the “Compensation” by “MarkUp %”, click on the "Compensation With MarkUp” field (which is a calculated field) and a dialog will appear asking for the amount you would like instead. Click “Continue” and the script will calculate the "% Mark Up” amount based on the “Compensation” and “Compensation With MarkUp” amounts entered.
  • If you are happy with, for example, using the standard 10%, then no action is necessary because it will automatically multiply the Compensation x %MarkUp and be shown in the “Compensation With MarkUp” field.
  • If you see a question mark (?) in the “% MarkUp” field, it means the number is too long to fit in the field (likely because it is a long oddball fraction to arrive at the desired "MarkUp with Compensation" amount). Hover over the field with your cursor, and the amount will show in a tool tip, or click in the field to see the number.


Projects > Administration > Project Schedule

• Added “% Complete” field to Projects > Administration > Project Schedule tab to give a more full picture of the progress of each phase

• Added  “Update Schedule” button to Projects > Administration > Project Schedule tab. When clicked, this script automatically updates the “Actual Start Date” and “Actual Done Date” for ALL projects based on Timecard entries that have been added or modified since the last time the script was run. The script also automatically updates the Status field too. The “Update Schedule” button is also located at Projects > Forecast > Work Schedule (which summaries all active projects on a gantt chart). This will make it much easier to enter “Projected Start” and “Projected Due” dates (since they can be compared to the Actual dates based on timesheet data) to complete a current Project Schedule.


Projects > Forecast > Budgeted Hours

• Added new tab at Projects > Forecast > Budgeted Hours - By Role tab: view the total number of Budgeted Hours by broken out by role for Active projects (or based on other Find Criteria)



New Features & Enhancements: Version 22.05 - October 2022


Projects > Fees

• Improved Projects > Fees > Hours Projected tab:

  • Dropping in Billing Rates - If the previous Phase entered has Billing Rates entered, when you create a new Phase, it will copy the previous Billing Rates.
  • Moved the Update Billing Rates button to be one button, instead of on each row, because it is not needed on each row.

• Improved Projects > Fees > Direct Expense Detail tab:

  • Dropping in DPE Rates - If the previous Phase entered has DPE Rates entered, when you create a new Phase, it will copy the previous DPE Rates.
  • Improved script so DPE rates are added to every Role type, regardless of whether or not associated hours are entered.

• Improved Projects > Fees > Total Hours By Role tab:

  • Removed any roles from pie chart that had no Budgeted Hours entered, so labels won’t overlap unused roles.


Projects > Budget

• Improved Projects > Budget > Project Budget tab:

  • Improved process for adding estimated Total Fees for all active projects so the Share of Indirect Costs will be more accurate for each project.      Likely for Administrators: From the Project Budget tab, click on the “Update Indirect Costs” button in the lower left hand corner, after clicking Continue, a dialog with a list of projects will appear which pauses the script. Click in the boxes on the right to add estimated Total Fees for each project where you wish to include an estimate (an “override” amount), then click Continue at the top right of the dialog window. Click “All” to update share of indirect costs for all active projects. Keep in mind that this “override” amount also shows up under Projects > Details > Project Data > Gross Fees field which is useful for Marketing/Response to RFP purposes.  Once/If fees are developed for projects, this “override” amount should be deleted (ie the “override” field should be left blank) so that the “real” fee amount shows. The pencil icon symbolizes a fee amount that is currently “overridden”.

• Improved Projects > Budget > Work Performance tab:

  • Changed tab name to from “Work Performance” to "Performance To Date”
  • Improved clarity of portal (table)
  • Multiples Budgeted Hours by % Complete to show % Complete of Budgeted Hours
  • Changed background of “% Complete” column fields to gray to indicate this data is adjustable
  • Chart: Hours To Date is now the same dark blue on both Performance To Date tab and Estimated Work Remaining tab

• Improved Projects > Budget > Work Progress tab:

  • Changed tab name to from “Work Progress” to “Estimated Work Remaining”
  • - Improved clarity of portal (table)
  • Multiples Budgeted Hours by % Complete then subtracts Hours To Date to show Estimated Hours of Work Remaining
  • Changed background of “% Complete” column fields to gray to indicate this data is adjustable
  • Chart: Hours To Date is now the same dark blue on both Performance To Date tab and Estimated Work Remaining tab

• Improved Projects > Budget > Profit Performance tab:

  • Changed the font to Italics for “Hours To Date OR Budgeted” column to indicate that this data is different because it is based on an if/then statement



New Features & Enhancements: Version 22.04 - August 2022


Tracking > Timesheets

• Improved the script that duplicates timesheet items so that the role for each phase will be retained from the duplicated timesheet


Projects > Project Budget

• Added print out for Project Budget. Go to Projects > Budget > Project Budget tab. Click on File > Print or use the “Print Project Budget” button in upper right hand corner of the Project Budget tab


Projects > Administration > Project Schedule

• Added print out for Project Schedule of “projected” dates only. Go to Projects > Administration > Project Schedule tab. Click on “Print Projected” button in upper right hand corner of the Project Schedule tab


Projects > Correspondence

• Removed the “Save Document” button on input layouts for Projects > Correspondence (emails, phone calls, transmittals, letters, memos, conference memos) and Projects > Construction (submittals, field reports, RFIs, Field Orders, PRs, COs, Supplemental Drawings, etc) because it was not necessary and confusing

• Reconfigured layouts slightly for Projects > Correspondence (emails, phone calls, transmittals, letters, memos, conference memos) and Projects > Construction (submittals, field reports, RFIs, Field Orders, PRs, COs, Supplemental Drawings, etc) to include a line between fields referencing where document is stored (File Management and File Storage, File container field) and fields for the actual document



New Features & Enhancements: Version 22.03 - June 2022


Appearance > System Formats > Phone Format

• Improved the phone format script. Now when you click into a phone number, when you click out of the field it will format the phone number correctly. Therefore, no need for you to add dashes because when you click out it will add the dashes for you. If the area code is 804, for example, which is the same as your firm’s area code, no need to type that in because it will be added automatically. A word of warning, if a current phone number field has some odd information (for example, “trailer” for construction trailer) in the field, be sure to document the phone number before you click out of the field to make sure info isn’t lost when it tries to reformat the numbers. If you need to have a phone number called “trailer” please use one of the three blank fields where you can enter a custom label.


Projects > Forecast

• For Projects > Forecast > Work Remaining tab, added a feature in the lower right hand corner where you can easily limit the information seen in the pie chart based on:

  • Archived Status: Business Development, Active, Archived or Marketing
  • Active Status: Not Started, Ahead, On Schedule, Behind, Completed
  • Department: Medical Studio, Recreation Studio, Residential Studio, Schools Studio
  • Office-In-Charge: Richmond

Regarding “Department” above, for larger firms this would be useful if groups of people and related projects were broken into “studios”. If your firm doesn’t have studios, this could be used just to break projects into groupings. For example, you might like to see all the Schools projects together in the pie chart

• By adding the feature in Projects > Forecast mentioned above, this also helps with the issue of the Forecast tab calculating all active projects upon entry. Currently, it is set to find all “Active” and “Not Started” projects so instead of calculating all active projects. This is quick if on site at the office, but takes a little extra time off site. If this is still too long to wait, we can consider more adjustments



New Features & Enhancements: Version 22.02 - May 2022


• The labels for the billing rates can now be edited. The Admin account has the proper privileges to edit the list.


• Improved lists so after sort, it will go to the first record in the list


• Improved Back button and Forward button at bottom of window


• Improved “duplicate line item” feature of timesheets


• Replaced the “Budgeting” button with an “Invoicing” button. Now only the invoicing items are under the last main button and the other items that had been under Budgeting (Project Budget, Fee Proposals & Forecast) are now under the Projects button.

• Switched “Tracking” & “Marketing” button locations while I was at it because it seems to make more sense


• In lieu of the blue bar at the top being the Go Back & Go Forward buttons, now use the two arrow buttons at the bottom of the window


• Improved File > Print….  to print the Active Project list, Project list, Contact lists, etc. from the corresponding layout


• Find link to help website at Help > Project Ally Online Help. When you get to the website, scroll down to the Project Ally section


• Simplified the information on the Project Budget tab. Hover over the field to see a description of the field or how it’s calculated. Also added hidden buttons / click-thrus on the phase names, etc to jump to where the information comes from


• In Fee Proposals, I have added drop down lists for the Line Item Number field and Line Item Description field


• I have added more Direct Personnel Expense fields for bonus pay, workman’s comp etc. They are hidden from most privilege sets


• When a Contact is “Active”, please make sure the Company is “Active” as well. To jump to the Company record from the Contact Detail, click on the striped-list-looking-icon next to the Company name


• Reminder: a quicker way of opening Project Ally: To set preferences to automatically open Project Ally, please do the following:  Launch FileMaker and then go to FileMaker Pro > Preferences…  > General tab > At start up, open file (last item on tab) > click the check box and then click Browse > click Hosts button (on lower right hand side) and click Project Ally in Favorites. If you ever want to open FileMaker without opening Project Ally, you’d need to open Project Ally and then uncheck “At start up, open file” and then launch FileMaker again



New Features & Enhancements: Version 22.01 - April 2022


Contacts

• In the Contacts List and Company List, for the company name field, if the name is two lines it now presents with a dash instead of a return in the list view so you have more information there (i.e. City of Richmond - Department of Parks & Recreation)

• Changed the tabbing order on the Contacts Info page so if you tab out of the Archive Status field it goes to the First Name field instead of the Location Name field


Budgeting > Fee Proposals > Phase List

Regarding adding phases to Fee Proposals, it may be slightly different now so here are a few recommendations:

Go to Budgeting > Fee Proposals > Phase List tab.  Therel see the list of phases (if any have been entered). To create a new phase, click on the + sign on the top right corner of the list near the word Total.  To open a phase, click on the phase number or phase name.  If you click into a phase and want to get back to the list, either click on the Fee Proposals button again or use the < and > symbols at the top left of the screen to go forward or back through the “found” phase records.

New Features & Enhancements: Version 23.04 - October 2023


Projects > Fees

• Now when creating a Phase in Projects > Fees > Phase List, it will automatically add the current Billing Rates and DPE Rates as entered in the Staff > Staff Detail > Employment tab

If you would prefer not to use the standard Billing Rates, you may still edit individual Billing Rates on:

  • Projects > Fees > Phase List > choose Phase > Prime Detail tab > Billing Rate fields
  • Projects > Fees > Hourly Rate Projected tab

If you would prefer not to use the current DPE rates, you may still edit individual DPE rates on:

  • Projects > Fees > Direct Expense Projected tab


Projects > Budget

• Profit Performance tab:  Changed the "Profit %" title to “Projected Total Profit %” plus changed the underlying calculation to include profit from Consultants, so it will now be an “apples to apples” comparison with the “Budgeted Profit %” on the Project Budget tab



New Features & Enhancements: Version 23.03 - August 2023


Projects > Forecast

• Moved the “Forecast” page to be accessible from the Company Logo in the upper left hand corner of every page. Therefore, no more jumping from different “found sets” of projects which could be confusing

• Creating the summaries on the Firm Logo  > Active Projects tab (formerly the Projects > Forecast > Active Projects tab) requires a lot of calculating for the database. This can be inconvenient if you are off-site or just want to look at the Project Pipeline gantt chart, for example. So now you can choose when you want to update the info by clicking on the “Update Active Projects” button on the tab. Although, if you are off-site, it may still be slower to calculate



Projects > Administration > Phase Info

• Phase Info: Now, a Phase/Service can be locked. This might be used, for example, if a phase is created but not yet approved by a client or if a phase has been billed completely and the administrator wants to prevent more time being added to a phase on timesheets. Locking privileges will be restricted to higher levels only. Remember to hold down the shift key if you need to unlock the phase (when clicking on a radio button)

• Added functionality so that when timesheets are duplicated, if a phase is now locked, it can’t be duplicated onto the next timesheet


Projects > Fees

• On the Fees tab: The number for the Phase/Service will now turn red if a Phase/Service does not have hours, billing rate and DPE rate info added (i.e. incomplete Phase/Service information)


Projects > Budget

• Project Budget tab:  The Profit % shown on this tab is the Profit % calculated at the time the fee was put together. Changed the title to say “Budgeted Profit” instead of “Profit” plus added the year to the factor titles and an asterisk with a note to the Budgeted Profit



New Features & Enhancements: Version 23.02 - May 2023


Projects > Fees > Phase List > Prime Detail

• Added back the Stipulated Sum field for Fee Proposal line items

• For Line Item ID drop-down list, put a, b, c, etc at top of value list instead of Roman numerals


Projects > Fees > Phase List > Consultant Detail

• The drop-down list of a project’s consultants is generated from the entries on the Projects>Administration>Project Directory tab. No longer necessary to deal with a long list of Companies every time an entry is made - Project Managers please populate the Project Directory tab with contacts for each of your projects

• Made a new report that lists all consultants on a project with their phase / service and compensation (with no mark-up) and project total fee for consultants. The button for it is on the Consultants Detail tab


Projects > Budget

• Updated all 4 tabs: Project Budget, Performance To Date, Estimated Work Remaining & Project Performance so that information is presented more clearly

• Made a drop-down list for % Complete fields so no longer have to type to enter data

• On Project Budget tab, added Expense Factors button to open a “table” to input current and historical data such as Indirect Expense Factor, Overhead Hourly Rate Factor and Total Annual Overhead (access limited to administrators)

• On the Project Budget tab, the Profit Margin % no longer considers Active Projects in its calculation

• Go to Projects > Fees and add the Billing Rates (on the Hours Projected tab) and Direct Expense Rates (on the Direct Expense Detail tab) to each of your projects. Be sure to utilize the “spin-looking” button on the right-hand side of the phase rows to quickly copy the amounts to all phases, edit unique amounts as necessary


Projects > Administration

• Made a drop-down list for % Complete fields so no longer have to type to enter data


Projects > Forecast

• Added “Active Projects” tab that summarizes “forward-looking” project hours, cost and profit data (if you are offsite when viewing the Forecast area, some calculations may take extra time to run, but it is worth the wait)

• Project Pipeline Gantt Chart can be constrained to each Project Manager



Tracking

• Added a red caution box on timesheets to indicate that the current assigned role does not have any hours budgeted to it for that project/phase

• Timesheets: Removed part of “Create New Timesheet” script that asked that timesheet be locked before creating a new timesheet. From feedback, it may be better to let administrators lock the timesheet as a way to indicate that the timesheet has been checked over

• Time Reports: Added Annual Profit Report , Annual General Office Expense Report, Annual Job Development Report and Annual Professional Activities Report. These may take a while to generate if you’re off site



New Features & Enhancements: Version 23.01 - February 2023


Projects > Fees > Phase List tab

• Added a trashcan icon to the end of each phase row to easily allow deletion of unwanted phases. A script will check to see if any time has been entered against the phase and, if so, it will not let the phase be deleted

• You can no longer delete a phase by using the Delete Record icon at top of window on Project > Fees > Prime Detail window (Using Delete Record for this action may cause someone to delete a Project record if they press Delete Record while on the wrong window). Instead, use the new trashcan icon mentioned above


Projects > Fees > Phase List > Prime Detail

• Now when creating a Phase, you’ll be asked to enter dates in the Projected Start date and the Projected Done date fields (on right hand side of tab). It is better to have estimated project schedule dates than no dates. The dates can be edited later as you develop more information about the schedule. The quote “Perfection is the enemy of the perfectly adequate” comes to mind - waiting for exact date info hampers creating a project schedule


Projects > Administration

• Project Schedule tab: Added invisible buttons to the Actual Start Date field and Actual Done Date field. For example, when you click on the Actual Start Date field, a dialog will ask if you want to transfer the same date to the Projected Start Date field

• Project Tasks tab: Added a new Chart Tasks button to show a gantt chart of Project Tasks (similar to gantt chart in Staff >  Tasks Assigned tab but it is project specific, not staff specific)


Projects > Forecast

• Work Schedule Button > Gantt Chart: Added a drop down so that the Active Status and Archive Status for a Project can be changed within the Work Schedule window by clicking on the Project’s Name

• NEW —  Project Pipeline Button > Gantt Chart: Added a new Gantt Chart that show Projects only (no phase information) over a 320 day period


Tracking > Timesheets

• Bug Fixes:

  • If the found set of timecards was atypical, it would present the wrong timecard for duplication - this has been corrected
  • If there were errant duplication marks (boxes with x) likely introduced because of the issue above, those errant duplication marks remained - this has been accounted for and corrected

• Created a new Warning message that prompts user to delete any unused Projects/Phases on current timesheet before it will allow you to make a new Timesheet

• Created a new Warning message that prompts user to lock current timesheet before it will allow you to make a new Timesheet

• Fixed the “red dot” on timecards so that it shows only on today’s date

New Features & Enhancements: Version 21.01 - November 2021


Updated to Utilize New FileMaker Pro Features

• Project Ally has been upgraded to take advantage of new FileMaker features and has a fresh new interface while functioning much the same, to limit frustration of learning new software

• Ready to go for iOS to publish your Project Ally database on iPad or iPhone

• Improved look, feel and utility of layouts including conditional scripting, popovers, script triggers and more

• Improved Document Storage and Enhanced Container Fields allow storage of any type of file plus store files internal or external to database

• Utilizes speed improvements of network connections


Use Project Ally on your iPhone or iPad

• Project Ally is now accessible from your iPhone or iPad when your solution is hosted a Server:

  • Make phone calls from your Contacts List
  • Get maps and driving directions from your Contacts List
  • Add photos to Projects utilizing your iPhone’s built-in camera
  • Use iOS talk-to-text feature to search or fill in fields
  • View PDFs on your iPad
  • Fill in your time sheet and expense reports on the go


New Project Ally Tools

• Improved Social Media tools including tools for FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Twitter links

• New Contact-related Marketing Info tab includes follow-up reminder date field, preferred contact method field and more

• New Marketing-related Prospective Clients List tab helps organize correspondence with potential clients

• Duplicate Marketing Proposal to further expedite job development document preparation

• Includes updated SF 330 Forms and Virginia AE Forms with scripts to easily calculate project and staff numbers

• Duplicate correspondence, such as transmittals and construction correspondence, with a click of a button

• “Gray” out a Contact that is no longer with a Company without losing Contact history

• Improved Invoicing section