New features in Polaris

Resourcing

• Request statuses

• Request scores

• Review checklist

• Managing enhancement requests

• Introducing Polaris PPM

Projects

• Ability to enter time against projects of any active status
• Project Progress dashboard in Polaris
• Roll up estimates

Project, Billing, & Costing

• Role-based costs in Polaris

Timesheet

• Better integration of SmartBeats with timesheets
• Modification History timesheet component
• New Submission Failed timesheet status
• Updates to population methods
• Improved task selector
• Highlighting

System

• User Access Details report
• Configurable decimal/grouping separator
• Shift notification

Improved resourcing summary

We now offer more detailed information in the Resource Allocation Summary chart located on the Resource Management page. If you click a bar, the table that displays now shows a comprehensive summary of time off, allocation, and pending hire data for the selected time period.

These new details can help resource managers quickly gain broad insight into their resourcing status.

Also in this chart:

• You can now choose to view data as a percentage of the whole (e.g. overalloctions as a percentage of all allocations)
• The text that displays is now consistent with text in the Resource Availability chart located below it

Direct resource assignment via the Resource Plan page

Project managers with resource management permission can now allocate resources to projects directly from the Resource Plan page. When they click the Allocate Resource link, a list of available resources displays, and they can simply choose a resource by name rather than having to submit a request or use the resource matching page.

The resource list can be filtered by role, and each resource’s availability percentage displays, to help in the selection process.

This new option is especially useful for smaller companies that don’t want the overhead of using formal resource requests, and for project managers who know exactly who they want to assign to a project, and don’t need to weigh and match criteria.

Also note:

• We’ve also split the Resource Plan list into a section for allocated resources (on the bottom), and a section for resource requests that aren’t yet fulfilled (at the top), to make planning easier
• We’ve merged the Resource Plan Grid and Chart views into a single view, retaining the best of both pages, to simplify the resourcing UI

New 'edit' ability for project managers with resource manager permissions

Previously in Polaris, project managers with resource manager permissions had to submit a resource request if they wanted to edit an allocation, which was cumbersome.

Now, if you assign an individual both permission sets, they can add, edit, or delete resource allocations for any project they have access to, using the Resourcing > Resource Plan tab. We previewed this change on Jan 19.

This allows them to sidestep the resource request process, and easily make allocation changes.

For more information, refer to Can project managers allocate resources to projects directly?

We’ve launched Quick Allocation, a new allocation option for resource managers, which we previewed on Jan 19. This feature is primarily aimed at small- to medium-sized organizations for whom the formal back and forth resource request process is onerous.

Quick Allocation allows managers to add and edit allocations directly to resources, without needing a request from a project manager to initiate the change.

Using Quick Allocation, resources can:

• Add, edit, and delete allocations
• Easily compare users’ allocations
• Add projects on the fly, to allocate resources to
• Sort and filter resources to find who you’re looking for
• View a resource’s allocations per project
  
  

Previously in Polaris, if a resource manager wanted to allocate work to a resource who wasn’t fully available during the allocation period (due to time off, shift schedules, etc), their only option was to overwrite the time off (leading to inaccurate allocations), or manually allocate around it (which was difficult and time-consuming).

Now, we’ve launched a time off aware allocation feature that offers resource managers options for automatically handling availability limitations. They can choose to have the system:

• Allocate only what fits
• Re-distribute the allocation hours
• Allow the allocation to fall outside the requested date range, or
• Over-allocate the resource

Refer to Handling availability limitation when allocating resources to a project for more information.

In Polaris, you can now associate role assignments with effective dates in resource profiles. This allows you to assign roles before they take effect, track role assignment histories, and ensures that the appropriate rate is used in calculations.

Request statuses

To help you keep track of requests you’re considering, we’ve introduced these request statuses: New, Under Review, Approved, and Rejected.

Request scores

Our new scoring feature is designed to help you quantify the value of each request you’re evaluating, so you can more easily compare requests.

You can assign each request a value score, an investment score, and a risk score, and the system will calculate a total score, which is essentially equivalent to the request’s return on investment (ROI). Then, you can compare total scores to decide which requests are worth pursuing.

Review checklist

Project managers need to check that each request meets certain criteria before they can create a project for it. For example, they may need to ensure they have room in their budget, and sufficient resources, before they can proceed with a request. Therefore, we’ve introduced a customizable criteria checklist they can use to ensure requests can be successfully implemented.

Managing enhancement requests in Polaris PPM

Product teams and IT departments don't always have the resources to immediately implement potential product enhancement ideas. They need a method of collecting and storing ideas, while they evaluate them.

We’ve launched a requests processing feature in Polaris PPM, to collect and store potential project ideas that your IT departments and portfolio managers receive from within your organization or from customers.

Managers can now record suggestions, requests, and ideas in the form of ’requests’, then they can evaluate and identify which ideas they want to implement. Once they've prioritized ideas, managers can create projects from the requests and go forward with planning and execution.

You'll need to be assigned the Request Manager permission set to access requests.

Introducing Polaris PPM

We’ve launched a new product in our Polaris suite: Polaris PPM. This product offers our brand new Polaris project management, SmartMatch resourcing, and SmartBeats functionality, tailored for product portfolio management.

Polaris PPM currently offers CapEx and OpEx tracking functionality; We plan to add several new PPM features to the product in the coming weeks and months.

Ability to enter time against projects of any active status

You can now enter time against projects that are in Initate, Planning, or Execute status, rather than just ones in Execute status.

This will be the default permission for any new customers going forward.

For existing customers, you can update your settings to allow time entry during those two additional phases. To do this, go to Administration > Project Settings and, from the Allow Time Entry for field, select Initiate, Planning and Execute Stages.

Note that:

• This is a global setting that applies to all projects in your system
• Resources can never enter time while a project is in Closeout phase, or if it has been archived
  
  

Project Progress dashboard in Polaris

We’ve launched a Project Progress dashboard on each project landing page in Polaris.

Project managers can use this dashboard to quickly gauge:

• The variance between your remaining work and remaining budget, so you can quickly tell if you’re on track
• How much of their hours budget they’ve used to date
• Hours worked as a percentage of the latest hours at completion estimate

All metrics are up to date, based on the latest project hours and estimates entered via SmartBeats.

We’re continuing to make improvements to our Polaris suite. Over the past few weeks, we’ve added the following:

• The ability to roll up estimates from child to parent tasks, which aids in monitoring task progress

• Auto-numbering of billing transactions, which saves billing managers from having to number bills manually
• New bill statuses that allow managers to more easily track bills through their entire life cycle
• The ability to assign each client a default invoice template, which allows for easy client customization
• The ability to import bill plans, which simplifies project setup
  
  

You can now display your costs based on either user cost rates or cost rates for the roles assigned when users complete work.

This feature is especially useful for services based organizations which often choose role-based costing so managers aren’t biased when assigning resources based on their individual rates.

Task owners in Polaris can record their time worked daily, plus work remaining and task completion date estimates, via SmartBeats. SmartBeat work hours are copied to timesheets automatically.

Some Polaris users have found the overlap in SmartBeat and timesheet functionality confusing, plus this overlap sometimes results in data sync errors. So, we’ve made a few changes to better integrate SmartBeats with timesheets.

Changes to SmartBeat entry

Task owners can now record estimates for work remaining and the task’s completion date directly in their timesheets, making it easier for users to record all SmartBeat data.

Note: Resources must be assigned User task estimates permission in their timesheet template before they can record estimates in their timesheet.

Plus, we’ve removed the My SmartBeat tab on the user’s My Work page. Users can continue to record their SmartBeats using the Task section of that page.

This change simplifies the UI for end users and reinforces the idea that beats can only be completed for the current day.

Note: If the timesheet is not open (i.e. generated and not submitted) for the current date, the user will not be able to enter a beat for that day.

Changes to data sync

Previously, data entered in beats synced automatically to timesheets, but didn’t sync from timesheets to beats. Now, sync occurs instantly in both directions. So, if a resource enters beat data in their timesheet, that data will be seen if they access that day’s beat via the My Work > Task page or via the Polaris desktop app.

This change prevents confusion over which data is valid and eliminates sync issues.

Changes to SmartBeat approvals

We’ve removed the SmartBeats page available to project managers from their My Team page.

This page is where project managers reviewed and accepted SmartBeats. Now, no acceptance is required, and any work hours recorded are approved via timesheet approval only.

This change streamlines the approval process and allows you to make use of Polaris’ full approval capabilities when carrying out SmartBeat approvals, including custom approval paths and timesheet editing.

Plus, estimates recorded in beats and timesheets now update budget calculations as soon as they are entered.

Note: If you want to continue approving beats each day, you can set resources up with the ability to submit selected timesheet entries ahead of timesheet submission, and instruct them to submit entries daily.

Administrators can now enable a new Modification History component in timesheets that shows who, besides the timesheet owner, modified the timesheet. This is particularly useful if you plan to use the new move time utility, so users know who made changes to their timesheet.

You can enable this feature in the Timesheet History section of timesheet templates; you’ll also now use this section to configure the Approval History component, as previewed on Mar 8.

We’ve finished rolling out the Submission Failed timesheet status in Replicon and Polaris which we previewed on Dec 7 and Mar 9.

This new status is available in configurable timesheets and on timesheet list pages, and displays whenever submission fails due to a validation error or workflow condition. It helps make troubleshooting submission failures easier. 

On the My Replicon, Team, Billing, Costing, and Payroll list pages, the new status is accompanied by a tooltip that explains the error. You can correct the timesheet and attempt to submit it again; the status displays until the timesheet is resubmitted. 

Note that:

• Users will need to refresh the timesheet page to see the updated status
• To keep timesheet statuses consistent, timesheets that allow submission of individual entries will now submit successfully even if they include unsubmitted entries
• Not submitted status still applies to failures due to other causes, like system or permission errors, and in reports and in the Payroll and Time Workbench

Updates to population methods

Renamed Overwrite With button

We’ve updated the Overwrite With button in timesheets to be called Quick Fill With, to more accurately reflect the fact that copied entries can be appended to existing entries without replacing them. We previewed this change on Dec 15.

Ability to limit which quick fill options are available on timesheets

We’ve added the ability to limit which fill options are available on timesheets. By default, all population methods are available when the user clicks the Quick Fill With button on their timesheets. You can, however, override the default and choose which methods are available for each timesheet template using the Administration > Timesheets > Timesheet Templates page.

Updates to quick fill confirmation messages

When a user elects to quick fill their timesheet, the confirmation message that displays now shows the name of the population method in use. This can be especially helpful if you’re using custom population methods.

Also, for each population method, administrators can now choose how the confirmation message will be phrased, to reflect the method’s configuration using the Administration > Timesheets > Timesheet Population Methods page. Messages can state that the method will ‘overwrite’, ‘update’, or ‘add to’ the existing entries. 

You can find more information on these updates on this help topic: Setting up timesheet autofill and quick fill population methods.

Improved task selector

We’ve nearly finished rolling out our updated task selector in the Replicon and Polaris web apps, and in Replicon Mobile; we'll finish rolling it out to the few remaining customers in the coming days.

We previewed this update back on Feb 26, 2021 and again on Jul 2.

Upgrades to the task selector include:

• An improved search algorithm
• Improved search performance
• Better results sorting
• Advanced filter fields
• Favorites functionality
• Display of recent searches
• Customizable layout of tasks and projects in the timesheet grid
• Search All capability in Replicon Mobile (was already available in the web apps)

Highlighting of matching search terms in the task selector

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been rolling out our task selector improvements. If you’ve been upgraded, in a few weeks you’ll see a small improvement related to the task selector’s search functionality. Currently, to help you find tasks when typos are present, the search displays all results similar to the term you searched. However, this can make it difficult to find the term that matches exactly.

So, in a few weeks we’ll start highlighting the term that exactly matches what you’ve entered in the search field, in the web version of Replicon and Polaris.

We’ve finished launching our new User Access Details report template in Replicon, that shows a full history of who accessed the Replicon web app or Replicon Mobile and when, and from what IP address.

International users who want to use a number format that doesn't correspond to their language setting in Replicon can now choose from one of three number formats:

• The format that’s the default for the selected language
• 1,234.56
• 1.234,56

For example, those who are accustomed to using business software in English, can still choose to use the number format that’s standard for their region.

User’s can select their number format from their Settings menu.

We now offer an email notification that administrators can enable and assign to shift users, that informs users about new shifts, or updates to existing shift assignments.