Monday, October 6, 2008

Collaboration: More Important Than Ever

As Bricsnet's ProjectCenter celebrates its 10th birthday this month, it's interesting to remember how times have changed since this application was introduced in 1998.
The Internet dominates the business world in a way that was almost inconceivable a decade ago. And as a result, online collaboration has become a way of life for many people. Although the Web was a familiar place in 1998, it was -- compared to today -- a relatively static environment. The dynamic, interactive applications we know on today's Internet were, for the most part, a few years away. Although attempts were being made to "webify" some business applications, the applications were, for the most part, crude and simplistic.
In that world, ProjectCenter was a groundbreaking advance. And the product has kept pace. As expectations of Internet applications have grown, ProjectCenter's functionality and user interface have continued to develop. The new release takes advantage of the latest technologies to bring customers new scheduling and communication functionality that makes this tool more powerful and easier to use.
Here are some of the new and enhanced features you will find in ProjectCenter 6.0:

New User Interface
Icon Driven User Experience
Moveable / Adjustable / Collapsible Panels
Option Skin Color Themes
Anchored Pop-up Windows
Wizard Driving Administration

Project Schedule / Milestone Tracking
Parent and Child Events
Task Assignment
Gantt Chart

Project Calendar Enhancements
New interface
Event Export to Outlook
Action Item Due Date View
Milestone Item Due Date View
Enhanced Email Notifications

Administration Enhancements
New Wizard Driven Interface
Role Based Security Available
Drag and Drop – Team Directory & Folder Structure
Username/Password Notification Allows Attachments

Document Management Enhancement
File Listing Custom Fields (Text, Drop-Down, Date, Memo, and Radio Button)
File Upload Progress Indicator
Selected File User Notification (Post Upload)
Enhanced Document “Expanded” View
Enhanced Commenting Functionality

Workflow & Configurable Form Enhancements
Added Additional Custom Field (Memo, Date and Radio Button)
Additional Task Management
From a Single Screen a User can see:
Tasks Assigned to Them
Tasks They Have Assigned
All of Their Action Items

With all of the advances of the past decade, we can only imagine what the next 10 years will bring. But looking at the new ProjectCenter release, you can begin to believe that whatever new paths web technology forges, ProjectCenter will be there.