Version 1.5.0.0 - Project Associate Improvements

Release Date: 9 January 2026

Overview

New Features

• Enhanced associate management, dashboards, utilisation reporting, milestone calculations, project insights, and export capabilities.

Quality Improvements

• Faster Projects area, clearer Gantt time windows, improved timesheet exports.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved issues in Gantt expansion, navigation, owner filtering, timesheet rounding, and dashboard completeness.

New Features

• Manage project associates with start/end dates and status Specify allocation periods and track status (Active, Completed, Cancelled) for clarity.

  
  

• Enhanced Project Associates dashboard

  Displays allocation dates, status, and time allocated with new status filter.

  
  

• Deliverables dashboard enhancements

  Shows total allocated time including associates and verified time spent.

  
  

• Full project export capability

  Export comprehensive project data with filters and OneDrive delivery.

  
  

• Forward load utilisation report

  View allocations by week or month, expandable for detailed analysis.

  
  

• New project insights summary

  Consolidated metrics and alerts in a single panel.

Quality Improvements

• Performance optimisations in Projects

  Reduced hangs when switching views or updating information.

  
  

• Gantt charts start from current month

  Align visuals with planning horizons.

  
  

• Timesheet CSV export improvements

  Includes project context and removes irrelevant columns.

  
  

• Timesheet accuracy & rounding

  Corrected inconsistencies and false warnings.

  
  

Bug Fixes

• Project Gantt expansion fixed

  Projects now expand to show deliverables.

  
  

• Case processing & activity date visibility

  Workflow now sets date received for case emails.

  
  

• Global search navigation

  Direct access to selected projects.

  
  

• Owner list filtering

  Only active, authorised users shown.

  
  

• Case list & filters

  Accurate display of completed cases.

  
  

• Paging and table completeness

  All deliverables, associates, expenses, and invoices now visible with correct details.

Full Impact Narratives

New Features

Managing Project Associates

Recent improvements have been made to the management of project associates within deliverables. These updates introduce greater flexibility and clarity when assigning and tracking associates’ involvement in projects.

• Defining Involvement Periods

  When creating or editing project associates, it is now possible to specify the start and end dates for each associate's involvement with a particular deliverable. By default, these dates are set to match the start and end dates of the deliverable itself, ensuring consistency and reducing manual input.

  
  

• Status Assignment for Project Associates

  A status feature has been added for project associates, allowing the status to be marked as Active, Completed, or Cancelled. This enables more accurate tracking of an associate’s current involvement and historical participation within the project.

  
  

• Associates Dashboard Improvements

  The Project Associates Dashboard has been improved to offer greater clarity when reviewing the associates connected to a project. These enhancements make it easier for users to access essential details and manage project associates more efficiently. The dashboard now presents a broader range of information about each associate. This includes their allocation start and end dates, their current status, and the time allocated to them on the project. These additions help ensure that users have a clear understanding of each associate's involvement and schedule within the project.

  
  

• Filtering by Status

  A new filtering feature allows users to view project associates based on their status. This makes it easier to focus on specific groups of associates, such as those who are currently active or those whose allocations have ended, thereby streamlining the process of managing project resources.

Managing Project Deliverables

• Project Deliverables Dashboard

  The dashboard has been enhanced to offer greater visibility into time management across projects. These improvements are designed to ensure more accurate tracking and reporting of both internal and associate project efforts.

  
  

• Time Allocated Column

  The Time Allocated column now provides a comprehensive view by including not only the time assigned to internal project members, but also the time allocated to project associates. This unified approach allows for a clearer understanding of the total resources dedicated to each project deliverable.

  
  

• Time Spent Column

  The Time Spent column has also been clarified. It will display the time recorded by Project Associates, but only when the status of their allocation is marked as “Completed”. This ensures that only finalised and verified time contributions from associates are reflected in the dashboard’s reporting.

  
  

• Project Deliverable Allocations

  When viewing an individual deliverable’s detailed information, there is a new area at the bottom of the form that shows all individual and associate allocations for the deliverable and the amount of time allocated to each. This provides quick visibility of all deliverable related items which can be particularly useful when approving a deliverable and its allocations.

  
  

Export Project Details

We have introduced new features to allow you to export comprehensive information related to your projects. You can choose to export data for multiple selected projects or focus on a single project as required. The exported files will include essential details about the projects themselves, along with all associated deliverables, allocations, associates, and any time entries that have been recorded for those projects.

• Export Filters on the Main Projects Dashboard

  When exporting data from the main projects dashboard, several filters are available to help you refine the information you wish to export. You can choose from the following options:

  
  

  • Active projects where you are the project manager

  • Active projects where you are the project director

  • All active projects filtered by a selected project type

• Export Process and Delivery

  Please note that the selected projects export process may take some time to complete. Once the exports have finished, you will receive an email notification. This email will contain a link to the generated CSV files, which will be available on your OneDrive for convenient access.

• Individual Project Export

  If you are viewing a specific project, you have the option to export information solely pertaining to that particular project, ensuring you receive only the data relevant to your current focus.

Please note that due to Microsoft Power Automate restrictions, the individual CSV exports are limited to 5,000 records.

Forward Load Utilisation Report

A new forward load utilisation report has been introduced to provide comprehensive visibility into resource allocation across the organisation. This report is designed to present, for each internal individual and associate, the total amount of project time allocated to them. Users have the flexibility to view these allocations either by week or by month, depending on their reporting needs.

• Detailed Allocation Breakdown

  To facilitate deeper analysis, the report allows users to expand the entry for any individual or associate. Upon expansion, the user will be able to see the underlying specific allocations that contribute to the total allocation time displayed in the summary view. This enables users to identify how resources are distributed across different projects or tasks.

  
  

• Accessing the Report

  The new forward load utilisation report is accessible directly from the projects dashboard. To open the report, users should click the "Utilisation" button located on the toolbar. This streamlined access ensures that the project management office and project directors can quickly obtain vital information regarding resource utilisation without navigating away from the primary project management interface.

Individual Project Insights

When examining an individual project, users have the ability to expand and review detailed summary insights. These insights provide an overview of the project, including the total number of deliverables and project associates. Additionally, users can see how many deliverables are currently pending approval and how many have been completed. The system also presents similar information regarding any associates linked to the project, offering a comprehensive view of their involvement and status. Furthermore, there are insights available concerning the current state of project invoicing, ensuring that financial aspects are easily monitored.

Individual Project Alerts

The alerts have been enhanced to cover a wider array of scenarios, offering increased support to project managers. Alerts now include notifications for deliverables with date ranges that extend beyond the overall project dates. There are also alerts for allocations and project associates whose start and end dates do not align with the dates specified for their respective deliverables. In addition, the system highlights allocations where the recorded time surpasses the allocated time, as well as deliverables where the combined total of individual allocated time and time allocated to associates exceeds the approved time for the deliverable. These expanded alerts ensure that project managers are promptly informed of any discrepancies, facilitating effective project oversight and remediation.

Enhanced Project Invoicing

The Projects Invoice dashboard now provides users with more comprehensive details about each invoice. In addition to existing information, the dashboard displays the Total Paid amount for every invoice, enabling clearer tracking of payments and financial status. We have implemented tactical enhancements aimed at improving the performance of the Projects area within SoCRM. These targeted improvements are designed to deliver a more efficient and responsive experience for users working with Projects. Ongoing Commitment to Optimisation: looking ahead, we are committed to further optimising performance not only in the Projects section but also across additional areas of SoCRM. These initiatives will be included in our future releases, ensuring continued enhancements to the overall platform experience.

Quality Improvements

Timesheet Totals Inconsistent

Recent modifications have been implemented to the rounding rules within the timesheet function. These updates ensure that the rounding of both daily and weekly totals is handled consistently throughout the system. The new approach standardises the way in which time entries are rounded, preventing discrepancies between day and week totals. This improvement aims to deliver a more accurate and reliable representation of total hours worked.  Additionally, these changes address the issue of erroneous warnings regarding

incomplete timesheets. The system will no longer generate warnings in situations where timesheets are, in fact, complete, but appeared otherwise due to rounding inconsistencies.

Filtered View of Project Individuals

During the process of assigning deliverable owners within the project, it was observed that the system permitted the selection of individuals who were no longer active participants. This presented potential issues in accountability and access management.  To address this concern, filters have now been applied to the list of available individuals. The updated configuration ensures that only those whose status is marked as Active are displayed. Furthermore, individuals must possess either read or update access to the Project Deliverables area in order to be selectable as deliverable owners.

Improved Gantt Chart Views

Historically, the project Gantt reports have always commenced with January of the current year as the default start month. This meant that regardless of when the report was accessed, it would display information beginning from January, which may not have been the most relevant or useful time frame for ongoing project management needs.

Enhanced Timesheet Export

In earlier versions of the project time export feature, users encountered several challenges when exporting their data to a CSV file. Notably, the exported records lacked enriched information regarding the associated project and project allocation. As a result, users found it difficult to interpret and utilise the data effectively.   Additionally, some columns in the exported CSV contained internal SharePoint system information. These details held no practical value for end users and contributed to unnecessary clutter, making the exported files harder to analyse.

To address these issues, we have made significant amendments to the export functionality. The updated export now includes enriched project and allocation information, ensuring users have access to relevant and meaningful data. Moreover, any columns deemed irrelevant or containing internal system data have been removed from the export.

Bug Fixes

Allocated Time Exceeded Error

We have addressed the problem where users, upon reviewing their timesheets, would sometimes see project entries incorrectly indicating that they had exceeded their allocated time. This issue was causing confusion and has now been rectified.

Correction of Timesheet Rounding Errors

We have resolved inconsistencies related to rounding. Previously, some users were informed that they had not completely recorded all their hours for previous weeks, due to discrepancies in how the system rounded timesheet entries. These rounding errors have now been corrected, ensuring accurate tracking for all users.

New Case Workflow Failing

Background: a problem has been identified with the workflow responsible for processing new case emails. The cause of the failure was the workflow’s inability to locate and assign the appropriate “Case Source”. This issue has since been addressed and the workflow is now operating as expected, with the correct default “Case Source” being assigned to new case emails.

Project Gantt Drilldown Issue

When users accessed the Project Gantt view to review the list of active projects, it was not possible to expand individual projects in order to view their associated deliverables. This limitation affected users' ability to gain a comprehensive understanding of project progress and deliverable status within the Gantt interface.  This issue has now been addressed. Users are once again able to expand projects in the Project Gantt view, allowing them to see all underlying deliverables linked to each project. This fix improves project visibility and facilitates more effective project tracking and management.

Cannot View All Project Information

It was reported that several project table views were unable to display all entries when the number exceeded the maximum visible limit. Users encountered difficulties in paging forward to access additional entries, which impeded workflow and efficiency.  To address this issue, the method of presenting project items has been revised. The new approach enhances overall performance and eliminates the necessity for paging. All project items are now visible within a single, unified view, ensuring seamless access to the complete list without the need to navigate through multiple pages.

Global Search Navigation

Users utilising the global search feature in SoCRM to locate specific projects encountered an issue with the navigation process. When a user clicked on a project listed in the search results, the system would redirect them to the project dashboard, rather than taking them directly to the chosen project. As a result, users were required to apply filters once again within the dashboard to locate the desired project. This navigation issue has now been successfully addressed. Users can now expect to be taken directly to the selected project upon clicking the search result, streamlining the workflow and enhancing the overall efficiency of the search experience within SoCRM.

Completed Cases Filter Issue

Users experienced inconsistencies when viewing completed cases within the case management area of SoCRM. The list of cases presented, along with the filters applied, were not always accurate, leading to potential confusion and inefficiency.  This problem has now been resolved, ensuring that the displayed cases and applied filters are correct and reliable for all users.

Project Invoicing Date Raised Not Showing

A previous issue, where the date an invoice was raised was not appearing on the dashboard, has been successfully addressed. Users can now see the date raised for each invoice, ensuring greater accuracy and transparency in invoice management.

Project Expenses Date Not Showing

A previous issue, where the date an expense was for was not appearing on the dashboard, has been successfully addressed. Users can now see the date each expense line item is for, ensuring greater accuracy and transparency in expense management.