ClientSpot News, Tips, and Articles
Import project tasks from CSV files
January 06, 2013
Import tasks from comma separated value (CSV) formatted files, such as Excel spreadsheets, or exports from other systems.
Import Tasks into a Project
You can now import tasks into a ClientSpot Project from a spreadsheet (CSV). This can include the task name, person, date due, budgeted hours, and a description.
Your CSV file needs a first row of column names, which need to match one or more of these columns: “TASK”, “DESCRIPTION”, “BUDGET”, “PERSON”, or “DATE”. Only “TASK” is required, and you can have other data in the CSV, it will just be ignored.
The import will ignore bad data, and use reasonable defaults for everything else. The import features shows it’s status so you can see what worked, and where there were any problems in the file.
This feature is available only to account administrators from the Project detail page.
A simpler way to keep tabs on project activity
December 30, 2012
Get a better handle on what’s happening in your ClientSpot projects with the enhanced Recent Activity view.
Recent Activity View
The Recent Activity view (formerly the Recent Comments view) now shows a timeline of what’s happening across all your projects. You can now see recent task additions, updates and completions, file uploads, comments and replies from the Overview page in ClientSpot.
It also works well for your team members and clients (they see a filtered view of just their projects activity).
Recent activity is also available in the ClientSpot mobile apps for iPhone and Android.
Import time entries from other systems and more
September 06, 2012
Announcing some new enhancements now available in ClientSpot.
Import Time Entries
You can now import time entries into a Project from a spreadsheet (CSV) or other 3rd party tracking system. This can include the task name, person, date entered, number of hours and optionally a description. This feature is available to account administrators from the Project detail page.
Streamlined Task Entry
You can now add tasks for more than one project at a time using the new Quick Task Add feature. Available from the Tasks tab, this feature makes it simple to quickly add a new task for any project without switching screens or trying to locate the project.
Task Comment Notifications
You can now choose a specific group of people to receive a task comment notification when it’s first added. This is similar to a feature that’s been available for project level comments. The new checkbox to “Notify specific people” in on the Task Detail page when adding a task comment.
ClientSpot Android app now available
July 05, 2012
The ClientSpot Android app is now available, adding an Android option to our existing iPhone support to access your project activity.
Like the iPhone app, the Android version supports reviewing recent project activity including comments, task updates and file uploads. It also lets you add tasks and comments, browse your projects and tasks, and even log time against tasks with a few clicks.
The ClientSpot Android and iPhone apps are free for all subscribers. Get the new Android app in the Google Android Market (now Google Play). Works with Android version 2.3.3 and up (Gingerbread).
Project milestones and task duplication now supported
June 05, 2012
Need to track different groups of project tasks as rolled up summaries? Or maybe you just don’t want to show individual task dates on the calendar? The new Milestone feature in ClientSpot might be just the thing for you. For more on this and some other recent changes, keep reading!
Project Milestones
You can now create one or more Milestones under a Project. A milestone can have a name, due date, and a person responsible. You can also link one or more project tasks to a milestone, and track progress (total actual hours versus budgeted hours for all subtasks).
To start using milestones, create a new project, or enable milestones on an existing project using the new Project Options control, now available to administrators on the Project detail page.
Project Options
We’ve also made the major project items (Milestones, Tasks, Comments, Files) more flexible, so you can now show or hide any of these on a per-project basis. Some projects don’t need comments or files, while others may be too simple for milestones. Now you can keep things simple with the new Project Options control that lets account administrators turn these features on or off.
Duplicate Tasks
For customers with a lot of repetitive tasks, we’ve also added the ability to Duplicate any existing task, and to copy it under any valid project. You can also make the duplicate task recurring.
Recurring Tasks improvements
And speaking of recurring tasks, we’ve added a new option to allow creating recurring tasks on the same day each month. This supports use cases like “first Wednesday of the month”.
We hope you find the new features useful, and please let us know how they work out for you.
