Thursday, 3 July 2014

MrTickTock 2.9 - custom absence categories and time off approval


MrTickTock 2.9 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

In this version we have added two most voted features:
  • Custom absence sub-categories
    There is a new "Other" category which contains list of customized absence sub-categories. The initial set of the items is: "Paid leave", "Unpaid leave", "Parental leave", "Other" and can be configured from the company Settings page.



  • Time off approval
    We have added new Absences tab containing list of awaiting time off requests. Admin can accept or reject any request. Only "Vacation" and "Other" categories require approval ("Sick leave" and "Public holiday" categories do not).
    Awaiting requests are marked with grey icon across the service (Tick-Tock page, calendar, etc.).
    Time off approval feature is enabled by default and can be disabled from the company Settings page (making the Absences tab invisible).



As usually this release contains bunch of bug fixes and improvements.


What's next?

In next versions we are going to add several minor improvements to make the service more user friendly and easy to use.
We are also waiting for your suggestions and ideas! Please drop a comment below or browse our
feedback system.

Follow us on Twitter if you haven't already.


Enjoy,
MrTickTock team

Friday, 4 April 2014

MrTickTock 2.8 - time tracking for restricted and external users


MrTickTock 2.8 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

This version brings one major improvement:

  • Restricted users
    Number of actions that restricted users can perform is limited to the absolute minimum. Restricted user role is a great solution for external contractors who should work only on assigned tasks and do not see other details like list of projects and customers.

    Restricted users are allowed to:
    • Report time only for assigned tasks (admin is responsible for adding tasks to Tick-Tock view of this user).
    • Add standup notes to assigned tasks.
    • See standup notes related to assigned task and its project.
    • See assigned task details (e.g. list of other users working on the same task).

    Restricted users are NOT allowed to:
    • Add tasks to Tick-Tock view.
    • See Tasks tab.
    • Perform any task action (hide, close, reopen, create, etc.).
    • See Standup reports for other projects and customers.
    • See list of projects or customers.
    • See projects or customers details.




Other changes in this version:


  • Edit settings of another user is now a Premium feature
    The rationale behind this move is that editing settings of another user is a natural extension of editing timesheet of another user which is already a Premium feature. We have combined them together in order to make the service and our Premium vs Free approach more clear.
  • Disable time reporting for past dates is now a Premium feature
    It was supposed to be Premium feature from the beginning as described here.



As usually this release contains bunch of bug fixes and improvements.


What's next?

In next versions we are going to add:
  • Vacation requests approval.
  • Custom absence types.

Try all of that at mrticktock.com and follow us on Twitter if you haven't already.

If you want to share a feedback please drop a comment below or browse our
feedback system.

Enjoy,
MrTickTock team

Friday, 28 February 2014

MrTickTock 2.7 - improved absence tracking and disabling time tracking


MrTickTock 2.7 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

This version brings two major improvements:

  • Public holidays
    We have added "Public holiday" option to the list of absence types as requested by our customers. Selecting this option reduces planned workload (number of hours planned for a day, week, month and year) so it works in the same way as "Non-working" option. "Public holiday" option is available in various places of the service (reports, user details, etc.).


  • Disable time reporting for past dates
    It was a common problem in our company that people were sometimes late and reported time for the past month or a period we considered closed (in terms of expenses, etc.). The obvious solution to this problem is to close time reporting possibility for such period. It is now possible from the company Settings page or generated report page. This feature will become Premium since next version.




As usually this release contains bug fixes and improvements.

Important

Since next version (2.8), editing settings of another user will become a Premium feature.

The rationale behind this move is that editing settings of another user is a natural extension of editing timesheet of another user which is already a Premium feature. We want to combine them together and make the service and our Premium vs Free approach more clear.

What's next?

Next versions will bring additional Premium features and UX improvements. We are going to add:
  • Vacation requests approval.
  • Custom absence types.
  • Restricted users role.

That's all for today friends. Try all of that at mrticktock.com.

Follow us on Twitter if you haven't already.

If you want to share a feedback please drop a comment below or browse our
feedback system.

Enjoy,
MrTickTock team

Friday, 24 January 2014

MrTickTock 2.6 - subscription for Premium plan and logo branding


MrTickTock 2.6 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

This version brings small but exciting logo branding feature and allows to subscribe to Premium plan.

  • Logo branding
    Now you can change the standard MrTickTock logo to the custom one.
    Simply go to company profile and provide your url which points to the image (we do not host it on our servers).
    Please note that logo will be scaled to 100x80 pixels so the best is to provide an image of this size or similar proportions.



  • Premium subscription
    Finally it is possible to subscribe to our Premium account (we have chosen FastSpring based in Santa Barbara, CA as the payment operator).
    Since the release date of version 2.6, i.e. January 24 2014, all accounts start with 30 days of Premium trial period. Read more


As usually we have fixed some some bugs and improved few things to make UX more smooth.

What's next?

Version 2.7 will bring additional Premium features and UX improvements. We are going to add:
  • Vacation requests approval.
  • Custom absence types.
  • Possibility to close month.

That's all for today friends. Try all of that at mrticktock.com.

Follow us on Twitter if you haven't already.

If you want to share a feedback please drop a comment below or browse our
feedback system.

Enjoy,
MrTickTock team

MrTickTock Premium explained


MrTickTock offers two plans: Free and Premium.

Free plan is available for everyone and is not limited by the number of users, projects or tasks. It is fully functional but simply does not offer Premium features.

Premium plan offers additional features listed below. It costs $3 per user within company account (we do not charge for blocked/dismissed users) per month.

Every account starts with 30 days of free Premium plan. After 30 days Premium account is converted into Free account (premium features become disabled) unless customer decides to subscribe to Premium plan.


What are the Premium features?

Following features are available in Premium plan as of current version 2.6:
  • Admin can modify user's timesheet
    This feature allows admin to edit user's timesheet and perform actions like:
    • add missing time report, 
    • mark day off, 
    • select tasks for user to work on, etc.
  • Admin can control user's permission
    It is possible to reduces privileges of all users across the company with one switch (from the company settings page). This feature allows to block following permissions for user role:
    • pop up customer and project details, 
    • create task,
    • open and close task,
    • delete tasks with no time reported or in case user is the only one who reported time, 
    • edit task name and description.
  • Logo branding
    It is possible to change the standard MrTickTock logo to the custom one (from the company profile page).

Next versions will bring more Premium features:
  • Absence requests approval
    As requested by our customers we will add possibility to approve or deny time off requests.
  • Custom absence types
    Absence types might depend on the company policy and country. This feature will allow to customize absence categories.
  • Close month
    In order to summarize month, bill customers and avoid mistakes we will introduce possibility to disable time reporting capability for a given date and before.

30 days of trial period?

All new and existing accounts start with 30 days of trial period. All Premium features are enabled in that time and become disabled when trial ends (unless the subscription happens).

Please note that above means that MrTickTock account stays fully usable and users can still report time and mark days off, managers can create reports and so on. Our Free account is fully functional. There is absolutely no data loss and no data access loss.

You can find few more details about Premium plan and full list of features on the pricing page.


"Your Premium trial will expire in 30 days"

This message is presented to all existing customers when they first log in to version 2.6.
This message is also presented to all new users when they log in first time at all.

You can expect similar message few days before trial ends and next one right after account loses its Premium status and becomes a Free one.

These messages are pretty and not annoying. They are presented as a small yellow popup which can be closed in a natural way with just one click.


How to subscribe to Premium plan?

That is simple. Just go to your company Profile page, check the price (it depends on the number of active users, we charge $3 per active user) and click the orange "Buy Now" button.

The subscription payment is managed and processed by FastSpring based in Santa Barbara, CA.




Thank you

We would like to thank to all of our existing customers who helped us understand the business better and helped us drive the service with their helpful feedback.

We hope that you will like our Premium features and decide to subscribe. They are really useful for teams. 

If you want to share feedback please drop a comment below or browse our
feedback system and follow us on Twitter if you haven't already.


Enjoy,
MrTickTock team
--
MrTickTock.com

Saturday, 21 December 2013

MrTickTock 2.5.1 released

Hello friends,

We have just released MrTickTock 2.5.1 and published at http://mrticktock.com.

This version brings minor bug fixes and improvements.The most notable is probably Login link from the home page. It stopped redirecting to the application when user was already logged in but displayed Login popup all the time. That was extremely irritating and some of you reported the problem directly to us.
Since version 2.5.1 it works fine again and there is no need to provide credentials if your session is still alive.

There are few more fixes and improvements in order to make your experience more smooth. Enjoy!

Follow us on Twitter if you haven't already. This way you can stay on track with MrTickTock new features and releases.

Let us know your feedback - drop a comment below or browse our feedback system.

Enjoy,
MrTickTock team




Friday, 29 November 2013

MrTickTock 2.5 and Premium features


MrTickTock 2.5 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

This time we have focused primarily on requested "enterprise" features, i.e. "Allow admin to modify user's timesheet" and "Allow admin to restrict user's privileges".

Another important message is that after a long time of being a totally free service, we have decided to add "Premium" plan.


New features:

  • Admin can modify user's timesheet
    It is extremely problematic when user gets sick or goes off for any other reason forgetting her last time report or marking day as off.
    With this feature admin can edit user's timesheet and sort things out.
    It is also useful if you want to prepare an account for a new user.


  • Admin can restrict user's privileges
    We have added a global switch which reduces privileges of all users across the company. When the switch is on, users will not be able to delete tasks at all (even tasks without reported time), create task, popup projects and customers details. This way all data can be protected against deletion and project/customer data can stay confident and not available to users.
    Why we did not decide to create another type of user role/level but go for a global switch? The answer is simple: to make your life easier and avoid confusion when you invite new users - "what is the difference between a standard user and a weak user?".









In addition to the above features, several things have been improved and few bugs fixed in order to make UX more smooth.


MrTickTock goes Premium

Important note: Nothing will change for our existing customers. All the current features will stay free.

We worked very actively on MrTickTock development for a long time and the current state of the service suits our needs very well. Nevertheless we get reports from our customers about missing features and shortcomings. Therefore we think it might be worth to put an effort and continue the development process. Few more requested features and further UX improvements can make MrTickTock even more awesome and satisfy more people.

Software development is costly so in order to fund the further work we decided to add Premium plan with the two "enterprise" features added in current version, i.e. "Allow admin to modify user's timesheet" and "Allow admin to restrict user's privileges". We also plan to add "Vacation request approval" and "Logo branding" to Premium plan in the next release.
These features are dedicated to bigger groups and we believe that some of them will decide to pay for Premium plan.
 
Important note: All Premium features will be available to everyone until we introduce payment solution.

You can read few more details about Premium plan on the pricing page.


What's next?

Version 2.6 will bring additional Premium features and UX improvements. We are going to add:
  • Vacation requests approval.
  • Logo branding.

That's all for today friends. Try all of that at mrticktock.com.

Follow us on Twitter if you haven't already.

If you want to share a feedback please drop a comment below or browse our
feedback system.

Enjoy,
MrTickTock team