MrTickTock 3.4 - security and usability improvements

MrTickTock 3.4 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

Here is what we have added and improved in this version:

• Display absence subcategory name
  Subcategory name is now explicitly displayed in all places across the application. Previously we displayed only "Other" indicating sub-category but without specifying particular name. Improved behaviour is more legible and less confusing.
  
  
  
  
• Assignee picker improvements
  Assignee picker on the task popup is now rendered under the button that triggers the picker and it can be closed with a mouse click anywhere outside the picker.
  
  
  
  

• Last report date fixed
  Last report date in task popup is now correctly calculated. Now it indicates last report of any user and not current one.
  
  
  

• Task name in tooltip
  When task name is trimmed on Tick-Tock page because it is too long, then full task name is isible in the tooltip.
• Invite user improved
  When administrator tries to invite a user who has an account in MrTickTock already, we used to display generic message that email address is already registered. It caused confusion among our customers and they had to contact us directly for precise instructions.
  Now the message clearly says that user being invited must deactivate their account first.
• Security fixes
  We have improved MrTickTock security by fixing few vulnerabilities discovered when performing code reviews and testing.

 What's next?

In next versions we will focus on internationalization of MrTickTock and introduce new role for accessing reports only.

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

MrTickTock 3.3 - assign users and project tracking improved

MrTickTock 3.3 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

Here is what we have added and improved in this version:

• Assign users
  It is now possible to assign users to task right from the task popup.
  That is a quick and convenient way to assign multiple users to task from one place. This action is available only to admin.
  
  
  
• Project tracking
  Project progress bar showing hours worked versus hours estimated has been present in MrTickTock since almost forever (available on project popup).
  Now, it is possible to see progress of projects on customer popup. Only active projects are displayed (with time reported and estimated time set).
  
  
  

What's next?

In next version we will again focus on UX, bugs and usability improvements.

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

MrTickTock 3.2 - security is important

MrTickTock 3.2 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

Here is what we have added and improved in this version:

• New accepted time format
  Speed of time storing is one of our strongest points. Keyboard shortcuts and general UX excellence of the Tick-Tock page is our top priority.
  This time we have added one more option for time format, i.e. [0-9]{4}. It means that we can skip colon when typing full 4 digits entry, e.g. 0230 means 2:30 (two and half hours) and 1000 means 10:00 (exactly ten hours).
  
   
  
• Security improvements
  We pay a lot of attention to security on a daily basis when developing the app. Nevertheless our experience in software development told us that we should do even more.
  Thanks to Salman Khan from dezignburg.com we found few issues in both configuration and application code. Solving them allowed us to move MrTickTock and our users data security to the next level. Now we all can sleep even better :)
   

What's next?

In next version we will again focus on UX, bugs and usability issues and features.

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

MrTickTock 3.1 - improvements and bugfixes

MrTickTock 3.1 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

Here is what we have added and improved in this version:

• Time off approval
  Initially this feature allowed to accept time off requests no older than from last month. Some of our customers reported a need to access older items so here it is:
  
  
  
  
• Keyboard navigation
  Daily view on Tick-Tock page allows to filter tasks. That is a very handy feature if you work on a number of items.
  Now you can use down/up keyboard arrows to move the caret not only between time input fields but also to the task filtering field.
   
• Main page refreshment
  Feature carousel, support page and other minor changes appeared on our website.
  
  

We have also fixed some issues and added UX and performance improvements for the most frequent actions. 

What's next?

In next version we will again focus on UX and bugs.

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

MrTickTock 3.0 - new licensing model

MrTickTock 3.0 has just been released and published at http://mrticktock.com.

What's new?

In this version we have changed licensing model and introduced following UX improvements:

• API who_is_off
  Our absence tracking model evolved for the last months and API needed to be refreshed. Due to compatibility reasons we decided to leave current who_is_off endpoint without a change and add new who_is_off_v2 to reflect the actual model. See more here.
• Email confirmation
  That is quite common that people are providing invalid email addresses during sign-up if they only want to quickly test the service. We want to avoid MrTickTock sending messages to not existing email addresses so every new account will be required to confirm the email address in order to enable notifications. The same applies to everyone who changes email address in the profile.
  Email addresses of existing users and users accepting company invitation will be automatically marked as confirmed for obvious reasons.
• Initial wizard improvement
  That will allow new users to make the first steps more smoothly.

New licensing model

After around six months long experiment with "Evernote" like business model when we have been charging only for Premium account/features, we would like to try traditional approach.

Since now we are offering the service for free to individuals and groups up to 4 active users.
We will charge $3 for every user above that limit.

Why this change? 

Unfortunately we did not gather enough money to sponsor the development of the product without investing more money from our side (what we would like to avoid long term).

How can I help?

If you are an active MrTickTock user and you like the service and number of users actively using the service in your company if grater than 4 then please subscribe and praise our work with some dollars.

If you represent a bigger company with tens of users and think that the service is too expensive then please let us know. We might offer you a discount.

How can I subscribe?

Simply go to your company profile page and hit orange "Buy Now" button:

What's next?

In next version we are going to add more UX 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

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

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