A better Dashboard for high level overview

@Sam_Leahey, thank you for your feedback and suggestion. I’ll have to look into BetterWorks and get back to you. I’m seriously getting ready to throw in the towel on a PM tool search, but my boss told me she would throw it back at me… haha! I guess I have to continue on! :slight_smile:

Just click the pencil on your post.

I don’t have that option it seems. Maybe it’s a member thing? I see it on other people’s but not on mine?

@Dan_Olson lol don’t throw in the towel just yet!!! :slight_smile: We just have to wait for Asana to make moves on this and then you and I will be good to go! :wink:

#StayStrong

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@Sam_Leahey, so BetterWorks is a neat concept. It doesn’t solve our (my organization) problems, but it does provide more insight.

Here’s an example of some features we liked from the demos I’ve experienced:

ProjectPlace - Gantt Chart:

We liked that we could see the task dependencies and the implications of changing dates all on one screen. Another nice feature is that you could edit the task without leaving the Gantt Chart. This is ideal for our product & software development team to be able to see what could happen if delays occur.

ProjectPlace Dashboards:

This is a project dashboard, but my team expressed interest in something similar to this, but for a team/department. Asana could do something similar:

  • Instead of “Conversations”, it could be “Inbox”.
  • “Project Steps” could be a list of projects within that Team.
  • “Ongoing Activities” could be a list of tasks “Due within the next 7 days” for the team (this could also be cool if it could be filtered)
  • “Dashboard” could show how many projects are “On Track (green)”, “In Trouble (yellow)”, “On Hold (red)”.

Obviously, these are rough examples, but could make Asana really useful to Director-level management to get a high level overview for each department.

Workzone - Views:

Our team liked the ability to see the dependencies, start dates/end dates, status and the duration. This way, if they project is delayed, they can quickly see if there are areas that can be cut down.

Again, the biggest issue we’ve had is not having insight into why a project was delayed, trends for causing delays, and the implications of each delay. There are other examples, but I hope this helps give an idea of what we could use for our team.

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@Dan_Olson That was a great post on specifications. Having used collaborative software for more than 10 years, you are hitting a bull eye between Business Intelligence Reporting and day to day execution. I used Workzone for many years. It was a decent package but mixed buy in and little irritants like no re-occurring tasks.

One of the key items is going to be “buy in” and I have found that simplicity rules the day. We all know that Asana needs more management tools such as resource allocation… I looked at Betterworks and it looks like it is in the class of KPI monitoring software along with Rhythm Software and Cascade.

https://www.executestrategy.net/strategy-planning-software/ (Cascade)

Software Pricing (Rhythm Software).

These are great for KPI monitoring but when it comes to day to day workflow they do not seem to do the job that Asana does.

  1. Most of your reporting as you know is going to have to come out of Saved Favorites in Advanced Searches. Hard copy reports are not there yet, albeit see my post Report Writer For Asana-It Can Be Done - #5 by mkoehler. This can also be used for BI reporting.

  2. File management and revision capabilities will need to come through integration with box, dropbox or google drive to be robust.

  3. Many of your specs can be accomplished at least at a basic level, some with custom fields. Not sure robust project cost accounting is available, but have not seen them in others either.

  4. I use the built in Harvest billing software, and I know there is another one. I like Harvest.

  5. Asana has a pretty robust API, and it may be that you would have to build some things using their API. That is why I built Sendana Outlook To Asana - Sendana - #54.
    You would be surprised how easy it is to get somethings built with the API using Upwork programmers.

  6. Based on a public seminar they are working hard to get user defined custom templates out and some form of visualizing resource management.

  7. If you rely on task dependencies a lot, we are begging that Waiting On be searchable in Advanced Searches. They are certainly aware of this.

  8. Some Integrations are actually quite powerful, (most are basic). Have you looked at Instagaant. Instagantt + Asana: Create custom charts • Asana Nicely done.

So the bottom line from my perspective is can you aggregate enough management information, and other integrations that use the API, things like Zapier etc to create what you need. If all of this existed, there would not be the degree of frustration you are feeling in finding the perfect solution. If your organization is large enough to afford some Asana consulting, @Todd_Cavanaugh runs such an organization and is very versed. I believe @paulminors does some also. It might be worth spending some time with them to discuss your needs and how they could be accommodated. I believe @Todd_Cavanaugh has Asana clients all across the country.

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#AWESOME
response @Dan_Olson and @James_Carl!!!

@Dan_Olson Those visuals look great and have some the same task dependencies/alignment features I was loving about the BetterWorks visuals, BUT, you’ve got me thinking I should look into other things besides BW now because I can see how your specific examples would NOT be accomplished by BetterWorks!!! Thanks so much for sharing those!

@James_Carl awesome articulation. You bring up your historical perspective a lot which is cool because I feel like I’m getting a huge granular insight just by reading your posts!!! Keep’em coming for us less experienced peep’s :wink: When you mentioned “BW is in the class of KPI monitoring software” is that a subcategory in your mind of the “Business Intelligence Reporting” group you mentioned above? I’m trying to wrap my mind around the different layers/categories of software needed for business activities and prior to your comment I might be guilty of just lumping all software into only 2 categories - task management (Asana, trello, etc) and organization management (BW, Gantt, etc). Do I have that wrong? Where does the BW, Rhythm, Cascade group you mentioned fit into the categories of “Business Intelligence Reporting” and “Day to Day Execution” you mentioned?

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@James_Carl, thank you very much. This is very helpful. I’ll review the links you provided ASAP. The hard thing for me is that some of our team already tried Asana and have already written it off. If I can convince the team to revisit this (that’s a big if), these links may help us build something that would work.

On a side note, you are absolutely right about the “buy in”. It’s so true.

Thanks again!

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@I am not a Betterworks expert. It was interesting when I asked to demo, here was there reply. " Right now the entry level package is $14,400 annually" because I put in less than 100 employees. To answer your question, I went through Gazelles Training that uses Rhythm software. They are very big on KPI’s etc so they design software that is designed to monitor at that level and then try to graft on executable tasks which in the end stands as my highest priority. “Vision without execution is hallucination”- Thomas Edison. My review of BW, Rhythm and Cascade seems to indicate the same thing. Asana on the other hand I believe fits nicely in task management, but I think it would be an understatement to just call them a task management software. I would call them “execution software” which is where I believe payback is most achieved. It is much weaker on Business Intelligence Reporting, (not non-existant, but weaker). This will either be accomplished through their road map, integrations or people using the API. But in the end, if a team is not executing and collaborating, BI reports lose their use. Custom fields can do a lot on this. In one of my posts I suggested using the Red-Yellow-Green system in a custom field for weekly huddles. Pull up only the Red and Yellow as the Greens are on track. Hope that helps.

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I really am not @Todd_Cavanaugh marketing manager but I am pretty sure you could visit with him and he would be be candid whether Asana could accomplish what you need. Of course this board and @alexis are excellent also as well as the Asana Guides and Videos. The board though often tries to answer specific questions when people are trying to get a global overview to determine whether it will work. The guides and videos are excellent but making that global assessment needs advice from real life users. That is where @Todd_Cavanaugh may be able to help you with what I believe is a free initial consult. In the end you need to find what package will accomplish 80-85% of your needs with major weighting towards execution. Asana is not for everybody just like its competitions. If you have to create a patchwork quilt of bits and pieces it might not work, but their is no question it excels in buy-in and task completion.

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Hey Sam! Editing abilities are earned based on trust level in the community. :slight_smile: Keep up the awesome posts and helpful replies and you’ll be able to edit your posts in no time!

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Ah that’s what I figured! :frowning:

Can’t wait to get my editing abilities!!! :slight_smile:

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The Community is still quite new and we’ve been super excited to see all this great feedback. Based on this trend we’ve started working on a process for capturing this feedback and incorporating it into our current roadmap process. While I’m not able to outline exactly what the feedback process looks like now, I can assure you that capturing and organizing this feedback for Community members and internal folks at Asana is a priority in these next few weeks. :thumbsup:

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YES!!! @Peter_Skjoldager and @Dan_Olson we did it! With enough photo’s of BetterWorks and other softwares, links to the videos, and my boy @James_Carl thinking to himself “who is this crazy dude on the forums” (haha because we all know he’s thinking that!) we finally convinced our friend @Alexis to get a meeting going :slight_smile: #ItWasClearlyAllUs

@Alexis let me know when I need to be there in down town San Fran for the meeting for epic customer feedback :wink:

#MakingMoves

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@Sam_Leahey if you are the crazy dude on the forum I am a charter member of the crazy group :slight_smile: and welcome to active membership. Ask @Alexis how much I have bugged her. She is a good sport though.

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What Dan said… :innocent:

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I don’t want it to seem like two crazy dudes are the only ones with these wishes and ideas. I’m eternally frustrated by the landscape of PM software and again I find myself thinking about jumping to something (maybe even Basecamp), as the open tasks-can-technically-be-used-for-anything blankness of Asana is constraining and the hacks are tough to pick up for temporary people (clients, contractors, etc.).

So… +1 to making Asana about 4× more robust than it is now.
:slight_smile:

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Hi all!

I like the suggestion on having not only the end dates, but also the possibility to insert the start dates and durations of the tasks (like in Instagnatt - one of Asana’s integrations). My team also asked for this.

I believe including these features will help Asana become a more project-oriented app, as having only end dates for the tasks makes it look like just a “to do list”…

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@Alexis / @Sam_Leahey / @James_Carl / @Richard_Buergel / @lee / @Luiza_Gertz:

Just as an update… our team is most likely moving to Liquid Planner.:cry:

Note: Not my decision.

For all of the reasons listed above, Asana is not a good fit for our needs at this time. I desperately hope that it will be one day so that I can come back. Personally, I love it, but I understand why we cannot use it.

Anyway, I thought you would want to know the platform we may be switching to. Some of our team members in other departments have experience with Liquid Planner and have convinced decision makers to buy in. I put up a good fight, but ultimately lacked ammunition.

Don’t worry… I’ll still monitor the Asana Community!

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@Dan_Olson Sad to see you go but def give us some more details! I’m assuming the major reason is the dashboard overview metrics or was it something else that was the deal breaker(s)?