iZepto Blog

Task requests prior to 2.3 were created ’silently’ as an option in task search.  These tasks were added to a special client and project and needed to be moved into the correct client and project by an administrator.  This didn’t give the requestor much credit, since most of the time they can probably make a good guess as to where the task should go.

In Version 2.3 released today, they entire task request process has been updated.  Requests are now obvious (there is a pop up screen that the requestor fills in) and the requests are allocated to an administrator (just like leave requests).

Work for the Admin should now be greatly reduced in most cases.  If the requestor has got it right, just clicking “Approve” should be all they need to do!

Again, we are aiming to make iZepto the easiest time sheet system possible!

We have just added a new feedback mechanism using UserVoice.  It is that cool ‘Feedback’ link on the left of each page and let’s you tell us what you want by either adding a suggestion or by voting up a suggestion you like.

We have already done or started two of them, so you know it is working!

Check it out by clicking the link or by going directly to: http://feedback.izepto.com/

Although the functionality has been there for a while now, we thought it was worth blogging about some new functionality in iZepto - Leave Management.

At Shine Technologies, we found that the process of leave requests and time management were pretty closely linked.  So, we updated iZepto to handle it.  Now, you can mark a task a ‘leave’ task.  For instance, you probably have a task for ‘Annual Leave’ or ‘Maternity Leave’.  You can now mark that as a leave task and your users can request to take ‘Annual Leave’.  They pick one of the Admins as an approver.

The system emails Admins daily if they have any requests that need approval.  You can easily see a Gantt chart of all leave requests, and even filter them by status or date range or group.

Once approved, the requesting user gets an email and their time for that period is automatically filled out.  Neat!

A final feature added today is Leave Reconciliation.  Now your accountant or book keeper can do a check between what was requested and what was actually taken.  At Shine we use this as the last step prior to updating our payroll system with leave actually taken.

As a nice extra, check out the iCal feed beneath the Gantt chart.  I have a subscription in iCal on my Mac (but any iCal conforming application will work) that shows all leave requests for people in my group.  They show up as an all-day event at the top of my calendar and is a nice reminder not to expect a certain team member in that day!

This is just a quick note to let you know that Version 2.0.5 was just released and it actually enforces the subscription model that was announced on December 4th last year.  So, if you signed up after then and you have more than 3 users you will now be asked to subscribe to the service to continue to enter time entries.

If you have any problems with the subscription process please use the feedback page or email us directly on info at izepto.com.

An updated version of the iPhone app is now in the App Store. You can now add notes to time entries and more easily navigate forward and back in time.

Thanks for all the feedback! We are working on more enhancements so let us know what you would like to see!

iZepto 2.0 release has just happened and the service is no longer in free signup mode.  From now on, all companies can try the service for free for 60 days, and after that pricing will apply based on your number of users.  Please see our Pricing page for full details.

Thank you to all the companies that have signup up in the last 18 months!  Don’t forget, you will NOT be charged. Only new sign ups will be effected by the change of status.

We have some exciting things planned, so please subscribe to this blog via your RSS reader to keep in touch.

Version 1.1 of the iZepto iPhone application is now in the AppStore. You can now see your time entered for the day. Nice!

The next release will have the next most requested feature - adding a note to a time entry. Stay tuned!

The iZepto iPhone application is now in the AppStore.  Check it out!  Just go to the App Store in iTunes!

Yes, our iPhone application was submitted to Apple for review just then, so based on evidence on the interwebs it is likely to be available within 2 weeks.  Or rejected.  Who knows?!?!

We are already at work on additional features, the main one being the ability to see and edit time entries as well.  The main point of this release was to enable you to quickly and easily add time entries to iZepto.  Future releases will add functionality to review your time and maybe some other nice things as well Fingers crossed!

Sorry to those of you trying to use the site in the last hour or so.  We had put up a release with some new functionality and there was some nastiness with some clashing modules. <<Insert technical gobbledigook here that makes it sound hard to solve (which it was) but you won’t feel any sympathy (’cause you shouldn’t) for the blind panic we were feeling (which we were)>>

The good news is that there has been some work done under the covers to allow us to more easily add scheduled jobs.  To start, the weekly reminder email (Under Admin in the Preferences area) you can now set the day of week and time of day for the email to be sent.  This is in your local time zone so make sure you set that preference too!

On the iPhone application front we are very close to submitting the application to Apple for review.  We will update you on our progress.  We have been doing some additional work to improve usability for getting set up based on feedback from our Beta test.  Not long now!