Desktop management [guide]
This guide is for advanced users who wish to have more control over the setup and management of their user's desktops.
NOTES:
- Desktops are managed at the security group level and not per individual user. Each user can always resize the widgets, even if you restrict them from the rights to edit the widgets.
- You cannot choose what speedbar shortcuts a group has. Only individual users can do that.
System defaults
When a new Workamajig account is created, it comes pre-loaded with default security groups. Each of these groups have default desktop layouts (widgets) already defined.
These default groups are:
- Account managers
- Accounting
- Administrator/IT
- Clients
- Creative/production
- Executive/owner
- Traffic/project manager
- Vendors/freelancers
Establish permissions
To be thorough, you will want to review all of what each security group will have access to view and edit in the system and via widgets.
SECURITY GROUPS
TODAY PAGE SETTINGS
Configure desktop & company settings
As an administrator in Workamajig, you have management rights over other users. This includes desktops for other security groups.
See the Configure desktop guide for more info on the options available.
ACCESS COMPANY SETTINGS
To access the Company Settings options, do the following:
- Click on the Configure Desktop icon in the upper right corner.
- This will open up the Configure Desktop panel. In it will be two tabs, Desktop Settings, and Company Settings.
- Click on the Company Settings tab. Your screen will change into a layout editor and you will no longer be editing your individual desktop.
MANAGE A GROUPS DESKTOP
From the company Settings tab, do the following per security group:
- Choose a security group
- Determine their desktop rights
- Add and remove widgets
- Modify the Widgets to the desired view you want users of this group to see by default.
- Reset the desktop for all users in this group.
- Next time they log in, they will see exactly what you created.
Key widget examples
MY TASK WIDGET
Based on how you manage your projects, this can translate right into how your users see and work on their task assignments.
If you require users to enter comments with each time entry and only want them to see the current task of their project, then you can do the following:
- Edit the widget from the double-gears icon in the upper right of the widget.
- Choose the date range of all.
- Check the box for Completed Predecessors Only.
- Edit the columns so that you only have Hours, Billing Comments, Service, Task, Project, Start, Due, [Timesheet], [Status].
Alternatives:
- would be to group by priority. This way no matter when the task is due, it goes to the top of this list if it's a high-priority task.
- Include Has Open To-Dos to the columns if you use the To-do feature extensively. Also, you can choose to only show tasks with open to-dos as an alternative way of managing tasks and visibility.
- For a grid-only view (so users can collapse the details section of the widget) add columns for (task) description, due by (comment), actual hours, assigned hours, Etc.
ACTIVE PROJECT WIDGET
The active project widget is a great way for users to see what projects they are on the team of. However, there are options and rights to allow users to see all projects regardless.
Depending on which group this is for, you can add columns for Budget and Gross Labor and Expenses. Along with other status or description details that you may want visible.
You can also have multiples of the same widget on the desktop and label the widget for what they are showing. In this example, you could have two active project widgets on the desktop, yet one is renamed Estimating Projects, so you can see what has been created in the system, but not live for people to work on just yet.
COMPANY NOTES WIDGET
This is a great widget to place on everyone's desktop if you are wanting them to be informed of new policies or procedures and have a link or description of what is going on.
In short, make this widget editable by administrators only, so they can update what is displayed, while everyone else can view it only.
Company background vs company logo.
While in Configure Desktop as an administrator, you can upload a company background Image and/or a company logo.
You can also restrict the users of that group from altering their desktop, so can't change the background or theme.
Some tips for uploading company images:
- Ask a designer to assist with creating multiple versions, sizes and file types to see what works best.
- If you upload a company background, then have the edges fade to black, and then have the image centered and the background color be black as well. This way you do not see where the image ends, nor do you need to use the stretch option which can skew the image.
- If uploading a logo to be used in the corner of the desktop, try to keep the canvas size of the image around 1 inch by 4 inches in size.
As a user, if you have the right to edit your own desktop, then you can choose the Company Background or not, and even upload a personal background image. However, the users cannot remove the Company Logo that appears in the corner of your designation.