| Developers: | Directum (Directives) |
| Date of the premiere of the system: | 2023/08/09 |
| Last Release Date: | 2024/10/31 |
| Technology: | Project Management Systems |
White Paper: IT Project Management
2024
Ability to manage project finances
Directum Projects now has the ability to manage finance the project. This was Directum announced on October 31, 2024.
In this release of the system, you can track financial key figures and add transactions to the Gantt chart.
In order for the project to be cost-effective, it is important to assess its financial condition at each stage of work. In Directum Projects, you can manage finances in a project plan where activities are linked to milestones. This allows the manager to control how changes in work dates and statuses affect the dates and volume of payments.
It is easy to create a financial transaction in a Gantt chart - you just need to add a new element, associate it with a project stage or milestone, specify the amount of payment and the transaction type that reflects the budget item. If necessary, the manager can add new transaction types or customize existing ones for the company. To reflect the movement of funds, the project manager selects one of the following areas:
- financing - the company's own costs for the implementation of the project;
- receipt - payment for services or goods of the company under the project;
- development - recording of assets received during the project in fixed assets on the company's balance sheet.
The planned transaction values are filled in manually. If the conditions have changed after the plan has been approved, the amounts must be updated in the updated version as the expected value. The actual key figures are calculated automatically from the amounts of the related transactions. The solution compares the planned, expected and actual values and calculates the variances:
Also, detailed information about deviations from the targets is displayed in the project, portfolio, and program card.
The manager can analyze the timing of financial transaction liabilities and their impact on the project. The diagram clearly shows which ones are overdue, completed, or affect the critical path of the project. For example, pending expired financial transactions are displayed in red:
Project cash flows, cash gaps, and investment hold-up can be tracked using the Finance panel. When up-to-date data on actual expenses and receipts are at hand, it is easier to manage the budget. With this, the manager can clearly assess the effectiveness of the project and make changes to the plan, if necessary.
To analyze the financial performance of the entire project portfolio, the manager generates a summary report. You can filter, group, and sort data, for example, by a specific management object.
For security reasons, access to financial information in the system is limited.
 | Financial management is one of the main tasks of the manager. It is important that the system is able to easily plan and track variances in financial flows, and automatically receive new versions of business plans and project budgets depending on the current work status. We have implemented a simple financial model that saves time for the project manager, said Nikita Aksyanov, head of Directum Projects promotion team.
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Automatic Project Work Calculation
Directum Projects automatically calculates project work and configures without code. The developer announced this on June 21, 2024.
To effectively manage the project, the manager needs information about the labor intensity of the work and the cost of human and production resources. In the updated version of Project Planning, all planned costs, including labor input, are calculated automatically based on effective rates.
Use the Work Elevation tool to calculate actual project figures. With it, employees add the time spent on the work, and the manager approves this data.
Managers can quickly check the deviations of actual indicators from those planned in the Summary of Work Performance Report.
The capabilities of the Project Planning solution become even wider with Agile boards. Right on them, the performers note the time spent on completing tasks. The Project Manager tracks employee labor for ticket work in the summary report as well.
If the manager needs to massively create or change tickets, then it is convenient to do this in the tabular view of the Agile boards. Especially suitable at the start of the project, when you need to quickly compile a list of works.
With the help of no-code tools, it is easy to adapt the order of work on the project to the structure and specifics of the company. Business processes can be changed directly in the system explorer without the participation of developers. For example, set up project milestones:
- Add new blocks
- indicate the performers;
- adjust the deadlines;
- include notification of the completion of part of the work for interested parties, etc.
You can also adapt the appearance of the interface to your company's needs in this release of the system. If the manager tracks the internal rate of return (IRR) and the net present value (NPV), these fields can be added to the project card form.
In addition, you can personalize and customize the appearance of the cover of the project manager workspace module. For example, add a link to it with a list of employee substitutions for quick access to it.
| | We take into account the wishes of customers and constantly expand the functionality of the solution. In the new version, we have added tools for convenient project management and strategic planning. In addition, with the help of no-code configuration, the company can adapt business processes to its needs, significantly speeding up the process of implementing changes. said Elena Kropacheva, product owner of Directum Projects.
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Integration with the Incomand portal
Corporate portal Incomand it is integrated with the solutions of the company, Directum which announced this on June 11, 2024. More here.
Compatibility with Tantor DBMS
Tantor Labes"" (included in Astra Group"") Directum and completed a series of compatibility checks Tantor DBMS in the Basic and Special Edition editions with the Directum product line. The developers guarantee that together with the Russian DBMS you can use/-system, ECMBPM Directum RX a product for intelligent processing of text information, Directum Ario One a system for managing personnel processes and documents and for Directum HR Pro ON managing projects and Directum Projects teams without restrictions. Directum announced this on April 19, 2024. More. here
Update with capacity for labor control and resource management
On March 21, 2024, Directum introduced an updated version of its impermanent system for managing Directum Projects projects and teams. This release enhances the product's work control and resource management capabilities.
According to the developers, the capabilities of Directum Projects help to fully manage the tasks and projects of both production and IT companies.
To account for project costs, it is important to record actual labor costs. Now the worker can mark the completed work for the project stage or for a specific task on the Agile board. The marking interface allows you to copy the same type of operations from previous days and leave comments on each item.
In the system, you can specify the cost of a resource, which optimizes the estimate of project costs. The resource hourly rate has 5 options: A, B, C, D, E. For each type, you can set the effective date and the amount of the standard rate to automatically calculate the project cost based on the change in rates.
In this release, you can specify the role of an employee as a resource, for example, developer, engineer, electrician. This helps you plan resources without being tied to specific people and select end performers later. You can also specify the production resource with hourly accounting: excavator, loader, crane, etc.
On Agile boards, it became possible to organize sweamlines in order to visually divide the board into several horizontal tracks. Users can allocate a track according to any criterion: label, term, performer, priority. With the tool, employees concentrate on a certain flow of tasks and are not distracted by secondary ones.
In the updated version of the system, it is easier for senior managers to get top-level information about projects. Checkpoints in portfolios, programs and projects help to record expected results and deadlines, and when they approach, check the status of the work.
You can associate a checkpoint with milestones from different project plans if the result is significant for each of them. The interactive report "Roadmap" will help track inter-project connections.
| | In the updated version of Directum Projects, we optimized the planning of resources and costs for the project, prepared a toolkit for controlling the portfolio and the impact of projects on each other. Directum Projects has tools for project, program, and portfolio management, Gantt chart planning and work control, resource planning, agile boards, and a knowledge base. told Nikita Aksyanov, head of the Directum Projects promotion team | |
Postgres Pro Version 16 DBMS Compatibility
Directum confirmed the compatibility of Directum Projects with the latest version of the Postgres Pro DBMS. The company announced this on March 14, 2024. Read more here.
Ability to control work in progress limits on Agile boards
Agile-Discs in Directum Projects help control work in progress limits. The company Directum announced this on February 2, 2024.
Agile boards are a visual planning tool in which tasks are recorded on visual cards - tickets, and then moved along the "board" with column stages.
It is important for the manager to track the terms of work and the uniform load of employees, in this he will help to control the days of downtime and tickets in work - for them in the updated version you can set limits. If restrictions are exceeded, days without movement, names and number of tickets are highlighted in red. The functionality allows you to detect "stale" tasks in time and respond to the situation.
Another change is sending instructions to an employee directly from the Agile board. In the order, the subject, text and term are automatically filled in, and the ticket is added to the attachment area. The function is useful if you want to connect an employee who does not work on the board to work.
To make it more convenient for performers to select tasks for work, the tickets in the column can be sorted. For example, place the highest priorities on top. Ranking is available by date, labor intensity and number of user votes.
| | Agile boards are an indispensable tool that can turn chaos and disorder in tasks into structured work. Users in dozens of companies have already appreciated the ability to see their work as in the palm of your hand, control progress and focus efforts. WIP limits will add even more predictability to workflows, and orders will strengthen control over especially important tasks, said Nikita Aksyanov, Directum Business Development Project Manager.
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2023
Presentation of Portfolios and Programs tool
Directum introduced the Portfolios and Programs tool in Directum Projects on November 1, 2023. With it, you can effectively allocate resources to dozens and hundreds of projects and prevent deviations from planned dates and budgets.
In large companies, 50, 100 or more projects can go at once. Often they have common goals, resources and budgets. It is difficult and time consuming to monitor the status of all activities and respond to manual deviations in time. The Directum Projects Portfolios and Programs solution will help to remove some of the load from the curator and optimize the process.
Combining projects into portfolios and programs helps to look at them collectively from above and get a more objective picture of the progress of work, spending resources and budget. Thanks to the solution:
- the mutual impact of projects is monitored;
- time and financial costs are reduced;
- resources are spent on priority projects;
- quality indicators of projects are growing;
- strategic goals of the organization are achieved.
A portfolio is a set of similar projects, programs and other works combined to more efficiently allocate resources and fulfill the strategic goals of the organization. The program is several projects aimed at achieving a common goal, the management of which is coordinated among themselves.
For portfolios and programs, as for projects, the manager assigns a management team, creates documents and rules for their distribution to folders in the system. He sees the structure of a portfolio or program on a special tab. It provides you with the dates, costs and progress of work on subsidiary projects and programs.
The manager can evaluate the load of subordinates in the context of portfolios, programs, projects, departments or organizations using a summary report. If a project with a high priority has problems, you can redirect resources from secondary activities to fix them.
You can capture expected results and track actual results using the Roadmap report. It reflects the current status of the work, the problems that arise, the status on the control points, as well as information about the persons responsible for the results.
The solution helps establish links between projects. This is convenient if you need to control the achievement of a result that is significant for several projects at once.
| | Portfolio and program management is about more than just working with multiple projects. This is an opportunity to choose exactly those investments that in the future will lead to an increase in business value, and to achieve the goals set with greater efficiency. "Portfolios and programs" is a tool that allows you to keep your focus on achieving results, and not on collecting information, "said Elena Kropacheva, head of business development projects at Directum. | |
A separate license is required to work with portfolios and programs.
Directum Projects Solution View
On August 9, 2023, Directum introduced a product for solving project and team management tasks: from planning and implementation of work to compiling reports and preserving accumulated knowledge.
The Australian company Atlassian, a developer of project management software, announced the imminent shutdown of the profiles of Russians in Jira and Trello. The Directum Projects import-independent system is a full-scale replacement for foreign vendor solutions.
In the IT product interface, project commands can quickly generate documents, allocate resources, and control the loading of a command on a Gantt chart, track the status and stages of work on agile boards, and store the accumulated experience in the knowledge base.
In February 2023, Directum Projects was pre-presented. Since that time, the company has expanded the set of system tools and supplemented current solutions with useful functions.
In Directum Projects, project managers manage projects, portfolios, and programs. At any time, they can view all information on the work and estimate the percentage of their completion, as well as track progress on widgets or using intermediate reports.
The Gantt chart helps to plan the work of team members and take into account the load of each: it configures sequences and relationships between different stages. Participants submit tasks and create documents according to ready-made templates immediately in the system. This records the issued task, the time of start and end of work. So the RP easily monitors the progress of the execution of issued orders.
You can agree on the project document along the route configured for the company's regulations: with a certain sequence and specific deadlines for consideration.
Another system tool for visual load planning is agile boards. On concise tickets, participants track the status of the work and the loading of the team. This helps to comply with deadlines and redistribute tasks in time if difficulties arise.
You can save the information accumulated during the work of the company in the knowledge base. Corporate knowledge is recorded in the format of articles and remains available for rapid immersion of beginners in technology.
| | A few years ago, Directum launched the development of solutions for planning and organizing project work. Even then, we set a goal - to make a high-quality digital product that can replace imported systems in the future. And they did not lose. Our set of solutions has grown into a completely independent independent Directum Projects system. When developing a product, we focus on the convenience of users and include only the really necessary functionality in the "box." Thanks to this, the system is light and understandable, and the implementation can be carried out in the shortest possible time. Customers get a convenient digital product that will replace several systems at once, said Nikita Aksyanov, Directum Business Development Project Manager.
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The system architecture supports work with large projects in thousands of stages. The boxed version already contains rich functionality for comprehensive project management. If necessary, the company can adapt Directum Projects to its profile tasks using the now-code and low-code tools included in the delivery.
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