In recent months, we have worked relentlessly to enhance our project management application, so, we wrote this project management software guide to help you get familiar with everything new and old here.
The enhancements and new features we have added to Binfire are truly mind-boggling. From user-defined page views to Task Tree, we have introduced features that help you work more productively and can’t be found anywhere else.
This project management software guide is written to help you get familiar with the old and new features Binfire offers and start using the app effectively in the shortest time possible.
One of the changes we implemented in this version which impacts the small teams greatly, is the addition of a free plan for small teams.
From now on we will offer our customers freemium plans. If you and your team are equal or smaller than 3 people, Binfire is free for you.
For qualified non-profits and educational institutions (K-12, Colleges, and Universities) Binfire is free for teams of any size.
Most of the information found here will be merged with our exciting user guide at a later date. When done, we will update this post. This Document will be published in a PDF file format too and you will be able to download it.
Project Management software guide
Binfire project management software is divided into four main sections as shown below:
- Portfolio section Pages – Tasks and other items from all your projects are shown in different formats
- Project section Pages – Task and other items from one project are shown in different formats
- Workspace section Pages –Manage everything related to your workspace
- Personal section Pages – Your own pages, files, and preferences. You only have access to these pages and no one else( absolute security)
In the following pages of this project management software guide, we will cover each section in detail.
Please note Binfire supports Agile (Scrum and Kanban), Waterfall, and other project management methods including Hybrid project management.
1-Portfolio section Pages
When you log in to Binfire, you are taken to one of the portfolio pages called the home page. By default, your home page is the portfolio Grid page. But you can choose any one of these pages as your home page.
- Portfolio Grid
- Portfolio Task(WBS) Page (we need suggestions for a new name for this!)
- Portfolio Kanban Boards
- Portfolio Calendar
- Projects Page (Create, edit, view, and manage projects)
What is a Portfolio page? On a portfolio page, you can view and manage tasks and other items from all of your projects on one page.
Binfire supports several portfolio pages for displaying tasks. They include Grid, WBS, Kanban Boards, and Calendar. Soon we will support portfolio Gantt/Timeline too.
You can choose which view of your project’s data works for you best. If you like the Excel sheet format, choose Grid.
If you like Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), choose the Task(WBS) page.
If you like Kanban boards, choose the boards page.
If you like calendar format, choose the calendar page.
The great thing about Binfire is that you can go from one view to another and never lose access to any data in your project or focus where you were working on. Just the view changes, not your data.
You can view and manage all your projects on the projects page. The statistic for each project is shown in the project’s window. You can navigate to any page in the project from here.
In addition, you can add or change items to each project from this page.
To collaborate with your team members use the conversation page. This is a more secure version of the Slack App that tightly binds your project conversation with your project’s data.
If you are a software developer you can use the Bug/issue page to record issues that are found during testing and assign them to any task in the project.
In the following pages of this project management software guide, we will cover each page/function in the app and then give you a roadmap for using the app properly.
1.1-Portfolio Grid Page
The portfolio Grid is Binfire’s default home page when you log in. It shows all your tasks from all your projects in a familiar and easy-to-follow grid (sheet) format.
When you click on the home page icon in the header, you are taken to the page you have selected as your home page. By default, Portfolio Grid is your home page until you change it on the personal settings page.
You can change this default by changing your home page preference in personal settings (we cover personal settings in section 4.3)
The top blue row or the header is the App’s navigation bar. You can access all portfolio pages plus a few others from here. To navigate to any of these pages click on their corresponding link on the header. See the picture below.
So, from the Grid, you can go to Tasks(WBS) or boards, or any other page is shown on the top row.
Picture #1 Grid with subtasks and Dependency
The second row on the top is Binfire’s filter row. Here you can filter tasks in any way imaginable.
The hamburger icon on the top left opens a context menu that lets you navigate to portfolio section pages, workspace section pages, personal section pages, and project section pages.
In the context menu (also called the navigational bar), you can add new users, create new projects, and go to one of your projects.
Picture #2 Context menu
On the Grid page, tasks and milestones are displayed in Excel sheet type format. The new Microsoft Project app uses this format too.
The app displays the start date, due date, progress status, Lists, priority, skills needed, and assignees for each task.
You can change all task’s attributes on the Grid.
In addition, you can leave a comment regarding that task, and start the time tracking clock.
1.1.1 Filters
The second row on the grid page is the filter row. There are 10 filters and one sort button on this row.
The filters are as follows:
- Show projects filter- You can choose to show tasks from all projects or just one project using this filter.
- Organized by filter- This filter allows the user to view tasks when grouped by projects, by members, by lists, or by project category, or by None. If by None, all tasks in all your projects are listed one after another.
- Start Date filter- You can filter tasks that start today, start this week, or start anytime.
- Due date filter- You can filter tasks that are due today, due in the next 7 days, late, late in the past 7 days, or all due dates.
- Progress filter- You can filter tasks that are not worked on yet (To Do), in progress, completed, completed today, completed this week, verified, or backlog tasks (For Backlog Tasks see section 1.1.8).
- Lists filter- You can filter tasks by the user-defined list they belong too
- Priority filter- You can filter tasks by priority, very low to very high.
- Skills filter- You can filter tasks by the user-defined skills.
- Tags filter- You can filter tasks by user-defined tags
- Assignee filter- You can filter tasks by Assignee
- Manage Filter (Red +)- When you click on the red + sign, a dropdown opens which lets you manage the filters you use.
Picture #3 Manage filters
In addition to the above filters, the sort button (up and down arrows) will show the tasks by the order of creation or by the due date.
1.1.2 Configuring the grid page (Red + Sign)
There is a lot of data and fields (shown in columns) on the Grid page. In case you don’t use all of them, you can configure the UI to suit your preference.
The following data/columns are presented on the Grid page:
- Task Title
- Task Start date
- Task Due date
- Task Timer, for time tracking)
- Comments, all comments on a given task
- Progress status, where the task is in its life cycle
- Lists/Sections, shown in Kanban boards too
- Priority, which task has higher priority
- Skill, the skill needed for doing this task
- Tags, assign as many as you want
- Assignees, you can assign tasks to multiple people
You can hide each column as shown above except the task title. This way you can configure the Grid page, the way that best suits your project’s needs.
Configuring the Grid is a personal preference and other users in your projects can still see all the columns shown above. So each user can configure his/her page the way they want.
1.1.3 Using the Grid
Using the Grid, you can manage almost everything you need to do in your projects.
In the portfolio Grid, the tasks from all projects are displayed on one page, so it is possible to view, filter, edit, or create tasks for all projects without leaving this page.
You can add Tasks, Milestones, Lists, and Skills using the Add Task dropdown on the top of the page.
Picture #4 Add Milestones, lists, and skills
Set start dates and due dates for tasks and milestones, assign tasks to someone (you can assign a task to more than one person).
Set task’s priority, record task’s progress over time, assign a section/List to a task, define what skill is needed to complete a task, and use tags to group tasks in logical groups.
To add a new task or Milestone, just click on the +Add Task or +Add Milestone from the dropdown as shown above.
When you create a milestone, the app adds an icon on the grid, to differentiate a milestone from a task.
Note that you can add a dependency to Milestone the same way as for tasks. When a milestone has a dependency, its icon changes to include an arrow in the square box.
You can also add comments by clicking on the comment icon shown on each task row.
When you do so, a comment box opens which lets you add comments and view old comments added before.
If someone else leaves a comment for a task, the comment’s icon turns light yellow. This way you notice right away which tasks have comments you have not read yet.
For task progress, Binfire has its native progress markers as shown below:
- To-Do (This task is idle, and waiting to be worked on, no one is working on it)
- In-Progress (someone has started working on this task, maybe you)
- Completed (this task is completed. In most projects this is the end of the task’s life)
- Verified (someone verified this task was completed correctly. In some projects this feature is needed, but not all projects need this)
- Backlog (the task is waiting to be added to a sprint when using the Scrum method. Backlog tasks are not part of the project yet.)
In addition to native progress markers, the app lets users create their own special markers called Lists or Sections (Lists/Sections are shown in the Kanban boards as columns).
Lists or Sections allow the user to group tasks. As a task progresses through its life cycle, the user moves the task from one section to another section.
To make this clear, assume you have four lists/sections. One is called idle, one is called development, the other is testing, and the last one is called release.
You start all tasks in the idle section. When you start working on a task, you move it to development.
When work is completed for each task, it is moved from the development section to the testing section.
Finally, after testing is completed, the task is moved to the release section. You get the point.
1.1.4 Sorting/Filtering the data in the Grid
The Grid has a huge variety of filters to filter or sort tasks to make your job easier to view, assign, and manage tasks.
The filters are on the second row on top of the page and are as follows:
- Projects- You can select all or one project. Either all tasks or tasks from the selected project are shown.
- Swimlane- You can arrange how tasks are displayed (grouped) in the Grid according to projects, project members, lists, project categories, or none.
- Assigned to- You can filter for tasks assigned to all members or just one member
- Task/Bug- Binfire supports Bugs (issues) reporting too. The default is Tasks.
- Tags- Filter tasks based on tags added to tasks by the user.
- Start Date- Filter tasks based on their start date (starts today, this week, and All)
- Due Date- Filter tasks by the due date (Due today, due this week, Late, and All)
- Progress- Filter task based on their progress (To-Do, In-Progress, Completed, and Verified)
- Lists- Filter tasks based on user-defined sections or lists.
- Priority- Filter tasks by priority (Very High, High, Moderate, Low, and Very Low)
- Skills- Filter tasks by the skills needed to work on them
- Reorder Task- Using the up and down arrow next to the due date filter you can change the list from task created first to tasks created last
You can combine all these filters to narrow down tasks that are important to you at any given moment.
For example, you can filter tasks for a specific project assigned to John, which are due this week, belong to the development section, and have a task priority of 5.
If you click on the three-dot (…) on the left of each task, a context menu opens.
In this dropdown menu, you can choose one of the following:
- Details- It opens the task quick editor or QE (see next paragraph) for you to add or change the task’s details. “Details” is also available on each task row and becomes visible when the mouse is over a task on the desktop. In mobile devices, the “details” are always visible.
- Move- Move the task to another project or make it a subtask for another task
- Copy- Copy the task to another project
- Copy-in-place- Duplicate the task
- Add Subtask- Add a subtask to a task. You can go 6 levels deep
- Move Up- reorder the task list by moving this task up
- Move Down- Reorder tasks by moving this task down
- Delete- Delete this task
If you like Excel, Microsoft Project, or Google Sheets, Then Grid is probably the page you want to use as your main page (home page) when logging into Binfire.
1.1.5 Task Tree
Binfire has a unique feature called the Task tree. If a task has subtasks or children, an icon appears on the task row.
When you click on the icon, a new window opens that shows you the task and its subtasks graphically.
If a task with subtasks, has a parent too, the parent is also shown in the graph.
If you click on a subtask that has its own subtasks, the graph will traverse one step forward and you can see the subtasks of the subtask too.
Picture # 5 Task Tree
1.1.6 Task Dependency
Another visual aid you will find helpful in the grid is the icon for dependency (left side arrow). If a task is dependent on another task before it could start, the application displays an icon in the task row for that task.
1.1.7 Task Quick Editor
When using the Grid or other pages in Binfire, you can open a task editor dialog called Quick Editor or QE.
To open the QE, click the “details” link on each row to the right of the task title or use the context menu on the left of each task to open QE.
Quick Editor lets you change the details of each task such as description, title, start and due date, assignee, and more.
You can see the task tree (parent-child relationship) for each task, add subtasks, dependencies, or followers, attach files or tags, and more.
Quick Editor has a rich text editor for adding and editing tasks’ descriptions.
One of the unique features of Binfire is its auto-numbering of tasks and bugs. Each task or bug has a unique number.
This makes it much easier to reference a task by number rather than by name, which sometimes could be quite long.
So, in addition to referencing a task by name you can reference it by number. This makes finding tasks in a large project much easier than finding them by name.
1.1.8 Backlog Tasks
To support Agile project management methods like Scrum, Binfire supports backlog for tasks.
Backlog tasks are not part of the project yet and are meant to be brought to the project at a later date.
When you create a task you can mark it as backlog. When you change the progress filter to the backlog, all backlog tasks are shown.
If you want to change the status of a backlog task to “To Do”, use the progress button to do so.
This action will cause the backlog task to become an active task in the project.
1.2-Portfolio Tasks(WBS)
The tasks(WBS) page was designed for users who are familiar with the Work Breakdown Structure or WBS.
WBS has been used since the 1950s and is still popular in heavy industries, defense, and chemical plants.
This page is divided into two sections. The left section shows all tasks from all your projects.
The right window shows the details for a task that has been selected in the left section.
The second top row has all the filters which we described for the Grid page.
On top of the left column, so searching tasks by name or by tag.
If you select one or more tasks in the elect column (marking the checkbox to the left of each task), you can perform mass actions on tasks.
You can delete or complete several tasks, plus if you click on more actions, in the dropdown you can do the following:
- Assign
- Start Time and duration
- Mark tasks as To-DO
- Mark Tasks as completed
- Mark Tasks as in-progress
- Mark tasks as verified
- Add Tags to tasks
- Add Followers to task
- Move tasks to other projects
- Copy Tasks to other projects
When you click on a task in the left columns. Its details are shown in the right window.
All features in the Quick Editor are available in the right window too.
A feature available in the right window of the WBS page and not in the QE is the task history. If you click on the three-dot context menu on the top right of the page, one of the options in the dropdown is Task History.
Here you can see a detailed history of a task since it was created until today and download the information if you need it.
If you are familiar with WBS, you probably find the Tasks page, your preferred page in Binfire.
You can easily add tasks and milestones by clicking the + Add task or Add Milestone buttons to the right of each project’s name.
The portfolio tasks(WBS) page has the same filters as the portfolio Grid to make it easier for you to focus on tasks that need your attention.
1.3-Portfolio Boards
Kanban boards are great tools for managing and visualizing the progress of tasks in a project.
The portfolio Kanban boards bring the same level of clarity to tasks from all your projects.
The app comes with a built-in Kanban board based on the Scrum Agile method. This board is called “Standard Board” (you can rename it) and is present in all projects.
In addition to the Standard board, you can create an unlimited number of boards. These boards could be private or public.
The standard board (you can rename it) includes the following lists/sections:
- Backlog
- To-Do
- In-Progress
- Completed
- Verified
Do you remember the above from the Grid and List-Page? You can drag and drop tasks from one list to another.
The board displays images attached to tasks. You can get other details of a task like the Task-tree, task dependency, task due date, and more right on the board.
When you add a list in the Grid, you can use it in the Kanban boards and vise versa.
A board could be private (you have to invite people to participate) or public (everybody in your workspace has access to it).
1.4-Portfolio Calendar
People who use Google calendar or Microsoft outlook, like to see their work’s tasks in a calendar format.
The portfolio calendar displays all tasks from all your projects. It also displays bugs, events, vacations, out-of-office days, and holidays in one compact layout.
You can change the display from monthly view (default) to weekly or daily views.
You can create or modify tasks and other items on the calendar with just one click.
Click on any item and an editor opens to view or modify its details. Click on any date on the calendar to create a new task, vacation, event, or holiday.
You can sync your Binfire calendar with Google calendar and soon with outlook too.
1.5-Projects (Manage Projects)
The project page shows all your projects and their statistics. The information shown for each project is invaluable in understanding the status of each project.
On the right side of each project box, a three-point context menu lets you manage your projects.
You can click on the hot links at the bottom of each project box to go to any page in that project.
1.6-Conversations (Slack Type communications)
The conversations page is a Slack-type tool for team communication and collaboration.
It is the most secure way for team communication and lets you talk to the team or an individual in your team.
You can create multiple channels for conversation with your team and invite people to those channels.
You can also leave notes to yourself on the conversation page.
Each channel could be tied to a project. This allows using the files in that project in all conversations in that channel.
Binfire’s Conversation tool is more secure than Slack and your data will never be compromised.
1.7-Events
You can plan for events on the Events page. This is a good tool for planning multi-day events and invite people to them.
You can add sessions, times, and locations for each session.
We will upgrade this page extensively in future versions.
1.8-Bugs/Issues
In some projects like software development, bug/issue tracking is an important part of the project.
For example, software projects have a team that tests and logs bugs for the developers to fix.
You can attach a bug to a task in your project.
1.9-Time tracking
Binfire has its own built-in time tracking tool. In the Grid, in task quick editor, and on the task page, an active clock lets you record the time you spend on each task.
To start tracking time, just click on the clock icon from any page. To stop, click again on the clock icon.
You can manage/edit and export the time you have spent on each project per month or per week on the Timesheet page.
So if you forget to track time for a task, you can go back to the Timesheet page and fix it.
2-Project Section
When you go to a project from the project section, you have a few pages that look similar to the portfolio pages.
In the project section, there are a few features that are not available on portfolio pages yet.
For example, Gantt Charts are only available in projects sections. So as whiteboard and project settings.
2.1-Project Grid
Looks exactly like portfolio Grid, but only shows tasks for one project.
2.2-Project Tasks(WBS)
Looks exactly like portfolio Tasks(WBS), but only shows tasks for one project.
2.3-Project Boards
Looks exactly like portfolio boards, but shows tasks only for one project. In project boards, all boards are public and visible to all project members.
Like the portfolio boards, the app creates a default board called standard board (you can rename it). This board uses the native progress makers (internal lists) like backlog, to do, in progress, completed, and verified.
You can create unlimited boards for each project. Only project members have access to these boards.
2.4-Project Calendar
Looks the same as the portfolio calendar, but tasks for only one project are shown here.
2.5-Project Gantt Chart
Gantt Chart is present in the project pages, but not in the portfolio pages. Soon we will have a portfolio Gantt/Timeline page.
A Gantt chart is a graphical presentation of all your tasks in one project. You can use drag and drop to change the start date and due date. You can add dependencies and assign tasks to someone.
If you click on the task title on the left, the quick editor opens and gives more additional options to change the task.
We are enhancing the Gantt Chart/Timeline. When we finish this feature we will update this project management software guide.
2.7-Project Files
Each project has its own file folder. This folder is a secure cloud-based file storage unit for collaboration.
All project files are stored in this folder. You can create subfolders to better organize your files.
If you have allowed Dropbox or Google drive access, you can also show files from those services in the project folder.
You can view images and PDF files online in the project folder. If you click on an image file in the left column, the content of the file is displayed in the right window.
It even gets better than this, you can collaborate on files you open in the right window with colleagues on your project.
In the top right corner of the right window, turn on the collaborate switch. When you do this the app encloses the picture in an online app with drawing tools which enables you to draw or highlight the images.
When the collaboration is on, all you project members who have open this file on the right window can see the changes you are doing to the image.
A unique feature in the app tool is the pointer tool. When
Notice the file itself is never changed, all additions you make are stored in a separate file that you can download.
Binfire keeps all versions of a file for you and these versions are accessible at any time.
You can follow a file, add comments, tag a file, access old versions, or look at the activity log of the file.
2.8-Project Settings
Project settings let you manage your projects and team members assigned to that project.
You can add or remove people from your project, or create roles and assign those roles to your team members.
The role function lets you clarify what each team member does in the project. As an example, a member could be the manager, individual contributor, team lead, tester, or guest.
You can also manage the amount emails/notifications your team receives during the time they work on the project.
We are working to enhance this feature soon. When we finish this feature, we will update this project management software guide.
2.9-Project Stats
All stats about your project are displayed graphically. You can download all the stats for future analysis.
2.10-Project Workload
The project workload displayed the number of hours each member work or was assigned to work per day.
This info helps you balance each member’s work and make sure no one is overloaded or underutilized.
2.11-Project Whiteboard
If you have a remote team, the whiteboard is a great tool for collaboration.
You can write, or post images and soon videos on the board.
You can create an unlimited number of boards, and add members to each board from your project.
2.12-Project Activity Stream
This page records everything that happens in your project from beginning to end.
Any action that is taken by project members like adding comments, creating tasks, or completing tasks, etc. is recorded here.
You can download the data on this page for further analysis.
This feature will be enhanced soon. When we finish this feature we will update this project management software guide.
3-Workspace pages
Workspace pages let you manage everything about your workspace, projects, people, conversations, roles, etc.
To go to the workspace page, from the left column click on the name of your workspace.
You are taken to the manage workspace page which displays graphically all actions you can take to manage your workspace.
Notice that, only the account owner and the admins have access to the portfolio pages.
By default, the app makes all users admin. It is up to the account owner to decide who will be an admin and who is not by visiting the “members page” in the workspace section.
3.1-Manage project
When you click on this link, you are taken to the projects page discussed above.
3.2-Project Categories
Each project could belong to one category. This helps to group projects in the right category.
Like all marketing projects, could have Marketing Category, and all Development projects could have a Dev category.
In the Grid and other project pages, you can filter the tasks on the page based on the desired project category.
On the project page, you can filter projects which match a given category.
3.3-Members
Manage members in your workspace, add new members or remove members that have left your projects.
Assign one or more members as admins. This allows you to delicate work needed to manage the app to others in your team.
Admins have the same level of privilege as the account owner, only they can’t remove the owner from the workspace.
The account owner can add and remove admins at any time.
3.4-Skill Matrix
A unique feature in Binfire is to identify the skills each member has and match them with tasks.
Like in real life, each member has more than one or two skills. He or she might be an expert in one area and a novice in another area.
You can identify each skill the user has which matches the project requirements and give them a competence level from 1 (low) to 5 (Expert).
When you assign tasks to someone, the app uses AI to identify the best resource for the task.
3.5-Teams
Grouping workspace members into teams. so instead of assigning people one by one to a project, you can assign the team to a project or a task in one click.
This feature is under development. When we finish this feature we will update this project management software guide.
3.6- Manage workload for all projects
A lot of times one person works on multiple projects. The Portfolio workload lets you see who is overloaded or underutilized.
The beauty of the portfolio workload is that you can the hours’ people are scheduled to work across all projects.
If someone is scheduled to work more than the work hours defined in the workspace calendar, the result is shown in red on the workload page.
The portfolio workload could be viewed in weeks, months, or years.
3.7-Portfolio Report
Binfire generates beautiful reports which you can download. These reports show the progress of your project until now.
You can filter to have a project report for one or all your projects.
Manually generating reports is such a waste of time, Binfire generates the most accurate reports in PDF format which you can be taken to any project meeting or shared with colleagues.
3.8-Portfolio Timesheet
When project members use the time tracker, all their hours are recorded in the portfolio timesheet in addition to their personal timesheets.
Only the account owner and Admins have access to the portfolio timesheet.
You can download the hours each worker has worked on tasks and projects. If needed you can also edit or create new hours in the timesheet online to make corrections.
You can sort the hours per day, week, month, or year. You also have the option to choose a time range for viewing the hours.
You can sort hours for each member of the projects, or the whole project.
The export function on top lets you export the hours in CSV file format.
We plan to extend the functionality of the portfolio timesheet greatly and will update this project management software guide accordingly.
3.9-Workspace Calendardown
You can define the weekends and the number of hours each member should work each day in the workspace calendar.
We plan to integrate the functionality of the workspace calendar into the portfolio calendar. When we do that we will update this project management software guide.
4-Personal Pages
Personal pages are pages which only you can see and no one else. These pages are yours and no one else can access them even if you belong to someone’s workspace.
Your manager or the account owner does not have access to these pages.
4.1-Personal files
In addition to project Files, each user has his/her own personal folder. This is a secure folder and only you have access to it, no one else!
Use this folder to save files that are private, like reviews, financials, etc.
You can view images and PDF files online in the personal folder. The collaboration features available in the project folder are missing in the personal folder
The reason Binfire has a personal file folder is simple, some files should not be seen or shared with others.
Managers can store the written reviews of their team members in the personal folder and be rest ashore that no one except the manager can access these files.
Team members can store their personal objectives, goals, or private files in the personal file folder and be rest ashore no one else has access to these files, including the workspace owner.
In short, files stored in the personal folder are private and will remain private until the end of time.
All files in the personal folder like files in the project are encrypted.
4.2-Personal Timesheet
The personal timesheet shows the hours you have worked on tasks and projects.
When you activate the timer for a task, the app starts counting the minutes who work on that task.
After finishing work on the task at the end of the or day or anytime during the day, the app calculates the time you spent on a task and records it on your personal timesheet plus the workspace timesheet.
You can download the timesheet in PDF format. In case you forget to log in the time you spent on a project or forget to stop the timer, you can edit the timesheet before downloading it.
4.3-Personal settings
On the Personal Setting page, you can custom make the way you use Binfire, add an avatar, your location, and if needed change your password.
Adding a location helps the app to adjust the task’s due date with your local time.
Assume you are working with a group of people in several geographical locations.
If a task is due at 12:00 Midnight EST On Monday and you are located in Tel Aviv, Israel, then this task is due for you on Tuesday at 7:00 AM.
This is an important feature for synchronizing everybody’s time on the projects to one true moment.
In addition, you can sync your Binfire calendar with Google calendar and your files with Dropbox and Google drive.
4.4-Inbox
Binfire has its own internal messaging system. This reduces the number of emails you get during the project’s life cycle.
All internal messages and notifications needing your attention, are found in the Inbox.
These messages include when a task is assigned to you. When a task is changed (like due date, comments, etc.), or when someone starts a new conversation.
We plan to enhance this function soon to give you better insight into what is happening in your projects in real-time.
5- Independent functions
In addition to the above project-related functions, Binfire has a large number of tools to help you manage projects, tasks, communicate better, and interact with third-party software.
5.1-Import Task to a project
When you go to a project’s Task(WBS) page, you can import tasks from a CSV(Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) file.
Click on the three-dot context menu in the left column. Select import task from the dropdown. Follow the instruction to import your tasks from a CSV file.
The CSV file format needs to be exact for the application to upload the file and create new tasks in the project for you.
We are updating this function to make it much easier for you to upload tasks from other projects to Binfire.
5.2-Export Task
Same procedure as section 5.1. Instead of choosing import, choose Export from the dropdown. Binfire creates a CSV file that you can download to your desktop.
5.3-Sync files with Dropbox
When you go to the project’s files page, click on the Dropbox icon. Follow instructions to sync with Dropbox.
To upload a file from Dropbox to Binfire click on the same icon.
Notice the Dropbox files reside in Dropbox and never moved to Binfire. We just create a link to those files so you can access them from within Binfire.
You can view Dropbox files in your project’s folder. Like native Binfire files, you can attach Dropbox files to your tasks, bugs, or comments.
5.4-Sync files with Google Drive
Same as section 5.3 you can sync your google drive files in Binfire. You can do this so by going to the personal settings page.
To sync Google drive files go to the personal setting page, go to Google services integration, and click on “Click here to authorize”
After you sync your files, you can bring them from Google Drive, show them in your project’s folder, and attach them to tasks, bugs, or comments.
5.4-Sync tasks with Google calendar
You can sync your tasks with Google Calendar. This way all your tasks’ due dates will show up in Google calendar.
To sync your tasks with Google Calendar go to the personal setting page, go to Google services integration and click on “Click here to authorize”
Note that each user needs to sync tasks with their own Google calendar service.
we are working to make the interaction of Binfire with Google’s G-Suite more robust. When done,
6-Roadmap for using Binfire
Like any application worth using, Binfire takes some time to get used to and get the best results.
Although the application is designed with the user in mind, and relative to other apps is much easier to use, a user guide is still useful to many users.
In this last section of the project management software guide, we try to create a blueprint on how to start using the app and how to get better over time.
After creating an account and logging in, you are presented with online help about the different features of Binfire.
Remember if you press the keyword H on your keyboard, the embedded help will pop up again.
Start with adding an avatar (preferably your picture) in the personal setting. Why is that important? It helps other people see your tasks and conversations by your picture next to them instead of your initials.
Now click on the blue + next to your avatar in the navigational bar to invite new members to your workspace.
You can send an email to each member you want to add from the app or get a link and send everybody the link using your own email.
It is better and easier to get the invite link and send it to people you want to add to your projects. If you have a mailing list, this should be the preferred way to add people.
Next, click on “+ New” in the navigational bar to create a new project. While you are creating a project, give it a title, a description, add people to it, and assign a category to the project.
The links on top of the page, in the blue row (header), are for navigating to different pages.
The second row holds the filters you need to filter out tasks the way you want them
Make sure the Organized By filter is set to projects at the beginning. Click on the “add task” button in each project section to create a new task for your project.
Organized By filter displays tasks from all your projects grouped under the following sections:
- projects- Tasks from each project are displayed under the project’s name
- members- Tasks for each member is shown under their name
- Lists/Sections- Tasks are shown based on the lists they belong
- project categories- Tasks from one or more projects are shown under project categories
- None- No section is created. All tasks are displayed one after another
You can filter tasks, by projects, by the start date, by the due date, by progress, by List/Sections, by priority, by Skills, by tags, and of course by the assignee.
Note you can combine these filters to narrow down on the tasks you need to work on each day.
Now that you have created a few tasks, assign them to someone. Change the start date and the due date.
Set the task’s priority and create and assign tags to group tasks together.
A couple of advanced features for tasks are Lists/Sections and skills.
Lists/Sections could be used to identify a task’s state or status. So tasks could be grouped as marketing tasks or development tasks, or the tasks are in different phases of development.
The skilled field lets you specify what skill is needed to finish a given task. Each user profile on the Manage Team page has fields to show the skills each worker has.
Using the above two attributes, you can match workers with given skills to the right tasks.
The quick Editor (Q.E), displays more details for each task. To open the Q.E, click on the Details link on each row.
If you click on the context menu (the three-dot) on the left of each task, you get access to several advanced features for creating and managing tasks.
We hope you find this project management software guide useful. Please send us your comments, correction, or questions.
6.1 How to create tasks?
- On the Grid page, click on the + Add Task Button on top of the page
- On the WBS page, click on the + Add Task button on the left column
- On the Kanban boards, click on the Add task box on top of each list
- On the Calendar, click on any date on the calendar and the quick editor opens to add new tasks
6.2 How to create Milestones?
- On the Grid page, click on the arrow next to the + Add task and chose milestone
- On the WBS page, click on the arrow next to the + Add task and chose milestone
- On the calendar, click on any date on the calendar, and in the quick editor select Milestone
- On Kanban boards, you can view and interact with Milestones, but can’t create them yet.
6.3 How to create Lists?
- On the Grid page, click on the arrow next to +Add Tasks and choose Lists
- On the WBS page, click on the arrow next to + Add tasks in the left column and choose lists
- On boards, click on the + Add list on the right to create a new list
- The lists are not shown on the calendar
6.4 How To create projects?
- From the left navigation bar, click on + New to the right of projects
- On the projects page, click on + New project on the top right of the page
6.5 How to add new users?
- From the left navigational bar, click on + next to your Avatar
- On the Members page inside the workspace section, click on + add members on the top right
- On the projects page, click on the context menu (…) for the project you want to add a new member and choose Add Members
- On the project settings page, click on + Add nee members on the top right
6.7 How to edit projects?
- On the projects page, under the context menu for the project you want to edit, choose Edit Project
- On the project settings for the project, you can edit the project (name, description, members, etc.)
6.8 How to remove members from a project?
- On the projects page, choose Edit project. Click on the X to the left of the user Avatar
- On the “members” page in the workspace section, click on the Can icon next to the user you want to remove
- On the project settings page, click on the can icon to the left of the user’s Avatar
6.9 How to add skills to your workspace?
- You can record in the app the skills each member of your team has. You can rate each team member for any skill from 0 (no knowledge) or 5 (expert). This information comes in handy when you want to assign tasks and you have more than one option. For example, a task needs web design skills, but you crack web designer is already busy with other tasks. In such cases, the app suggests who else can do this task. To create new skills and rate your team, go to the workspace section, select the Skill matrix page, click on + Add new skill on the top right of the page. The app by default shows two skills called Engineering and marketing. You can edit or remove these default skills.
6.10 How to change my home page?
- Go to my Settings page under your avatar. Choose the page you want as your home page in the “Choose your home page” section by filling the checkbox. Notice, this is a personal choice and the home page is changed just for you and not your team. All other team members can set their own home page which could be different from yours.
6.11 Who can see my workspace pages?
- The workspace owner (the one who opened the account). The workspace owner can never be removed from the account.
- Any Admin designated by the account owner. As we mentioned above, all new users added to Binfire are Assigned as admins. It is up to the account owner to change this by going to workspace sections, and then the “members page”.
6.12 How do I generate project reports in the app?
- Go to your workspace section, click on “Get portfolio report”. A PDF file with the full report for all your projects is displayed. This report includes graphs, charts, status, and statistics. You can save or print this report and take it to project meetings.
- On the projects page, under the context menu for each project, choose project report. A PDF file with a complete report on status, statistics, and graphs opens. Save or print the PDF file and use it in your project meetings or forward it to higher-ups or customers.
6.13 how do I create the project categories?
- In the workspace section, click on project categories. On the new page click on + Add new category. You can select a color for each category. When creating or editing projects you can assign them a category.
- On the projects page, under the context menu, select edit project. In the window that opens, choose the “Create a new category” option in the category dropdown.
6.14 How do I use project categories?
- When creating or editing a project, assign it a category from the Category dropdown. Here you can create new categories for your projects.
- In the Grid, set the filter “Organized by:” to the category you want. Only tasks whose projects belong to that category are shown.
- On the projects page, filter projects by category. Use the filter category on the top left of the page.
6.15 How do I mark a project as my favorite?
- The tasks for the favorite project are shown first on all pages. Also on the projects page, the first project shown is the favorite project. To select a project as your favorite project, go to the projects page and click on the star on the top left of each project box. By the way, using the favorite method you can rearrange the order of projects displayed on the projects and other pages. Remember the last project you mark as your favorite moves to the first spot, the last project that was your favorite is moved one step down.
6.16 How do Archive a project?
- When you finish a project, but don’t want to delete it, because you may need it in the future as a reference, archive the project. To do so, go to the projects page, and under the context menu for each project find Archive project. The project is saved and moved to the archived section. Archived projects’ tasks will not be shown on the portfolio or project pages. Go to the context menu and choose “Make project active” to work on the project again.
6.17 How do I put a project on hold?
- There are many reasons to put a project on hold. Maybe some issues need to be resolved the project can start. Or, the team gets busy on a more urgent project. To put a project on hold, go to the projects page, choose “Put the project on hold” under the context menu. The project is moved to the On Hold section. All due dates are frozen and will be adjusted when the project is made active again.
6.18 How to assign a member as an Admin?
- Go to the workspace section, choose members pages. Next to each user you will find a checkbox for making a user an admin. Note by default the app makes all new users an admin, it is up to the account owner or an admin to change the admin setting for each user on this page. We are doing so because at the beginning when the team is getting familiar with the app, by limiting functionality to some users, many features may go unnoticed.
We will update this project management software guide periodically and make it available in PFD format to download soon.
We will also, add the above pages to the user guide to make the user guide reflect the new changes we have made.
If you see mistakes or find things written here, which are not clear, please contact us or leave a comment here.
