What’s next for Intervals? – Intervals Roadmap Update

Task Flexibility

Estimated launch: Next Few Weeks

We are starting the process of making tasks less rigid to accommodate different types of work flows. End date is now optional for ongoing projects. Tasks are going to be given a very similar treatment. Assignee and due date are going to be optional instead of required. If you use Intervals for development this will allow you to create a backlog module and assign tasks without a due date or person responsible. When you are ready to put the task into motion it can be edited and assigned to a member of your team. Multiple assignees and task templates are also coming down the pipeline.

We are contemplating recurring tasks. It would not be “true” recurring tasks, but more like spawning a new task based on recurring rules. Say for example you have a weekly IT task for “Backup Rotation” you could set it as a weekly task that never ends. When you close this week’s task, next week’s task is automatically created.

Visit the forum to weigh in on Recurring Tasks

Milestone Management and Calendar View

Estimated launch: August/September 2008

Internally we have been calling this “the missing piece of the puzzle”. The ability to see everything going on via a calendar and attach tasks to milestones is coming soon. The home page will be transformed into a calendar view — a scheduling dashboard — tying together tasks starting, tasks ending, milestones, and weekly time tracked. The calendar view will allow you to quickly reorganize tasks and milestones by dragging and dropping them. The ultimate goal of this Dashboard home page view is to give you an insightful overview into what’s happening now in Intervals (and to be able to filter the information by client, project, person, etc.).

Here is a sneak peak on how milestones will be integrated into Intervals (click on each thumbnail to view actual size).

Visit the forum to weigh in on Milestones

Email Polling

Estimated launch: August 2008

The work request queue is ideal for your clients to submit their requests, however it currently requires you to create an executive login. Email polling will let you specify a POP3 email account that Intervals will check on a regular basis, importing any new emails into the request queue and adding the attachment as a document. Email polling will also make it easier for your clients to submit work requests simply by sending them to an email address of your choosing.

Email polling is the first step toward full email integration in Intervals. And it is one of the many upcoming enhancements that will enable you to interact with your data outside the context of a web browser.

Visit the forum to weigh in on Email Polling

Desktop Widgets

Estimated launch: Q4 2008

Although Intervals excels as a hosted time tracking and task management service, a web-based tool has its shortcomings when you want to quickly manipulate time and task entries without firing up your favorite web browser. We’ll be introducing a widget for simple time tracking, and a more comprehensive widget for managing tasks and time.

Visit the forum to weigh in on the Desktop Widget

QuickBooks Export

Estimated launch: Q4 2008

Many of you, including us, use QuickBooks for small business accounting. Invoices, payments, expenses, and time tracking data will all be exportable to QuickBooks, eliminating the hassle of double entering data.

Visit the forum to weigh in on the QuickBooks Export

API

Estimated launch: Q4 2008

For those of you wanting to get at your data in its rawest form, the API will get you the unfiltered data you need. Using any method of your choice (we prefer Curl) you will be able to query Intervals with customized XML requests. Use the API to build your own reports or build widgets for the desktop; the possibilities of what you can do with the API are infinite.

Visit the forum to weigh in on the API

We are constantly tuning and optimizing Intervals to enhance your online experience. Your feedback is very important to us on our productivity journey together. Thank you again for taking the time to express your ideas and give us feedback.

This list is not exhaustive by any stretch and we have a lot more items in the works. If you have questions about other features that may or may not be on the roadmap, please let us know.