ZilicusPM the leading web based project management tool introduced simpler way for project teams to manage flow of project specific activities using Kanban board and also introduced approval process for managing new project requests for teams working in enterprise environment.


The features and enhancements introduced in the latest version of project management tool - ZilicusPM 11.2 are.


Important Update

  • Kanban Board with Custom State Flow
  • New Project Request Approval Process


Kanban Board with Custom State Flow

In large organization and even in mid-sized organization, not all projects are delivered in same way. Some project may have certain workflow of activities while others may have different workflow. Knowing these project management  realities, we have introduced a custom states in Kanban board.


Now project managers can decide project specific flow of activities using custom card states in Kanban board. A screenshot below illustrate how project manager can add custom state for a given project. S/he can as well decide the order of states by dragging and dropping states to rearrange order of card states. (e.g. Backlog > Requirement Analysis > Design > Development > Testing > Complete)




The screenshot below shows how to add a new custom state for a given project in ZilicsuPM.






My Kanban Board

We believe Kanban board are most useful for project team members. As Kanban board gives better representation of work/activities across projects. Team members can clearly visualize tasks in different states for different projects.


To change a card state, team member simply has to drag the card with mouse and drop it to desired state column. ZilicusPM will update the card state, status in the background. With different card states for different projects, team member can refer to INFO note to know what each state means.


My Kanban board page is quite informative for project team members to prioritize his work activities looking at Kanban board. If you haven't already noticed, the vertical line for each card represent priority of the card (task), photos indicates card assignee. One can also find due date, duration, comments, attachment for a given card.



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Approval Process for "New Project Requests" 


This is an important feature for all organizations where new project request should follow formal approval process. Using the latest version of ZilicusPM, you can enable new project request approval process. The screenshot below shows how to enforce approval process for new project request.






New Project Request

Once above process is enabled, every time new project is created by any of your project manager, s/he will have to specify project approver as shown in screenshot below. You will notice, the project status remains 'Planning/Draft' until the project gets approved.






Whereas the approver will be notified through email about new project request. S/he can also see notification on his home page when s/he logs in to ZilicusPM. Project approver can click on the notification and review project information like budget, schedule, resources, estimated costs, risks, etc. It should be noted that project is still in Planning/Draft state.   






When project approver/reviewer is ready to take approval action, s/he can click on the Approve/Reject button shown in the screenshot below. Project reviewer can select one of the three approval/reject/need info choices and enter his/her comment.


In any case the moment project approver clicks on update button, project creator (requester) is informed via email.

  • If project reviewer decides to APPROVE project request, project creator (requester) can change project status from Planning to In Progress
  • If project reviewer decides to REJECTproject request, the project gets cancelled and no further action can be taken
  • If project reviewer is not happy with project information, s/he can respond with 'Need More Information Before Approval' and add his/her own comments seeking more information. In this case project approval still remains in 'Pending for Approval, and project status remains in 'Planning/Draft'. Upon receiving this notification, project creator (requester) can update necessary information and Re-submit project request for approval.






Project manager, higher up authorities and approvers can view project approval history, comments added (audit trail) as shown in screenshot below.




If you do not enable approval process in Admin tab, obviously new project requests get auto-approved and do not subject to formal approval process.


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Do let us know your feedback, how best we can help you in managing projects more effectively.