Catégories

Calendar

The Collabox calendar, a collaboration tool

It has several functions that allow you to collaborate daily with members of your team, your customers, your contacts.

management of your appointments
management of your tasks and deadlines
consultation of notes in connection with an appointment
share your colleagues’ calendars for better time management
production management by a production schedule
management of timesheets related to your appointments

Nov 15
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Timesheet – Speed up your day

By Calendar, Digital transformation, Employees, Timesheet

It is possible to speed up timesheet entry for all employees with these three options.

  • Copy the previous day
  • Duplicate an entry
  • Adding hours to a future date

Copy the previous day

This option allows you to copy the previous day’s activity to your current timesheet. Of course, the day before a Monday is Friday! This feature is designed to make your life easier: it copies the entry and project selections, start times, end times and comments from all of the time entries from the previous day.

Efficient and easy to modify the new entries are normal entries, which can be modified or deleted without consequence. Perfect for accountants on one-week assignments, or for those returning from a 2-week vacation. In a few clicks, he can update his timesheet.

 
Two conditions must be met to see this button appear under the comments of the timesheet : 1- to have entered timesheet entries the day before and 2- not to have entered any entries in his timesheet today.

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Duplicate this entry

The second way to speed up your timesheet entry is to use the “Duplicate Entry” option. This copies, in the same day, a time entry (project – service – comment). An example of use: 2 working sessions on the same project on the same day: select the entry (the little bar will turn red), the “Duplicate this entry” button will appear under the note:

Entering a timesheet: later date

It is possible to fill in timesheets for later dates, for example for upcoming holidays. Every employee can easily access this function. But first, a little setup is in order!

First, select “Organization” from the Preferences tab in the main menu at the bottom left of your screen.

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Location of the "Organization" tab in the main menu

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Among the options available to you, choose the “Info” tab.

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View of the "Info" menu

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Then, please select the option “Allow time sheets to be filled in for future dates”. That’s it!

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Check box

The Collabox timesheet, a clear advantage for the management of your company!

Nov 15
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The Collabox calendar: multiple uses

By Agenda, Calendar

The Collabox calendar is not a simple tool to compile your appointments. See its multiple uses that meet all your needs for monitoring your business.

Individual and team calendar

The Collabox calendar is first and foremost a tool for managing meetings, appointments and tasks. Add your appointments and see the available time slots of your colleagues or employees. Use the different display functions described in the article “Displaying the contents of the agenda” for a complete or uncluttered visual.

In addition, filter your data for an even more precise customization of your calendar. Follow the guide of “Displaying the agenda for a demonstration. Thus, you can choose to display your tasks only or to add appointments. Also, you can select your individual schedule or add your entire team’s schedule!

Finally, change the look of your calendar with the color families. They allow you to visually know the types of appointments (e.g. team, client, etc.) you have. The procedure for setting up your families can be found in the blog post “Families (categories)”.

Image of a computer screen showing the Collabox family personalization page. The colors of the families are displayed, as well as their labels.

Reservation Calendar

Do you need a meeting room or a vehicle for your deliveries? Use the calendar to reserve your resources. Whether it’s equipment, field material, a vehicle or a meeting room, Collabox makes your life easier!

Production schedule

Do you use completion dates and deadlines for your projects? Do you plan to make deliveries soon? The “Production schedule shows your schedule and expected delivery dates without you having to add them yourself. As soon as you create a project, Collabox will remember the start and end date information for you and automatically add them to your calendar.

In addition, the assignment of tasks to your employees is based on the same principle. This makes it easy to see what your team is working on at a glance!

Visual of a production schedule with due dates highlighted.

Gantt chart

Some industries use the “Gantt Chart as a tool for project follow-up. It is a visual graphic tool that highlights the start and end dates of the project. Thus, at a glance, the manager can see the progress of his projects in real time according to the planned deadlines. He can then identify the tasks to be carried out in order to accomplish his project in the allotted time.

Visual of a Gantt chart in Collabox to see the expected start and finish of each project.

CRM Calendar

Easily automate appointments and follow-ups of your contacts with the CRM module. The development of your business is easier and you avoid forgetting things that could affect your sales. Also, keep track of your follow-up!

Onlget appointment of the contact form of the CRM module. You can see the history of your appointments and add new ones.

Calendar for garages

Do you have a garage or a mechanical workshop? We have created a perfect tool for you that we call “Mechanical workshop diary” . This calendar allows you to enter appointments and see all the appointments that you and your colleagues have set. The agenda is displayed by day, week or month.

An example of a garage calendar with the names of the employees and their respective appointments.

Follow-up schedule of the operations

The operation follow-ups allow you to assign a task related to an intervention in the contact form of the CRM module. This function makes it possible to optimize collaboration between co-workers. In addition, it avoids numerous email exchanges to delegate a task or follow-up to be done with a client.

Find the operation follow-ups in the calendar, whether it is daily, weekly or monthly.

Example of the visual of the calendar menu with the CRM module where the box "follow up operations" is checked.
Example of displaying a task from the follow-up with a client.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you. info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Nov 10
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Tracking of individual hours

By Digital transformation, Projects, Timesheet, Tips and tricks

Collabox allows you to track individual hours by project for an employee. This information is quick to access for both him and his manager.

Timesheet

Go to your timesheet, or your employee’s timesheet to track individual hours. In the description of the day, click on “Show +”.

The information on the hours accumulated in the project is displayed as soon as time is entered in the timesheet. See the total hours for the employee in the top row. For example, the employee did 291 hours on the “General Management-Administration” project, whereas a total of 25 hours had been planned. The total hours are therefore in red. The display also shows the total for all employees in the project. Thus, 337.50 hours were completed when only 65 hours had been planned. Quickly see the status of projects this way.

Conversely, the time entered by the employee for the “building sign” project is in blue, which means that the expected time has not yet been exceeded. Finally, the project “the project (Mr. Customer)” has no scheduled hours. Note that the total number of hours worked is still displayed.

Assigning hours to a project

To assign hours to an employee and better manage his time, go to the desired project. Select the “Assignment” tab of the project sheet, then add the scheduled hours for each employee.

The total hours of the project are entered in the “Info” tab of the project form.

Options on overtime per employee can also be checked. This prohibits excess hours for the project or for the employee.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you. info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120

Nov 10
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Gantt chart

By Calendar, Digital transformation, New arrivals, Tasks

Tracking an organization’s projects and tasks sometimes requires the use of a Gantt chart. Collabox has added this functionality to its ERP system.

What is a Gantt chart

It is a visual graphic tool that highlights the start and end dates of the project. Thus, at a glance, the manager can see the progress of his projects in real time according to the planned deadlines. He can then identify the tasks to be carried out in order to accomplish his project in the allotted time.

Schedule and timelines

When you are subscribed to the Gantt chart and want to see your schedules, first go to the main “Calendar” menu at the top of the page.

Location of the Calendar module in the Collabox main menu.

Then select the “Project” tab.

This image shows the location of the Project tab in the calendar.

Choose the period, the project manager and the desired employee. Then click on the “ok” button.

This image shows the search options for the Gantt chart. You can choose the start and end dates of the project, the name of the project manager and the name of the assigned employee.

Then you will see the list of projects according to the chosen criteria. Horizontal bands are visible and show the progress of the project according to the deadlines.

Here is an example of a Gantt chart where you can see the due dates of the different projects that are displayed.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Jun 17
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Two types of agenda

By Agenda, Calendar

Two types of agenda in Collabox

You may have noticed that there are two types of diaries in Collabox: the horizontal diary and the vertical diary. But what are their particularities? Their similarities?

Vertical diary

With this diary, you can easily plan meetings with your colleagues, since it displays your schedules in parallel. This model is very similar to Outlook and Google calendars, with the hours arranged vertically.

To see the schedules of all employees, select this choice in the “Consult the schedule of” drop-down menu. At the top of the calendar, you will see sub-divisions with the initials of each employee, for each day.

Example of a vertical agenda

Horizontal agenda

It is a rather particular model arranged in large blocks. The days are found at the top of the agenda, horizontally. There is no division for the hours; the appointment blocks are all the same size. This is a type of schedule that employers particularly appreciate when running a garage or repair center, for example. The emphasis is really on the dates themselves.

Example of a horizontal agenda

Burst similarities

  • If you have a Google Calendar, good news! It is compatible with the Collabox calendar and you can import it there to see all your appointments in one place.
  • Your colleagues can view your appointments in their own calendars when you give them permission. To do this, visit your advanced configurations. +++ is that right?
  • Want to change the type of agenda? No problem! Call us and we’ll make the change immediately. All data is compatible, so you can switch from one calendar to another without worrying about losing important information!
  • Nice novelty: the two models are rendered “drag and drop”, that is to say that to move an appointment, you just have to click on the box and drag to its new destination. As easy as that!

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Jun 17
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Delete repeated appointments

By Appointment, Calendar

Adding and deleting one-off appointments to the calendar is probably no longer a secret to you, but repeated appointments may be different. They are a series of identical appointments that are repeated at a frequency that you define (day, week, two weeks, month, year), until a recurrence end date that you have entered.

To delete a few repeated appointments without erasing the entire series, you need to make a few more clicks than when you delete a one-off appointment. That’s why here we offer you a four-step process to get there without grinding your teeth.

1. Click on the tab Calendar , located at the top of the home page of your Collabox.


2. Click on one of the appointments in the series that you want to modify.

3. Click on Repeat appointment in the menu at the top left of the page. (Note: this link only appears if this appointment is part of a series of repeated appointments.)

4. Select the appointments you want to delete, then click on the button. Delete these appointments .

That’s all, the changes will be saved!

Want to create repeat appointments? Consult this link.

Create repeated appointments

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you. info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120

Jun 17
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Calendar display

By Agenda, Calendar

The Collabox calendar display now allows you to filter the data!

For a long time, the Collabox diary has allowed you to consult the schedules of all your colleagues in the same table. However, it produced a lot of on-screen information for the bigger teams.

Calendar display

We have therefore created two buttons so that you can choose the users you want to see displayed in the calendar:

  1. The departments
  2. The new menu Displayed users

Let’s take a closer look.

The departments can be found in the drop-down menu Consult the calendar of , at the top right of the screen. You can therefore choose to only see the calendars of employees in a particular department.

Calendar version: names vertically

Calendar version: names horizontally

The new menu Displayed users is located at the top left of the agenda. You can see small boxes with the initials of your employees here. To select the employees whose schedule you want to see, you must check the boxes corresponding to their names. If you want to hide the schedule from some people, just uncheck them.

* The menu may be visible, but the boxes are not. In this case, click directly on Displayed users , and you will see the boxes appear just below.

Calendar version: names vertically

Calendar version: names horizontally

Note: You can customize the initials of the boxes in your employees’ files if there is any confusion between some.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Jun 17
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Create repeated appointments

By Appointment, Calendar

Create repeated appointments in your Collabox calendar so you don’t miss anything. You can add them as a group to the calendar every week, month or even every day if needed.

Here’s how :

1. In the left menu, under the tab Agenda , click on Add an appointment .

Left menu

2. The page Adding an appointment will be displayed. Fill in the fields to create the first appointment, which will become the template for your repeated appointments. Then click on Save .
Note: The date you indicate will be the date of the first meeting in the series.

Page Adding an appointment

3. Find the first appointment you created in the calendar and click on it. You can select any person’s date, it doesn’t matter.


Go to the agenda
Calendar version: names horizontally

4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will see a button Repeat the appointment . Click on it.

Menu at the bottom of the page

5. The page header summarizes the appointment information. Just below, you can choose the frequency of the repeated appointment (days, weeks, two weeks, months, years) and the date of the end of the recurrence (last appointment of the series). Once the information has been entered, click on Copy appointment .


Page Repeat an appointment

Your repeated appointments are now created and all on the agenda!

To know how to delete repeated appointments, read this

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you. info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120

Jun 17
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Tasks and appointments in the calendar

By Appointment, Calendar, New arrivals, Tasks

You can display tasks and appointments simultaneously in your calendar

We know that it is not always easy to plan your work, even if you write down your deadlines in the production schedule . You can now better plan the schedule of your employees by taking into account both scheduled appointments and tasks to be performed. All projects are delivered on time.

To display tasks and appointments at the same time in your calendar, you just need to check the boxes Appointment and Tasks located at the top left of the calendar. You can uncheck one of the two at any time to view only what you want.


Conversely, if you have tasks that don’t require a calendar display, you can simply remove them. When creating a task, check or uncheck the following box.

To differentiate tasks from appointments, observe the outlines of the rectangles. In the horizontal calendar, the rounded edges correspond to an appointment; sharp edges, to a task. The reverse is true for the vertical calendar. You can also put the appointments and tasks in the color you want.


When you create a task, specify a due date and a completion date. It is this completion date that will be displayed in the calendar. This option was implemented on December 20, 2017.

Watch out for data conversion!

Tasks created before December 20, 2017 did not have a completion date. For this reason, they will appear in the calendar on the due date. This is the default conversion determined by the Collabox. You can still go and change the deadline manually. Just move la task with your mouse directly in the calendar (“drag and drop”). To do this, hold down the left click of your mouse on the task you want to move. Move then your mouse to the right date. Drop the task into the calendar. The new date est recorded!
Note 1 : It’s exactly the same principle for the appointments : they can be moved by “drag and drop” too.

You can see below that the task has moved for all the people assigned to it. This happens automatically when you move a task.

You can also modify the completion and due dates of a task by updating it with the page Updating a task assignment . The fields to be modified are in the red boxes. To differentiate the completion date from the due date, see the caption below the following image.

July 4, 2018 update

The deadlines of the tasks are displayed in the calendar independently of the time scheduled for the completion of the task. They are recognizable by the small clock icon located at the top right of the box. The moment of accomplishment of the task, it does not have any.

In addition, the deadlines have a small green check mark in each box to indicate that you are not late .

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120

Jun 17
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To do-list

By Calendar, Tasks

The tasks you create in Collabox are all listed in a detailed list called the Task List . Here you can see the task, its unique number, priority, assigned employees, expected time, completion percentage, project name and due date.

Add a task

You must first go to the page by clicking on the link in the left menu of Collabox.

Then add a task by giving it a name, a project and a due date. We suggest that you give it a priority, otherwise the task will end up at the end of your list. The greater the number, the higher the priority of the task.

Several additional features are available, including assignment to one or more employees and percentage of completion of the task. You can also add documents and notes.

When you save, the task appears at the selected priority level. Outdated due dates are shown in red, while tasks with upcoming due dates are shown in blue.

If a colleague adds a note to a task that is also assigned to you, you have the option to be notified and not miss anything about the exchanges. The checkbox is located in the Advanced Preferences tab of your Preference menu.

box

Duplicate and repeat a task

Collabox gives you the possibility to duplicate a task or to repeat it at a chosen interval. Select the button at the bottom of the task creation page.

When a task is set to repeat in the future, an icon in the Task List indicates this.

The repetition of a task can be modified for a particular task, or for all future tasks by clicking on “Save” or “Save + future instances”. To change the repetition mode, select the “Modify task repetition” button.

Multiple modifications

If you want to change the due date of more than one task at a time, check the box to the left of each task in the list and select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page. By default, today’s date will be selected. However, you can modify it and change the time entered. Don’t forget to click on Okay , to save your changes.

Add a task to the agenda

By default, all tasks are displayed in the Collabox calendar if you select the “Tasks” option.

When you return to your calendar, you will indeed see the tasks that you have added to it.

However, you can uncheck the “Show in calendar?” box for each task individually so that it does not appear in the calendar. Adding all the tasks to the calendar can be visually cluttered, so this option is well appreciated.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120