Whether you’re a new FunctionFox user or veteran, here are some top tips to help you get the most out of your FunctionFox account.
Close and Archive Your Completed Projects
Are there more closed projects on your Project Manage page than open ones? Do you find yourself scrolling forever just to get to what is current? Once a project has been moved into a closed status, you can put it into the Archive to make room for your active projects. Archiving a project doesn’t delete any data, and you can report on archived projects as needed through the Project Report. Accounts with a high volume of projects may archive as each project is completed and invoiced, while accounts with a lower volume of projects may choose to archive on a weekly or monthly basis.
Use the Project Status Page
For a comprehensive list of all open and closed projects within your account, go to the Project Status page. You can use the filters at the top of the page to filter on (or filter out) specific clients, projects, project managers, project statuses, or project types. This list of projects is also in-line editable, so you can click and change the project manager, start date, due date, project type, status, and any custom fields, as needed. Archived projects will not show on the Project Status page, but you can archive/de-archive projects by clicking on the links under the Tips/Links box on the upper right-hand side of the page.
Compare Your Estimates and Actual with Budget Tracking
Are your projects consistently over budget? Are you struggling to see exactly where time and money is being spent? Use our Project Estimates tool to enter in your estimated hours – this can be based off an approved quote, a scope of work, or an educated guess!
You have two options for creating Project Estimates in FunctionFox. The default option is task-based estimates, allowing you to break out your estimated hours across all Tasks applied to the project. The other option is project-level estimates, where you input a total number of estimated hours and/or an estimated overall fee to track against. With either option, as time is tracked against the project, you’ll be able to see the actual hours and fees compared to the estimated hours and fees, in real time.
FunctionFox also offers Retainer tracking, which allows you to compare actual time tracked against multiple projects under one client to a set monthly fee or amount of hours.
Track All Project-Related Expenses
Track fixed costs and other costs not billed at an hourly rate using the Project Costs tool. With Project Costs, you can track items with a unit price like stock photos, travel mileage, etc., or costs with a flat fee such as courier costs or equipment costs. Estimated costs can be built into your project estimate, and actual costs can be included in your reports, allowing you to easily see the full scope of all time and costs included in a project.
Utilize the Project Info Pop-Up
Want to see project information, project estimates versus actuals and attached files, all in one place? Access the Project Info pop-up on almost every page in FunctionFox. On pages like the Timesheet where you must first choose a client and a project, simply click on the bolded Project link to access the Project Info pop-up. On other pages, like the Project Status page, just click on the project name.
The Info tab will list all the project details as entered on the Project Manage page. If needed, you can make edits from here (moving a project from open to a closed status, for example) by hovering over the appropriate field and clicking the edit pencil that appears. The Hours tab will list all tasks applied to the project, estimated hours as entered on the Projects > Project Estimate page, total actual hours tracked by all users, and the comparison between the two. If Flink is active on your account, you’ll also see a Files tab that will list all files attached to that project, as well as the ability to upload additional files. FunctionFox Premier and In-House accounts will also have access to the Project Blog/Comments page through the Project Info pop-up.
Check Your CEO Desktop
The CEO Desktop provides you with a high-level graphical overview of your data. You can always dig deeper with reports as needed, but if you want to see at a glance which clients you’re putting the most hours into, need to quickly review your estimates versus actuals across multiple projects, or view billable and non-billable hours* tracked account-wide, check your CEO Desktop!
The CEO Desktop Client shows a list of all active clients, with the total number of hours tracked against each one. The default is all time, but you can use the filters at the top of the page to change the date range, how the data is ordered or filter by specific project statuses. Click on the yellow bar for a specific client to view all active projects, along with the estimated cost and actual cost for each one. If more detail is needed, click on the Estimated Cost bar to jump to the Project Estimate page, or on the Actual Cost bar to generate a Project Report.
The CEO Desktop Personnel shows a list of all active users, with the blue/red bar representing billable (blue) and non-billable (red) hours tracked within the chosen date range. For more detail, click on the bar to generate a Productivity Report.
Check the other CEO Desktop pages to see your projects broken out by assigned project manager, project status, and project type, as well as monitor your active retainers.
*Billable and non-billable hours are controlled at Task level. Tasks with an hourly rate of $0 are considered non-billable.
Don’t Forget About Your Custom Fields
Did you know that each FunctionFox account has access to Custom Fields, which allow you to capture additional project-level information? If you feel that the standard fields provided on the Projects > Manage page are not enough, use the custom fields to add additional text fields, pick lists, and date pickers to make sure all relevant information is included when adding a new project. Classic and Premier accounts have 2 custom fields available, while In-House accounts have unlimited custom fields to use in tandem with the request forms.
Manage your custom fields by going to the Settings & Preferences gear at the top right, click on the Account Preferences tab, and scroll down to the Custom Fields section. To add a custom field, fill in the Field Name and then choose the Field Type. Once a custom field has been added, you will see it on the Projects > Manage page. Custom field data can be included on the Project Status page, and some reports.
Get out of your Inbox with In-App Notifications
Tired of jumping back and forth between your email inbox and FunctionFox? We have recently added In-app Notifications as an alternative to our existing email alerts. With in-app notifications active, alerts are viewed within FunctionFox through a Notifications modal accessed by clicking the bell icon at the top right of your FunctionFox window. The bell icon will light up red to indicate when an alert has been triggered – click this to view the details of the alert. Email alerts are sent out from our servers every few minutes, while the In-App notifications are sent out instantly – no more interruptions to your workflow while waiting for alerts to reach you! Your alert preferences can be managed by going to the Settings & Preferences gear icon at the top right, clicking on the My Preferences tab, and scrolling down to the Alerts section. In-App notifications can be turned on in any account – just let us know and we’ll activate it for you.
Keep an Eye on the Release History Page
Wondering what we’ve been up to lately? Want to read about the latest FunctionFox improvements and updates? Look no further than the Release History page found through the FunctionFox website. All improvements, updates and new feature releases are documented here, so that you can stay on top of what is new in your account.
The Service Team is Here to Help
Could you and your team benefit from some refresher training? Want to look at ways to improve your workflow? Have questions about specific features? The Service Team is here for you. Whether you’ve just started using FunctionFox, or have been using it for a while, we’re here to answer questions, conduct Training Sessions, and provide ongoing support as needed. How can we help? Let us know by emailing staycreative@functionfox.com or calling 1.866.369.8463 x 1, Monday to Friday between 7am and 3pm PT (10am and 6pm ET).
This article was written by Sara Duke – FunctionFox Senior Success Consultant. If you would like to submit an article to be featured on the FunctionFox Blog, email marketing@functionfox.com