What's New In Altus

17/11/2022

Latest Altus feature updates - October/ November 2022

Over the last month and in the coming weeks you will see the following features in Altus introducing some great time-saving functions. These updates are delivered based on your in-product responses, regular client check-ins and feedback provided via our Partners. In this update:

Configurable Program KPIs
Timesheet actuals automated in project financials
Synchronise Azure DevOps resources
Improved risk features
In-app notifications
Plus more...

Configurable program KPIs
Applies to: Programs and portfolios This update allows you to customise Program PKIs to match the preferred model for KPIs in your organisation so you can:

Change existing KPIs
Create your own KPIs
Hide unused KPIs To view and change these settings, go to: Settings > Configuration Settings > Programs > Program Summary

Automatic import of Timesheets as actuals into Project Financials
Applies to: Timesheets, projects You can now enable automatic update of project financials on timesheet approval, ensuring captured actuals are correctly applied to projects without requiring manual intervention. Hours submitted against projects or project tasks are multiplied by the resource’s relevant rates and automatically added to the project’s finances. This feature is defaulted to ‘off’ but can be easily enabled: Settings > Configuration Settings > Timesheets > Timesheet Finance Sync

New Project Management features
Applies to: Project management

Assignment sync for DevOps – Connections to Azure DevOps can now be configured to automatically synchronise resource assignments into Altus, saving time and ensuring resource coverage by creating a single view of resource allocations across projects.

Automatically create DevOps resources in Altus
Synchronise task assignments and display them in the Altus Scheduler

For more details on this new feature visit Configuring Azure DevOps Project and Task Sync

Lookup fields in Duplicate Status report – the Duplicate Status Report feature has been extended to support lookup fields (also known as lookup tables):

Extend the functionality of the Report feature by adding lookup fields (customisation required)
Add embedded fields to your status reports for linking to relevant objects within Altus

New Risk features
Applies to: Risk management

Risk notes feature - Save time and improve remote working by collaborating directly on the Risks panel, with users able to provide risk notes (commentary), including:

Creating formatted notes against risks
Automatically tracking which comments relate to which user
Ability to collaborate and discuss risks directly in Altus

Assign Risk owner - Risks captured in Altus can now have a Risk Owner assigned on the Risk Details page, in addition to a separate person to manage the risk (the Assigned To field):

The Risk Owner field captures ultimate accountability for a Risk
Another person can be assigned to work on the Risk

Convert a Risk to an issue - easily create a new issue from an existing Risk using a new button – Convert to issue – directly from the risk screen:

Create a new Issue from a Risk with one click
Relevant fields are automatically filled in
Associated issues to the Risk are displayed in a new sub table within the Risk view

Add a resource more than once to a Resource Plan
Applies to: Resource management You are now able to add the same resource more than once on the Resource Plan. Previously, Altus limited addition of a resource to one entry per resource plan. This update allows the same resource to be assigned to separate objectives within the same plan.

Notifications within Altus
From the end of November, you will see in-app notifications for various activities which occur in Altus. Users can personalise notification settings using standard configuration and Altus administrators can configure notifications at the system level, saving you time and reducing your email inbox:

Receive relevant activity updates and alerts directly within Altus – no more email!
Quickly navigate to the right area using the embedded application links

You will see all these new features by the end of November 2022. We hope they help to improve the way you work and, as always, we’d love to get your views on them using the Feedback button in Altus.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please reach out to your Account Manager.

13/07/2022

Easy project management for all levels of experience

In this update:

Altus & Microsoft Planner now seamlessly integrated out-of-the box

Microsoft Planner comes inbuilt with Altus

From August 10, 2022, Microsoft Planner will be integrated into Altus as an available task management tool for your projects.

Microsoft Planner is a great option for small projects and teams outside of the PMO as well as people new to project management, giving them a task management tool that’s straightforward and familiar to use while still giving you all the information you need, synchronised into Altus.

Image shows a Planner board

Microsoft Planner integration will provide:

The ability to synchronise Microsoft Planner plans with an Altus project in mere seconds
A good alternative for citizen Project Managers to use when running less formal projects, without losing visibility of this work
Synchronisation with Altus out-of-the-box (no configuration or setup required)
Flow through to Altus of any task updates in Microsoft Planner, providing centralised oversight of all projects being managed
Choice of creating a new Planner plan for the project, or linking to an existing one

With the integration of Microsoft Planner, anyone in your organisation can easily manage a project using Altus. Your people have the tools they are comfortable using, while you gain consistent, trustworthy information across all projects in your organisation – regardless of their size or location.