What You Need to Know: Latest Look at the Progress of our Mobile and Web CRM Apps

At the start of this year we embarked on a huge project to fully refresh and largely rebuild not only the core underlying WORK[etc] platform, but also our iPhone, Android and web apps.

To be honest, I really did think that by now we would have finished that work and pushed everything through to actual release. We haven’t gotten there quite yet, but we have made huge progress across the board. So as 2014 draws to a close, let’s take a look at how the different WORK[etc] dev teams and their projects are coming along.

iOS App

Our iPhone app Beta testers are currently in the thick of things, running the latest build of the WORK[etc] iOS app through its paces. The app itself is around 98% complete and the work remaining is all shine and polish.

We have spent longer in the beta phase than planned, but with this extra time we’ve managed to roll out new features like the new WORK[etc] widget on the “Today” drop down widget. The home-screen widget reminds you of and lets you quickly view any running timers even when you close the WORK[etc] app. Plus it introduces the ability to pause and stop timesheets from any iPhone screen without having to go back into the WORK[etc] app itself.

This functionality has only been accessible since the release of iOS 8 and for us it was more important to build this into our new app immediately, even if that meant extra work before being able to release(!).

Today widget for iOS 8. Click for full view.

A huge part of the beta program (exclusively available to WORK[etc] Insiders) has also been to get feedback on how the app actually performs in the real world. An overwhelming response from users was that the new implementation of the Discussion tool just did not make sense and basically was a fail. Taking this feedback on board we rushed to completely redesign and recode this module. This meant a further delay, but it also results in a far superior final release.

Target Release Period: January 12th to 16th, 2015

iPhone app’s new Discussions module. Click for full view.

Android App

If you remember, we started building the Android app around 4 months after we started on the iPhone app. The good news is that Android has caught up and is now only 4 to 5 weeks behind the iPhone app. Most of the app’s major features have been implemented and all that remains is making sure that everything up to the last, tiniest detail is working correctly. We’ll be announcing beta invites in the first week of 2015.

Alpha preview of the Android app. Click for full view.

The feature set of the Android app mirrors that of the iOS app, but with a 100% native user interface. It works exactly how you’d expect an Android app to work and navigating around is fast. Here’s a short list of what we will be adding to the app in the coming days:

• Automatic Timer for timesheets integrated with Android’s notifications
• Global Search
• Feedback Form
• Field validation for Add / Edit Screens
• UI / UX polish (animation, screen transitions

Beta Release: January 12th to 16th, 2015
Target Release Date: February 9th, 2015

Web App

Work on the next release of the web app is slowly starting to move beyond what I think of as the “iceberg” stage. This basically means that all the hours spent to date have been consumed by the underlying core architecture and that right now only a very small part of the production is actually visible in a web browser. But as we move beyond this, each discrete development effort comes together and the visible part rapidly starts to surface.

WORK[etc]’s development iceberg.

Since we’ve already gone in-depth into the changes being made to the Contacts page, in-line editing, and the totally new in-app timer, here’s a never-before-seen look at the other modules.

New Agenda, Day, Week, and Month calendar views. Click for full view.

Web app Discussions module. Click for full view.

Web app Project Activity Tree. Click for full view.

Target Release Date: We’re taking the holiday period to run a full audit of the project and will announce more product details and a target release date early next year.

The WORK[etc] Fashion Line

During the year we also released our line of fashionable and sassy T-shirts. And although American Apparel begged to stock the line and Vogue was hunting us down for a photo-shoot we decided to make them exclusively available to our WORK[etc] Insiders :-). Have you signed up yet? If not, sign up now and claim your free T-shirt!

WORK[etc] T-shirts.

Looking back over 2014, what was your biggest personal or business achievement? Let us know in the comments – best comment wins their pick of our exclusive T-shirt line!