Release Date: 13/09/2012
Versions: all
New Cerebro Client, Cerebro Serpens; for Windows, Mac Os X and Linux Operation systems.
Versions: Factory, Corporation
Database structure updated
New license activation and use principle
Versions: Studio
Updated cargador component
The main difference from the previous versions is a possibility of two-way communication in the Forum between Cerebro users and the people who do not have full accounts in Cerebro (for more understanding we will call them “Email users”). See below for more details on how it works, and also about other innovations inside this new version.
Communication Using An Email Client
A New Type of Users: Email User
Tips & Tricks
Inline editing
Other New Features
Communication Using An Email Client
If a Forum message contains attached files, the corresponding email notification includes links to download them right from your email client. Moreover, if you reply to the notification, your message uploads back to the Cerebro Forum, altogether with the files you have attached to your reply. From now on, if you don't have direct access to Cerebro, you can communicate with your team via any email client on any device.
By default, the options to download files and reply to the Forum messages via email are enabled. If you want to disable them, you can do it in the "Administrator" panel, the "Universe" tab.
Note for system administrators (Studio, Factory, Corporation plans): in order to make files downloadable directly from email messages, you have to open HTTP port 4080 on the gateway and forward it to the server with the Cargador service running on it.
A New Type of Users: Email User
In fact, a Cerebro email user is just an email address registered in the system to which copies of messages from the Forum are sent. Files attached to the Forum messages are not transferred as files, but they are sent as download links. The letter, usually, looks like this:
In this screenshot you see that this letter comes from Cerebro to the user’s email , and the answer to this letter is automatically published back in Cerebro, in the corresponding thread of the Forum, together with attachments (if those were added to the answer).
HowItWorks
1. Creating, deleting and administering email users.
Email users are created/deleted in the “Administrator” panel, on the "Users" tab. New email user accounts are created with the help of a corresponding Wizard.
Setting access rights and including an email user into Groups is made the same way you do with “standard” users, in the “Administrator” panel.
Email users’ accounts are free of charge but their amount is limited, it is equal to the amount of the “standard” user accounts in your universe. See the “Universe” tab of the “Administrator” panel to get the amounts of used/unused accounts of both types.
2. Sending messages from the Forum to email.
You don’t have to take any special action to forward a Forum message to email – the message is forwarded automatically and instantly to all email users which have to be tuned with the Forum thread, right after it has been posted in the Forum. In other words, a Forum message becomes available for users of both account types simultaneously.
The delivery of a particular message to a particular email user depends on his/her access rights settings and subscriptions.
3. Publication of an email-user's replies in Cerebro.
In order to post a reply in Cerebro Forum, you just need to click the “Reply” or “Reply All” button in your mail client, write an email message, and send it.
That means, posting answers in Cerebro does not differ much from ordinary emailing, except two issues:
For the correct email message recognition by Cerebro, it is necessary to keep an initial subject of the message unchanged throughout the conversation, better say, not necessarily the entire subject, but at least the special Forum message ID containing in the subject.
Besides, it is necessary to write the answer above a special restrictive line. Writing something under this line is no use, since this part is cut out from the publication in Cerebro.
NB: if you are attaching some file to the response email message, pay attention to its size: many email servers and clients have restrictions on the attachment size. If you have exceeded this limit in your e-letter, it will not be delivered and you will get an error message back. However, this issue is the case not only for the Cerebro e-letters, but for any email messages in general.
For the initial messages that are sent out of the Cerebro Forum to email recipients the attachment size does not matter, because the recipient will get not the initial files but the download links only.
Tips and Tricks
If you have a sufficient qualification in web design and HTML programming, you can develop your own custom templates for the email messages: include your logo, brand colours, disclaimers, etc. Such an option is available for the local versions – Factory and Corporation pricing plans.
Save the address from which you receive such kind of letters (for the cloud and hybrid cloud versions users - reply@cerebrohq.com) in your address book - it may come handy, for example, during forwarding of the materials/reports coming from Cerebro to your peers or superiors and back. Sending this or that email message to this address publishes it in a Forum thread, below the initial Forum message with the corresponding ID.
Inline editing
Editing the task properties, previously possible in a special “Task properties” tab only, now is accessible in all table interfaces displaying such properties: in the Navigator, in Statistics, in the «ToDo List» and «Followed Tasks» lists.
Inline editing, from the user point of view, is similar to data editing in spread sheets:
It is possible to edit all the tags and task properties, including lists of allocated performers.
Other New Features
Expanding a task tree in the Navigator by a single click.
Repeated creation of tasks with identic properties. Two new buttons - «Save and Close» and «Save and New Task» are replacing the “Save” button.
Binding serial tasks into a Gantt chart sequence. Check the «Link the next task to this task» checkbox to use this option.
A status bar appears in the main interface. It displays the amount of tasks/items selected/unread, alongside with some filter indicators.
Instant tag setting for a range of selected tasks.
Tweaking default amount of planned work time for newly created tasks (in the project properties).
New features of the “User Statistics” interface:
- Unlimited depth of detailing.
- Any column can be exported to Excel.
- Progress percentage, time and budget amounts are summed up on higher levels by the selected users.Much faster performance due to optimized database queries.
New search criteria introduced:
- By task status: «Task is Event», «Task is paused», «Task closed».
- By names of deleted users.Definition can be copied from one task to another and pasted to an empty Forum thread.
Default task start time selection: new tasks start either in the moment they are created or at the same time when the parent task was started. You can select the proper option in the “Projects” tab of the “Administrator” panel.
Login window displays the current build number.
Bug Fixes:
Search parameters error fixed. The “>” and “<” values were reversed.
Flag change during message editing error fixed.