Happy Holidays from Aproove!

As the year comes to a close, we're excited to bring you a special gift: the latest release of Aproove 2024/R5, our final update of the year!

Packed with new features and enhancements, this release is our way of saying thank you for being part of the Aproove family. Let’s unwrap what’s new and see how Aproove continues to empower your work management journey into 2025! 

2024/R5 Release is summarized below! 

Project Dashboard: Custom Quick Filters 
Create and share custom filters, plus export data with a click!

You spoke, we listened — and we delivered!

Aproove's advanced filtering capability has always been a powerful tool, but you wanted more control. Users asked for the ability to build, save, and share custom dashboard filters directly within the Aproove dashboard — and that’s exactly what we’ve done!

This new permission-based feature empowers users to create filters tailored to their unique requirements. Need to see all jobs expiring in one day assigned to a specific project manager? Or perhaps you want a quick view of jobs currently at a specific step in the project plan? With this new functionality, you can easily set it up.

But we didn’t stop there! Once you've created a filter, you can share it with other users — and you control how they can interact with it:

• Read-only: Users can use the filter, but they can’t edit or share it.
  
• Allow Sharing: Users can use and share your filter with others.
  
• Admin: Users can use, modify, and share the filter as needed.

These new capabilities offer greater customization, better visibility, and enhanced collaboration, making it easier than ever for teams to stay aligned. Build filters that work the way you work.

📢 Note: The advanced filters are currently available for the Project View as part of this release. We’re not stopping there! In Q1 2025 (R1 release), we’ll be expanding these powerful filter capabilities to the Task View, giving users even more control and flexibility in how they organize and visualize their work. 

Watch the video below to see how easy it is to set up a custom dashboard filter, amend and share it with other users.

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Instant Data Export: From Dashboard to Desktop!
Effortlessly export data directly from the Aproove dashboard to your desktop — fast, simple, and efficient!

We didn’t stop at custom quick filters — we took it a step further!

Our customers shared that while the Aproove Reporting tool is incredibly powerful, there are times when a quick data export is essential to meet immediate needs. For example, imagine being invited to a meeting that starts in 10 minutes and being asked to provide a real-time update on all project statuses. Instead of scrambling for information, you can now instantly export the exact data you need — on demand.

With this new feature, once you've arranged and filtered your data within the Aproove dashboard, you can export it directly to your desktop as a CSV file. This new capability gives you complete control over your data, making it easy to share, analyze, or report on key project details.

Here’s what makes this feature a game-changer:

• Custom Column Export: The CSV file will mirror the exact column layout you've set up in your dashboard.
  
• Full Data Export: No need to scroll to load all results — the export will automatically include all data based on your filter criteria, saving you time and effort.

This enhancement ensures you can access and work with comprehensive, customized datasets outside of Aproove, making reporting and data analysis faster, easier, and more efficient.

Watch the video below to see how easy it is to arrange you dashboard columns and download the data to your desktop as a CSV file

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Enhanced Project Chat: Smarter, Faster, More Connected!
Effortless collaboration with powerful new features and upgrades!

We're excited to introduce a range of powerful new upgrades to the Aproove Project Chat! These enhancements are designed to streamline communication, boost collaboration, and provide even greater visibility across your projects. 

New Chat Features: Project chat typing experience

We’ve improved the Project Chat typing experience to make it more intuitive and user-friendly. The text input area now automatically expands as you type, allowing you to see your entire message without the need to scroll.

Key Enhancements:

• Auto-Expanding Text Box: As you type, the input field dynamically grows, giving you full visibility of your message.
• Scroll-Free Typing: The text box will continue to expand until it reaches the chat frame boundaries, ensuring plenty of space for longer messages.
• Smart Scroll Bars: Once you hit the chat frame limit (which takes a lot of text), scrollbars will appear to let you navigate your message with ease.

This update ensures a cleaner, more comfortable typing experience for users, reducing frustration and improving message clarity. No more blind typing or endless scrolling

Watch the video below to see how the type area expands as you add more type:

New Chat Features: "Edit Message" and "Edit Message As New"

For the first time, users can edit existing messages directly in the chat, with two distinct editing options based on message status.

Edit Message

• When it's Available: Users can edit their message if it is the most recent message in the chat and has not been read by other users.
• How it Works: Select "Edit Message" to modify the existing message directly in the chat window. Once edited, the message will be updated in place.
• When it Disappears: If another message is posted after yours or if your message is read, the "Edit Message" option is no longer available, and the "Edit Message as New" option takes its place.

Edit Message as New

• When it's Available: If your message is no longer the most recent or it has been read by others, you can no longer "Edit" it directly. Instead, you’ll see the option to "Edit Message as New."
• How it Works: Selecting "Edit Message as New" pastes the original message into the user's typing area, allowing them to revise the message.
• Why We Keep the Original Message:
  • User Awareness: The original message remains in the chat to ensure users who have already seen it are not left unaware of changes.
  • Compliance & Audit Trail: For compliance reasons, Aproove maintains an audit trail of what was originally posted, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• How It Appears: The original message remains intact in the chat, while the edited version appears as the latest message at the bottom of the chat thread. This allows users to see both the original and the updated message.

With these features, users can correct typos, add missing details, or clarify earlier statements — all while preserving visibility, user awareness, and a compliant audit trail.

Watch the video below to see how a user can edit a message that is the last message in the chat window and has not yet been seen by other users.

Keep conversations organized and contextual with the new "Reply" feature.

• Contextual Replies: Users can now reply directly to any chat message.
• Linked Responses: The original message is quoted in the reply, and the user's response appears directly beneath it, keeping the conversation clear and easy to follow.
• Enhanced Collaboration: This feature helps users reference specific points in the discussion, ensuring conversations stay focused and relevant.

These new features provide a more structured, compliant, and user-friendly chat experience. The ability to amend messages with a compliance trail and reply to specific messages ensures improved accuracy, accountability, and clarity in every chat.

Miscellaneous Other New Chat Features!

• @Mention Contact Groups: Easily notify entire contact groups directly within the chat by using the @mention feature.
  
  
• Clickable URL Links: Share links in the chat that are now clickable and will open in a new browser window for seamless navigation.
  
  Watch the video below to see how users can @mention a contact group (in this example, Legal) directly in the chat. You'll also see how a clickable link shared in the chat opens in a new browser tab, allowing users to seamlessly return to the chat window without losing their place.
  
  

   

   

• Direct Project Link: The project chat window now provides a direct link to the project, ensuring quick and easy access for all stakeholders. (See screenshot below)
  
  
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Task Thresholds: Custom Rules to Match Your Business Needs!
Set task expiration rules and 'late' status thresholds while keeping tasks actionable!

Aproove has always empowered users with the ability to insert "conflict managers" at any step of a workflow. These conflict managers play a vital role in keeping projects on track, especially when stakeholders miss deadlines. If a task isn't completed within its allocated time, a conflict manager can step in to grant an extension or enforce deadlines, ensuring that progress continues.

However, we recognized an opportunity to make this process even more effective for Project Managers (PMs). Previously, conflict managers could extend task deadlines, but this automatically reset the task’s visual indicator to green — signaling "on-time" completion. This created a "false positive" because, in reality, the task was still late.

With this latest update, we’ve addressed the issue and introduced new task status control rules that can be configured at a "task template" level. Here's what’s new:

Customizable Late Status Thresholds: Project Managers now have the ability to set rules for how long a task can remain in a "late" status. Instead of extending deadlines (which reset the status to green), PMs can now allow users to continue working on a "late" task for a set period of time before it officially expires.

Customizable Task Status Thresholds: You can now define the thresholds for task status indicators at the project level. This means you have full control over when a task appears as:

• "On Time" (Green) — Define when a task is considered "on track."
• "At Risk" (Orange) — Set the point at which a task shifts from on-time to "at risk."
• "Late" (Red) — Decide how long a task can remain in a "late" status before it expires completely

Accurate Task Status Indicators: By allowing tasks to remain "late" while still being active, stakeholders, project managers, and conflict managers now have a more realistic and transparent view of the project’s health. No more "false positives" — you'll see exactly where the task stands.

Full Control for Project Managers: PMs continue to have control over task deadlines, but now they can take it a step further by specifying how long a task can stay in a late status before it expires. This approach maintains momentum on critical tasks without distorting the overall status of the project.

These changes offer clearer visibility and greater accuracy for everyone involved, ensuring that the true status of each task is visible at all times. By allowing customizable thresholds for on-time, at-risk, and late statuses, Project Managers now have unprecedented control over how task progress is visualized and managed.

With this update, Project Managers can make better decisions, reduce ambiguity, and maintain better oversight of deadlines and task progress. 

The screenshot below displays the Aproove Administration, where you can configure task status thresholds based on either the creation date or expiration date, allowing precise control over when tasks are flagged as on time, at risk, or late.

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Introducing Project Announcement Banners: Keep Everyone Informed!
Display key project info across all related project dashboards for total visibility!

Sometimes, it's essential to relay important project information that's visible to all stakeholders entering the project. We considered several approaches to achieve this, including a "pin" option within the project chat. However, we realized that this approach had limitations — users might miss the message if they never open the chat window, and too many pinned messages could clutter the view.

That’s why we developed the new "Announcement Banner" capability. This feature ensures that critical messages are impossible to miss. The banner is prominently displayed across the project interface, providing instant visibility for all stakeholders.

Key Features of the Announcement Banner:

• Highly Visible Placement: Unlike chat pins, banners are displayed at the top of the project view, ensuring they catch the attention of every stakeholder.
  
  
• Customizable Messaging: Tailor the message to communicate key updates, reminders, deadlines, or important announcements.
  
  
• Metadata Keys: Tailor the content of the banner to suit your needs using metadata keys. By leveraging metadata keys, you can dynamically display relevant project-specific information directly within the banner. This means the banner can automatically pull and display project-specific data.
  
  
• you can customize the color of your Project Announcement Banners to make them more impactful and meaningful. Choose a color that grabs attention, aligns with your brand, or highlights the urgency of your message. 
  
  
• Easy to Manage: Add, update, or remove banners with ease as project needs evolve.
  
  
• Self-Service Control for Project Managers: Project Managers can create, update, and manage announcement banners directly via a simple form — no admin access required! This self-service capability empowers Project Managers to keep messaging current and relevant without delays or dependency on administrators. Simply fill out a form, and the new banner appears instantly, ensuring fast and efficient communication.

With this update, you can ensure that key project messages are seen by everyone — no missed updates, no confusion, and no need to rely on users checking the chat. The Announcement Banner is a simple yet powerful way to keep stakeholders aligned, informed, and engaged.

The screenshot below displays the Admin area where the banner setup is configured. Here, you can input the banner message, insert metadata variables, select the banner and text colors, and even customize the font size for maximum impact and visibility.

The screenshot below displays the project area with the banner displayed, showing exactly what end-users will see based on the configuration from the previous admin setup. Non-admin users can also edit the banner message content using a simple form, ensuring timely updates without requiring admin access.

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Compliance Control: Decision-Making with Added Clarity!
Trigger disclaimer popups to ensure users are fully informed before taking action!

Our users have expressed the need for a more deliberate and secure decision-making process when interacting with tasks. To meet this need, we’re introducing a Task Confirmation Popup — a new way to ensure users intentionally validate their decisions before moving forward.

Currently, Aproove offers the ability to invoke e-signature (21 CFR Part 11 Compliant), requiring users to enter login credentials when making a decision. While this is ideal for high-security workflows, we recognized the need for a more flexible, "middle-ground" option for tasks that require validation but don’t demand full e-signature compliance.

With this enhancement, Project Managers can now enable a confirmation challenge for task-level actions. When activated, users will be prompted with a confirmation popup featuring two clear options:

• Cancel — Returns the user to the previous screen without taking action.
• Confirm — Confirms the action and allows the process to continue.

Key Features of the Task Confirmation Popup:

• Configurable Disclaimer Message: Add a custom message to the popup to clarify the impact of the decision. This can be customized at the task level for each specific button.
• Default Confirmation Message: If no custom message is set, the default message will read:
  “Please confirm your decision by clicking ‘Confirm’.”
• Optional Per-Button Activation: Enable or disable the confirmation popup for specific task buttons using a simple checkbox toggle at the task level.

By allowing full customization of the message and control over which buttons require confirmation, Aproove gives companies the flexibility they need to build business-specific messaging.

This feature offers a middle-ground option for task validation, sitting between basic task completion and the more rigorous e-signature login requirement. It ensures users are fully aware of the actions they’re taking, reducing errors, supporting greater accountability and compliance, and maintaining the integrity of the decision-making process.

The screenshot below displays the Admin area where disclaimer text is configured. The disclaimer text can be customized for each decision button and is fully localizable across any Aproove standard or custom languages.

The video below shows a user completing a task and being presented with four decision buttons. As demonstrated, clicking on Decision Button 3 does not display a disclaimer message. However, upon selecting Decision Button 4, the custom disclaimer message (as configured in the admin area) is displayed, ensuring the user is fully informed before proceeding.

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Enhanced Guest User Controls: Precision Involvement at Every Step!
Easily specify if guests join for one, multiple, or all workflow cycles!

This fantastic new feature gives Project Managers even greater control over how guest users participate in workflow steps. Previously, guest users could be added to workflow steps, but now, Project Managers have the flexibility to define the exact level of guest involvement.

With this enhancement, Project Managers can specify whether a guest user should:

• Participate in a Single Workflow Round — Ideal for ad-hoc reviewers or short-term collaborators.
• Stay Involved for Multiple Rounds — Choose 1, 2, or any number of workflow rounds to keep them engaged as needed.
• Remain Active for the Entire Duration of the Project — Ensure guest users stay involved for all workflow cycles until the project is complete.

This new level of control allows for more tailored collaboration and ensures guest users are only present when needed, reducing unnecessary noise while keeping key stakeholders involved at the right times. By offering flexibility to customize guest user involvement, Aproove empowers Project Managers to fine-tune project workflows with precision, ensuring efficiency, clarity, and control every step of the way.

The screenshot below showcases the new "cycle" options available when adding a guest to a workflow step.

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Over 35 New Features & Enhancements in the Aproove Administration Tool!
New Features = A New Admin Experience!

With every new feature we introduce, the Aproove Administration Tool evolves to support seamless configuration and enhanced control. This release is no exception. We’ve not only added brand-new features but also refined and improved existing admin functionality to deliver a smoother, more intuitive experience.

The result? Over 35 powerful new features and enhancements designed to give administrators more flexibility, precision, and ease of use than ever before. From customization options and workflow controls to advanced configuration settings, this update ensures that admins have all the tools they need to fine-tune their Aproove environment to meet specific business needs.

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And that is not all in 2024/R5
Below are some other improvements and enhancements in the 2024/R5 release!

• 🔐 Permissions & Schema Enhancements

  • Managing users with multiple Global Group (GG) assignments just got a lot smarter. With this update, Aproove introduces a powerful new Master Global Group Control system. This feature ensures that the priority of roles and permissions is clearly defined, avoiding conflicts and ensuring that the correct permissions are always applied.

    When a user is assigned to multiple Global Groups (GG) that apply to the same schema, it can result in overlapping role assignments. Without a clear priority system, there was a risk of "race conditions" where the role applied to the user was random and unpredictable. This could lead to inconsistencies, especially in cases of poor Global Group design or when exceptions were required.

    To solve this, we've introduced a "priority number" for each role entry within the Schema tab of the Global Group. This priority system ensures that the most important roles and permissions are applied first and remain consistent.
    
    

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  ⏱️ Time Tracking Additions

  • Consistent Sorting of Weekly Groups: Weeks are now sorted in a clear, logical order.
  • Ascending & Descending Order: Sorting in ascending or descending order works reliably and consistently every time.

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  ⚙️ New Workflow Actions

  • Change Project Owner/Creator: A new action lets you change the owner or creator of a project — a crucial update for workflows triggered via API.
  • Project Announcement Banner Action: New actions to control the Project Announcement Banner, ensuring important information is always visible to stakeholders.

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  🖥️ Review Interface

  • Disable "Apply to Proof Section" Option: Administrators can now disable the "Apply to Proof Section" option at a project level, providing greater control over the review experience.

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  🔄 Conflict Manager Enhancements

  • Restrict Conflict Manager Capabilities: Admins can now set permissions so that Conflict Managers can only extend a task but not make decisions or reassign the task, providing greater control over workflow governance.

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  📊 Reporting Enhancements

  • New Fields in User Reporting View: The "Title" and "Reports To" fields have been added to the user reporting view, providing more context in user reports.
  • New Aproove Logo in Standard Reports: We’ve replaced the old Aproove logo with our new logo across all "out-of-the-box" reports for a fresh, modern look.

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  📧 System Emails

  • Reply-To Email Name Support: Custom email name support is now available in both the Project and System Reply-To addresses, giving businesses more control over email branding and communication.

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  🚀 Core Update

  • Upgrade to React 18: Aproove’s entire platform has been upgraded to React Version 18, improving performance, responsiveness, and compatibility with the latest development standards.

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  📊 Dashboard Improvements

  • Alphabetical Sorting for Project Forms: The Project Form menu is now sorted alphabetically, making it faster and easier to find specific forms.
  • New User Fields for Dashboards: The "Title" and "Reports To" fields have been added to user column view options, giving dashboards richer contextual data.

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  📋 Task Enhancements

  • Open Tasks Directly from the Notification Center: Users can now open tasks directly from the notification center, improving speed and ease of navigation.
  • Manage Planning Share and Access: Administrators can now manage Planning Share and access rights for users at the project level, enabling better control of who sees and edits planning data.

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Please get in touch with us if you would like access to the full technical release notes (including bug fixes), or to discuss any topics related to the 2024/R5 release.