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Product Update: Improved UI, Productivity

May 4, 2020

Getting more visibility into workforce productivity

The Fulcrum team has just finished some updates that we’re sure you’ll like. I’d like to tell you about them, starting with a quick discussion of where we’re going, and then getting into specifics.

The team is devoted full-time on ensuring that you have the best no-code application platform possible for mobile data collection, business workflows, workforce management, and reporting.

Our strategic direction involves several important initiatives:

  • Improving ease of use for non-technical users
  • Keeping other important functionality out of the way, but available for experts
  • Streamlining workflows
  • Helping you manage your workforce

You’ll be hearing a lot more about all of these things over the next few months. For now, let’s take a quick look at improvements we’ve made to the App Dashboard, Changesets, and Activity Charts. Together, they provide improved ease of use and more visibility into workforce productivity.

Improving ease of use in the App Dashboard

The App Dashboard is the main landing page for your Fulcrum apps. While most work is accomplished in the App Builder or Records Editor, the App Dashboard provides a place for monitoring app activity, managing member permissions, and sharing, duplicating, or deleting the app. Our updates made a significant improvement in ease of use.

Earlier this year, we streamlined the Member Permissions workflow, replacing the old multi-step process with our new, two-column, multi-select modal component.

Member permissions

We subsequently consolidated all the advanced app settings from the App Dashboard to the Builder.

Advanced app settings

After removing the Settings and Members tabs from the App Dashboard, we streamlined the interface by removing the sidebar and rolling all the controls into a clean row of buttons at the top of the page. All of this consolidation will help users focus on the core App Dashboard function: displaying app activity.

Providing more information from Changesets

We started by expanding the activity feed from a simple list of changeset summaries to a much more informative table with additional columns including a full timestamp of when the changeset was closed, the platform of origin, and mobile device (where applicable). We also added a date range filter to help drill down to specific time periods.

Changeset summaries

Making Activity Charts better for measuring workforce productivity

While the Changesets table is handy for helping track down and troubleshoot issues with record imports, deletes, etc., we also wanted to add some more useful summary information and stats on record and member activity to help managers identify trends in productivity. Starting today, when you visit the App Dashboard, you’ll be greeted with a new Activity tab that includes 3 new charts for quickly gauging productivity.

The Daily Record Activity chart displays a sum of the record changeset activity for the past 7 days. This helps you track day-to-day activity, helping make sure your team is getting work done on time.

Daily activity records

The Monthly Record Activity chart displays a sum of the record changeset activity, grouped by month, for the past 12 months. This helps you quickly spot productivity trends from month to month as the year progresses.

Monthly activity records

The Record Totals by Member chart displays a sum of the record changeset activity for the past 7 days, grouped by member. This acts as a leaderboard, helping you compare the productivity of individual members throughout the week.

Record totals by member

These App Dashboard updates are just one example of our ongoing strategic initiatives to improve Fulcrum’s user experience. We hope they help provide useful insights into the activity of your apps and productivity of your field crews!

Fulcrum is a no-code data collection and workflow automation platform that enables organizations to reduce costs, access critical data in real-time, and improve decision making at every level. With Fulcrum, you can create custom apps using our simple drag-and-drop builder to turn your paper documents into digital forms that your field teams can quickly complete on mobile devices.