Worklogs screen

Hi Ilya,

You're very welcome!

The good news is that we have more functionality coming in v8.5 and 8.6:

• Items 1,7 will be in v8.5
• Items 8,10 will be in v8.6

For item 5 that is possible already through the task/incident workflow pages.

I have logged items: 2,3,4,6,9 as a new enhancement.

Regards

David

Thank you. Also what is missing right now is an ability to easy decrease remaining effort at the time of logging hours in worklogs screen. Previously there was such an option.

So now people track their hours better but often forget to decrease remaining hours.

Let's have one column at the left (right after "artifact") with an ability to edit remaining hours. Not too hard to implement but a big step with usability.

Also, we need to have a customizable period freeze.

Example: a manager has approved employees’ worklogs for some period. After that an employee shouldn't be able to change or delete it or to add more for that period.

(low priority request)

Hi Ilya

Also we checked and:

Delete incident/task from worklog's screen list

will also be in v8.5.

I have also logged the issue of the remaining effort.

Regards

David

Hello,

Many thanks for a new version of Spira, where now we have: 

1. Edit and delete worklogs

2. Delete incident/task from worklog's screen list

3. An ability to use it in a custom reports

That is a huge step forward for Spira-users.

Also based on your answers I agree that we consider as resolved:

5. Ability to disable changing "actual effort" not from worklogs page

Now in Spira we have two ways how users may increase actual effort: via actual effort field and via worklogs.  And bad news there that there is no linkage between them and that may cause some bad consequences in understanding what has happened in Spira in reality:

• I can not understand was the actual effort (R_HistoryDetails ) decreased by a timesheet or by a direct entry.
• If by the timesheet, then I can not see which increase of actual effort (CHANGESET_ID) is related to TIMESHEET_ENTRY_ID.
• So, I may count the increase of actual effort double times: from R_HistoryDetails and from R_Timesheets as I can not read if there were related to each one or not.

An architect in the past for such systems, I suggest to consider a direct change of actual effort as timesheet record too (and have it at "R_TimesheetEntries" table too) but with the EFFORT_DATE equals to the date of change (CHANGE_DATE in R_HistoryDetails). Or another option (even better) to have under one CHANGESET_ID in R_HistoryChangeSets clearly stated that with the same CHANGESET_ID there was increase of actual effort and changes in Timesheet with mentioning proper TIMESHEET_ENTRY_ID.

Remaining features:

1. Some widget on an incident/task screen to track time directly there, not to switch to worklogs screen.
2. A button on an incident/task screen to add to worklogs  screen and see if it is already there.
3. Ability to disable reporting time (worklogs) on some special status (one more radio button at "Edit Workflow Step Details" screen).
4. Ability to use worklogs for API's (all worklogs for a specific incident/task, all worklogs for specific user through all projects, all worklogs at this project, all worklogs at any project). For custom reports we already have it, thank you.
5. Ability to see monthly reports (not weekly). (Spira 8.6)
6. Ability to allow or disable worklog for future dates. Sometimes it is needed if we have "vacation" task, where team members are planning their vacations. Or in other words, remove restriction not to report time for the future for timesheet.
7. Approve and decline worklogs (easy feature to add a dedicated field "supervisor" for any Spira user, and that person and any persons above are responsible to approve or decline worklog - not very hard to implement). (Spira 8.6)
8. An Ability to easy decrease remaining effort at the time of logging hours in worklogs screen. Previously there was such an option.
9. Customizable period freeze. As a system admin I should select if in our company it is monthly or weekly reporting and I should be able to open or disable reporting for any month/week in a past or in the future.
10. There is a bug with "My Timesheet" screen: if worklogs records are missed for some specific week in the past, that week is not achievable at all. Example: I can see a period: 2024-10-14 - 2024-10-20 but next period that is available in the system is only 2024-11-11 - 2024-11-17.
11. Also in a "My Timesheet" there should be a button "copy opened items from the previous week". To prevent team members from filling the list each week. If there is something not finished, let's have in a next week with one-button click.
12. Also good to see an owner for each item at "My Timesheet" screen. Use case: Developer was reporting time for some task, but the task was reassigned, but the task is already in his "My Timesheet" list.

All those ideas just to have it solid. Developers do not like time-reporting, so that part of Spira should be perfect to avoid any push back from developers to Spira or Inflectra.

Also it is needed to be able to report time on behalf of others.

Hi ilyapolyakov, thanks for sharing such a detailed list of suggestions for improving the worklogs feature in Spira! I especially like your ideas for adding time-tracking widgets directly on the incident/task screens and the approval workflow for worklogs, those could really streamline things. I hope your ideas get the attention they deserve and will be approved by the Inflectra team!

Thank you so much for sharing your very practical and detailed perspective on your experience with Spira's worklogs feature! I'm really impressed with how you not only acknowledge the improvements but also contribute many very reasonable ideas to make the product more and more perfect. 

Thank you for taking the time to provide such detailed and prioritized feedback for improvements. Your suggestions are very insightful and would undoubtedly enhance the functionality.

I believe these enhancements would greatly improve the usability of the worklogs feature and contribute to a more efficient workflow.

I especially agree with #1 (edit/delete worklogs) and #3 (a widget for time tracking directly on the task/incident screen). Having to switch screens constantly slows things down a lot. Also, #10 about approving/declining worklogs would be a game-changer for team management and accountability.

incredible progress with the latest spira update especially the ability to edit and delete worklogs it's clear the team is listening closely to user feedback i fully support the suggestions regarding effort tracking and timesheet linkage these improvements would really streamline workflows and reduce confusion across projects keep it up.