As you know, besides being a standalone software, Eylean Board offers integrations with other popular project management tools, such as TFS, MS Project and others. By this we seek to enhance the experience and to extend the features available for our customers. Today we want to talk about one more Eylean integration aimed to bring additional value – Visual Studio Online.
Visual Studio Online is a tool mostly used for software development projects. It is based on the capabilities of TFS and extended with cloud services to be made more accessible. While it is a great tool for code sharing, it can still be improved in other areas. Eylean offers a two way integration with Visual Studio Online seeking to enhance the capabilities of the tool in the following ways.
First, switching the board type without creating an additional project. When a team chooses a type of board (scrum, Kanban, etc.) they want to use in Visual Studio Online, they have to use that type of board for the whole project. However, what often happens is that in a particular stage of the project, that type of board does not fit the process anymore. In this case, the team needs to create a new project and move all the tasks to use a different process. When using an integration with Eylean this is not necessary because Eylean lets you change the type of board you are using at any time without changing the board type or moving the tasks in Visual Studio Online. Therefore teams using an Eylean integration can seamlessly move into a different process whenever needed without any additional effort.
Second, it allows for an easier project management process. Even though Visual Studio Online is equipped with new features simplifying the project management aspect, the overall process is still lacking. Creating tasks and assigning them to different project boards takes up time and effort, while with Eylean that can be done a lot quicker and more simply. For big projects users can have up to as many different types of boards as needed, in between which the tasks are simply dragged and dropped into the right place. There is no need to reassign tasks in the task details, instead the project management is done quickly and intuitively.
Third, bringing simplicity and ease of use to the daily task update and management. With Eylean users can enjoy a variety of additional features and customization with their tasks, such as adding additional information or files, assigning subtasks, sharing ideas and comments. All of this can be quickly done in the task details and is visualized in the task window on the task board. That gives the team a sense of project progress and an overview of the tasks in one glance. Besides that, each team member can track their personal and other important tasks which is very convenient in projects with a lot of tasks. All of this ensures maximum visualization of the task board and allows the team to work and communicate more effectively.
Fourth, effective time keeping. For most of the teams, the estimation and tracking of the time spent on tasks is very important. Eylean brings that to the table with the built in time tracking and time reports. Enter the time allocated for the task in the task details and start tracking, by dragging and dropping the task on the clock, pressing play or entering the time spent manually. Whatever you choose, the data will be available in the time reports and you will be able to evaluate and discuss it with your team.
Lastly, Eylean and Visual Studio Online is based on a two way integration. This means that all the updates made in either program are visible in the other one as well. You do not have to worry that choosing to use Eylean as an extension will result in you not having the complete data in the Visual Studio Online. Instead the data will be accessible at all times for all the team members, no matter which of the programs they are using.
Overall, Eylean integration with Visual Studio Online aims to expand its capabilities and to bring the project management aspect to it. With Eylean you will enjoy a faster and smoother process, while keeping the focus on the work ahead.
