Update v2.0.0.0
This is a big one! It's taken a year, but it's finally ready and I think worth the wait! There are two very large changes, many user-experience level changes, and tons of small under-the-hood changes.
The first large change is Project EMC2 has been updated to the newest Windows interface called WinUI3. This interface is designed for Windows 11 and all future versions, and makes the application more manageable for the future. The second large change is that Project EMC2 has also been migrated to the Microsoft Store for distribution. This really improves the automatic update feature and application startup experience.
Many other features and interface improvements have been made. These are the most notable:
Interface attention colors are now bolder.
Light and Dark application themes are also provided.
A new navigation bar has been added to the left side of the main window to switch between the major application pages (Portfolio, Archive, Help, Settings, etc.).
A new Home page with live content.
New user settings for controlling application behavior and new project and activity options.
The new Portfolio and Archive pages provide overview information for each project, as well as overall color-coded status tallies.
The import/export user experience has been streamlined to be quicker.
Review Checklists have been added to each major project component tab.
The Details section of each tab is now collapsible to optionally provide more vertical space for sub-tab sections that contain lists.
Almost all list items now have context menus available upon right-click.
All list items are now "un-selectable." That is, clicking on a selected item will un-select it.
All lists are now sortable by Open Action Items.
The Stakeholders list is also sortable by Open Assignments.
Stakeholder assignments have been moved to the Stakeholder Detail page.
Requirements are now sortable by Open Acceptance Criteria.
The Activities list now has sticky Phases. As you scroll down the Activities list, the current Phase remains in view at the top of the list.
Phases and Goals now have their own page. When a Phase or Goal is selected, a page is displayed which allows the name to be changed and displays overview statistics.
Predecessors for Activities within a Phase or Goal can now be automatically sequenced. This can dramatically speed up building the schedule.
Resources can be added to all Activities in a Goal.
An Activity can now be designated as a Milestone.
The relationship between Activity Percent Complete and Work Status have been changed, so that setting an Activity to Complete work status automatically sets the Percent Complete to 100.
Predecessors can now be set on the Details page. It is no longer necessary to go to the Schedule page.
All major tabs (Stakeholders, Requirements, Activities, Risks, Issues and Reports now have an Overview page. When there are no selected items (described above), the Overview page is shown which displays summary statistics.
The Schedule page is no longer a popup dialog, but a page that displays in the same frame as the Details page.
The old "Declutter" terminology has been replaced with "Focus". That is, there is now a Focus button in the top right corner of the application, which only shows the list items that require attention.
The Undo/Redo buttons can now be set to optionally show the undo description (vs. hovering the mouse over the Undo/Redo buttons to view the tooltip description).
The most commonly used Action Items and Notes sub-tabs have been moved to the number 1 and number 2 positions, respectively, to provide easy "muscle memory" access across all major tabs. Any remaining tabs following these two are alphabetized.
The new Reports Overview page provides a history of "Last Sent" dates for each report.
The Report Recipient's List and Subject Line fields have been moved to the Preview and Send page.
The Email Account Password field has been moved to the Preview and Send page (no longer a popup).
And of course, there are far too many under-the-hood changes to list. All good!