First thing we are going to change in v.3.0 is navigation. First discussion was quite general and first solution most likely is not ideal. We rightly identified two major different areas: inside and outside of a project. Initially we wanted to separate navigation outside of a project and inside of a project, thus having two completely different menus. But what if we can unite these areas?

Indeed, there are lot of similarities. We may just create global filter by project. If you select a specific project, you will be inside the project and, for example, Help Desk will show requests from this project. But if you select All Projects value then Help Desk will contain all requests from all your projects. This approach has several nice advantages:

1. Main menu does not change, only sub-menu is different inside and outside of a project. It gives better perception and better learning curve.
2. Global project filter is an easy-to-adopt concept. You always know where you are.
3. When you switch project, you will remain in the same area. For example, now you are in the backlog of project Alpha. You change project and appeared in the backlog of project Beta.

It may look like this:

Option 1. Tabs

We've received several requests to add left panel with a tree navigation. I never thought it was a good idea, but you never know till try.

Option 2. Tree

The question is do you like tabs or tree? It seems both approaches has own advantages and it is really hard to select the best one. We are looking for your opinion!

Today we've discussed navigation problems in TargetProcess and all agreed that we have four major issues:

1. Similar labels in menu (for example, Reports inside a project area and Custom Reports in top menu).
2. Too many links in the header (for example, in Project -> Planning area there are 31 links to click).
3. Menu structure and how to get into required place (why Tags Board is in the Dashboard section?).
4. It is not clear whether we are inside a project or outside.

We've come up to several improvements that may resolve the problems.

First, we agreed that there were two major different areas: inside and outside of a project. If a user is inside the project, he focuses on project's tasks and will likely not go to Admin or Projects list. So we decided to separate global menu and project menu. It means that inside the project user will not see the top level menu, but just Back to Home link. Also there is no company logo and company name in the project area. It may look like that (just a mockup, not sure about final design):

Benefits? Sure, there are plenty!

1. 17 links instead of 31 and more air in the menu.
2. No frustration where to click.
3. Clear sign that we are in the project area (large gray project name).

There is only one downside - one extra click if you need to change settings in Admin, check custom reports, etc. if you are inside a project. Quite rare operations to sacrifice simplicity.

One of the main goal of v.2.11 release was to simplify TargetProcess for new users. The main feature that targets the goal is Flows Panel.

You may select required flow and navigate the flow by clicking steps and execute the actions. TargetProcess shows available actions in popup and points to related element on the screen. System guides you through the flow and helps to understand panning and tracking process, quality management, requirements management, etc.

Also it works nicely as an alternative navigation. If you need to quickly plan release or iteration the flow is the fastest way to do that.

Most applications have static help. You click Help link, read the documentation and see pictures with nice flows. In TargetProcess we decided to replace this with live flows, that acts as help and as wizards simultaneously.