Introduction

Retain can be used by a range of different users, from those who enter the planning details to those who want to see overviews of the current planning situation.

Because different users want to see the planning information in different ways Retain uses Notebooks to collect together the preferred views of the planning information.

Retain has been designed to be easy to use. Once the charge rates have been set up, the charge rate information is automatically picked up as resources (or staff) are assigned to tasks (or projects).

User access can be controlled in Retain so that some staff can view but not change the information.

Retain Notebooks

Retain allows you to present the planning information in a number of ways, in chart views (wallcharts and calendars) and reports. A Retain notebook is a collection of these views of the planning information.

A number of Retain notebooks can be set up. A standard set of notebooks can be set up for use by all the users of Retain or each member of staff can create their own notebook to suit the way they look at and report on the planning information.

Each page in a notebook can be tailored to present the information you want to see, both chart views and reports. A manager might only want to see reports and wallcharts for tasks that he is the manager of. The finance director might only want a set of reports that present the forecast revenues.                       

Wallcharts

Wallchart pages in Retain look similar to a traditional wall chart booking system, with resources (or tasks) listed down the side of the pages and a continuous time bar along the top.  Coloured bars, called bookings in Retain, on the grid represent commitments to work.

view a wallchart

Calendars

Calendar pages display the planned work for an individual resource (or task). This view is useful to see what work is planned for the next few days, weeks or months. Time is represented in a calendar style grid and navigation features allow you to move between resources or tasks.

 

view a calendar

Reports

Retain reports are designed and built with the use of Retain's report generator. All reports are your own customised reports for interrogating the planning information stored in Retain.

The report generator enables you to produce task based reports, such as job costings and forecast revenues, and resource based reports, such as resource allocations and utilisation analysis. Sorts, selections and aggregate can be applied to your reports in various ways. Reports can be tailored in other ways to present them in the way you want, by setting the fonts, titles etc.

 

view a report

Charge Rates

Retain includes a flexible database of charge rates. As bookings are made or amended Retain automatically updates the database so that reports on assignment costs or job revenues can be run.

Database Flexibility

Retain's database is flexible, you can tailor the fields stored against resources, tasks and bookings to suit the information that you need to store against each. All fields are displayed and can be used for sorting and selection criteria.

 

Retain is now shipped with a utility for modifying the database.

If you liked the demo but are unsure about Retain's benefits to your organisation, please contact Step2. We endeavour to answer any questions as quickly as possible. Send e-mail to Step2.

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