What's new in Gembaa
- Purpose
- How Gembaa differs from the previous version, theme by theme, for people who used it.
- Who is this for
- Everyone
If you used the previous version of Gembaa, most of your habits still apply: tables with saved tabs, filters, a Gantt, Allocation and Pulse. The Gembaa app keeps those ideas and rebuilds them on a flexible foundation. This page shows what changed and where to read more.
Organisation-defined schema
In the previous version the data model was largely fixed, with custom fields added on top. Now admins add fields to the built-in entities and rename them, with no code. A Project, a Risk or a member of Staff is an entity, and each has its own fields, relations, statuses and menu entry. Admins cannot create new entities. Terminology is configurable too, so Gembaa uses your words.
Formula fields compute a value from other fields on the same record, or from one field of a linked record, so you do not have to work numbers out by hand. A rollup totals a value from child records, such as a project budget from its budget lines. On a program opened from the Pulse or Allocation page, the Related tab adds up its projects' budget and groups them by Status.
Where things moved
| Previously | Now |
|---|---|
| Staff | Staff, linked to your sign-in account. Skills and Roles are now their own modules. |
| Programs and Projects | Programs and Projects, plus Statements of work and Milestones. |
| Teams | Teams. |
| Allocation | Allocation, with admin controls in Allocation settings. |
| Custom fields and formula fields | Built in to every entity. See Entities and custom fields. |
| Theming | Your settings for your own light or dark mode and theme, and Theme and colours for admins. |
| Tabs | Create and manage tabs, now with preset tabs that admins can provide. |
| Table view, filters | Customise your table view and Filter, sort and group. |
New modules
Gembaa adds modules beyond tables:
- Dashboard with configurable charts and numbers.
- Demand for requests before they become projects.
- RAIDD for risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies and decisions.
- OKRs, Finance, Pulse and Knowledge.
- Skills and Roles.
Comments, links and staff access
- Discuss a record in a thread beside its panel, reply, and mention colleagues. See Comment on a record. Admins can switch Comments off for any record type in Turn features on or off.
- Connect two records with a typed link, such as one task that blocks another. See Link records and Link types.
- Admins can switch whole modules off. See Turn features on or off.
- Admins give Gembaa support staff access for a set time, and see every grant and sign-in in a Support History. See Support and Gembaa staff access.
- Allocation totals are now Column aggregation and Row aggregation settings, with more functions than a sum. See Allocation.
Tabs and links
Every tab is now a real link. You can open one in a new browser tab, bookmark it, or send it. An open record has a link too. See Share a link to any view.
Access control
Admins control who can see and edit each entity and record, and can explain why a person has access. See Access control.
Sign-in and accounts
Sign-in is single sign-on only. There is no Gembaa password and no sign-up. Accounts are created from your organisation's directory. See Sign in and your account.
Import, export and history
You can import from CSV, export data and read the activity history of a record.
From the previous version
Your organisation's admins moved your data across from the previous version. Staff, programs, projects, tasks, key dates, RAID items, allocations, finance entries, pulse entries, knowledge and custom-field values were brought over, and your sign-in is matched to your Staff record.
Some things were not brought over, so expect to set them up again:
- Dashboards and widgets.
- Your theme and personal preferences. Set them in Your settings.
- Old activity logs.
Your first sign-in opens the first-time onboarding, which is a good time to choose your theme and language.