What&#039;s New in Helix Plan (Formerly Hansoft)?

Upgraded Linking Capabilities

Add links faster, across servers, and with more context.

We’ve introduced several updates to Hansoft’s Linked to Item feature:

Link items to any valid URL. That includes items on other Hansoft servers, support cases, design files, and more.
Specify a link type for added context and direction. Links can be designated as Related To, Duplicates/Duplicated By, or Blocks/Blocked By.
Speed up your linking process. To add a link from your clipboard, simply copy the URL and right-click on any item.
Better visualize item details with a Linked to Item pane.
Add notes to your links to give team members more info.

New Hansoft API Commands

Create, update, and edit your projects with enhanced customization.

We built our expanded API commands so you can work faster, connect your full tool suite, and set up your tasks in a way that works for you:

Create custom columns of all types.
Set up, read, update, and delete tasks and bugs in your backlog.
Build custom integrations between Hansoft and tools like Jira, Helix ALM, and more.
Develop custom fields for backlog tasks.

See more available commands listed in our Hansoft API documentation.

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What's New in Hansoft?

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New Helix ALM Integration

Plan requirements for regulatory and non-regulatory needs.

Hansoft now integrates with Helix ALM. In this new native integration, Helix ALM customers can utilize Hansoft to plan items from the Requirement Management (RM) module.

Requirements managed in Helix ALM now have a compelling project management option that can unify regulatory and non-regulatory requirements in one product backlog and Gantt view. It can be deployed both on-premises and in the cloud.

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Cloud Hosting Improvements

A new enablement pack and expanded configuration options improve cloud usability.

A new cloud enablement pack for Hansoft provides support for SSO authentication in the Web Client and introduces a new ‘/healthcheck’ endpoint to monitor the status of Hansoft through popular load balancers like the one available in AWS.

Expanded configuration options available in both the SDK and Web Client enhance the capabilities of the Perforce Enhanced Studio Pack (ESP) and make Hansoft easier to run in the cloud.

To-Do List Improvements

Save time by seeing more information on screen.

Users now have the ability to add up to six custom columns to their To-Do List. The columns can be re-arranged as you wish.

Also, if you add an entry in the timesheet module, the Time Spent column will be updated automatically.

Screenshot: Users now have the ability to add up to six custom columns to their To-Do List.

Other Important Updates

Change a custom column’s Base Permission, for example making it editable by everyone in the project regardless of delegation.
Watch notifications are sent out for changes to custom date and datetime fields.
Items can be deleted while a report is active.
All calendars have been updated. Also, calendars are now available for all EU member states.
Users can export their own Timesheet entries from their to do list to Excel.
The “Estimated Days” and “Points” columns aggregate in backlog based on values from broken down tasks in the Planning view.

What's New in Hansoft?

Field-Level Permissions

Create customized views for your collaborators with less work and more certainty.

Does everyone on the team need to see a column, but you only want certain users to be able to edit them? Does a customer or vendor need access to your backlog, but you don’t want them to see estimated delivery dates? With column-level permissions being added to the already existing row-level permissions, you can now accommodate multiple views for different users without needing to build out separate views. The combination allows you to set field-level permissions to Hidden, Read-only or Always Edit.

New Hansoft API

Automate administrative tasks in Hansoft with our new API using GraphQL

Need to create a project or add a user? Automate the process to be more secure and use fewer lines of code with our new GraphQL API. This new API comes with a playground that we have preloaded with documentation and the schema to make it even easier to learn how to automate Hansoft’s administrative tasks.

Usability & Performance Improvements

New Features & Changed Defaults to the Native Client:

Task allocation can exceed 125%
A cloned project will include all projects settings
Earned value always enabled in “Fixed work” projects
Convert a sprint item to a scheduled task via drag and drop
One-click to see release items currently in Quality Assurance
Large projects using pipelines heavily will see a performance boost from a tool that will automatically clean up unused connections.
Improved aggregation of releases in sub-projects

Enhanced Email Release Notifications:

Email notifications now include a list of tasks that remain before a release can be completed.

New Features & Changed Defaults to the Web-Client

Updated look and feel to Filters with new options available
Pipeline items that cannot start yet are hidden by default in to do list/board

Usability Update to To-Do Board

See when a task starts, when it finishes, and how long it is expected to take directly from the to-do board, no clicks needed

What's New in Hansoft?

See samples our dev team created for this new SDK >>

Single Sign-On (SSO) with Helix Authentication Service Integration

Users can now log in using SSO solutions such as Okta or OneLogin.

Administrators can now connect Hansoft with HAS (Helix Authentication Service) to enable SSO authentication to the Hansoft Client. SSO can either be optional or enforced.

Hansoft Single Sign-On (SSO) with Helix Authentication Service Integration

NodeJS JavaScript SDK Wrapper

Customize Hansoft Capabilities using JavaScript in addition to C, C++, and Java.

This opens up possibilities for users who prefer JavaScript, allowing them to write custom SDK integrations to automate more work in Hansoft, such as integrating with a game engine or exporting data from Hansoft to a data warehouse.

See examples and samples of how others have used previous Hansoft SDKs >>

Native Support to Update Existing Items When Importing from Excel

No more converting Excel files to XML to update existing tasks in Hansoft.

You now have the option to automatically update existing items when importing from Excel. There have also been improvements to logging in the change history of each item: you can now see which items have been changed at import.

Hansoft Update Existing Items When Importing from Excel

Portfolio Find Improvements

Sharing project portfolio status? Do it in a click.

Users can now export the timeline from Portfolio Find as a high-resolution PDF. This change makes it easier for portfolio managers to share information across projects with others outside of Hansoft.

Other Important Updates

Quickly see which items in your to-do list belong to a current or future sprint with our new sprint icon on the to-do list.
Easily trace which items stem from an import list (and which import) with the new "Excel Import" and "XML import" labels.
Quickly see which asset a task represents with cover images displayed on the Item Page in the Web Client.
Weekly summaries for user time tracking now available in the To Do List.
Move an item to the top or bottom of the backlog in a click from Priority View.

What's New in Hansoft?

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Web-Based To Do Board

In the Hansoft web client, you can now quickly switch between an individual To Do List and the new To Do Board in just one click.

The To Do Board shows all the work that is assigned to you, automatically grouped and sorted. You can drag and drop cards — according to the workflow rules you have configured — and it will automatically update your plans and backlogs in real time.

This makes it easier for any team member to understand the amount of work in progress at any given time. By simply visualizing it in a Kanban board and counting how many cards is in each column, you understand the tasks assigned and review how they are part of a larger project.

Other Web Client Improvements

The web client has seen several other improvements. Just a few of them are:

"Linked to Item" shows more information about linked items to give you a full picture of how an item fits together with other work.
Item views on dashboards offer links to the items listed so that you can drill down further when required in a click on the web.
Improved layout for items that have no multi-line text fields

Quick Filter on the Team’s Sprint Board

With one click you can now find all tasks assigned to an individual on the sprint board, for example while you are doing a daily standup.

Better at Scale

For databases with very many columns (100s–1000s) there is now better support to create Portfolio Find reports when you are sorting and grouping your data.

What's New in Hansoft?

Hansoft 11 Is Now Available!

Hansoft 11 sets a new standard in combining leading planning practices for different skillsets side-by-side.

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New Colors & Cover Images

Many Hansoft users like their plans to be visual, and to not only use text to communicate how a vision will become reality. We also want Hansoft to be inclusive, to allow everyone to be a part of the planning process. Coders, artists, QA/Testers, project and program managers, producers, business owners etc.

In Hansoft 11, we are making things more colorful and visual than ever before, with new features that include:

All items can have a “cover image” that will show up in the To Do list, the plan, the backlog, the sprint board etc. as a thumbnail.
Any item can have a color associated with them. Update from the context menu or directly from the new default “color” column (that is also useful for color-blind users).
There is now a bar to the left of all items indicating the color, giving a more consistent user experience from previous versions.
Colors are better visualized in the timeline so that for example also sub-projects will show the color.

Visualize Sprint Backlog Items in the Timeline

Hansoft’s strength in hybrid methodologies continues to be one of our strategic themes. For that reason, we are now introducing a new and unique approach to visualizing sprint items in the timeline:

Every sprint item’s name, assignees and status always shows up on the timeline together.
Sprint backlog items will show a bar representing their Work remaining value.
The current sprint is also better highlighted by contrasting the icon from past and future sprints.
Tasks with work remaining longer than sprint duration is highlighted as they are unlikely to finish in the sprint.

gif showing sprint backlog in hansoft 11

Template Dashboards

Hansoft 11 makes it easier for more people to use Hansoft dashboards to their full potential. This is done via a few improvements:

When you create new dashboards a set of default templates are now provided
You can save an entire dashboard to XML and re-add it. You can use this to define company templates or to receive help from our support on setting up dashboards.

gif showing template dashboards in hansoft 11

Other Important Updates

SDK Deprecations

The SDK versions older than 10.0 will be deprecated from version 11 and onwards. In most cases you will simply be able to rebuild your custom SDK solution using a later version of the SDK from here: https://www.perforce.com/downloads/hansoft-sdk
Our support team is looking forward to help you if you have any issues with this migration.

Changes to Special Users Cap

We have clarified the cap for how many special users (SDK, Ghost and QA) that you can create. For every seat capacity on the license, you can create 10 times as many special users (mix and match as you like). Example: if you have purchased 100 Regular users you can create up to 1,000 Special users. This gives us additional incentives to improve the functionality for these users, and we are celebrating this by enabling QA users to login and create bugs via the web client from Hansoft 11.

Additional Updates

There are many more updates, find them all in the full release notes.

What’s New in Hansoft?

Hansoft is taking the next step to be the de-facto natural choice of project management software for anyone managing their IP and assets in Helix Core.

New Helix Core (p4v) Integration

Hansoft is taking the next step to be the de-facto natural choice of project management software for anyone managing their IP and assets in Helix Core.

The new integration includes:

With a click in p4v you can now add tasks on your to-do list to changelists and also update statuses and other fields at the same time.
Track in Hansoft which changelists are associated with each task.
If you are using Helix Swarm there are direct links in Hansoft to give you quick access to each changelist.
The new integration with Helix Core is embedded in the Hansoft Web Service so no new or extra services are needed to integrate the tools.
New authentication system (using tokens) in Hansoft to make it not only easy to work with both Helix Core and Hansoft side-by-side, but you can also ensure that your file, as well as task permissions, are fully respected by each tool.

Project-Specific User Groups

The next generation of user group management features has been released. This follows the major planning trend to focus less on the individual and more on the team from a planning perspective. The new functionality includes:

Main managers in each project can now manage and create their own project-specific user groups.
The project-specific user groups can be used just like any other user group in the project.
Administrators can make project-specific groups global and will also have an overview of which groups are used where.
Several additional user group management features, including the ability to clone groups.

SCRUM Updates

The most popular planning approach to use with Hansoft is Scrum. We continuously improve how the tool supports the method from the feedback we are receiving from the community and some of the improvements this quarter includes:

New report criteria to find items in the current sprint only. This is highly useful for reports and dashboards that track the current sprint progress, which will now update automatically when switching sprints.
The user allocation information on the left-hand side in planning now includes visibility of the allocation numbers as well as which users are ghost users.
Release dates are now consistently ordered by date in all places where you have the choice to sort by release/milestone tag.
Report time spent directly from web client to-do list.

What’s New in Hansoft?

Updates that move at your speed of change. Get the newest Hansoft release here.

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New Jira Cloud Integration

With the news of Atlassian deprecating its server products, Hansoft is ensuring that you can continue to plan and track with the best available tools. The first version of the Jira Cloud Integration is available now.

With the new cloud integration, Hansoft is future-proofing its compatibility with Atlassian’s Jira products. Now you can work in a hybrid model where your plans can be kept on premise, but tasks can be created in Jira Cloud directly from Hansoft.

The Hansoft Jira Rest Integration allows you to create Jira issues for Hansoft items:

In Jira Cloud Classic Projects
In Jira Cloud Next Generation Projects
In Jira Data Center Projects

Major Ghost User Update

We have removed the special mode for ghost users to enable you to plan and track much more efficiently with this special type of user. The improvements include:

You no longer have to switch to/from ghost user mode to assign to ghost users. Main managers can always add ghost users to sprints and assign tasks to ghost users.
New option in Customize project > More to allow all users to assign tasks to ghost users
Ghost users can be used in the “Assign tag” and custom People columns.
Ghost users can be used in reports.

Agile Updates

We have started focusing on Scrum after our previous focus on the Kanban planning methods. Look forward to many updates when using this way of planning in Hansoft! This quarter we have started with:

You can move items between sprints via a right-click option or by enabling the “Committed to” column in the planning view. This will make replanning sprints much easier for Scrum Masters for example.
Agile is now the default mode selected for all new projects.
When you clone projects, all advanced settings for columns will be included in the new projects. This includes for example inheritance and default value options for important fields in Scrum, such as the user story field.

What’s New in Hansoft?

Find, share, and report on even more information in the latest version of Hansoft. Get the newest Hansoft release here.

Work Remaining Automatically Updates When Adding Time Spent

When you adjust your time spent in your project, Hansoft automatically reduces that time from other estimates. When appropriate, it also auto-completes the task (which will move it on boards, etc.)

Improved Linked to Item

Quickly navigate to linked items using the “Linked to Item” icon, and the Linked to Item field now shows an aggregated status of all linked items.

Sprint Allocation Bars Show “Not Assigned to Member of Sprint”

When you make a sprint plan, it is now clearly highlighted how much of the scope is not assigned to someone in the sprint — either not assigned to anyone, or assigned to external party. This also enables the workflow feature “Assign to original reporter” in sprints even if the reporter is not a sprint member.

Custom Sorting When Report or Find is Active

Click on any column header when a report or find is active to quickly report your results. Hold shift to select multiple columns.

Better Selection Capabilities in Kanban Boards

The same batch-select features many love in other views of Hansoft are now also available in the sprint boards. Use the shift key to rapidly select multiple items and easily drag them to where they should be.

Hide Project Documents from Limited Visibility Users

Users with limited visibility cannot gain access to documents they are not allowed to see.

SCRUM as Default Template for all new Projects

All projects are now created with “SCRUM” as the default template. This makes it easier for all new users to have the same terminology used in the project as we use in the documentation.

What’s New in Hansoft?

Find, share, and report on even more information in the latest version of Hansoft. Get the newest Hansoft release here.

Microsoft Excel Import Features

This Import from Excel feature automatically matches the column names in the Excel spreadsheet with column names in Hansoft. Also, the formatting tags used in Hansoft are removed when you export to Excel, providing a clean look for things like multi-line text fields when in the exported format.

Personal Auto-Watch Options

Choose to automatically be added as a watcher when you create or comment on items, or if someone else assigns an item to you.

Better Undo and New Keyboard Shortcuts

Undo now also applies to the user story field, and you can use Ctrl+Space to rapidly expand/collapse an entire sub-project on Windows and Linux.

What’s New in Hansoft?

Find, share, and report on even more information in the latest version of Hansoft. Get the newest Hansoft release here.

Import, Export, and Find Data

More improvements have been made to the Find functionality, including the ability to save your query as a report. You can also:

Import Excel (.xlsx) files.Hansoft automatically maps Excel sheet columns with columns in Hansoft, and adds an item for each valid row in the sheet. Learn more >>
Export a dashboard to PowerPoint (.pptx). Hansoft creates separate slides for each dashboard chart and names each accordingly. Learn more >>

Collaborate Well

Now anyone — not just Administrators — can see a list of the group members on a project through the “Show Group Members” button (for example when delegating or adding/removing users to a project.)

Other Notable Features

Run multiple web service instances on the same machine.

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What’s New in Hansoft?

With the latest version of Hansoft, you can easily and securely share web dashboards, and you can manage user groups and grant permissions with just a few clicks. Get the latest Hansoft release.

Create a QA Ticket

You can now create bugs directly in the Hansoft web client. Use the web-based API to easily integrate other issue trackers and set up your workflow >>

Kanban Improvements

Hansoft continues to improve Kanban board functionality to better organize your teams. In the latest release:

Cards automatically change columns when the status is updated in any view.
Newly created sprint boards use Hansoft’s default status columns (and can easily be updated).
When items are moved to another sprint, they maintain their board lane/column.

Learn more >>

Assign Watchers for Items

You can now add watchers to items. These team members receive email notifications when important changes are made to the item.

Other Notable Features

Support for MacOS Catalina.

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What’s New in Hansoft?

With the latest version of Hansoft, you can easily and securely share web dashboards, and you can manage user groups and grant permissions with just a few clicks. Get the latest Hansoft release.

Share Web Dashboards

Want to share details about your project? It’s easy. Now you can securely send information from your project dashboard to project managers, executives, producers, and more. This link keeps your project protected, and helps you increase visibility across your team.

Share now >>

Assign User Groups to Projects

In the new user group management view for administrators, you can create and add users to groups and see who is where. Then easily assign groups to a specific project to give everyone the access they need.

Learn more >>

Send Web Tasks

Quickly copy a Hansoft task and post to Microsoft Teams or other products that prefer links starting with https:// rather than hansoft://.

upgrade today

What's New in Hansoft?

From new web to-do list features that keep your teams moving, to enhanced support for large-scale Kanban boards, there are many reasons to upgrade to the latest version of Hansoft today.

Installation instructions >>

New Web To-Do List Features

Team members can see what they need to-do at a glance with new cover images for each task. And they can update their tasks across projects faster than ever before with @mentions in comments, available links to individual tasks, and performance enhancements. You can even manage lists using light or dark themes.

Bigger and Better Kanban Support

DevOps requires both development and operation teams to get with the flow. To help out our largest organizations, Hansoft is delivering a series of features to support large-scale Kanban boards.New features include:

Find and advanced filtering for all sprint boards.
View different details by adjusting the zoom level on your sprint boards.
Inherit columns from other lanes when creating a new lane.

Other Notable Improvements

Improved PDF Exports

Easily export long tasks names to a PDF.

Additional Jira Support

Support sync for JIRA 8.0 to 8.2.

Option to Sync Releases

Depending on your workflow, you have the option to sync releases between Hansoft and JIRA.

Sync Scheduled Tasks

Our Helix Core integration has improved support for syncing the status for scheduled (Gantt) tasks

What’s New in Hansoft?

From the new web-based to-do list to the Slack integration (included in Hansoft 10.1) to @mentions in comments and API improvements, there are many reasons to upgrade to the latest version of Hansoft today.

Installation instructions >>

To-Do List on the Web

View your assigned tasks in your browser or on your tablet.
Update task details, comment on items, and reassign easily.
View updates in real time, without refreshing pages or reloading views.

Slack Integration

Collaborate easier with the new Hansoft Slack integration. Discuss Hansoft items with team members directly in Slack. Post a hyperlink in Slack and the bot will automatically add item description, status, and assignee.

Installation instructions >>

@Mentions in Comments

Notify team members in comments by typing their @username in a Hansoft comment, which can trigger a notification email sent to them.

Improved API

Building custom Hansoft integrations just got easier. The Hansoft API has been extended to support several new subscription and data types. Users can get advanced project, item and workflow data.

WBS Column Supports PERT

Mange large, complex projects? Simplify using the new work breakdown structure (WBS) column, which offers a clear overview of the backlog hierarchy. Each item has a unique key based on its placement in the backlog (e.g 1.9.3 or 3.6.1.5).

Other Notable Improvements

Report Time by Entering Time Spent

The time spent column can be connected to the time reporting module. If you are using both features, you no longer need to report time twice.

Delete Comments

A comment can be deleted by the user who posted it.

Improved Dashboard Performance

Dashboard performance has been improved to reduce server load. and allows for limiting of the memory usage of the dashboard feature.

Improved Visualization of Out-of-Office Tasks

Scheduled tasks display delay due to an assignee being out of office during the task lifespan.

What's New in Hansoft?

The latest version of Hansoft 10 comes with deep speed and usability enhancements to Kanban boards and more!

Kanban Board Improvements

Blog HNS Kanban for Software — The latest sprint boards in Hansoft 10 come with enhanced visualizations.

Visualize Estimates Easily

Estimates show on cards in the sprint board. Estimate using work remaining, points, or estimated days. Similar to images and dependencies, showing estimates on cards can be toggled by each user individually, creating a more personal board experience.

Update Boards From Planning View

Mixing methodologies just got easier. You can move cards to different columns on the sprint board from the Planning view. Quickly search for and batch move items without opening the board view.

UX/UI Improvements

Users and managers alike will appreciate these time-savers:

Shortcut! Open a sprint board (Ctrl + Shift) or close a sprint board (Cmd + C).
Status mapped to a board column shows as an icon on the column header.
When adding or renaming a column or lane, the name is automatically selected.
A board opens automatically when added to a sprint.
The view selection dropdown menu includes a shortcut to boards.

Jump to Today on Timeline

Have long plans or complex projects that go far into the future? You can now quickly transport to today on the timeline. Right-click on the timeline to jump to today.

What's New in Hansoft?

From better Kanban boards to improved integrations, explore the latest updates to Hansoft 10!