TimeMaker Matrix Lesson 7 - Grouping

TM Matrix Lesson 7 – Grouping

Prerequisites:

1. Study “Order By” Lesson.

In this tutorial we are going to go over a tool that can show you workloads, indicate bottle necks, sift out and show the performers or the non performers and much more… ready to see?

OK! This tool is the Grouping tool.

Grouping is an action taken by the Matrix which literally groups the items according to a preset format of arranging items.

By default the Matrix shows no grouping, but there are several grouping options.

First we’ll take a look at how to see who is performing well and who is not. We will Group by Performer and as you see each Performer’s name is indicated on the left. Now we select Ctrl and 1 simultaneously. It gives a different Matrix layout format. Now we open up the filter titled “Status”. Next, we select “Completed On Time” and “Completed Beyond Target Date”. If we want to select specific people (which we do), we open the filter titled “Performer” and select the people we want to see. Now we can scroll down and we will be able to see quickly and easily who is performing well and on time and who is not. Revolutionary trick, huh?

Now, let’s also add a few more selections to the Status filter. We click “In Progress”, “Date Changed”, all the “Beyond Target Date” options, and “Reported Completion”. Remember we have specific Performers still selected from earlier. Now we start to scroll down and we will be able to spot (by knowledge of the colors) who creates delays (red items), we see what got assigned to whom, how many items have been delayed, how many items have been Date Changed (green) and, very importantly, how productive each person is by how many Completions (shown by blue) each person has at that time – all in one sweeping view. The applications are limitless.

Now we’ll clear the filter and go back to the “Grouping” drop down menu. We select “Grouped by Owner”. Again, each Owner’s name is indicated on the left. What we are seeing is mostly executives who assigned the tasks, but it also shows other seniors or even tasks assigned by juniors. We can now add whatever filter we want. For this example we’ll go to the “Status” filter and select “Beyond Target Date (performed by you)”. Now you see all the personal tasks to yourself (you are the owner which is what our grouping was) and it shows which are behind (we selected beyond target date performed by you in the filter). Get the idea?

“Grouped by Creator” shows the Task’s Creator’s name on the left.

“Grouped by Current Handler” shows each of the Current Handler’s names on the left. The “Current Handler” is the person the item is currently with and he or she has to handle that item. This grouping can allow you to spot people who do not handle requests for actions, don’t get them done, and by that create bottle necks and delays.

“Grouped by State” arranges by all the states which can also be found in the “Status” filter. Each of the statuses is grouped and presented as you can see. There is “In Progress”, “Date Changed” and “Beyond Target Date” to just name a few. This grouping gives an instant view of what is going on in the company.

“Grouped by Type” shows the items by type (Strategic Plan, Tactical Plan, Operational Plan, Mini Operation, CRM Items, Commands, Production Items). By the way, all these options also show up in the “Kind” filter.

“Grouped by Plan” first shows all the items that are not part of a plan and thereafter shows the items by their Plan name.

“Grouped by Post” groups the items based on the posts of the Performers. What does that mean? Each user is registered as a TimeMaker user by a username which is given to them to log in to TimeMaker. Here, the username is “Meir”. Usually a user has a real name logged in as well - in our example it is “Meir Ezra”. A user can be also identified as a post - in our case it could be “Founder”. Therefore, if the users have their posts logged in to the system as well, this grouping can group those in the Matrix– for example “Board Member 1”, “Board Member 2” etc.

Last is the “Grouped by Company” option. TimeMaker has the power to allow an executive to run more than one company on the system at a time. This Grouping option shows all the Production Items by their different Companies.

And that’s Grouping!