What’s New from The Hammer: A Q&A with Developer Mae Ann

As the project management industry progresses, our field’s technology progresses as well. It is crucial for industry professionals to have access to the latest capabilities in order to ensure project success. The Hammer Solutions continues to evolve to meet the needs of the user community. Continuous innovation would not be possible without our talented development team in the Philippines. Mae Ann, one of the team members, recently chatted with us about the future of The Hammer Solutions and its recent changes and challenges. 

Q: Can you describe some of the recent updates to The Hammer Solutions? 

A: A time zone field has been added on the user profile so that each user can specify the time zone they are currently in. This is reflected in the “Created On” and “Updated On” column values. For the Cost Estimation Tool (CET), contingency cost class values are now displayed on the “View Project” page. In addition, users can now see the project’s contingency cost values and the planned cost values on one page. For Drilldown, indicator icons and counters are added to the “Notify CAM” page so that Control Account Managers can check if email notifications for control accounts with variances have already been sent. 

Q: What has been your favorite update to work on and why? 

A: I liked working on the indicator icons for the email notifications and designing the look of the new page. I was able to apply user interface components I hadn’t used before. 

Q: What has been the most challenging aspect of working on The Hammer Solutions over the past six months? 

A: The most challenging aspect of working on The Hammer Solutions was investigating intermittent errors, given that they are hard to replicate. This often makes them difficult to fix, with how long it takes to find the root problem. 

Q: What future goals do you have for the development team, and what do you hope to achieve next with the software? 

A: I am hoping for the development team to grow and continue to work on updates that we can learn from and be proud of. 

Q: What value does The Hammer Solutions provide to its users? 

A: The Hammer Solutions helps users in planning, managing and tracking their project’s progress, which enables users to make smart and apt decisions for complicated projects. 

In addition to the key updates Mae Ann mentioned, there have been a number of updates to The Hammer Solutions over the past eight months: 

Single sign-on 

  • A time zone field is available on the user profile. 

  • The “Created On” and “Updated On” column values now reflect the user’s time zone.  

CET single sign-on 

  • Contingency cost class values are available for the following pages and functionalities: 

  • View Project 

  • Download View Project Summary 

  • Download Project Data 

  • Project Summary Reports 

  • View Report 

  • Download Report Data 

  • Download Pivot Report 

  • WBS BOE 

  • View Basis of Estimate 

  • A time zone field is available on the user profile. 

  • The Created On and Updated On column values now reflect the user’s time zone.  

General Drilldown updates 

  • Dashboard enhancements  

  • Aesthetic changes to EV charts  

  • Unarchive projects feature  

General CET updates 

  • Rate table enhancements: can now have more than two rates per year  

  • Holiday table updates: delete holidays, select specific rest days, and manage holidays in international teams  

  • Stand-alone reports: get reports without needing to create a new project  

  • Add resources to multiple activities simultaneously  

  • Pivot report updates  

Emmanuel Abela