Emily Kane
Adminja is a project management system designed specifically for virtual assistants. Since I work at a virtual assistant company, I couldn’t help but give it a try to see how it measured up against other systems I’ve used.
Everything Zen
Before I get into the actual meat and potatoes of the program, I have to mention the ninja-themed images used on the registration and login pages. A calm inner peace washes over me every time I login. I can’t help but smile at this really well executed branding.
The Dashboard
Upon logging in, I’m met with a familiar project management style dashboard. Across the top are widget boxes. Pretty straight forward stuff. I wish that I could click on the widget boxes and be taken to see more information about the individual metric.
As for virtual assistant specific features, look no further than the “Client Snapshot”. I love that it shows the time use budget for the month, the amount of time logged so far, and a “percentage of plan used” progress bar. We had to have these features custom built for our current project management system. It’s exciting to see them available out of the box, and if I were in the market for a project management system, this feature would make me sit up and take notice of Adminja.
The “My Progress” graph looks nice look smooth, however I wish it showed more information. Number of hours billed and tasks completed doesn’t mean much unless compared against the total tasks due, and billable hours planned. To be really practical, this graph needs to tell me a baseline that I am making progress towards.
Creating A Task
I love the graphic time budget slider, however I have a concern about tasks that will take more than the 4 hour slider max. The due date and client selection have solid UX. The task description area is a little misleading. It looks small but you can actually expand the space by pressing enter a few times. There is also a handy area for comments.
All Tasks Panels
The “All Tasks” page gives me an overview of my clients, including: open tasks, time budgeted, time spent, and time remaining. I like how it shows the time billed and due date in red if the budget is exceeded or due date passed. From this view, tasks can be marked as “due today” which marks the task with a little sun. From this view I can also add a task, edit an existing task, and bill time to a task. This is a pretty robust view, and I image a user of Adminja spending most of their time on this page.
Client Spaces
Client spaces allow for a client specific task view. You can add custom workflow panels, but from what I can tell they are unique to each client, which could be a pro or a con depending on your point of view.
Time Logs
The “Time Log” view is of interest to any virtual assistant, and while the Adminja Log has potential, it’s lacking in functionality. The ability to print, email to a client, and export to CSV are features that are on the way, but not yet launched. You can sort time logs by day, week, year, etc.
Considering virtual assistants make money by selling time, having robust time reporting is essential. I don’t just want to see time by the client, I want to see it for the entire company, I want to see it based on the individual. Time reports are everything. They shouldn’t be a sub-menu under clients, they should be their own tab! They should be able to walk and chew bubble gum while doing a back-flip through a flaming hoop in front of an audience of angry customers. Because when an angry customer asks for a time report, you need to be able to deliver exactly what they are asking for with out having to fuss around.
Recurring Tasks
This is a “coming soon” feature, and like the “client snapshots” from the dashboard, my heart flutters at the thought of a project management system that FINALLY caters to the needs of the virtual assistant industry.
Overall
It’s a solid looking system, in its current release Adminja is best suited for solo virtual assistants. Adminja is just out of beta and is still only accepting limited signups. Team features are “coming soon”. I imagine Adminja will only continue to improve, and based on the really insightful features geared towards virtual assistants, I’m really interested to see where this system goes. Try it out for yourself here: https://www.getadminja.com
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