ZenTao Max 5.5: A Major Upgrade in User Experience and Code Architecture

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Hello everyone! We are thrilled to announce the launch of ZenTao Max 5.5! Following the initiation of our restructuring project in April 2023, we have invested over a year in development, utilizing the full strength of our product and development teams to create an entirely new user experience for our valued users.

This release focuses on significant enhancements in user experience and code architecture.

Enhanced User Experience 

The introduction of seamless refresh technology has dramatically improved system responsiveness, allowing users to navigate tasks more efficiently. The dashboard has been overhauled to provide comprehensive overview data for products and projects, alongside detailed annual and monthly progress metrics, bug reports, and release statistics. Additionally, the form pages now offer a choice between a simplified version and a full version, making data entry more intuitive and user-friendly.

Robust Code Refactoring 

The refactoring process has involved substantial improvements across the codebase, enhancing both maintainability and performance. Key updates include the implementation of a new UI library and the self-developed ZUI3 front-end framework, a new ZIN page development model, and PHP strong type checking. With coverage of over 3,000 unit tests, the code is now more resilient. The introduction of data caching based on PHP-APCu has significantly boosted page load speeds.

Optimized DevOps Experience 

The DevOps interaction experience has been refined to support quick branch creation and streamline the merge request process. ZenTao IM has introduced an AI dialogue feature, enabling users to engage in real-time conversations with AI. This feature allows users to convert discussion content into actionable requirements and tasks, enhancing overall productivity.

New Business Requirement Feature

This release also introduces a comprehensive business requirement feature. Users can start with high-level business needs and systematically break them down into specific user and development requirements, ensuring precise definition and management of each task. Both business and user requirements now support independent workflows, allowing for tailored configurations that enhance requirement management.

3. Key New Features:

Related Forms:

• Optimized the layout structure for core forms (program, project, product, execution, requirement, task, bug, use case).
• Complex forms now feature a toggle between simplified and full versions, allowing additional fields in the simplified version to remain fixed.
• Enhanced the form editor for improved usability.

Product:

• Introduced a hierarchy for business requirements.
• Supports a three-tier requirement logic (business requirement, user requirement, development requirement) for detailed breakdowns.
• Only the lowest-level development requirements allow for task breakdowns, as well as associations with bugs and cases.
• The requirement list now supports both tree and flat views.

BI:

• The pivot table designer now includes a "data drilling" feature.
• Users can set drill-down data for specific columns within the pivot table designer.
• Custom pivot tables can display drilled-down content.

DevOps:

• Enables branch creation directly from tasks, requirements, and bugs.
• Automatically syncs pipelines when linked to GitLab repositories.
• Merge requests now showcase commit history.
• Supports pipeline execution within merge requests.
• Status-related fields in merge requests now include color coding for easy identification.
• Modifying branches or pipelines in merge requests triggers the corresponding pipeline.
• Reviewers are notified to execute the pipeline when new code is committed within a merge request.
• Displays the status of merge requests among related objects.

Workflow:

• Business requirements can now be configured with independent workflows.
• User requirements also support independent workflow configurations.
• The workflow action interface allows for the configuration of multiple interfaces.
• Individual interfaces now include settings for interactivity.

Notification Center:

• The panel now features a notification center list.
• Notifications display the notifier, time, and content.
• Users can set retention periods for messages in the notification center.
• Message records can be marked as read with a single click.

Execution:

• Refactored the task dependency list page.
• Revamped the form page for adding task dependencies.
• Redesigned the bulk maintenance form page for managing task dependencies.
• Improved the logic for handling task dependencies and conflicts in the Gantt chart.

The launch of ZenTao version 5.5 represents a significant leap forward in user experience and technical capabilities. The ZenTao team is grateful for the ongoing support from its users and remains committed to continuous improvement in products and services.

For feedback or suggestions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].