We have been hard at work for several weeks and are excited to announce that Highrise deal tracking is the newest DashStack addition. Highrise is a great tool for managing deals and tasks within your Bascamp workflow and we are anxious to show you how it works with your DashStack dashboard.

First, create a Highrise Widget

Choose from a “Deals” Widget or a “Tasks” Widget (we will show you both below) 

Adding a Deals Widget: 

Choose the deals widget option and give it a title.

Once you have added your deals widget, choose to view All Deals, Pending, Won, or Lost.

From the same view, you also have the option to choose to view deals by Person Assigned, Date, Category, or Status.

Click on a deal to see further details. You can also update the deal with “lost” or “won”.

Adding a Task Widget: 

Choose to view tasks assigned to a person and give your widget a title.

Once you have created your widget, choose to group by Due Date or Category. Click the check box next to a task once it’s complete.

Give our Highrise widget a spin and let us know what you think!

That’s it for now. Although, we will be adding additional Highrise functionality soon.  We are working to make DashStack better everyday so stay tuned to our Twitter, Facbook, and Blog to stay in the loop on added features and updates.

Basecamp project managers have their work cut out for them whether managing small teams, large teams, small projects, or complex projects. We get it. That’s why we want to show you how DashStack can help make life a little easier.

For project managers, we suggest laying out a project dashboard within DashStack to include a project widget(s) and person(s) widget. You will be able to organize items within a single dashboard view to organize and view items from a specific project and the people related to that project. Only see what you need to see when you need to see it.

These are a few quick and easy steps to help get you started:

1. Create a Project Dashboard

1. Click on the “+” symbol from your default dashboard view

2. Type a title for your new project dashboard and click “add”

3. Click on the title tab of your newly created dashboard to start creating your project widgets

2. Create a Project Widget  - DashStack gives you the ability to view a single project or multiple projects within a widget view. We will give you directions on how to setup both options.

Single Project Widget

1. Click on “Add Widget” from your project dashboard

2. Under “Widget Types” choose “Project”

3. Under “Settings” select your project from the drop down list displayed

4. Type your widget name in the box next to “And call it”

5. Click “Add”

Multi-Project Widget

1. Click on “Add Widget” from your project dashboard
2. Under “Widget Types” choose “Multi-Project”
3. Under “Settings” click on your projects in the drop down list displayed
4. Click “Add”

3. Create a Person Widget - Use this widget for viewing people and their assigned list of projects and due dates. Choose to view a person’s tasks grouped by project, list, or when a project or task is due.

1. Click on “Add Widget” from your project dashboard

2. Under “Widget Types” choose “Person”

3. Under “Settings” choose a person’s name from the drop down list displayed by clicking the “+” symbol

4. Type your widget name in the box next to “And call it”

5. Click “Add”

Now that you have your dashboard and project widgets in place, start viewing your data.

Group by Due Date:

Click group by “due” within your widget to see all items that are due this week as well as all items without a due date.

Group by Person:

Click group by “person” within your project widget to see all items that are due by person.

Group by List:

Click group by “list” within your project widget to see all items related to that project.

Have questions or suggestions? Let us know at hello@dashstack.com

Busy daily directors have a lot to manage making sure that no task falls through the cracks, it is their top priority. The more people and tasks there are to manage, the harder it becomes to keep up-to-date on everything.

You already know this, because you live it. We do too, and came up with a few ideas that we wanted to share with you that will (hopefully) help better manage your team and tasks.

Using DashStack to Manage Tasks and People

First, setup your dashboard(s) so that you can keep your various projects and teams organized at a glance.

1. Click on the “+” symbol from your Default dashboard view
2. Type a title for your new dashboard and click “add” (up to 4 in beta)
3. Click on the title tab of your newly created dashboard to start creating your project widgets

Next, setup a person widget to view their assigned list of tasks and due dates. Choose to view a person’s tasks grouped by project, list, or when a project or task is due.

1. Click on “Add Widget” from your project dashboard
2. Under “Widget Types” choose “Person”
3. Under “Settings” choose a person’s name from the drop down list displayed by clicking the “+” symbol
4. Type your widget name in the box next to “And call it”
5. Click “Add”

Finally, add and edit additional tasks within your widget(s).

1. Click “Add a Task” within your widget
2. Choose a project from the list provided and type in your task
3. Assign the task to a person or label it as “unassigned” (classic only – BCX coming soon)

***Tip: Double click a task to rename it or edit it. ***


Now that you have your dashboards and widgets set, you will quickly be able to see what task belongs to whom and when it’s due. You can move your widgets around your dashboard in any order that you like. Just drag and drop them into place.

Have questions or suggestions? Let us know at hello@dashstack.com

DashStack is now able to integrate with your Google Apps account. Simply use your Google Apps account to register your new DashStack account and you are off to the races.

Stay tuned, and be sure to tell your co-workers and or employees to give DashStack a try once you have signed up.

Click here or on the image below to view our Google Apps Marketplace Link.

If you already have a DashStack account, you can login with your Google Apps account and still have access to your existing dashboards

Now that 37signals has released the open API to Basecamp, we are able to integrate DashStack with Basecamp and Basecamp Classic. Now you can enjoy all of the benefits of Basecamp Classic and Basecamp with all of DashStack features.

How does this benefit you?
Have team members on both Basecamp versions? No problem. We automatically pull in all your Basecamp and Basecamp Classic accounts.

Currently DashStack supports project, multi-project & people widgets, with more to coming soon. As 37Signals continues to develop their api, we will continue to expand our functionality.

Follow us on twitter @dashstack to like us on Facebook to stay in the loop and the new integrations with Basecamp and Basecamp Classic.

***Please note*** Dashcamp has officially changed it’s name to DashStack. You will still be able to enjoy all of the same benefits of Dashcamp with DashStack.

We have been excited about launching Dashstack for months. Now that we are officially in public beta, we feel as though the timing couldn’t be better. After 37signals announced the features of their newest product Basecamp Next, we noticed they were still not addressing many of the issues and features that Basecamp power users were lacking in Basecamp Classic. This is not for lack of caring. Rather than focussing on the Basecamp power users, 37signals has chosen to focus its efforts on the needs of the majority of its user base.

How does Dashstack help bridge the gap for Basecamp Power Users?

We solve problems that both Basecamp Classic and Basecamp Next can’t address. Because we have been avid Basecamp users for years, we understand what works and what was lacking in the platform for power users.

Linking Multiple Basecamp accounts
No more switching back and forth between multiple Basecamp accounts. With Dashstack, you can use a single dashboard to manage all of your Basecamp accounts and projects. The drag and drop project widgets follow your every command. You are in control of your own dashboard view. Only see what’s important to you.

Sort Tasks by Person
Want to see all the projects that “team member A “ is working on in one spot?  No problem, just create a project widget and sort by “team member A’s” name. You can also choose to sort by unassigned tasks to ensure that no unassigned to-dos fall through the cracks. Creating a widget by unassigned tasks will give you the ability to view all tasks that are unassigned across all projects.

Sort Tasks by Date
Want to see all the project due dates for tomorrow? That’s easy, just create a project widget and choose to sort by date.

Sort Tasks by Project
Looking for all created tasks for a particular project? Create a widget, pick your project from the drop down list, and give your widget a name. Done.

Sort by List
Need to view all the to-do within a list within a specific project? Create a project widget and simply choose to sort by list.

Clients on Basecamp Classic and Basecamp Next?
Dashstack currently works with Basecamp Classic. However, 37 Signals just released the API to Basecamp Next so we will be able to fully integrate with Basecamp Next very soon. Soon, you will be able to smoothly run multiple projects between both versions of Basecamp, that’s Dashstack.

Before we dig into this list of improvements, we would like to explain that we have been avid Bascamp users for a long time. We use it internally to manage projects within our team as well as collaborating with clients. We became frustrated at its inability to meet all of our needs. So, we wrote our own program (now called Dashstack) to use internally that worked with Basecamp, but made it operate to meet all of our project needs.

These are the areas that we have worked to improve on Basecamp Classic and Basecamp Next.

A new way to look at lists:

Nothing will make your eyes pop out of your head more than starring at a mile long list of data. It’s just overwhelming and intimidating. Our Instant Groupings take your Basecamp lists and organizes them by group project, task, people, and teams. Everyone has the option to customize how they view and manage their own tasks.

Multiple Basecamp accounts can be hard to manage:

We were tired of logging into one Basecamp account and then logging out so that we could log into another. Dashstack takes multiple Basecamp accounts and places them into a clean and simple drag and drop widget that you can customize however you like. Simply choose your widget type (Person, Project, Multi-Project, File) give it a name, and assign it to team members. You have the option to group projects together across clients and easily monitor unassigned tasks across projects and files.

Streaming Updates:

We had lots of issues when project information, discussions, and comments got buried and lost in the Basecamp shuffle. That’s why we created the Real-Time Status Sidebar so that we were able to see all updates in real time. Now, you can quickly see current activity across your projects and Basecamp accounts.

Where is that file?

Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to find the files you need when you need them. Basecamp made it difficult to find the most recent version of a file because you had no way of viewing that file until you clicked it. Who has time to click through and open an entire list of files? We didn’t. That’s why we developed Quick View. Quick View allows you to easily skim through recently uploaded files, reference previous versions, and catch up on the latest feedback about a document.