OpenProject 11.3: new user invite, create button in header, GitHub integration, API extensions

We are proud to present to you OpenProject 11.3. The new release is packed with a large number of new features, improvements as well as bug fixes. We are especially proud of a significant improvement in the user invitation to projects. From now on, users can easily be added or invited while working on a work package. This makes adding new team members to a project even easier. A new button in the header navigation allows easy creation of projects, users or work packages. Furthermore, we released a new GitHub integration. This integration combines two strong systems for project planning and software development. Look forward to many more great new features with this release.

The OpenProject Enterprise cloud will be automatically upgraded today, June 3rd, 2021.

What is new in OpenProject 11.3?

New button in header navigation to create projects, users or work packages

In the header navigation we have introduced a new button to create a new project, invite a user (or a group or placeholder user), and create a new work package. If a project is not selected it needs to be chosen at first during the create process. For the user invitation a new and simplified user creation modal will open.

Simplified invitation of users, groups or placeholder users

New user invite modal

A new user invite process has been introduced. A modal window allows much easier creation of new users, groups or placeholder users, assigning roles and adding them to a project. Add a personal invitation message, e.g. an explanation for the invitation or a bit of information regarding the project, which will be sent to the user to help them get started.

The invite process can be started directly from the new “+” create button in the header navigation.

Invite new users from work packages drop-down

The new invite modal for users, groups, and placeholder users can now be opened directly from the user type drop-down menu in a work package, e.g. to assign a user to a work package who is not yet a member of the project. This way, there is no need anymore to leave the work package to assign a user who is not yet a member of the project. The creation of users and adding them to a project is now much more intuitive.

GitHub integration

With OpenProject 11.3 we released a new integration between GitHub and OpenProject. This integration facilitates the collaboration of developers by connecting the two applications. The new GitHub integration in OpenProject is an individual module that, once activated, will be displayed to you as a tab in the work package details view. All activities taking place on GitHub that are related to the work package, are listed on this new GitHub tab. Find out more about the OpenProject GitHub integration.

API v3 extensions

API v3 endpoints for groups

We have made extensions to our API v3 to create, read, update and delete groups through the API, e.g. to allow adding users to a group via API. The following tasks can be performed via the API:

• Create a group
• Delete a group
• Edit a group
  • Change the name
• Add or remove user to a group
  • Adding a user to a group creates project memberships
  • Removing a user from a group removes project memberships.
• List groups of a user
• List users of a group

API V3 endpoints for placeholder users We have added endpoints to our API v3 for fetching placeholder users so that placeholder users can be managed or read by a machine.

Copy project via API v3

The API v3 already supports the ability to create a new project. It is now enhanced by the ability to copy existing projects.

Find out more details in our API documentation.

Sending notification on adding a user to a project or updating the role

Newly added users to a project will now receive a notification that they have been added to a project. The user will receive an email with a the information about the role in the project and a link to it. Also, if a role is changed in a project, the user will receive a notification about the newly added role. Also, the API endpoints for creating and updating memberships are enhanced by this notifications. The notifications can be turned off in the administration (Administration → Email → Email notifications).

Multi-selection for project custom fields of type list

For work packages, fields can already be configured as multiple selections for all projects or for individual projects. The same function is now able for user-defined custom fields of the type Project.

Create backup from web interface

Users now have the option to create backups of their OpenProject installation directly via the web interface. the backup can be triggered via Administration → Backup. They will receive an email notification with the link to download the backup files with an additional authentication (username/password + 2FA).

More improvements and bug fixes

As usual, we have also added many small UI and UX improvements, bug fixes as well as code maintenance, i.e. a new design of checkboxes in formly forms, replacement of project forms by Angular/formly (create and update + widgets), allow multi select in angular/formly based project forms (create and update + details widget), and much more. Please see a complete list of all features and bug fixes in our OpenProject 11.3 Release notes.

Installation and Updates

To use OpenProject 11.3 right away, create a free trial instance for our OpenProject Enterprise cloud.

Prefer to run OpenProject 11.3 in your own infrastructure? Here you can find the Installation guidelines for OpenProject.

Want to upgrade from a Community version to try out the Enterprise add-ons? Get a 14 days free trial token directly out of your current Community installation.

Migrating to OpenProject 11.3

Follow the upgrade guide for the packaged installation or Docker installation to update your OpenProject installation to OpenProject 11.3.

We update hosted OpenProject environments (Enterprise cloud) automatically.

Support

You will find useful information in the OpenProject Documentation or you can post your questions in the Community Forum.

Release Notes

Please refer to the OpenProject 11.3 Release notes for an overview of all the new and improved features, as well as a list of fixed bugs.

Credits

Special thanks go to all OpenProject contributors without whom this release would not have been possible:

• Philipp Tessenow, Max Mutzge, Jan Niklas Grieb, Kris M, Frank Long, Johannes G, Björn Schümann, Alexander Seitz, Sebastian Schoeller, Charles Steiger
• AMG/Daimler for sponsoring feature development
• City of Cologne for sponsoring feature development
• Every dedicated user who has reported bugs and supported the community by asking and answering questions in the forum.
• All the dedicated users who provided translations on CrowdIn.