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Design work: Productivity software

Project management software development, from the task board to the timesheet: DataZen

DataZen is project management software we designed: an overview with today’s tasks, a progress dial, the week’s hours and a time tracker, a team chat view, and the identity around them. The page also sets out how we develop project management software behind screens like these: the data model, roles and single sign-on, time tracking that feeds payroll, and the integrations a team relies on.

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DataZen project management overview on a graphite laptop resting on muted lavender upholstery, with tasks, project progress and exact time totals
Project
DataZen
Type
Project management software
Our work
UI/UX design, brand identity
Platform
Web application

Shown as design work under the DataZen project name. The reimagined screens, people, projects, tasks, hours and messages are illustrative concepts. The task board, timesheets, task comments and schedule show proposed development scope.

What the project management software had to do

Project management software is used by people with different jobs: the manager who needs the state of everything at a glance, and the contributor who needs to know what to do today.

The design gives each of them a view. Progress and hours read as a dial and a chart, and tasks and conversations read as cards and lists. The layout stays quiet, black and white with one purple, so the work is what stands out.

  • A view for each roleThe manager and the contributor.
  • Charts for stateProgress and hours at a glance.
  • Lists for workTasks and conversations, in order.
DataZen team chat concept on a graphite laptop, with Audrey Prosacco and Jenny Sen discussing the Insurance app requirements (opens full size in a new tab)

Project management software development, from the data model to the timesheet

The screens are the part a team sees. Project management software runs on four more parts behind them, and they decide most of the build.

  1. One data model for projects, tasks and people

    Workspaces, projects, tasks, owners, statuses and due dates in one schema, so the board, the progress dial and every report count the same tasks.

  2. Roles and sign-in for each company

    Permissions by role, single sign-on through SAML or OpenID Connect, and SCIM provisioning, so an admin adds and removes people in their identity provider.

  3. Time tracking that ends in approved hours

    Timers and timesheets with an approval step, and exports of approved hours to payroll or invoicing, so the hours on the dashboard are the hours that get paid.

  4. Integrations and notifications

    A calendar feed for due dates and time off, notifications by email and chat, file storage links, and an API with webhooks for the systems a company already runs.
Proposed DataZen build map: projects and tasks, the company directory and logged hours feeding a task service, roles and access, and time reports, then the task board, the app on every screen and payroll exports (opens full size in a new tab)

What the DataZen project management software does

Every screen answers one of three questions a team asks each day: what is due, how far along the work is, and where the hours went.

  1. DataZen redesigned workspace with two project cards at 65 and 40 percent, task priorities, 78 percent project progress, weekly hours and a 06:12:55 tracker (opens full size in a new tab)

    An overview for the start of the day

    Today’s tasks with their progress, the project dial with done, in progress and not started counts, the week’s hours and the running timer on one screen.

  2. Proposed DataZen Insurance app board with four status columns, 18 tasks before the drop, contextual metadata, a moving document upload card and a Move to menu (opens full size in a new tab)

    A task board that works with or without dragging

    Columns from To do to Done, cards dragged between them or moved with a Move to menu, and the owner, due date and checklist on every card.

  3. Proposed DataZen weekly timesheet with exact project and daily totals adding to 44:05:45, an approver and a daily hours chart (opens full size in a new tab)

    Time tracking that ends in an approved timesheet

    A timer on any task, the day and week totals, and a weekly timesheet a manager approves before the hours go to payroll or an invoice.

  4. Proposed DataZen document upload task detail with Jenny Sen, an October 28 due date, two of four checklist items and the matching four-message thread (opens full size in a new tab)

    Comments that stay with the task

    The conversation from the chat view, opened on the task it is about, so a decision and the work it changes sit on one screen.

  5. Proposed DataZen October 2026 team calendar with October 23 highlighted, Regina Jast time off on October 26 and 27, deadlines and the October 30 beta milestone (opens full size in a new tab)

    A schedule with deadlines and time off

    Due dates, milestones and approved time off on one calendar, so a deadline set during someone’s leave shows before it is agreed, and a calendar feed carries it out.

  6. DataZen concept identity with refined lettering, the original four-part mark and original physical sign photographs, purple and lime swatches and a Plus Jakarta Sans type sample (opens full size in a new tab)

    An identity that carries from the sidebar to the sign

    The DataZen mark and wordmark in the app’s sidebar, on a purple wall sign and a lit hanging sign, with the purple and lime the screens use.

The services behind this work: SaaS design and custom software development. Planning something similar? Read our guide to SaaS development cost.

Before you brief anyone

Planning project management software? Settle these first

Settle internal or for sale, what a task is and where the hours go before the screens.

Request a scoping call

  1. Decide whether it is an internal tool or a product to sell.

    An internal tool fits one company’s workflow and sign-in; a SaaS product needs a workspace for each customer, billing and onboarding. Our custom software development page covers both kinds of build.

  2. Decide what a task is.

    Its statuses, fields, dependencies and approvals set the data model and every report built on it, so the board, the progress dial and the exports are drawn from that definition, not the other way round.

  3. Decide where the hours go.

    When tracked time feeds payroll or invoices, approval, edits after submission and the export format all need rules, and wage law sets which records an employer keeps.

  4. Then agree the scope before comparing prices.

    Our SaaS design service covers the screens, and our guide to SaaS development cost shows what drives the build behind them.

Questions about project management software development

If something here does not answer it, ask the founder directly.

Mayursinh Jadeja

Talk to the people who do the work

A 30 minute scoping call with the team that would take the project on. We reply within 12 hours.

Request a scoping call

Prefer email?info@redliolabs.com

What does project management software development include?

The web app and often a phone app; the data model for workspaces, projects, tasks and people; boards, lists and a schedule; roles, single sign-on and user provisioning; time tracking and reports; notifications; and connections to calendars, chat, file storage and billing. The screens are one part; the data model and the integrations decide most of the build.

Do you develop project management software as well as design it?

Yes. We design product interfaces through our SaaS design service and build them through our custom software development work, from the data model to time tracking and single sign-on. DataZen, shown here, is design work: the screens and the brand.

How much does custom project management software cost?

The user roles, the workflow a task follows, time tracking and billing, the integrations, and whether it is an internal tool or a product sold to others set the figure, so we quote after a scoping call. Our guide to SaaS development cost explains the drivers.

Should a company build custom project management software or use an off-the-shelf tool?

An off-the-shelf tool fits most teams whose work follows a standard board or list. Custom software pays when the workflow sets the business apart, such as client approvals, hours billed to contracts or industry sign-offs, when it has to connect to internal systems, or when the software is itself the product.

What does project management app development add for phones?

The tasks someone needs away from a desk: today’s list, comments, a timer, approvals and push notifications, built on the same API as the web app. Planning and reporting usually stay on the larger screen.

What makes good project management dashboard design?

A view for each role: the manager sees the state of every project, the contributor sees today’s tasks. DataZen shows progress as a dial with its counts, hours as a weekly chart and work as task cards, in a quiet layout so the work stands out.

Can project management software connect to the tools a team already uses?

Yes, through their APIs: single sign-on and user provisioning from the identity provider, deadlines out to calendars through an iCalendar feed, notifications into chat and email, files from shared storage, and approved hours out to payroll or invoicing. We list each connection during scoping.

What project management software has to get right before launch

Project management software is bought by companies, so their accessibility, sign-in, security review and payroll rules arrive with the first contract.

  1. 2.5.7

    A board that works without dragging

    WCAG 2.2 requires anything done by dragging to work with a single pointer without dragging, so every card on the board also has a Move to menu.

    WCAG 2.2, 2.5.7

  2. RFC 7644

    People provisioned from the directory

    SCIM is the IETF’s HTTP protocol for managing identities across domains, such as a company and a cloud service, so an admin adds and removes users in one place.

    RFC 7644 (SCIM)

  3. SOC 2

    Controls ready for a SOC 2 examination

    A SOC 2 report examines a service organization’s controls relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality or privacy.

    AICPA SOC 2

  4. RFC 5545

    Due dates in the calendars people use

    iCalendar, the IETF format for calendaring and scheduling data, includes to-do items with a due date, so deadlines and time off sync to calendar apps.

    RFC 5545 (iCalendar)

  5. §516.2(a)(7)

    Hours kept the way wage law asks

    The FLSA recordkeeping rule has employers keep hours worked each workday and each workweek for covered employees, so a timer that feeds payroll stores both.

    29 CFR 516.2

  6. Section 508

    Ready for public sector buyers

    Federal agencies must buy and use ICT that meets the Revised 508 Standards, which have software and content conform to WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA.

    Revised 508 Standards

We check accessibility, sign-in, security controls and time records against these during scoping, so the first enterprise review finds nothing to rebuild.

More dashboard and SaaS design work like the project management software

Talk to us about a project management software

Thirty minutes with the people who would design and build it: who uses it, what a task means for the team, and where the hours go.

Prefer email?info@redliolabs.com

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Mayursinh Jadeja

Mayursinh Jadeja

Founder, Redlio Labs

Rated 5.0 on Clutch and 5.0 on Google