Focus on add-ons and integrations leads us in a new direction

We have added support for add-ons and integrations to Previsto. In this article, we will go in-depth on why we have added add-ons and integrations and what it will allow for in the future.

Introducing add-ons and integrations in Previsto

We love the diversity of businesses. Each business has its own unique DNA and that's great. But it also creates challenges when one system needs to be developed to support many different businesses, but it's important to do so. That's why we've put so much effort into making Previsto adaptive.

Today we're introducing the result of many months of hard work on Previsto's plugin system. We've added a whole new foundation for supporting add-ons and integrations in Previsto. This will allow companies to customize Previsto to their specific needs.

Concept and background

Developing software remains complex. Developing one piece of software for many users is even more difficult. As we have developed Previsto, parts of the system have become more complex to use and develop than we would like. I've continuously kept an eye on what we needed to do to solve it. The basic challenge is that:

there is a need for more features
it needs to be simpler to use
need to keep it easy to develop further

Continuing to add (1) new features easily conflicts with (2 & 3) making it even easier to use Previsto and keeping it simple to evolve.

One morning in June 2023, I woke up with a kit with a new idea for our user interface and it opened up a whole new set of possibilities. It was a model for breaking down Previsto into a much more modular system from top to bottom. Each part of the system would be a plugin that can be turned on and off based on what is purchased and/or what access a user has.

All parts of Previsto have since been converted to support the new plugin system and it has now finally allowed us to also support addons and integrations that can be activated as needed.

What are add-ons and integrations

The question that arises is: What are addons and integrations?

Add-ons and integrations are a new area in Previsto that allows you to extend the user interface with new features. So while we prioritize keeping the core of Previsto simple, add-ons and integrations will allow your business to extend the basic system with additional features as needed.

We got the inspiration for this after getting lots of feedback from users, talking to many business owners and researching the latest trends in modern application development.

Once we had built the underlying system to support add-ons and integrations, we needed a first add-on we could offer. With time tracking becoming a requirement later this year, we decided to make it our first add-on.

Our first add-on: Time tracking

We quickly decided that our first add-on would be time tracking. But we also decided that it should at least allow us to comply with the regulations that come into force in the EU in July 2024 - but no more than that.

The requirements for time tracking may seem extensive at first glance, but there are 2 points worth noting:

Employees can simply record deviations from agreed and/or scheduled working hours.
Employees only need to register their total daily working hours - there is no requirement to specify time periods or anything else.

With this in mind, we have chosen to make our add-on for time tracking as simple as a timesheet: An employee can record how many hours they have worked per day.

Welcome to add-ons and integrations

You can explore the new add-ons and integrations in Previsto today. Let us know what you think on Twitter or LinkedIn.