The App Launcher: Your Gateway to a More Productive Digital Workplace

Looking for an effortless way to access the apps you use every day? Look no further than the App Launcher in Ichicraft Boards! This feature is designed to streamline your digital workplace experience, making it easier to find the tools you need and get more done. With flexible display options and the ability to group apps, you’ll be able to customize your experience and find what you need faster.

Grouping

Grouping apps in the App Launcher makes it easier to find what you need, especially if you have a lot of apps to choose from. You can either use pre-configured groups or personalize your own configuration. The choice is yours!

Sort your apps

With the option to rearrange the order of your apps, you can make sure that the most important ones are always just a click away. 

Style apps and prevent context switching

 As an admin, you can choose your preferred style and control what happens when a user clicks on an app. A new option allows you to open an app in a dialog without navigating away, giving your users an integrated digital workplace experience.

đź’ˇTip: Launching a PowerApp in a dialog provides an optimal starting point for distributing and accessing all your PowerApps.

Targeted applications

With the App Launcher you can target applications to specific audiences using Azure AD groups. This means you can ensure that only relevant apps are displayed for each user, saving time and streamlining the user experience.

Add your own apps

You can customize your company’s App Launcher to include your own personal apps that help you stay organized and efficient throughout the day. Whether it’s a link to your favorite website, a note-taking app, or a tool for collaborating with your colleagues, you can now easily access the tools you need to get your work done. 

Integration

Our App Launcher widget provides a streamlined and integrated experience for accessing various applications. It integrates with popular platforms such as Citrix, Azure Virtual Desktop, and local applications, and also offers integration with Liquit. This makes it easy for users to launch the programs they need and work efficiently, whether it be through a virtual desktop, virtualized app or a local application. The app launcher widget is a useful tool for any modern workspace, offering convenience and versatility in a single package.

Must-have feature

The App Launcher in Ichicraft Boards is a must-have feature for anyone looking to make their digital workplace experience smoother and more productive. With flexible display options, the ability to group apps, and an updated administration panel, you’ll be able to access the tools you need, when you need them. So why wait? Give it a try today!

Maximize your productivity with our comprehensive widget library. Visit our widget overview now to find the right widget to enhance your personal digital workplace.

App Launcher Enhancements

We have just published some great enhancements to our App Launcher. With this update, there is more flexibility in how Apps are displayed and the ability to group Apps.

New display formats

We’ve improved the app launcher by adding two new display formats: Characters and Icon.

Additional styling options

Combine this with the new ability to choose your own fore- and background colors and give the app launcher the look you’re looking for…

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Grouping

With this update we’re also introducing the ability to group apps! This is especially useful when you’re offering lots of apps to choose from.

Provide some pre-configured groups or let your users personalize their configuration.

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Updated administration

Of course, these nice enhancements require a revamped way to configure and organize the apps you want to publish for your users.

Provide default grouping and configure the look of your apps with ease in the updated administration panel!

Prevent context switching

With this new version we have completely redesigned the way to add and edit apps. When adding apps, you can choose your preferred style and control what happens when a user clicks on an app. A new option in this area is to open an app in a dialog without navigating away. In this manner, you can truly provide an integrated digital workplace.

Understanding the Differences

Personal Boards: A Unique Workspace For Every Individual

Our Personal Boards feature provides a unique solution for those seeking a bespoke virtual workspace. Personal Boards offer seamless integration of various applications from Microsoft 365 and beyond into a single, unified workspace. Whether it’s your calendar, tasks, files, or Power BI reports to track important metrics—everything can be consolidated on your Personal Board.

As a user, you’re granted considerable control over your Personal Board. You can add, resize, move, and delete widgets according to your work style and needs. You can also edit the personal settings of widgets, create additional Personal Boards, and delete any Personal Board (unless it’s the Home board).

For administrators, Personal Boards offer unique tools to manage the balance between personalization and organization-wide consistency. Admins can limit the personalization options of some widgets that are provided through a Personal Board template. This includes the ability to lock a widget in place, prevent its resizing, or stop its deletion from the personal board. This is particularly useful when offering a personal board as a landing page for the entire organization, allowing users to personalize their digital workspace while ensuring critical information, such as corporate news, remains consistently visible to everyone.

Shared Boards: Designed As Shared Dashboards

Shared Boards emphasize communal collaboration and consistent information sharing. They are designed as shared dashboards, where resources, tools, and updates can be accessible to all relevant users. For example, imagine a News Hub shared board that aggregates and displays news from both inside and outside the organization; it can serve as a central point for keeping everyone up-to-date with the latest updates and developments.

Let’s take another practical scenario. A HR manager wants to share some HR-related reports with his team. With Shared Boards, he can easily create a ‘HR Reports’ board, add relevant widgets such as Power BI reports, or even real-time data widgets connected to the HR system, and share this board with his team. This can significantly streamline the process of report sharing, making sure everyone on the team can access and review the necessary information in a centralized, easily accessible location.

Creating a new shared board can be a seamless process, with companies having the option to provide a template. This ensures consistency in structure, streamlining the setup process for new projects, teams, or even entire departments. What’s more, admins have the power to push a shared board to automatically appear in the navigation, making it readily accessible for users.

One of the main strengths of Shared Boards lies in the level of control they offer to administrators. Defining who can create shared boards allows for a structured and organized approach, ensuring the right balance between creativity and consistency. Moreover, admins can conveniently access and manage these boards across the entire organization from the admin settings of Ichicraft Boards.

In terms of permissions, a Shared Board Visitor can view the board, interact with the content in widgets, and add or remove a Shared Board from their navigation (provided these actions are allowed and it’s not the Home Board). On the other hand, a Shared Board Owner has all the privileges of a visitor, along with additional capabilities. They can add, resize, move, delete widgets, edit shared settings of widgets, manage board access, edit board details, delete shared boards, and publish a shared board. The control of layout and design rests solely with the Shared Board Owners, ensuring the board’s integrity while still allowing collaborative interaction.

Distinguishing Differences: Personal Boards vs Shared Boards

While both Personal Boards and Shared Boards offer unique advantages, understanding their specific differences is crucial for maximizing their potential.

Personal Boards are primarily individual-centric, allowing each user to customize a workspace tailored to their unique needs and preferences. They can integrate applications, manage tasks, and monitor key metrics that are most relevant to them. Personal Boards are centered on fostering a productive, personalized workspace. However, this individual focus does not limit their potential for promoting organization-wide engagement. Administrators can influence Personal Boards by limiting the personalization options for certain widgets. For instance, a company might choose to always have a corporate news widget on each personal board, ensuring essential updates reach every individual. This feature creates a unique blend of personalized experience and consistent corporate communication within the Personal Boards.

In contrast, Shared Boards emphasize communal collaboration and consistent information sharing. They are designed as shared dashboards, where resources, tools, and updates can be accessible to all relevant users. This communal nature makes them ideal not just for team-level collaboration, but also for larger units like departments or even the entire organization. For example, a News Hub Shared Board can serve as a comprehensive information center, capturing all news from within and outside the organization, ensuring everyone has access to the latest updates and developments.

When it comes to control, both types of boards provide users with the ability to add, resize, move, and delete widgets. However, Personal Boards offer more scope for individual customization, including the ability to edit the personal settings of widgets and create additional Personal Boards. Meanwhile, Shared Boards provide extensive administrative control options, allowing admins to define access rights, manage shared settings of widgets, and more.

In essence, while both Shared and Personal Boards enhance productivity and connectivity, they do so in unique ways. Shared Boards aim to unify information and resources, encouraging seamless collaboration on a broader scale. In contrast, Personal Boards provide a more intimate, personalized workspace, that can also host key organization-wide content, creating a perfect blend of individual work style and corporate consistency.

Comparative Overview: Personal Boards vs Shared Boards

To provide a clearer understanding of how Personal Boards and Shared Boards differ across functionalities and roles, we have compiled a comparative table. This overview will help you understand the unique capabilities and overlapping features of both types of boards across the roles of a user, visitor, owner, and admin/organization. This comprehensive comparison will allow you to navigate the features of Ichicraft Boards efficiently, enhancing both individual productivity and organizational collaboration.

Here’s the breakdown of functionalities for each role in both Personal and Shared Boards

Role/Features

Personal Boards

Shared Boards

User

Add/resize/move/delete widgets

Yes

No

Interact with widgets

Yes

Yes

Edit personal/shared settings of widgets

Yes

No

Delete a Board (Not the Home board)

Yes

No

Create additional Boards

Yes

No

Visitor

View Board

N/A

Yes

Interact with widgets

N/A

Yes

Add/remove a Shared Board to/from navigation

N/A

Yes (If allowed)

Owner

Add/resize/move/delete widgets

N/A

Yes

Interact with widgets

N/A

Yes

Edit shared settings of widgets

N/A

Yes

Edit Board access

N/A

Yes

Edit Board details

N/A

Yes

Delete Shared board

N/A

Yes

Publish a Shared board

N/A

Yes

Push a shared board to navigation

Yes (If allowed)

Admin/Organization

Install widgets from the Ichicraft catalog

Yes

Yes

Install custom-developed widgets

Yes

Yes

Create Personal Board templates

Yes

N/A

Create Shared Board templates

N/A

Yes

Change the overall look and feel

Yes

Yes

Configure what content is displayed in each widget

Yes

Yes

Configure the multilingual languages used

Yes

Yes

Analyse the usage

Yes

Yes

Define who can create boards

No

Yes

Limit personalization (push, lock, move, resize) options of widgets

Yes

No

Push a shared board to navigation

No

Yes

Configure categories to group widgets

Yes

Yes

This table illustrates the flexibility and depth of customization offered by Ichicraft Boards. Whether it’s the personalization for individual users or the collaborative spaces for teams, departments, or the whole organization, Ichicraft Boards cater to the dynamic needs of a modern digital workplace.