New in NIM 7.0

NIM 7 introduces a powerful suite of updates aimed at enhancing scheduling, event management, and user interaction. This update is designed for studios and production teams looking to optimize their workflow through enhanced visualization, deeper integration, and refined control over resource and job management. Below is an overview of the key features introduced in NIM 7.

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Schedule Enhancements

New Schedule Interface

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NIM 7 introduces an entirely new scheduling interface designed to provide a more intuitive and efficient way to manage events, jobs, resources, and users.

The new schedule UI offers a more detailed view of events, improved utilization tracking, and advanced conflict detection.

This enhancement allows users to manage events with greater precision and flexibility, ensuring all relevant information is easily accessible.

Job-Centric View

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The new job-centric view in the schedule offers a detailed look at events associated with specific jobs.

This allows for more focused management of job timelines, crew assignments, and resource allocation.

Linked Events

Schedule events in NIM 7 can now be linked to multiple resources or users, enabling holistic management of these events across all associated items. Linked events ensure that any changes made to one representation of an event are reflected across all linked instances.

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Events Panel

The updated events panel enables users to drag and drop users, resources, and bundles directly onto the schedule.

This feature simplifies the process of creating and managing events, allowing for quick adjustments and ensuring all necessary resources are accounted for.

Bundles

Bundles allow users to create preset groups of users, user groups, resources, and resource groups.

These can be used to quickly add commonly used combinations to the schedule.

For instance, a bundle could include a user, their workstation, and the necessary software licenses, which can then be dragged onto the schedule as a single unit.

Utilization and Capacity Features

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User and Resource Utilization

The schedule now includes detailed utilization metrics, allowing users to view the total utilization of users or resources for each day. This is displayed against their capacity, with color-coded indicators to highlight over- or under-utilization.

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Capacity Chart

A new capacity chart feature displays the total utilization of all items in the schedule, compared to their maximum capacity. This chart is dynamic and respects any applied filters, enabling users to focus on specific data sets.

Dated Capacity Tracking

Capacity values for users and resources are now tracked via a dated table. This allows for historical tracking and future capacity predictions. For example, you can set a software license’s capacity to 0 on its expiration date, and the schedule will reflect this change accordingly.

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Vertical Event Expansion

Users can now expand events vertically to view more detailed information at a glance or compress them to see more items in the schedule. This feature enhances the ability to manage dense schedules effectively.

Streamlined UI

The schedule UI has been streamlined to provide more workspace within the timeline. Tools for color coding events, timeline zooming, event expansion, utilization view, and the capacity chart have been consolidated to the center of the toolbar.

Conflict Detection

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Advanced Conflict Management

NIM 7 introduces a robust conflict detection system. Users can define custom conflict scenarios based on user or resource assignments, event status, and event limits. When a conflict is detected, the system alerts the user and adds the conflict to the conflicts panel, where it can be managed and resolved.

Calendar Enhancements

Refreshed Calendar Interface

The calendar interface has been refreshed with new options for event color coding, tooltips for quick access to event details, and an enhanced right-click context menu for easier event management.

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Multiple Calendar Viewing

Users can now view multiple calendars simultaneously, allowing for better coordination across different departments, teams, or resources. This feature provides a comprehensive overview of all events, making it easier to manage complex timelines and activities.

Expanded Event Color Coding

Event color coding in calendars has been expanded to include user selected options for colors per calendar, unique colors per event, and colors based on resource, task, or location.

Advanced Filter Panel

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New Filter Panel

The new filter panel in NIM 7 allows users to build complex filter rules that can be saved and shared with others.

This feature provides a new level of granularity, enhancing views across the schedule, calendars, job list, contacts, and users.

Bidding Enhancements

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Import and Merge Bid Line Items

Users can now import bid line items directly from an external spreadsheet into an estimate. The new import UI previews the import, identifies any conflicts, and allows users to resolve these conflicts by either merging line items or importing them as new entries.

User Management

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User Notes and Job List

NIM 7 introduces User Notes, an extension of NIM’s existing note system. Users can now create notes directly on a user profile. Additionally, the user job list allows users to see all jobs a user is currently assigned to, facilitating better resource management.

API and Command-Line Enhancements

Expanded API Capabilities

The NIM API has been expanded to include new queries and enhanced existing ones. New queries include operations for managing contacts, jobs, crew, assets, schedule events, and resources.

Command Line User Management

The nim-recovery-tool script has also been updated for greater command-line control over user management. Users can now be enabled or disabled directly from the command line, simplifying user management and recovery tasks.

New Permissions

Updated Permissions

NIM 7 introduces new permissions to complement the new features. These include permissions for viewing and editing the studio schedule, user notes, user job lists, schedule conflicts, and resource options.

Important

Please ensure your permission groups are updated accordingly after upgrading to NIM 7.

And More…

In addition to these highlights, NIM 7 includes numerous quality of life improvements and bug fixes. For a complete list of changes, refer to the NIM Release Notes available on the NIM Client Portal as well as the full documentation for detailed descriptions of all changes.