Feature Requests

Overview

Got an idea or suggestion on something you'd like to see in Astute? We want to hear about it! Features (or improvements) are functions or items that aren't currently in Astute, but you think should be. 

Read on to find out how to submit your own feature request, vote for a feature that someone else has requested, or see requests that have been added to our product board. 

Submit a Feature Request

Feature requests can be submitted here. As well as some details about yourself and your business, you'll need to respond to the below 4 important questions so that we can get an idea of what's required. We've included some example responses below:

1. What are you trying to do that you are currently unable to?

   • I’m trying to automate uploading deductions made in payroll to the bank. We take a number of child support payments from our employees along with things like union fees and we then pay these via the bank.

2. What feature do you think could help solve that problem? 

   • An ABA file that could be downloaded for deductions in a pay run.

3. How would you use the feature you have described? 

   • I would finish my payroll for the week, download the ABA file and upload it straight into the bank and it should contain the BSB and Account Numbers along with amounts and reference numbers.

4. How do you currently work around not having this feature? 

   • At the moment I run the deductions report and then manually type each deduction into the bank manually.

Before you submit a request, please check our product board to confirm that a similar request hasn't already been submitted. You’ll need to set up a free Trello login to view feature requests on Trello, and can use this same login to vote for requests that you'd like to see. 

What Happens Next?

Once you've submitted your feature request, it will be reviewed by our Product Team so they can get an understanding of what you're trying to achieve. If they need more information, they'll reach out to you directly. 

After this review, in most cases, the request will be added to our product board. Here, others can add their vote to your feature request and you can add your vote to other requests if you want to. 

You can come back to the product board at any time to see all feature requests and see how they're progressing. 

What are the Columns on the Product Board? 

There are 5 different sections on the product board. The table below gives a brief description of what each of these means. 

Column	Description
Exploring	Here is where you'll see new feature requests that have been submitted to us. If you see something you like, feel free to add your vote! The more votes we see, the more likely it is that we'll commit to taking it to the next step.
Designing	This is where feature requests end up when they've become really popular via your votes. At this stage, one of our BA's is taking a closer look at it to determine whether it's possible and doing some further scoping. From here it can go into either Developing or Leaving it for now, depending on that outcome.
Developing	The commitment is real. If a feature request is here, it means it will be moving through our development lifecycle. Depending on the size of the project, this could be anywhere from a few days to a few months.
Leaving it for now	Things don't always work out, so there will be some instances where requests end up in this section. This can happen for a number of reasons and can happen at any stage. Never fear, though, you can still vote for these feature requests and they might end up back in the Exploring stage.
Done	Yay! This is where you'll see features that have gone through our development lifecycle and we're ready to release them into production. You might not see it in your portal straight away, and this could be for a number of reasons. It may be because we're releasing it in phases, or it might need a master config setting to be enabled in your portal, for example. Please keep an eye out for our release notes that we email out. You can also check out our latest release notes here.

Do All Feature Requests Make it to Development?

While we'd love to say yes, unfortunately, this isn't the case. As part of our review of each request, we make sure that it's something that is in line with our product goals as a business, but also that it meets the needs of our customers.

We value your feedback and suggestions and certainly take it into account when making decisions about the product, but we can't guarantee that everything that is requested will make it into the product.