Trello launches Business Class service with Google Apps integration, new admin controls, and more

Trello is offering a ‘Business Class’ subscription package for users of its social collaboration tool. Through this, the service will offer companies more flexibility over their boards and data. With this new program, Trello is giving its customers all of the service’s existing features plus a few new ones, including Google Apps integration, more administrative controls, one-click bulk data export, and even an observer role.

Created by Fog Creek Software, Trello is a service that functions almost like a project management tool. It represents a board you would mount on a wall and work on tasks placed on it using Post-It notes. Trello will help tell you what’s being worked on, who’s working on it, and where something is in the development process.

For $25 per month (or $200 per year), users can connect their Trello account to their company’s Google Apps account. Through the service’s Member page, they can browse through the organization to see who has an account. By doing so, if there are employees that are not part of Trello’s service, then they can be added right away. This new plan ensures that anyone can join without financial consequences — something that might put off interested users in the past.

As businesses add more members to their organization, Trello is giving its users the ability to glean more insights about what people are doing on the service. Through a member dashboard, individual activity is monitored so that admins know when someone was last active, which boards they’re working on, and what organization cards they’re assigned to.

Additionally, Business Class gives Trello users more control over their organization through an enhanced administrative panel. Through this, managers can define which email addresses can be invited to your organization. They also have control over privacy settings with respect to the boards — some can be set as public or private while others can be updated so that admins can adjust what is shown in a board.

Other updates from Trello include being able to take all the data within an organization and export it in bulk. The company said that it will be in JSON format and attachments will be in their native format.

But what about those people who you think should be a part of the project, but don’t want to have a lot of control over what’s posted on the board? Trello is now offering the ability to add someone as an observer. These are board members who can view, vote, and comment. The service says this is ideal for freelancers and contractors.

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