What’s new in BrightManager: Kanban View, Business Intelligence Report, task priority and more
Kanban View is now live in BrightManager, as is the Business Intelligence Report for UK limited companies, colour-coded task priority, a new Aged WIP by Service report and a handful of smaller changes that take a few clicks out of your day.
If you’ve ever wished you could see your whole Task List at a glance and move work along with a drag instead of a dropdown, this one’s for you. Kanban View is now live in BrightManager, and it’s something many of you have asked for over the years.
That’s not all. Recent updates also bring a Business Intelligence Report for UK limited companies, colour-coded task priority, a new Aged WIP by Service report and a handful of smaller changes that take a few clicks out of your day. Here’s the lot.
See where everything stands with Kanban View
Kanban View is a column-based way to see the Task List. Tasks appear as cards, and you move a task by dragging its card to a new column, which updates its status automatically. It sits alongside List View, and you switch between them with the toggle on the left of the Task List toolbar.
A list is brilliant for detail, but it isn’t always the best way to see the shape of your workload. On the board you can tell at a glance what’s waiting on a client, what’s waiting on a colleague, what’s in progress and what’s done.
Each card shows the task title, client, assignee, deadline and a status dropdown for quick updates. Click a card to open the full task in a side panel. The board updates in real time, so everyone looking at it sees the same picture, which makes it handy for team catch-ups. If a task can’t go in the column you’ve dropped it on, the card returns to where it was and you’ll see why.
How do you set up Kanban View columns?
The default columns are To Do, Awaiting Client, Awaiting Staff, In Progress and Complete. Click the Columns button in the toolbar to map your own task statuses to columns, add new columns, set a default status for each column and reorder them by dragging. You can restore the defaults at any time.
Which Task List tools work in Kanban View?
Search, filters, sorting, bookmarks and export all work in Kanban View as they do in List View. New tasks appear in the column that matches their status. Your choice of view is your own, so switching doesn’t change what your colleagues see.
Bulk Actions are the one exception. They aren’t available in Kanban View because dragging is the main way to move tasks, so switch to List View when you need them.
What is the Business Intelligence Report in BrightManager?
The Business Intelligence Report is an AI-written briefing on a UK limited company, built on Companies House data only. You generate it from a prospect or client record in BrightManager, so you can see the public record before you take a client on.
A new enquiry lands in your inbox. The company sounds sensible and the director is friendly, but you know very little else. Piecing the public record together usually means leaving your practice system and digging through filings. The report brings it together in one place.
It has four parts:
Company snapshot: company number, incorporation date, status, registered address and more.
Red flags panel: scored checks on charges, director changes, PSC changes and filing compliance, each rated Red, Amber or Green.
Financial health summary: up to three years of net assets, cash at bank, profit or loss and turnover where available, with trend indicators.
Conversation starters: two to three talking points based on the company’s financials and red flag status.
The report is saved against the record, so you can come back to it, and you can export it to share. It’s just as useful ahead of a review with an existing client.
The limits are worth knowing. It covers UK limited companies only, Companies House is its only data source, and it supports your professional judgement rather than replacing your own research.
How does colour-coded task priority work in BrightManager?
Task stars now show four priority levels: Urgent (red), Medium (amber), Low (green) and None (uncoloured). Click the star on any task to pick a level. It’s been available since 25 June 2026.
When everything is marked as important, nothing stands out. With priorities set, you can filter the Task List by priority, sort by it and include it as a column when you export, which makes it easier to triage a long list or talk through workload with your team.
Tasks that were favourited before the change moved to Medium priority automatically, so there’s nothing you need to do.
What does the Aged WIP by Service report show?
The Aged WIP by Service report shows your outstanding work in progress broken down by service line, using the standard ageing categories. It was released on 22 July 2026 and sits in Insights alongside the existing Aged WIP views by Client, Staff and Partner.
Expand any service to see the clients within it, then click through to the Work in Progress page to see the individual time recordings behind each figure. It’s a quick way to spot which services have older WIP building up. You can filter, sort and export to CSV.
To open it, go to Insights > Report engine > Report summary > Aged WIP > by Service.
What else is new in BrightManager?
Eight smaller improvements take a few clicks out of everyday work.
Less typing
Faster email entry: the To and CC fields suggest addresses saved against the client as you type (22 July 2026).
Timesheets: new time entries start where the last one ended, including times that aren’t on the 15-minute grid (22 June 2026).
Bulk progress notes: add the same progress note to multiple tasks at once, with each entry attributed and timestamped (26 March 2026).
Fewer surprises
Outgoing Queue: To, CC and BCC are shown inline for every email (22 June 2026), and you can select and delete multiple queued emails at once (28 May 2026).
MTD Quarterly Period Type: choose Standard or Calendar Update periods for a client’s MTD filing, so automated Records Request emails are accurate.
Registration email tracking: the People Portal shows when a registration email was last sent to each client, and you can sort by it (22 July 2026).
Quicker to get around
Preset date ranges on the Task List: choose options such as This Week or Last Quarter in one click, matching the Insights reports.
Templates: collapse or expand all template sections in one click.
Frequently asked questions
This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.
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