Take a look at the support questions below if you are having trouble using Direct Report. If you are still having any problems, feel free to e-mail us at thom (at) smorpheus.com.

Q: What is Direct Report designed to do?
Direct Report is an iPhone app designed for people managers to track and record feedback for their employees. Direct Report simplifies the process of writing reviews, tracking employee incidents, and providing good feedback to employees.

Q: Can I use Direct Report for tracking other things?
Of course! While tailor made for employers, it can be used for employees to track feedback for 360 reviews, and for tracking anything that you want to regularly leave positive, neutral, or negative comments on.

Q: How do I use Direct Report?
Direct Report is an intuitive app that doesn't need extensive directions to use. To begin, just open it up, create a new employee to track, and start leaving some sample feedback.

Q: What extra features does the iPad version support?
Our goal at SGL is to keep the feature set as close as possible between the iPad and iPhone versions of the app. There are however, some extra features related to generating Feedback e-mails on the iPad version. On the iPad version of Direct Report you can specify whether you want to send all employee feedback or just one, and also filter feedback by date. These features are not implemented on the iPhone version due to limitations of the smaller screen and special GUI restrictions of the iPhone. This may be addressed in future versions of the app.

Additionally, the iPad version takes full-advantage of the larger screen and as such is easier to navigate and utilize. The iPad version of the app costs 20% more due to the extra work involved in programming and designing for the larger interface. The iPad version is considered the "premium" version of the app.

Update v1.04 - The iPad version of the App is now one version ahead of the iPhone version. This means the two newly-introduced features, Badges and Password protection have not yet been implemented. These features will be introduced in the next version of Direct Report iPhone (coming sometime in July 2010.)

Q: How do I edit an employee?
Editing an employee is easy, select the employee, and then press the "Edit" button in the top right corner. A new view will pop-up that allows you to edit any of the options you have set for that employee. Additionally, you can delete employees by swiping your finger over the employee in the employee list view.

Q: How do I enter feedback for an employee?
Select the employee you would like to leave feedback for on the main screen. Figure out if the feedback you want to leave is Positive, Neutral, or Constructive (a.k.a. "negative.") Press the appropiate smile face, and a new Update screen will pop-up. Type in the text, select a category to file the feedback under, and press the save button.

Q: How do I edit feedback I have left?
IPHONE VERSION
To edit Feedback, select the employee who has the feedback you want to edit. Press the "View Report" at the bottom of the summary screen. From here, find the feedback you want to edit in the feedback report and press it. This feedback summary screen is completely editable. Press the feedback type button to change between Positive, Neutral, and Constructive; press the text window to alter the feedback text; or press the category button to switch the category. As of version 1.03, you can tap the date to change the feedback's date.
IPAD VERSION
On the iPad version of the app, just tap any of the feedback that appears under the employee's profile. You can change any aspect of the Feedback in the same way you entered it originally.

Q: How do I email feedback?
E-Mailing feedback is very easy. First make sure you have set up your iPhone, iPad or iPhone so that you can send e-mail, then click on the "Email Report" button on the detail view screen. Select how you would like your feedback sorted and Direct Report automatically generates an e-mail report for your employee with all the feedback you have recorded.

Q: I am planning on upgrading to the iPad version of the app, how do I get my feedback off of the iPhone version and onto the iPad version?
Unfortunately there is currently no way to transfer your employee data from the iPhone version to the iPad version. We are planning on implementing this feature in the future through a web sync. For now, you can e-mail the data from your iPod/iPhone to yourself for your records, and start anew on the iPad. If this would be a problem, we appreciate your patience as we work out a solution, check any future app updates for info.