Check out the new calendar just released. It has a new menu system giving you access to all the funcitons you need on one screen. You can now create tasks from the context popup or right there from the menu. 

But thats not the only good news. You can now drag and drop tasks to reorder, right from the calendar. 

Basically there is nothing you can't do from the one screen.

Enjoy!

P.S Task notes have finally turned up in the task popup as well.

2010 a fresh new year begins with exciting times ahead. TheTeam Effect team has been working on a new side project. We have been workingto develop a data center management software application called CenterOS.

This application is part of the new and exciting area ofdata center management tools. Data centers traditionally manage their massive infrastructureusing Excel spreadsheets. This never works perfects and a data center ends upbeing like a library full of books with no indexing system. CenterOS keepstrack of all physical hardware and connections. It also manages power and heat.

The project has given us the opportunity to work closely withdata center managers and within some large data center environments which hasbeen a real eye opener. We are looking forward to seeing how the software isreceived. 

With a change in the weather comes a change in the beer my palette prefers.  With the autumn leaves falling and the first frosts I'm looking forward to my first brew inspired by Theakston's Old Peculiar.  It's already got a whif that could put hair on your chest.

Awe inspiring!

Another awe inspiring change in the air is the next release of Team Effect.  We have responded to persistent customer requests for collaboration features in this next release by adding the ability to leave messages for your project team and attach files to your projects.  

Did I just hear some of you gasp "at last!"?  ;)

We are currently in the last phases of testing this new functionality and we're pretty excited about it.  Also pretty darn exciting are the changes to the application navigation.  

Although possibly not as sexy as the collaborative features, we've responded to customer complaints about the navigation by grouping all the functionality that works for a specific project and made it into tabs.

This is the fifth post in our series on Successfully Implementing Project Management Software

We have all seen how people get very feature greedy when implementing software systems. Most new systems will perform many different functions, some of these new to staff members. The stats tell us, if you try to implement all of these features at once you will increase the scope of the project and therefore the likelihood of failure. This really applies to project management software which can be very multifaceted.

Simply put the reason you will fail with this 'all at once' approach is you will spook your staff. Most people don't like change, particularly if it comes with a perceived increase in work load. If you want people to use the system to do things they don't already do plan to release the system in steps. For example getting everyone to create project plans in your new application is a project in itself. If you do succeed at just this one thing I would consider that a massive success. 

Once you have everyone using the project management software for the simple things it's not going to be difficult to slowly broaden the scope of its functionality. If you then want them to forecast, work request, time sheet..etc make those into subsequent projects and leave them well alone till people have fully adopted the first release.

I would suggest ordering the different phases of the project by how beneficial to staff they are and how easy they will be to roll out. Create a long term plan for the whole roll out and move towards that goal in incremental releases. 

Just remember, if you have something complex to roll out.. do it once step at a time

This is the third post in our series on Successfully Implementing Project Management Software.

You can get a package that ticks all the boxes but if the users don't love it, they won't use it. Similarly another great way to get people to dig their feet in is to make a decision for them. Lets face it most Project Management staff have been waiting for years to get their hands on some good project management software. A great way to turn them against the project is to force something on them, particualualy when another part of the business made the decision. Its critical to get people involved in the decision making process. If they don't buy in there is no project management software package on earth they will commit to using properly.

Make a short list then let the end users try each one. Get them to setup a project, forecast and schedule each other onto it. Watch them use it and pretty soon the right software will be obvious. 

The right software will be easy, intuitive and get the job down quickly. 

This is the first post in our series on Successfully Implementing Project Management Software.

The simple problem with software purchasing decisions these days is people make it harder than it needs to be. The "correct" way to pick an application for your business is a long and academic one. You do analysis, determine weighted requirements, then go to market looking for alternatives which you compare with your requirements. This may not be for everyone, particularly for those with smaller businesses looking to fulfill minimal requirements. If you know your not going to do it the hard way and just want some quick pointers please read on....

Step 1.  Pick something simple

The process for successfully implementing project management software is different for each organisation. It comes down to what is right for the culture and complexity of the business. My advise would be figure out exactly what you need and pick the simplest tool for the job. You need something that will make your job easier rather than simple increase your data entry. It's very difficult to get people to add things to their work load so don't expect people will rush to use your new package if the tool requires alot of effort to produce results people don't already need.

In my experience this is the number one cause of failer, lets face it if you install something simple and get 100% of people to enthusiastically use it then you have suceeded. If you install something which promises to control every aspect of your business and only a couple of staff seriously use it then your've failed.

Systems have to be seen to help, not add workload. 

This weeks quick tip follows our last release to tell you how to use some of the new functionality to edit or create new tasks without leaving the calendar view.

When you create a new project you start with just one task and a bar which represents the project. To create tasks for this project left click on the projects name (to the left of the calendar) or right click the bar.

The Edit Task Details popup below will open and you will be able to edit the details for the project. Click the 'Sub Task' icon and you will be able to add as many tasks to the project as you need to. You can do this again later for any of these new tasks to create more Sub Task (child task) levels.

We've been busy this year working on many requested enhancements which combined make Team Effect easier for those just getting started.  Our focus with this release was about improving the experience for new users and introducing a much-requested "Dashboard" to summarise all your projects.

Dashboard

The major piece of new functionality in this release is a new start screen (or dashboard) that pulls together a summary of your projects.

Highlights include...

1. One click access to quick start help guides and one click to create new projects.
2. One click access to all of the projects you are working on. 
3. Summary of all tasks, schedules and actions for the current week across all projects.
4. Summary headlines of this blog.
5. Create Projects and setup new People in one click.

Get Started Faster

The new dashboard gets you creating and planning a new project straight away.  Enter nothing more than a name for your project and click Go.  Now you're straight into the new project's schedule ready to break it down into tasks and sub-tasks

Task Management

Many people didn't realize that you can create tasks/sub tasks directly in the schedule by right clicking the bars.  In this release our goal was to make this functionality easier and more obvious.

You can now edit task details by simply clicking on the task names or the task bars (as well as right-clicking on the bar representing the task as well).

More tasks can be created directly from the task details panel - this makes it easy to setup a detailed project without ever leaving the schedule screen.

We have also added links so you can jump into and back from the task screen if you want to do any bulk editing or change the task order.

Help

We have refined the help articles and and made them more accessible.  Two new "getting started" guides are accessible straight from the dashboard.