Diskeeper Brings Critical Efficiency to IT 01/23/2012
 Diskeeper promise to keep IT organizations running at maximum efficiency by removing performance bottlenecks with its patented data optimization and fragmentation prevention technologies. With over 40 million licenses sold and over 90% adoption at Fortune 1000 companies, small business to large corporations rely on Diskeeper software to provide unparalleled storage performance and reliability to their laptops, desktops and servers. Diskeeper Corporation further provides real-time data protection and instant file recovery with Undelete software. What Diskeeper is all about As the IT environment becomes more complex, performance bottlenecks in the underlying infrastructure can seriously affect an entire site’s productivity. Diskeeper® 2011 data performance technology brings a critical efficiency boost to IT sites that is constant, automatic and cost-effective. It proactively prevents up to 85% of all fragmentation (scattered file fragments randomly stored across the hard drive) before it can even occur and instantly defrags the rest. Key Diskeeper business features: IntelliWrite® technology. Dramatically improves system response no other solution can touch. At the deepest level of system activity, files are written in pieces and scattered around the disk, creating a profound waste of system resources and progressively accumulating I/O bottlenecks. IntelliWrite prevents this fragmentation before it can happen by writing files contiguously. IntelliWrite is the only technology that can prevent fragmentation on thin provisioned disks without requiring movement of any data and consequent increases in thin provisioned storage. NEW! InvisiTasking® technology. The most intelligent and adaptive background processing technology ever available has been improved to use even more idle system resources faster, so Diskeeper can maintain performance on even the largest and busiest systems with zero resource conflicts. NEW! Instant Defrag™ engine. For the first time ever, no newly fragmented files can slow performance, because Instant Defrag immediately defrags those files before they can be read. Instant Defrag is a new intelligence that understands how your files are used and ensures they never have to be read in pieces. Combined with IntelliWrite, every system runs at peak performance 24/7 regardless of workload. No system has ever been able to do this before! NEW! Efficient Mode. In addition to an extensive defragmentation mode, Efficient Mode offers the greatest net gain in system I/O resource savings ever available. It is smart enough to know what fragmentation is a problem and immediately targets and eliminates fragmentation that directly affects system performance. NEW! Free space consolidation engine. This new and advanced engine swiftly consolidates free space and tightly integrates with Instant Defrag to handle new fragmentation as soon as it is created. The Titan Defrag Engine™ technology, which runs on volumes of 60GB or greater is the only solution capable of handling volumes of many terabytes and millions of files. Titan Defrag Engine takes only hours to defragment volumes of a few terabytes where other methods take days, if they can function at all. Exclusive to Diskeeper EnterpriseServer, the Titan Defrag Engine is the only technology that can defragment volumes of 10-20+ terabytes. Terabyte Volume Engine® technology. The only defrag technology with the necessary horsepower to eliminate the rapid fragmentation build-up occurring in high-traffic system volumes handling millions of files. I-FAAST® (Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology) improves file access and creation on an average of 10-20% beyond the benefits gained with defragmentation alone, by optimizing placement of your most frequently accessed data. In future articles, we will learn more about Diskeeper’s other product offerings including those that serve home and home office settings as well as Diskeeper for the public sector. To download trialware for some of Diskeeper’s many products, visit their site here. 2 Comments Journyx ProjectXecute 8.7 Review 01/17/2012
With the release of version 8.7, Journyx ProjectXecute combines cross-project resource allocation and financial forecasting with a full set of tools for maintaining compliance and audit trails for government contractors. The new features in this version allow companies subject to the Defense Contractor Audit Agency (DCAA) to manage contracts from the planning and bidding stages to successful completion and post-mortem analysis. According to CEO Curt Finch, Journyx has many years of experience providing government contractors with the tools needed to automate compliant time management processes using their Journyx Timesheet software. Many customers have used the time tracking, rule enforcement, and approval workflow information to pass DCAA audits. Now that ProjectXecute 8.7 includes the complete DCAA tool set, government contractors can continue to maintain their compliant time process while gaining access to features for project resource planning, financial projections for contracts, and robust reporting on resource availability and project status/variance. ProjectXecute also includes a variety of standard integrations with popular accounting and payroll systems to ensure accounting processes comply. Time Management for DCAA The tools for designing a compliant process start at the beginning with the capture of time fromtime-tracking for employees, and move up the chain through approvals to payroll and billing. While government contractors aren’t really given a choice about whether or not to track their time, when the process is quick and hassle-free compliance is easier for everyone involved. I found through my testing that ProjectXecute offered a nice variety of time entry screens that can be customized to fit many different types of employees in an organization.  Personal project lists and memorized entries give employees short cuts for getting time entered quickly. Their companies are also able to set up rules and selection filters that ensure time is entered correctly. Notations for corrections can be a requirementmight be required and are available for reporting and audit support. The software also allows nicely for workflow approval processes so as to ensure that the appropriate managers review employee time and corrections. When all time has been reviewed and approved, integrations, such as the one for with popular software such as QuickBooks, allows users to move the time data into systems for payroll and billing. Project Resource Allocation and Financial Projections Integrated with the time capture process Pare project tracking and resource allocation for project teams is integrated with the time capture process. When developing a work plan for a bid, contractors can review future availability of the necessary resources using bar graphs that allow them to quickly identify where there is excess capacity or where additional hiring might be necessary. They can also assign pay and billing rates to resources, which allows them to plan and adjust assignments to maximize profit potential.  The cost and revenue information is captured in highly configurable reports for both forecasting and comparing plans to actuals. Text and graphical report types can be run directly in the browser with options to filter or /group data, show charts, run reports in different formats, schedule recurring reports and copy/email reports for distribution. An Excel-based reporting engine that includes real-time access to the Journyx data provides even more customization options for charts, graphs and calculated fields based on pivot table reports. Dashboards for Project/Resource Status and Analysis Resource allocation views, combined with automatic warnings and alerts, allow project managers to keep the work on track. For example, a project manager may receive an alert of an estimate change from a team member indicating he needs more time to complete an assignment. The project manager can then use configurable dashboards to determine if adjustments are needed to meet deadlines for this assignment. She can use reports and the bar graph views mentioned above to find available and qualified resources to that will assist in completing the assignment on time. Availability views give a complete picture of the demands on resource time, including other assignments, administrative work, and scheduled leave and holiday time.  Project dashboards are also useful in determining why projects run late or go over the allotted budget. With variance tracking, project managers and executives can see how and why the actual work deviated from the original project plan and come up with improvements to the estimation process going forward. First Take Journyx ProjectXecute 8.7 is a flexible program for managing resource availability and enforcing compliance for work performed on government contracts. Project teams subject to the DCAA should be able to make good use of the resource allocation and project monitoring tools in the product while automating the required time management process all in the same system.  Takeaway: Dooster is easy to use tool that is both powerful and flexible. In my opinion, the average project professional can be up and running with Dooster faster than any other project management software tool. I literally stumbled on this nice web-based tool after doing some online searching for project management and task managed tools. As you probably already know, there are hundreds of options for PM software now, but I’m recommending this highly as a tool to check out for 2012. As soon as I logged into Dooster I felt comfortable, though I knew I was in for a different experience…which I considered a good thing at this point in my project management life. I expected to find all the usual task management features, and I did. How you load information in for tasks and collaborate is a different process than most MS Project-type users will be used to, but I’m certain that after you’ve setup your first project through their helpful tutorial process, you’ll understand how easy it is to use. I liken it to my experience of switching from a Windows laptop to my Macbook. It was a different way of life for a few minutes, and then it felt like I had always been there. It made sense. Who is it for? Dooster is for anyone looking for a better way to organize their tasks or ongoing activities. It’s great for project management professionals in small to medium sized organizations, but it’s also great for volunteers, entrepreneurs, homemakers…anyone looking for an easy way to get up and running fast to track tasks. Typical Dooster users include any individual or business that wants to organize their activities in a better way. Why use it? The key challenges when managing projects, tasks, and team members are organizing time and assignments, communicating with team and customers, and collaborating to share information. Dooster can help the project manager and team with all of these activities and the best thing is that it does it in an easy and cost-effective manner. After playing with Dooster for a while and running it through its paces on some sample tasks, I could tell that it was very full-featured. While it’s very different from your run-of-the-mill Gantt chart software, it gives the user a new and refreshing angle on task planning and management. Look at it as keeping things fresh…. Special Features: Helpful intro: The first thing out of the gate is a demo. As soon as you’ve signed up for the free trial, you’re taken to your dashboard and offered a setup video. Works for me… If you don’t want the video, then it takes you through the steps of diving right into your first project setup. Task management: Dooster provides a very straightforward interface for setting up and tracking tasks for projects and for other non-project activities. Status reporting: I really liked the Dooster dashboard features. I could see nice, detailed status information across projects and tasks at a glance – something that other software programs struggle with as they often try to make it too detailed. Dooster strives to simplify. Timesheet tracking: Dooster includes a nice timesheet export feature for grabbing all task effort out into one reporting function. Nice feature to aid in your expense and budget analysis and forecasting processes. Communication & Collaboration: Dooster allows the user to easily assign tasks to one or more resources and then allows for email alerts of all comments and changes on project tasks. All comments – from the program and through email – are centralized in the tasks themselves automatically keeping all information in one accessible location. Support: I did test out support and found responses to be very timely and helpful. No 2-day wait to get your questions answered. What is wrong? Not your standard Gantt software: You’ll want to think outside the box a little if your mind is stuck on managing projects using a tool like MS Project. This isn’t your standard Gantt chart software. It’s focused more on managing the tasks, but it does a nice job of status reporting and providing the global picture with its dashboard feature. For those who can’t bear to live without Gantt charts in their lives, I have been informed that introduction of the Gantt chart feature is not far off – work is in progress on that functionality. Bottom line for Business: Dooster is not likely going to win over large corporate entities tomorrow. It is, however, great for small to medium sized businesses for managing projects and tasks and for anyone who wants to do a better job of managing their ongoing work and personal tasks. Signup for the free 30-day trial – you won’t be disappointed. Rating: 5/5 stars I’m rating this product highly because of its full compliment of features, its ease of use, and its price. Specifications: Product: Dooster Web Site: www.dooster.net Free Trial: Free 3 Project Signup Company: privately held Requirements: Current web browser Packages: 4 projects up to 200 projects Cost: from $3.97 per month to $97.00 month - additional pricing details at: dooster.net/pricing.htm What to Do When You Can't Do Enough 01/06/2012
Have you ever had that project customer where no matter what you do, it seems like it’s never enough? No matter how hard you try, they’re always looking for something more or something different? I’m not really talking about being constantly dissatisfied with your service or project management expertise or really the engagement itself. It’s more than that. It’s almost like “they’ll know it when they see it,” yet they never seem to see it. There are usually two types of these customers: 1) You do what they ask, but they always ask for more 2) You do what they ask, but it’s never exactly what they want Let’s look at these two types of perpetually dissatisfied customers in more detail and steps you can take to possibly make the situation turn out favorably: The customer who always wants more I had one of those on project I ran for about a year. I took it over from a purely technical person – someone who was just assigned to get them the proprietary data the needed as a result of the sale of an internal business unit within the organization that I was consulting for. After a period of time, it became evident that they were getting nowhere and need actual project management wrapped around the effort. Every time I delivered the requested data to them, they would come up with something more that they wanted. And it wasn’t like I could just throw up my hands and say “Enough!” and tell them to get lost. No, it wasn’t going to be that easy because they were still holding on to a quarter of a million dollars of the final sale payment that was contingent upon them being satisfied with the transition of data and materials. The only way I could close things out with this project customer – and I think the only way to handle any customer who continually wants more – was to go back to the drawing board. I resurrected the planning phase and we sat down and mapped out exactly what had been provided to date, what they believed remained to be provided, and what the final signoff criteria would be in order to obtain the final sale payment. I cared about their satisfaction. My management cared about the money. And the customer cared about the data. This planning process set in motion the corrective action needed to fulfill everyone’s needs and ultimately we got it done and it was deemed highly successful. For the project customer who continually wants more you have to go back to planning. Because what they are really doing is pushing the scope further and further and if you don’t stop the chaos then everything on the engagement will suffer including the budget and the customer’s satisfaction. The customer who thinks it’s never quite right The case of the project customer who thinks it’s never quite right is similar in many ways to the customer who continually wants more. But in this case, it’s not really a situation where the scope is being constantly pushed out. It’s more a case of the requirements weren’t adequately documented and therefore you have no real yardstick to measure your deliverables against. I had this happen with an engagement I was working on for a major university. I had my team going through some final issue resolution prior to deployment of a software solution. Again, this is a case where I had taken over the project and was tasked with getting a final large payment for this software implementation. My direction was to make the customer happy and get the money. As we resolved issues, it seemed like the signoff criteria that the customer was willing to adhere to in order to release the payment was changing. As issues were resolved, the response was often, “Well, this isn’t exactly how we wanted the software to perform” or some similar response. It wasn’t really necessary to go back to planning, but it was critical that we halt the project right there and sit down formally to draw up (again!) what truly was the signoff criteria for deployment. One key underlying issue that I discovered was that the project customer was concerned with where they would be post-deployment if issues continued to arise. Once I found that out, I made post-deployment support and issue resolution for a three-month ongoing period part of the signoff agreement. That got us over the hump and we were soon able to get through deployment and formal signoff…. and payment. Summary If you’re dealing with customers who are responding like this, it’s not the end of the world. You just have to recognize it before you allow it to go on so long that it kills the momentum on the project, kills the customer’s confidence in you, and leaves you with a canceled project. Go back and update the project planning schedule and perform any necessary re-planning or formally draw up new acceptance criteria and get the customer back on track with helping you keep the project going. If you or your organization is in need of an affordable, easy to adopt, and fully functional project management and collaboration tool, you should check out Dooster. Try it for free here. Do I Really Need My PMO Director? 12/27/2011
 Have you ever been in a situation where you were reporting to a PMO director and you wonder what value this person brings to the table? You romanticize about how much more productive you would be if you didn’t have to jump through his hoops. Better yet, you consider how much better off you – and all the other PMs - would be if you were running the show. Or at least if you got to handpick his successor. Am I striking a chord here? Of course I am. I’m going to state what I think a good PMO director needs to bring to the table. I’m hoping on the couple of occasions so far where I’ve run the show that I did bring these things to the table. At least I know I tried. And I will say that sometimes the organizational chemistry and process flow doesn’t always allow for the utopia that I’m going to describe. But getting somewhere close would be nice. #1 – Manage the PMO, not a bunch of projects The PMO director really needs to be a leader of people, not projects. I’m so tired of seeing PM’s who are spending most of their time leading the big projects also acting in the role of PMO director. It’s just not right. The PMO director needs to establish processes, identify training needs, knock down barriers, make connections, and fight for the PMO’s presence in the organization. He needs to be putting the proper tools in the hands of the PMs like reusable templates, the proper planning documents and an easy to use project management tool that makes project collaboration easy. It’s how the viability of the PM processes is maintained. You can’t rely on the CEO to suddenly think what you’re doing matters. Not when so many projects fail or have major issues. No, someone must be championing the organization. That’s the director. If he’s leading five projects of his own, he can’t do that. No one can. #2 – Know your organization The PMO director must know the organization. He must know how get information, favors, resources, and support. Unless it’s a startup situation, it’s very difficult to bring in an outsider as the director and have them be immediately useful. It’s better to bring outsiders in as PMs and promote a good leader to this role. #3 – Care about the PM’s, not the politics The PMO director must be ready to fight for the project managers in the PMO like the PMs fight for their customers. I’m sorry, but if I’m being pulled two ways – one way by senior management and one way by the customer – it’s usually going to be the customer’s concerns that I react to first. Likewise, the PMO director should be more concerned about his organization and fighting for it rather than playing a lot of politically games for senior management – unless that is in the best interests of the PMO itself. So many PMOs fail, they need a strong leader fighting to keep it viable. #4 – Communicate well Above all else – just like with any project manager – the PMO director must be a great communicator. Company policies, processes, planning, etc. must all come from this individual. And he must be a good listener because there are lots of project issues that arise that PMs need help with. Their success must be his utmost concern. Conclusion So, can I fire my PMO director? Well, sort of. If the needs of the project managers are not being met and if the PMO is faltering because of a lack of organized, efficient, and effective leadership, then waiting will only mean projects will fail. Customers will be lost. The company bottom line will take a huge hit. And so will careers. Staying quiet is not in anyone’s best interest. If it’s a common feeling (and not just your own grudge) that the PMO leadership is ineffective, it must be taken up the chain of command. And yes, then you can fire your PMO director. It would be your duty to do so. If you or your organization is in need of an affordable, easy to adopt, and fully functional project management and collaboration tool, you should check out Dooster. Go here to try it for free. by Cassie Doubleday Let’s take a break from the serious tech talk and focus on the Holidays. We’re always so consumed with what’s being said on Mashable or our Linkedin Groups. We’re constantly tweeting, sharing and commenting on everything, and it always seems like we don’t have any time to stop, and think about our friends and family – unless they’re in our newsfeed. Well, it’s that time of year again – the time when you run around looking for the perfect gift, asking yourself who likes what and where to get it. This year why don’t you take a different stress-free and eco-friendly approach, and grab some special virtual and digital gifts for your favourite entrepreneur! Here are four ideas that just might fit your budget and their lifestyle…  Evernote Application source: laughingsquid.com Evernote is a wicked (and free!) application that helps you remember everything and keep it all in one place! Take notes anywhere from the ‘real world’ and store them in your ‘virtual world’, create a library of web pages that you can refer to at any time, and even scan all your travel documents and pull them out when need be! Evernote keeps you and your memory in check.  SharePoint Hosting 2010 source: blog.sherweb.com This is a great gift for the entrepreneur who’s managing their own team. SharePoint Hosting 2010 is one of the most cost-effective ways to implement and manage any high-performance website or collaboration project. It’s also extremely affordable starting at just $8.95 a month! Some the features include: document sharing, social-media orientation and absolute access.  FlightTrack Pro source: knowyourmobile.com If your entrepreneur is always on the go flying around the world or even just to the next city, why not get them FlightTrack Pro. This amazing application imports data from your airline confirmation email to give you all the info you need about delays, gate changes, cancellations and even alternate boarding plans. To top it all off, you even get full satellite and weather images, and maps of the airport terminals all for $9.99!  Celluon Virtual Laser Keyboard source: techbugs.net Let’s be honest, nothing looks cooler than a laser keyboard. The Celluon Virtual Laser Keyboard (VKB) works with any device that has Bluetooth HID, and it’s the only keyboard that operates in complete darkness. This special laser keyboard works via its “magic cube”, which studies your finger movements to interpret and record your keystrokes. The VKB acts just like any other keyboard (even replicates the “tapping” sound effect) expect when it’s not in use it completely disappears – giving you back that desk room. You can get the VKB for around $160 bucks. For more ideas check out YFS Magazine’s Holiday Gift Guide. And if you’re really stuck you could always give giftcards or money! Everyone loves money. By Walt Rutherford Notes from the Facility Managers Survival Guide Today’s Facility Managers have the ability to utilize cost saving measures only dreamt about a few short years ago. Digital control systems that provide extremely flexible equipment operating parameters, extensive zone monitoring & control and virtually unlimited scheduling points have become the norm. Coupled with the advanced mechanical equipment that condition & maintain the building environment, the control system provides for powerful management of the resources that affect the bottom line. However, as the old saying goes, ‘a building’s environment is only as good as its weakest link’. And there is big potential for a facility to include multiple weak links, each less obvious and more impactful than another. For example; a fan running backward will still produce airflow in the proper direction, only at about half of its capacity and at 130% of the normal energy consumption (amp draw). A thermostat/sensor with an incorrect offset (or none at all) will still transmit zone temperature variances, but if it’s off even by 2⁰F it’s still not operating properly and needs 2⁰F of correction in order to do its part in efficiently controlling temperature . An outside air damper introducing fresh air into an AHU system that is allowing just 10% volume over the required amount puts an unnecessary strain on the cooling/heating operation. At 400 cfm and 12000 btu’s per ton, a 4000 cfm unit drawing 1200 cfm of osa as opposed to the required 800 cfm is wasting an obscene amount of energy each hour, like 60 tons of conditioning. Also, air & water conditioning can be accomplished, albeit far short of efficient if barely acceptable, with a pump moving less water than designed-especially if multiple pumps are available. These are just a few examples of very common issues found in a buildings HVAC mechanical, electrical & control systems. Issues that are not readily apparent, but have huge impact on energy-efficiency, indoor air quality and operating costs. That fan running backward will not only consume more energy but will also generate excessive heat which will cut its motor life at least in half. And a pump not carrying its full share requires others to pick up the slack. The reasons for system performance inadequacies range from design flaws, to devices installed improperly to component failure to years of maintenance personnel focusing on the product (an office is too cold, a hallway that becomes a wind tunnel every morning…) as opposed to the process. But these issues and many more like them can be identified and remedied with a thorough air & hydronic systems testing, adjusting & balancing (TAB) process. The process is just as it sounds; the term ‘Test’ refers to the act of determining quantitative performance of the HVAC equipment. ‘Adjust’ refers to regulating the various fluid flows such as water thru a terminal coil or the amount of air a fan produces; and ‘Balance’ the proportioning of flows within a particular air or water distribution network to obtain specified or required quantities. But there’s a little more to the process that needs to be accomplished first in order to get the most from the TAB effort. The first step is to gather all related data. Engineered equipment schedules and system drawings, O & M manuals, equipment data sheets and sequence of operations need to be reviewed and relevancy to actual equipment and systems in place established. If this information is not available or no longer relevant a survey should be conducted to get actual equipment data and Google can be used to find equipment cut sheets, device operating parameters and fan & pump curves. From this document review a TAB plan can be formulated. Hint; break your plan down by system. This will allow for a coherent approach and once the work has begun tracking progress will be simpler and you won’t have an entire building in different stages of balancing with different systems working against each other wreaking havoc on the building environment. Next is the preliminary investigation of the system chosen to be addressed. This phase will uncover components that need repaired, replaced or calibrated, ductwork and piping that may not be installed per design and overall system integrity. This is also the time to ensure all manual volume dampers on the air side or circuit setters on the water side of a particular system are operational & set in the full open position. Once the initial investigation is complete the actual testing adjusting and balancing can proceed. Although the data gathering and preliminary investigation(s) would benefit greatly with in-house participation a certified balancing company should be called on to perform the TAB operations. They are equipped with the necessary tools & equipment to conduct the various tests and have the training needed to accomplish what may appear to be fairly simple procedures but are in fact rather complex and at times complicated. Another benefit to bringing a certified TAB company into the mix is that they provide a written guarantee that is backed by an alliance of companies that will step up to make things right if the original company fails to do so. The TAB technicians will test the various fan & pump systems to ensure the required total volumes are produced. They then proceed to adjust terminal devices, air outlets/inlets and water coils. They will bring these volumes into original design parameters or more realistic space demand requirements and when needed adjust to the occupants requests. The results of a good test & balance operation will be evident in that those doors that always seem to be held open by a breeze, that pesky bathroom that never regains a fresh clean smell once used, hot/cold spots and drafty areas will all be rectified. And more efficient, proper systems operation will show in the utility bill. Walt Rutherford has been involved in all things MEP since 1986. He currently resides in Las Vegas, NV where he manages a branch office and regularly contributes to Nevada Industry Excellence. Walt manages a branch office in Las Vegas, NV for Precision Air Balance Co. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to comment on this article. You can also reach Walt by email.  By Cassie Doubleday I can’t even express how important it is to have a safe place to share, meet and discuss your projects with your team. Yes there are lots of free programs available, but there are also some great cost effective options that will help you sleep no matter what time of day it is. After this last jam packed work week I realize why I needed to jump on the wagon of shared hosting...let’s just say I spent 24 hours relocating conversations, documents and much more. So, instead of getting upset I wrote out five reasons why I needed to have a secure place for everything and thought I would share them with you. Here’s my top five: Lost files. It happens to everyone and yet no one is to blame. Losing important files or regular files can cause more stress then asking 10 toddlers to form a line. The worst part about losing files is that no one will openly admit they misplaced them. Document sharing and management is a crucial responsibility that not even the most organized person can handle on their own. This is why you need to have one secure program like Sharepoint hosting that helps you make sense of what’s being shared and keeps it all in one place. Lots of Security. Sure there are lots and lots of free services out there that offer you the opportunity to share, and manage your projects, but my friend, they can’t promise you your files and documents are 100% secure. For example did you know that if you take away permission to a shared document that you shared via Google Docs, you’re not 100% guaranteed that the permission was revoked. There have been cases where people have been able to view shared documents later without the other person knowing. They can also alter the URLS to access your files again. Private meeting spaces, no browser crash. Nothing is worse than having four or five tabs open all which are hosting different programs for different documents for your virtual meeting. Not to mention the high risk of your browser crashing or being super slow because you have so many heavy tabs open. Well, forget that risk because when you have your own collaboration program you get private meeting spaces that allow you to see your work history and documents without having anxiety about your browser crashing. I’m getting anxiety just thinking about this situation. Sharing Overload. If you’re like me you’ve joined up for about 10 different file sharing networks to share large files with friends, co-workers and clients. If you’re like me, you have to request a new password almost every time you log in because you can’t remember which password goes where. I swear I’m not stupid, and I do have them written down somewhere...but even that’s risky. If you have your own network to keep everything on, in one place it’s easier to share large files because the majority of the time that program has a corresponding web application like share migration which helps you transfer files to your account without having to visit those 10 different websites, then your email and then upload them to your server, and then open them with whatever program they’re most compatible with. Can you say headache? Technology is supposed to make your life easier! 24 Customer Service Support. How many times have you gone forum jumping trying to find one answer to some mundane question about a program you’re using? I can admit to doing this on a regular basis. One time it took me almost three hours to find some stupid answer about file sharing. What a waste of my time... Anyway! The reason I’m strongly encouraging this is because when you’re working at 3:30am and need a quick answer to your question, nothing is better than live chatting with an expert and getting the answer you need in 10 minutes. I’m a huge fan of live chatting; it’s probably the best thing that’s happened in customer service since online billing. You don’t have to go forum hopping anymore if you have collaboration hosting. If you’re someone who learns from their own lessons I will pray for you. If you’re someone who learns from other peoples lessons...well, I wish I was you. Those were my top five reasons why I decided to go the route of shared hosting. My question now is: how do you feel about it? And do you have any project horror stories to share? Clarizen InterAct: The New Way to Work 11/02/2011
 By Michele Borovac Published by: Clarizen Work Execution Software Today is an exciting day in our offices. Clarizen InterAct, part of version 5.3, is ready for use and includes major, new functionality that makes it easy to manage project tasks and reporting directly from any email application. InterAct is patent-pending technology which allows users to update projects, log issues or even turn on a stopwatch to track their time, all from their email without having to log into Clarizen. Now email is more than just a communications tool. As you can imagine, we believe InterAct will change how people use email and Clarizen. The whole idea is to break down the silos of communications and make it easier for people to complete work and keep teams informed about progress straight from the application people already spend the majority of their day using. InterAct also safeguards tasks, issues and updates from falling through the cracks. We think InterAct will improve how teams engage with tasks, projects, managers, customers as well as one another. Here’s a breakdown of the key features:
 Clarizen, creators of the popular web-based project management software of the same name, is starting to wow the PM industry all over again with their newest release – which was just announced on October 20, 2011. Clarizen InterAct, which is part of the Clarizen version 5.3 release, is a patent-pending email server that takes email from being a communication tool to being an execution engine. The capabilities InterAct adds in terms of project communication for project managers such as myself can really be a game changer. Users can now customize mailboxes and build their own rules to perform just about any operation in the software including initiating or updating projects, logging issues, or performing time-tracking functions, to name a few. InterAct improves how project teams collaborate, work assigned project tasks, and engage with their project managers and customers using something they already use throughout the workday – their email system. InterAct features include:
|         Click to set custom HTML
ArchivesJanuary 2012 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed