We have introduced a new feature for SharedStatus called Email Tasking. This feature allows you to send an email to a special address and have it automatically create a task for you. When you create an email task the subject of the message becomes the name of the task and the message body of the email will be placed in the task description.
Where is Email Tasking really useful? The most common use for Email Tasking is to use it to collect tasks from people in a help desk or support environment. As an example you can set up an email alias in your company email system that will forward any message received by a particular address to your special SharedStatus email address. Once an email is received by SharedStatus it will automatically be converted into a task and added to your list. If you are the manager of the help desk team you can then reassign those tasks to anyone on your team and still maintain visibility into what has been allocated.
Email Tasks do require that you authorize who can email tasks to you so that you don't have to worry about people spamming you with tasks. You can control that by visiting Settings / Email Tasks. The SharedStatus help system contains more details on how you can use this feature.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
News Release: SharedStatus Helps Managers Keep Employees on Task, Despite Downturn
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Productivity Tool Helps Managers Keep Employees on Task, Despite Downturn
SharedStatus, a new web based solution, helps managers increase productivity in their departments, and meet project goals despite layoffs, budget cuts and declining morale.
Ashburn, Va. – March 11, 2009 – SharedStatus is the latest software as a service (SaaS) developed to help managers, project leads and team members collaborate more effectively, and manage and meet deadlines. As the economic downturn continues to drive massive layoffs and budget cuts at companies in the U.S. and around the world, productivity is severely impacted, making it difficult for companies to meet goals and remain profitable. By facilitating detailed communication and information exchange, project updates, and status reports, SharedStatus makes it easier to manage tasks and team member performance, and meet overall objectives, even with a reduced workforce.
Increased efficiency and operational improvements will be key in navigating the downturn for many companies. Recently released, SharedStatus is a lightweight multi-user framework that helps managers create and assign tasks and projects, and manage productivity. Unlike complex project management solutions that require a hefty IT commitment and a sizable investment, SharedStatus is an easy-to-use, and easy to implement solution available at a fraction of the cost of similar options. The software facilitates real time task tracking, team collaboration and easy-to-generate status reports, and can be used by anyone with a web browser. It is ideal for both small businesses and large corporations, and available for $2 per month, per user with a $20 monthly minimum. As a special promotion, a two-month trial is currently available.
“In many companies, important tasks and deadlines slip through the cracks simply because of breakdowns in communication, and a lack of department protocols and procedures that mandate how employees report their progress to their managers and other team members,” said David Alison, chief executive officer of AlisonWeb, and developer of SharedStatus. “These types of issues have become even more prevalent as managers are forced to work with limited staffs and resources, and unfortunately can be extremely costly and devastating to a company’s bottom line. SharedStatus addresses these issues and delivers a simple yet streamlined solution that can be used collaboratively and adapted to any industry.”
By implementing a collaborative task management application, managers can better establish performance expectations, provide consistent guidance and feedback, and streamline departmental communication. SharedStatus allows managers to supervise the progress and communication of their team from their Dashboard, and both managers and team members are instantly alerted by email or SMS text message when tasks are assigned, accepted, changed or updated. The software also eliminates the need for long email threads between team members and unproductive staff meetings, which often contribute to a department’s inefficiency.
SharedStatus offers a variety of features and capabilities, such as the Quick Add feature and CSV File Import. Quick Add is a shortcut designed to help users add tasks and due dates quickly from the Dashboard. The CSV File Import tool helps users import fully built schedules from Microsoft Project into SharedStatus, preserving all associated resource assignments, task priorities and state settings.
“SharedStatus is absolutely essential for companies more sharply focused on task management as they fight to remain profitable, despite the current economic climate,” said Alison. “We’ve had excellent feedback from users so far, and we’re committed to relying on customer feedback to help us develop additional features.”
SharedStatus requires no training, and is an ideal tool for both onsite and remote teams. For more information about capabilities, ordering or product tours, visit www.sharedstatus.com.
About AlisonWeb
AlisonWeb, founded by David Alison, specializes in productivity products and innovative software applications for business and personal use. David Alison was formerly the founder of WebSurveyor, which was acquired by Vovici, the leader in enterprise survey software. For more information, visit www.sharedstatus.com.
Contact:
David Alison, CEO
AlisonWeb
(703) 722-6107
www.sharedstatus.com
New Productivity Tool Helps Managers Keep Employees on Task, Despite Downturn
SharedStatus, a new web based solution, helps managers increase productivity in their departments, and meet project goals despite layoffs, budget cuts and declining morale.
Ashburn, Va. – March 11, 2009 – SharedStatus is the latest software as a service (SaaS) developed to help managers, project leads and team members collaborate more effectively, and manage and meet deadlines. As the economic downturn continues to drive massive layoffs and budget cuts at companies in the U.S. and around the world, productivity is severely impacted, making it difficult for companies to meet goals and remain profitable. By facilitating detailed communication and information exchange, project updates, and status reports, SharedStatus makes it easier to manage tasks and team member performance, and meet overall objectives, even with a reduced workforce.
Increased efficiency and operational improvements will be key in navigating the downturn for many companies. Recently released, SharedStatus is a lightweight multi-user framework that helps managers create and assign tasks and projects, and manage productivity. Unlike complex project management solutions that require a hefty IT commitment and a sizable investment, SharedStatus is an easy-to-use, and easy to implement solution available at a fraction of the cost of similar options. The software facilitates real time task tracking, team collaboration and easy-to-generate status reports, and can be used by anyone with a web browser. It is ideal for both small businesses and large corporations, and available for $2 per month, per user with a $20 monthly minimum. As a special promotion, a two-month trial is currently available.
“In many companies, important tasks and deadlines slip through the cracks simply because of breakdowns in communication, and a lack of department protocols and procedures that mandate how employees report their progress to their managers and other team members,” said David Alison, chief executive officer of AlisonWeb, and developer of SharedStatus. “These types of issues have become even more prevalent as managers are forced to work with limited staffs and resources, and unfortunately can be extremely costly and devastating to a company’s bottom line. SharedStatus addresses these issues and delivers a simple yet streamlined solution that can be used collaboratively and adapted to any industry.”
By implementing a collaborative task management application, managers can better establish performance expectations, provide consistent guidance and feedback, and streamline departmental communication. SharedStatus allows managers to supervise the progress and communication of their team from their Dashboard, and both managers and team members are instantly alerted by email or SMS text message when tasks are assigned, accepted, changed or updated. The software also eliminates the need for long email threads between team members and unproductive staff meetings, which often contribute to a department’s inefficiency.
SharedStatus offers a variety of features and capabilities, such as the Quick Add feature and CSV File Import. Quick Add is a shortcut designed to help users add tasks and due dates quickly from the Dashboard. The CSV File Import tool helps users import fully built schedules from Microsoft Project into SharedStatus, preserving all associated resource assignments, task priorities and state settings.
“SharedStatus is absolutely essential for companies more sharply focused on task management as they fight to remain profitable, despite the current economic climate,” said Alison. “We’ve had excellent feedback from users so far, and we’re committed to relying on customer feedback to help us develop additional features.”
SharedStatus requires no training, and is an ideal tool for both onsite and remote teams. For more information about capabilities, ordering or product tours, visit www.sharedstatus.com.
About AlisonWeb
AlisonWeb, founded by David Alison, specializes in productivity products and innovative software applications for business and personal use. David Alison was formerly the founder of WebSurveyor, which was acquired by Vovici, the leader in enterprise survey software. For more information, visit www.sharedstatus.com.
Contact:
David Alison, CEO
AlisonWeb
(703) 722-6107
www.sharedstatus.com
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
File importing is added to SharedStatus
We updated SharedStatus with a new feature today: CSV File Import. A CSV file (Comma Separated Values) is the most basic file format in use for transferring data and most spreadsheet, database and project management software supports the ability to export their data to a CSV file.
We have had a number of customers tell us that they build up their projects in Microsoft Project but then want a way to distribute tasks from the project file and keep up with people's progress. The CSV File Import feature is designed to address this directly. Now you can take a fully built schedule from Microsoft Project, save it as a CSV file and import it quickly into SharedStatus. All of your resource assignments are preserved and the task's priority and state settings are converted into SharedStatus as well.
A Simple Example
The most simple example of how to use this feature is to load up a current project you have in Microsoft Project and save it as a CSV file. We have detailed directions on how to do that in the SharedStatus help section: Importing a CSV File.
Once you have the CSV file locally you load up SharedStatus and switch to the Project tab. Select the project you want to import the CSV file in to or create a new project for it. If there are already tasks in the Project your imported tasks will be added to them.
There is an import button on the Project list:
Clicking that will walk you through a wizard where you will be able to select the CSV file to import:
From here you select the CSV file you exported from MS Project. The CSV file will be uploaded and then you will be asked to align the resources that are found in the file to the people in your SharedStatus account:
If all of the resources are not already members of your account the tasks will be assigned to you; you can reassign them after the import or choose to assign them to others already in your account. The final step is to view the tasks that will be imported:
If you find problems you can cancel the import and adjust the CSV file and try the import again. Finally you decide whether the tasks for each person are auto-accepted or set to Pending. In either case an e-mail will be sent to the people that have been assigned the task, notifying them of the list of tasks that they are now responsible for.
Saving You Time
Our goal with this feature is to dramatically save you time that would otherwise be spent plugging in tasks manually. Though we focused on describing this import capability as something that works great with MS Project you can use virtually any system that can output to a CSV file.
We have had a number of customers tell us that they build up their projects in Microsoft Project but then want a way to distribute tasks from the project file and keep up with people's progress. The CSV File Import feature is designed to address this directly. Now you can take a fully built schedule from Microsoft Project, save it as a CSV file and import it quickly into SharedStatus. All of your resource assignments are preserved and the task's priority and state settings are converted into SharedStatus as well.
A Simple Example
The most simple example of how to use this feature is to load up a current project you have in Microsoft Project and save it as a CSV file. We have detailed directions on how to do that in the SharedStatus help section: Importing a CSV File.
Once you have the CSV file locally you load up SharedStatus and switch to the Project tab. Select the project you want to import the CSV file in to or create a new project for it. If there are already tasks in the Project your imported tasks will be added to them.
There is an import button on the Project list:
Clicking that will walk you through a wizard where you will be able to select the CSV file to import:
From here you select the CSV file you exported from MS Project. The CSV file will be uploaded and then you will be asked to align the resources that are found in the file to the people in your SharedStatus account:
If all of the resources are not already members of your account the tasks will be assigned to you; you can reassign them after the import or choose to assign them to others already in your account. The final step is to view the tasks that will be imported:
If you find problems you can cancel the import and adjust the CSV file and try the import again. Finally you decide whether the tasks for each person are auto-accepted or set to Pending. In either case an e-mail will be sent to the people that have been assigned the task, notifying them of the list of tasks that they are now responsible for.
Saving You Time
Our goal with this feature is to dramatically save you time that would otherwise be spent plugging in tasks manually. Though we focused on describing this import capability as something that works great with MS Project you can use virtually any system that can output to a CSV file.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Shortcuts for Due Dates in Quick Add
SharedStatus has a great little feature for adding tasks quickly called Quick Add. Sitting at the top of the Dashboard and each of the different tab views is a text box with a Quick Add button. Just enter a task name and hit the Quick Add button and the task will be added to your list.
We also added a few features to make it easy to pump in some additional information on your task:
Specifying the Due Date
You can specify the date your task is due in Quick Add by entering the words "by" to the end of the line. For example:
In this case a new task would be created named "Complete the financial audit" and the due date will be set to January 31, 2009. You can also use the terms Today and Tomorrow after the word by:
This would result in a due date of 1/30/2009 if the current date is 1/29/2009. Again, the "by tomorrow" will be removed from the task name.
Finally we also support names for the days of the week. Again, if the current date is 1/29/2009 and you enter:
The due date for the newly entered task will be the day of the week you entered, in this case February 2, 2009. All the days of the week are accepted and the case (Monday or monday) does not matter.
Next up - setting priorities in Quick Add.
We also added a few features to make it easy to pump in some additional information on your task:
Specifying the Due Date
You can specify the date your task is due in Quick Add by entering the words "by
Complete the financial audit by 1/31/2009
In this case a new task would be created named "Complete the financial audit" and the due date will be set to January 31, 2009. You can also use the terms Today and Tomorrow after the word by:
Complete the financial audit by tomorrow
This would result in a due date of 1/30/2009 if the current date is 1/29/2009. Again, the "by tomorrow" will be removed from the task name.
Finally we also support names for the days of the week. Again, if the current date is 1/29/2009 and you enter:
Complete the financial audit by Monday
The due date for the newly entered task will be the day of the week you entered, in this case February 2, 2009. All the days of the week are accepted and the case (Monday or monday) does not matter.
Next up - setting priorities in Quick Add.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Introducing SharedStatus!
First off, I would like to personally welcome you to the launch of SharedStatus, an online service designed to provide you with a simple, low cost solution for tracking tasks, collaborating with team members and generating status reports.
We designed SharedStatus to address a challenge that many people in business have: getting a workforce–especially a distributed one where people may telecommute or work in remote offices–on the same page. In the past this need has been met with copious numbers of e-mails being sent back and forth and seemingly endless conference calls or status meetings where people bring a laptop so that they can stay on top of their e-mails while waiting their turn to speak.
Some people successfully use project management software to address this need. The problem is that while most project management software is very well suited for an experienced project manager, it is often far too complex for a manager that just needs to keep track of who is doing what and setting due dates for specific tasks.
SharedStatus is designed to solve this problem. The focus is on three main classes of people:
- Individuals - Every person in a company has a list of tasks that need to get done, some extremely small, others large in their effort and time to complete. SharedStatus helps individuals keep track of their own tasks with an easy to use list. Individuals can also assign tasks to others and provide a way to collaborate on shared tasks.
- Managers - When you manage people you need to know that your direct reports are getting their work done. SharedStatus makes it easy for a manager to quickly see if any of their direct reports have critical issues and also allow them to jump in and review tasks in detail.
- Project Teams - Getting a group of people from different parts of a company together to work on a project can require lots of meetings and even more e-mail to coordinate activities. SharedStatus makes it very simple for a project manager to create a new project, invite people and begin allocating tasks amongst the team.
Since SharedStatus is an online service that operates in any web browser all you need is a modern computer with internet access. There is no software to install and you can quickly access your account whether you're at work, at home or on the road.
We feel that many companies avoid taking advantage of productivity software because the cost is too high. SharedStatus is extremely inexpensive (see our pricing page for details), yet we still include a 2 month free trial so that you can make sure you are getting the right solution. We don't require any long term contracts and you cancel your account at any time.
To close out on a personal note, I am completely committed to providing my customers with great, inexpensive and easy to use software that helps them become more productive. I hope you will take a moment to try out SharedStatus.
David R. Alison
CEO, AlisonWeb
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Welcome to Shared Status
The purpose of this blog is to provide a platform to discuss the Shared Status product, how it can be used to solve typical business problems and articles by our employees on topics of interest to our customers.Shared Status is a simple, low cost and easy to use solution for tracking tasks, collaborating with team members and generating status reports. Our emphasis is on simplicity: we have striven to create a product that is first and foremost easy to use and can have people up and running in just a couple of minutes.
With that brief introduction out of the way, welcome to our blog and we look forward to sharing important information with you in the near future.
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