ICW Monthly Blog
Calendaring and other Productivity Software |
Welcome to the monthly ICW blog. In the past we’ve discussed various topics pertaining to the operation of computers and other functions. This month I want to introduce a subject that’s been addressed by the corporate throngs en mass. The subject pertains to the sharing of not only files but of one another’s schedules (calendars) and that information pertaining to tactical and operational functions of departments and companies. In other words, when I want to find out what you’re doing next Thursday, I use this utility (with other pieces of information along the way).
It’s tough to cover this subject in just one article, especially when you consider there’s an entire consortium dedicated to this function (Calconnect – The Calendar and Scheduling Consortium). The Consortium is focused on the interoperable exchange of calendaring and scheduling information between dissimilar programs, platforms, and technologies (making schedules kept on different machines talk to one another). This said, we’ll address some of the more common applications for this function (keeping in mind that this is by no means a comprehensive writeup).
Historically, there have been several application programs that fit the bill nicely for these requirements. The first one we’ll discuss has to do with using MS Outlook as an inter-calendar sharing device especially useful for coordinating meetings. Using Outlook, you would decide that a meeting is in order and you would choose a date and time for the meeting. Once you’ve decided who should attend, you would then go into the Calendar function in Outlook, go to Actions, select Plan A Meeting, Add Others (participants), select the time and send the meeting request. The other participants would then receive your email requesting the meeting and either agree to it or change the date/time. Once everyone is on the same page with the timing of the meeting, each participant’s calendar would now contain the data about the meeting and the list of participants. This function works well and is very effective if all you want to do is coordinate meeting schedules. If you’re looking for something more than this, read on.
Another application designed with the calendar function in mind is the MS Exchange Server. The is a business-class server running on MS 2000 Server (2003, 2007, and others) that cares for the email, calendar and many other related functions (e.g., LDAP services for single point user logon and many others). With this configuration, you may develop groups, domains (names for computers and services) and other in-depth services relating to calendars, email and sharing. With the Exchange Server you can set up individual and group calendar sharing that all (with appropriate privileges) can see. This is a fairly robust application calling for some fairly robustly deep pockets to obtain (ten of thousands of dollars and a lot of IT support). For most individuals and small companies, this solution is financially out of reach.
Which brings us to yet another choice (a non-Microsoft product). There’s been lots of work in the Linux world with calendaring and other Exchange-type functions. There are products such a EGroupware and iCalendar and DynaCal that are probably very nice products (these have not been tested by anyone I know). In this arena, though, I want to concentrate on one product – Phpgroupware. This product is free/open source software (which means you’re free to download, configure and use it – or get someone to do it for you). PhpGroupWare is a fully featured, web based messaging, collaboration and enterprise management platform that comes with over 50 applications that can be mixed and matched. These applications include a contact manager, Email, shared calendars, web content /document management and sharing, project management, issues tracking and more. The beauty of Phpgroupware (other than its price) is that you may activate any one or several of these applications depending on your requirements. Since this article is about calendaring, let me just say that this product is a good alternative for anyone’s calendar-sharing requirements.
If any of this addresses your problem, you would like to learn more about this,
or you would like a demonstration of any of these products, feel free to contact us at ICW. We’d be happy to talk to you about your needs and help you with solutions. Just contact us at info@icw.com or give us a call at 801-277-4429.
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