The most frequent request we receive is the ability for one to see a visual representation of their tasks on a calendar or Gantt chart. Viewing tasks in a basic list format has its usefulness, but, like most managers, being able to quickly see a list of items “at a glance” provides an efficient way to:
- Instantly compare your active tasks with key calendar dates
- See if any of your milestones fall on the weekends or holidays
- Get a sense as to how evenly your tasks are allocated
- Determine if any of your resources are working too much or too little
- Overlay your home and work schedules using a single calendar
Joint Contact now provides the ability for you to view your tasks using popular calendaring applications such as:
- Outlook 2007
- Google Calendar
- Apple’s iCal
- Windows Calendar (Vista)
- Mozilla Sunbird (Windows or Mac)
- Mozilla Thunderbird (Windows or Mac)
How does it work?
What these calendar applications have in common is their ability to support the Internet Calendar (iCalendar) standard. As a result Joint Contact now supports this new protocol.
Internet Calendars are special calendars that are shared through the Internet. Data that drives these calendars are based on a “open” Internet standard that allows this data to be viewed using the calendar tool of your choice.
Use the tools of your choice
As seen from the list of tools above, some tools are licensed products while others are free. Neat tools like Sunbird and Thunderbird are free tools from Mozilla (the maker of Firefox). Like Firefox, both Sunbird and Thunderbird are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Calendar tools that support the iCalendar format (also known as “ics”) can “subscribe” to a Joint Contact task list – just like having a secure RSS feed to keep track of your favorite blog or website. As people in your group add and change tasks using Joint Contact, your local calendar is automatically updated.
Joint Contact and Outlook 2007
Here’s an example of Joint Contact using Outlook 2007. Notice how Outlook creates a second calendar (seen in green) that displays your active tasks. In addition to a side-by-side view, Outlook can also overlay one calendar on top of another – an impressive feature.
Just like using email, your calendar list is updated each time you send the “Send / Receive” button. There is also a tab where you can add new or edit iCalendar feeds.
Like any other calendar event, clicking on that item will display thee details in its own window. In this example we can see the task title, the people assigned to the task, as well as the task description. The start/end date is the task due date.
Out of the many tools we tested, Outlook 2007 had the most robust features. As a result our team was pleasantly surprise with the level of integration Outlook has for this relatively new standard.
Joint Contact & Google Calendar
Here’s an example of Joint Contact using Google Calendar. Since Google’s calendar runs from the Internet this would be a great option for those who already use Google tools (e.g GMail) and need another additional tool to help them to manage their tasks.
Joint Contact & Apple’s iCal
And for people using Mac OS, here’s an example of Joint Contact using iCal:
[...] The Seattle Networking Guide also supports Internet Calendar (iCal) technology. iCal technology achieves the same goal as RSS but is designed work with calendaring applications. A lot can be written about iCal technology as it is also very useful. Additional information about the iCal standard can be found here. [...]
I’d like to view a .ics file in a “gantt-like” chart….is it possible? How?
thanks
michele