TimeXChange, timesheets and reporting - now free
Situation: You run a small to midsize consulting firm and need a free way to track billable hours...  I received this email tonight. I'm in one of those crunch-periods, so I can't do an interview at the moment - but I do think TimeXchange is worth a look. Here's (their President) Joe's message to me... D- Dave,
I hope you remember me. We exchanged a few emails earlier this year regarding our project reporting solution known as timeXchange.net. We are nearing the end of our public-beta period and getting ready to announce the “timeXchange.net Human Capital Reporting platform”. Lots of user comments later we are releasing our member-based free service where anyone can originate a project and invite team members (workers, managers, admin, and/or clients) to join the project. Just answer a few questions, enter team member’s email addresses, cost rate, billing rate, and project hours budgeted and we handle the invitation process, time tracking, routing, approval, and reporting. Project team data can also be routed to other Human Capital Management systems such as project management, payroll, billing, ERP, or other HR systems.
We are very excited about this release and are anxious to provide the world’s first time reporting platform that is agnostic about anyone’s organizational affiliation or business purpose of the reporting. I hope you will take a look and please let me know if you have any questions.
Joe Piekarz | President ActusTech Inc | www.timeXchange.net |
Posted on: May 30, 2007 09:56 PM
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What Happens When People Just Don't Care
Situation: You Think You Might Need to Spice Things Up... Bad things happen when you team loses interest in the details. I was reading this PMI piece on GroupThink and GroupShift and as I tried to identify the take away, it occured to me - fancy names for common problems don't always help. Brian R. King defines the two terms as follows:In groupthink, the norm for group consensus overrides an individual’s propensity to appraise alternative courses of action. In groupshift, the initial position of individuals in the group exaggerates toward a more extreme position. We've all seen these things happen before, but I question whether the distinction between the two terms is even important. I think these things come about because 1 or 2 people out of 10 have a strong opinion and everyone else just wanted to be done with the issue. I'm pretty sure that the thing to focus on is not the finer points of whether your group is experiencing GroupThink or GroupShift, but rather: - making sure that everyone understands the impact of making the right decision. (why its important) - and making sure they are accountable for their position. (so if they say, "me too" they had better be right) |
Posted on: May 25, 2007 11:36 PM
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Cradle to Grave PPM
Situation: You Are Interested in a PPM Solution that Goes Beyond the Project Lifecycle. The Serena Software acquisition of Pacific Edge has been interesting to watch. There has been a lot of consolidation in the industry that makes you wonder which "all in one" solution is best. The whole idea of "managing software from concept to death" is an interesting one. It points to the blurring of the line between operational management of applications and project-oriented efforts. A lot of what Microsoft is doing by integrating project more deeply with the rest of Office is motivated by the realization that people's "work" is not always project-based and tracking operational tasks along with project progress can give you a more comprehensive look at how your resources are being utilized. Since the actual integration of the software itself was just announced, we should soon see how it plays out... |
Posted on: May 25, 2007 11:06 PM
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Enterprise 2.0 - Leveraging the Work We All Do Anyway...
Situation: You Have No Idea What Enterprise 2.0 Means to You. Like many trade media outlets, the Enterprise 2.0 TV Show is half tool promo and half informational. However, the introductory episode really is a pretty painless way to get a quick understanding of E 2.0 potential.One of the best points they make about the new technology is that we all spend a great deal of time organizing our personal email and folders. All of that effort is kept private (not fully exploited) because of the structure of the ways we organize things. If, within an access-controlled environment, the organization of content is less "closed" (using say, tags or indexes rather than folders), then its easier for everyone in the organization to find what they need. If you've made the leap from folders to google toolbar, then you know how much more efficient that can be. At any rate this video offers a nice overview of E 2.0 and what it can do for you (full of examples, etc.). So if you have 20 minutes, give it a shot. |
Posted on: May 21, 2007 08:33 PM
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More Free and Easy Org Charting...
Situation: Your Need an Easy, Flexible Org Chart Solution for Your Project Team. OrgPlusLive offers a quick (also free to try) way to build org charts that seems tailor made for project teams. Here are a few features that I thought were cool, beyond the typical, yet essential, drag and drop:Importing team names and titles from an Excel spreadsheet. So if you have a team list of 20 people with titles or other descriptive info, you can import it and "bang", there are all of your pre-populated people boxes. You just saved a grueling 20 minutes of data entry. Secure online storage This means you can store the chart online, where only your team can access it - with all of the "update once" abilities that offers. Flexible exports You can export the chart in a number of formats allow you to print and easily include it in other documents. Having a current org chart is a great thing. Particularly for team that are constantly changing. Often it isnt done, because of the additional overhead. I think this goes a long way toward solving that problem. |
Posted on: May 19, 2007 08:09 AM
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