Kendra PelletierGlobal Partner Sales Enablement Program Lead| Pegasystems. IncArlington, Ma, United States
Hi Everyone,
I need a VERY simple scheduling template to show possible conflicts of e-mail sends in a month. IE overlapping dates. Ideally, I would like to input the dates and have the calendar autofill. Most of the templates are too complicated for this task. I just need something super simple. Any ideas? Saving Changes...
Unfortunately elegantly simple solutions can often require some serious thought, and your question lacks some detail to decode exactly what you're trying to do.
Calendar dates are kind of messy due to their D-M-Y format, with holidays and weekends muddying the waters. My employer uses a system where we give a sequential number to each business day (Mdays for Manufacturing). Every few years we reset the numbering system.
Using that method, you can develop formulas very easily to determine overlaps. If for example you don't want to send an email within 1 week of a prior email, you can take the plan date (Column A), and create Columns B and C to automatically add and subtract 5 business days. An If Then statement can evaluate whether Col A for any row is between B and C of other rows.
It sounds complicated, but once you set it up, you enter your dates, Excel calculates the conflict range, and evaluates the conditions. Even if you do it clumsily, it would turn into a few copy and paste operations.
I usually assign these kinds of problems to people fresh out of college, as they are far more skilled at the new tools than us old crusty PMs. If I explained that to a new-hire, they would probably tell me there is an even easier way. Saving Changes...
Try the application Monday.com. It's a very useful tool for simply planning. Once you have created an account using your enterprise e-mail, go to your main workspace, and select "General Project Panorama". In this panel, you can describe the e-mail sending details one by one, and assign each a specific date. Then, select the menu "My dashboard", and the option "Add a widget". Choose a widget type calendar. Now, the calendar will automatically show the e-mail sending task on each date assigned. Saving Changes...
