Collaborating on Schedules Are we free on Friday night? When is Junior’s next soccer game? When is Amber’s dentist appointment? When is the dishwasher repair guy coming? Are we free to attend the youngest boy’s choir concert at school? When are we all free to take our summer vacation?* The bigger your family, the busier things get * you could try to keep a paper based schedule or calendar, it’s tough to keep such a thing completely up-to date—and, of course, you can’t consult it when you’re not at home.A better solution is to use a web-based calendar, such as Google Calendar (calendar.google.com) or Yahoo! Calendar (calendar.yahoo.com). Not only is such a calendar accessible to anyone, anywhere, any time over the web, it can also be configured so that everyone in your family can add their own events.Collaborating on Grocery Lists Here’s one you might not have thought of. If you’re part of a busy family where both spouses work, you might not be able to manually coordinate your grocery lists. Your spouse might need shampoo, but if she didn’t tell you before you left for work, you can stop at the grocery and get everything but what your spouse needs.The solution here is to use a web-based word processing program to manage your joint grocery lists. Use a program like Google Docs (docs.google.com) to create a document, and then authorize access for both you and your spouse. Enter the items you need onto the list, one line at a time, and have your spouse do the same.* Of course, you don’t have to limit access to your grocery list to just you andyour spouse. * Many families also authorize their children to access their online lists, * thus making everyone in the family happyCollaborating on To-Do Lists A grocery list is just one type of to-do list. If you have a lot of household chores/tasks and repairs, it’s likely that you have a larger to-do list for your household. collaborate on your to-do list by using a web- based word processing applicationOr applications, such as Zoho Planner (planner.zoho.com) let you create multiple to- do lists on the web, You can even set email reminders to refresh your memory when a task is due. Add your tasks one at a time, and then mark them off as they’re completed. Remember the Milk /rememberthemilk.com Ta-da List (www.tadalist.com), Operate more like a simple notepad-based list.Collaborating on Household Budgets minimize unwelcome surprises by collaborating with your spouse on your household budget. Google Spreadsheets (docs.google.com), to create your budget; you and your spouse can then enter budget items separately, when it’s convenient for both of you. Budget for new plasma Tv.../alter to economic model tv.Collaborating on Contact Lists ¢ Agood solution for managing contacts from multiple family members is to use a web-based program for contact management. There are few different ways to approach this. web-based email program (Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and so on) as a contact management program both you and your spouse have to use the same email program and the same email address. So, it might not work for you.* more robust and individualized solution is to use a dedicated web-based contact management program ¢ MyEvents (www.myevents.com) * Highrise (www.highrisehq.com)Collaborating on School Projects no easier way to collaborate on a group project rather than using web-based applications. When one member adds a new slide, other team members see that slide immediately on their own computer screens.facilitate communication during the span of the project, your kids can use a web-based email program, such as Gmail Even better, sign them up to an instant messaging service, such as AOL Instant Messenger (www.aim.com) or Yahoo! Messenger(messenger.yahoo.com) so that they can text each other in real time.¢ Basic project management can be accomplished ina web-based calendar program, such as * Google Calendar (calendar.google.com) * Zoho Planner (planner.zoho.com). ¢ For more complicated projects with a lot of individual tasks, consider using a dedicated project management application, * such as Basecamp (www.basecamphq.com)Sharing Family Photos the photographs are likely digital ones, capable of being shared via email or uploaded to the web. use a web-based photo sharing service. noncommercial sites like Flickr(www.flickr.com) to sell you prints and other products, such as Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com) Dedicated web-based photo editing application, such as Adobe’s Photoshop Express (www.photoshop.com/express/).Collaborating on Schedules * It comes to coordinating multiple individuals or families in a community activity; ¢ Whether it’s a youth sports team, community organization, school event, or some community event, * trying to line up who’s free and who’s not * ona given evening takes a lot of effort— unless, that is, you’re using web-based scheduling tools.One of the most common community activities: youth sports. whatever the sport, there’s a lot of activities that need to be scheduled—practices, home games, away games, team meetings, Multiply the number of players (and coaches) on each team times ,the number of events, and you see the complexity; it gets even worse if you’re trying to manage events for an entire league.manually... If you’re using web-based scheduling tools..easyHow.... * The best way is to use a web-based calendar tool, such as Google Calendar (calendar.google.com), Yahoo! Calendar (calendar.yahoo.com), CalendarHub (www.calendarhub.com). Just create a public calendar and provide the URL to all the team members. After you add all your team activities to the calendar, team members simply have to log in to see what’s coming up this week and next.¢ dedicated sports team website builders. * These sites offer tools designed specifically for sports teams, including * home pages complete with schedule, roster, player profiles, box scores, and the like. * Most of these services even design your site using your team colors and logo. eteemz (www.eteemz.com), League Athletics (www.leagueathletics.com), LeagueLineup (www.leaguelineup.com), TeamSnap (www.teamsnap.com). http://www. lakevillebaseball.or;School Schedules homework assignments for a particular class or a schoolwide events schedule Make the calendar public (but make sure only authorized personnel can post new events), and then provide the calendar’s URL to all students and parents. should be no excuse for missed homework or absence from key events.Community Group Schedules « Announce meetings for your local school board? * Organize bingo nights for your church? * Any and all of these group activities can easily be managed onlineEvent Schedules and Management . Zvents (zvents.com) is a web search engine for local events. Upload your event schedule into the Zvents database, then anyone in your area can find out what’s happening in the coming days and weeks. suite of event management software from ServiceU (www.serviceu.com). EventU offers event, resource, and facility scheduling for organizations small or large.Collaborating on Group Projects and Events Collaborating on To-Do Lists Collaborating on Task Management Collaborating on Event Management Collaborating on Event Marketing Collaborating on Budgets* Community groups often have a lot on their plates. * Someone has to schedule the next fundraiser, someone else needs to print up flyers, someone else is incharge of recruiting new members... * there’s just a lot of stuff to do!Collaborating on To-Do Lists * web-based lists that multiple group members can access from any web browser. * Tasks are entered (complete with due date) and checked off when completed. * (www.blablalist.com), (www.rememberthemilk.com), (www.tadalist.com), (www.tudulist.com), (www.voo2do.com). * let you add new tasks via email or access your lists via mobile phone.Collaborating on Task Management new set of challenges to face to manage the tasks involved with putting together the event, you also have to handle attendee registration, event marketing, ticket sales, and the like web-based event registration and payment; manage requests for hotel rooms, airline flights, and car rentals; and check in attendees live onsite via a notebook PC with Internet connection* (www.cvent.com), * RegOnline (www.regonline.com), * ViewCentral * www.rmkr.com/viewcentral). these aren’t free; you have to pay for the power you need to manage the details of your particular event. Collaborating on Event Marketing it comes to promoting your community events, Zvents (www.zvents.com), to post announcements of your community events. cloud-based social media sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, to promote your event online. Post pictures of the event on community photo- sharing sites, such as Flickr (www.flickr.com)Collaborating on Budgets Event may be small or large, comes with its own set of costs. Community events, those costs are often managed by a group of people, each responsible for a specific operation or group of operations. simple events, Google Spreadsheets larger or more complex events AppExchange(www.salesforce.com/appexchange/)Cloud Computing for the CorporationEarlier adopters of cloud computing. Companies large and small recognize the cost savings and productivity enhancements of using web-based tools to manage projects, collaborate on documents and presentations, manage enterprise wide contacts and schedules, and the like.Managing Schedules Managing Contact Lists Managing Projects Collaborating on Reports Collaborating on Marketing Materials Collaborating on Expense Reports Collaborating on Budgets Collaborating on Financial Statements Collaborating on Presentations Presenting on the Road Accessing Documents on the RoadManaging Schedules what a hassle it is to schedule even simple meetings? One person is free on Tuesday at 9:00 but another is out of the office you’re not even sure which meeting room is free at that time better way is web-based schedulingEveryone places his or her schedule in the cloud cloud-based app finds the best time for all involved and schedules the meeting. it all happens automatically, in the cloud. how it works? punch in the details of the meeting and the desired attendees the app might have to pick a timeslot when the maximum number of people can attend.¢ Web-based scheduling programs let you schedule both ¢ in-person meetings and teleconferences with attendees from multiple locations. simple web-based calendar programs * Google Calendar (calendar.google.com) * and Yahoo! Calendar (calendar.yahoo.com)For more advanced automatic scheduling features need to use an industrial strength scheduling application AppointmentQuest(www.appointmentquest.co m), hitAppoint(www.hitappoint.com), Schedulebook(www.schedulebook.com). expect to pay anywhere from $20 to $200 subscription fees per month.Managing Contact Lists * Salespeople have to deal with lots and lots of contacts. need to know * when to contact certain clients, * when follow-up calls are necessary, * what the boss needs them to do today,Solution: of course, is a web-based contact management or customer resource management (CRM) application. These programs are tailored to the needs of a busy salesperson and come complete with features such as Activity scheduling, appointment reminders, email templates, and the like.BigContacts (www.bigcontacts.com), Highrise (www.highrisehq.com), and the market leading Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com). Many of these apps include additional functions of use to large sales departments, including — expense account management, — sales activity reports, — various team management features.* You might want to customize the program so that you’re automatically flagged each day with a list of accounts to contact (and for what purposes). * Some communication can even be automated, via the use of scheduled emails. * You can even click a link to view driving directions and a map to the first client you need to visit. This is possible with the products mentioned earlier...Managing Projects * project that involves multiple employees from multiple departments and perhaps multiple locations ¢ this type have tons of individual pieces and parts, each of which dependent on the completion of a previous task. * Keeping track of all the individual tasks —who’s doing what and when—can take a gargantuan /huge effort. In a web-based project management Project members can log in from any location to access the project’s master file; they can add or delete tasks, mark tasks as complete, enter detailed billing information for individual tasks every team member sees the same Gantt or PERT chart and the same list of tasks features may include group to-do lists, web- based file sharing, message boards, time and cost tracking.. make sure they’re not doing one thing twice...* AceProject (www.aceproject.com), * Basecamp (www.basecamphq.com), * onProject (www.onproject.com), and * Project Insight (www.projectinsight.com).COLLABORATING ON REPORTS * When you work for a larger enterprise, chances to write a lot of reports and these days, the reports you write are often in collaboration with one or more other employees. * For example, you may need to put together a monthly progress report that includes input from the company’s - marketing, - sales, and - finance departments. * Instead of emailing Microsoft Word documents across the company and maintain multiple copies ,opt a web-based word processing program, such as — Google Docs (docs.google.com) or — Zoho Writer (writer.zoho.com).With one of these applications, everyone contributing to the report can access the same master document, online and in real time. When someone from one department adds his section to the document, all the other staffers immediately see the update. Most online word processing applications let you embed photos and other graphics; you may also be able to include spreadsheet files as part of the master document. The result is a quality document that reflects the true collaborative nature of the project.COLLABORATION ON MARKET MATERIALS ¢ Marketing is another area that benefits from cloud-enabled collaboration Putting together a catalog requires data from several different departments. * When it comes to creating marketing materials, perhaps the best approach is to use a combination of web-based applications. * The marketing materials themselves can be created using web- based word processing applications. This puts the draft materials on the web, for everyone on the team (including appropriate senior management) to see, comment on, and even contribute to.COLLABORATION ON EXPENSE REPORTS It’s not too difficult to create an expense report using your favorite spreadsheet software, but that isn’t always the best way to go. The paper or electronic report must then wend/proceed its way through your company’s various levels of approval: your boss, your boss’ boss, the accounting department, the HR department, and.... A better solution for many companies is to put the expense reporting function on the web. Employees from any location can access the website to enter their expenses; it can even be accessed while employees are still traveling, with no need to wait for reimbursement until they get home.v Then the web-based expense report gets electronically circulated to everyone who needs to approve it or, more likely, a link to the web-based report is emailed instead. Y No costly paper trail is generated, no documents spend days waiting in someone’s inbox, and the entire process is expedited which means employees get reimbursed faster. v Another benefit of web-based expense management is that you can quickly and easily ensure that all employees follow your company’s rules and regulations. Some of the most popular enterprise-level web-based expense reporting applications include Concur (www.concur.com), ExpensAble(www.expensable.com), ExpensePoint(www.expensepoint.com), TimeConsultant (www.timeconsultant.com).COLLABORATION ON BUDGETS * Every department is involved, with managers required to submit complete department budgets that are then rolled up by the finance department into a complete company budget. * Traditionally, each department works on its own budget spreadsheet, which is then emailed to the finance department for consolidation with those of other departments. * Instead of working on separate spreadsheets that are later consolidated, you can use a web-based application to create a single budget document for all departments on the web. * This type of online budgeting can be accomplished with a simple web- based spreadsheet, such as * Google Spreadsheets (spreadsheets.google.com) or with a dedicated enterprise-level budgeting application, such as * HostBudget(www.hostanalytics.com/budgeting-planning- software.html).COLLABORATION ON FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Assembling a monthly or year-end profit- -and-loss statement or income statement is like a budget it requires input from all departments, but it measures what actually happened rather than making a projection, Instead of waiting for each department to mail or email its results, the entire process is accelerated when each department enters its data directly into a master spreadsheet. Although you could use a web-based spreadsheet program, such as Google Spreadsheets, for this task, a better approach might be to invest in a web-based accounting program. Host Consolidator (www.hostanalytics.com/ consolidation-reporting.html) bills itself as a web-based financial consolidation, analysis, and reporting application.COLLABORATION ON PRESENTATIONS Every company today sees more than its fair share of PowerPoint presentations. . Want to introduce a new product to the sales force? * Want to discuss HR hiring trends? * Want to present last month’s financials to senior management? The problem with producing a large presentation is that you often need input from more than one person, department, or office. If you’re presenting to your sales force, you might need to assemble product information from multiple ions. If you’re giving an HR presentation, you may require input from the managers of all of your company’s physical locations.cloud computing makes collaborating on presentations a whole lot easier. By creating a single presentation document, you don’t have to worry about consolidating information from multiple documents. because that document is located in the cloud, any contributor can edit directly into the master document from any web browser; the project leader controls the look and feel of the presentation by applying a universal style or theme. The most-used web-based presentation program today is Google Presentations, part of the Google Docs suite (docs.google.com). This application includes * Preezo(www.preezo.com) * Zoho Show (show.zoho.com).PRESENTING ON THE ROAD v Here’s an added benefit in presenting from the cloud: You can give your presentation anywhere without taking it with you. v when you get to your destination, connect your notebook to the Internet, open your web-based presentation, and give that presentation in real time to your local audience. v You can use any computer at the host location to access and launch your presentation.ACCESSING DOCUMENTS ON THE ROAD Y While we’re talking about using web-based applications on the road, remember that any application or document housed in the cloud is accessible from wherever you may be. v All you need is a computer (and it doesn’t even have to be your computer) and Internet access. v Log in to the appropriate site, enter your username and password, and then open whatever document you need. v It’s the same document you worked on back in the office, so you don’t have to worry about remembering to synchronize files between computers. ¥ This is one of the great things about cloud computing; it doesn’t matter where you are.