Gone are the days when companies operated in a local environment. With globalization spanning its wings fast with each passing day, companies find themselves in an increasingly collaborative world. With increasing collaboration and an integrated ecosystem of partners, suppliers and customers, the difficulty in managing humongous operations, ensuring consistent communications and deciphering an increasing pile of data is a distant feat. Well, HR Analytics comes here as a complete show stopper, endearing everyone with its contemporary, of great use features.

The visually appealing reports, graphs, pie charts, bar graphs give user a single access window to all his problems.  He can further drill down to each individual report to see all the individuals associated with that report. Also, working with the HR Analytics has never been so easier, with intuitive dashboards and user friendly workflow. All data is processed by the system, freeing user to concentrate on the strategic activities, without having to worry about managing the huge piles of data.

Let me quote a few examples to corroborate your understanding of HR Analytics. Suppose your organization is facing increased employee turnover, but it fails to grasp the exact reason of turnover. As you all may know, talent wars in this globalised world are taking the organizations for a ride. So this is something every organization does not want to be a part of. But to check this solution, one needs a proper understanding of the reasons underneath. Here analytics come to your rescue, it captures turnover trends department wise and gives insight into what kind of turnover these are, are they voluntary or involuntary. Further it captures numbers involved with each turnover. All this gives you a clear picture of factors dominating the attrition, all of which is creating a talent shortage in your organization and thus propels you to take on time actions by giving you real time data, as and when you desire.

The world of technology seems to be moving in a direction that is more integrated, responsive and real time than ever before.

Twitter – The best example for this shows how a very simple idea backed by strong collaboration concepts can be effective in generating a revolution.

Information is something that’s available in plenty these days. Everywhere you go, there is information just waiting for you. Websites, newspapers, Television, Mobile and much more.

The same scene is reflected in your enterprise as well. The sheer quantity of the reports, Cases and other information is enough to confuse any person or in cases where your Gems do manage to comprehend the data and use it, justify the hefty salaries as well

But the same can’t be expected from everyone in the enterprise. The age is such that there are bound to be more than one sources of information. And judging the accuracy of data, verifying the source and more leads to indecisiveness, which can be detrimental in critical situations.

But the question here is whether the confusion and indecisiveness in itself are necessary?

We say it isn’t… and so do probably another 40 odd BI companies. And it isn’t really.

If an overload of technology over the past years can make information available from all sources possible, then technology can also make the same information comprehendible.

Krawler BI 2.0 aims at just that and succeeds phenomenally. Never before would you have seen such simplicity in the interface matched perfectly with outstanding sophistication in the analytics part.

The way ahead as any Technological company worth its salt would have noticed by now is Integration, sophistication, collaboration and all of it delivered in the simplest manner possible.

Take any example in the new generation, Apple with its awesome iPhone allows for such an intuitive interface, but the technologic backing it personifies sophistication.

In the area of Business Intelligence too, this factor applies.

1. Analytics backing BI should be rock solid and very comprehensive.
2. Information delivery at the right time to all the right people in Real Time.
3. A simple Graphical interface which can suit each user.

The data analysis is what forms the core of any BI application. It needs to make sure that the all the data is comprehensively analyzed in real time and available whenever called upon.

The tools for displaying the data are also equally important. Information needed by different people will be definitely different and it needs to be shown the same way.

The users should be able to view the data the way they want it and they shouldn’t need the help of anyone to get it that way.

Krawler Mashboard makes sure that you can see the information the way you want it. You can move around the components as per your need and have a personalized view each time.

Basecamp is one of the most popular light-weight project management tools, and with good reason. But many enterprise users are looking for more powerful project planning and collaboration tools. 

As a result, we’ve seen plenty of users who’ve migrated from Microsoft Project and Basecamp to Deskera, looking for a complete solution that meets both their needs of project planning and collaboration.

Deskera already supports import and export of project plans from Microsoft Project. Looking at the sheer number of Basecamp users who wish to migrate to Deskera, we thought it was time to roll out an ‘Import from Basecamp’ feature. 

We wish we could bring in your documents as well, but sadly, Basecamp does not support this. As of now, Basecamp does not support importing of project information from any other tool either. 

For more details on ‘How to import projects from Basecamp’ you can head over to our support forum. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

• Import existing plans from Microsoft Project
• Sync Deskera calendars to Microsoft Outlook and others using iCal
• Export Deskera project plans to Microsoft Project
• Export plans and reports to .pdf and .csv files
• Embed project plans anywhere on the web
• Import/Export your existing contacts from Microsoft Outlook and via .csv files
• E-mail Notifications for tasks and to-dos
• RSS feeds for project updates

Plus we know that the real way to lock in customers is to give them the keys.

Ready to migrate from Basecamp? Sign Up to manage your projects the way you really want to.

P.S. Also, let us know if there’s any other tool you wish to migrate project data from. We’ll do it.

Or any other feed reader of your choice – Google, Yahoo, Thunderbird, Netvibes, FeedDemon, Krawler[x] and even web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)  is a way for content publishers to make news, blogs, and other content available to subscribers.

Using the Global RSS Feed provided in Deskera, you can get notified of updates across all your projects.

Individual RSS Feeds are also provided for:

1. Individual Project Updates
2. To-Do List Updates for each project
3. Event Updates for each project and
4. Individual Calendar feeds as well

All you need to do is click on the  icon, subscribe directly by selecting your Feed Reader (Microsoft Outlook, Google, Yahoo, etc.) or you can also copy the URI from the address bar and paste it into your reader.

Deskera is the only truly Microsoft Project Compatible project management software available. You can import your existing Microsoft Project plans, collaborate on them and export the updated plan back to Microsoft Project.

Now Deskera allows you to embed your project plan anywhere on the web.

1. Get the embed code from the Export option in Deskera
2. Paste it into your website, blog or any HTML editor
3. You can change the dimensions of the plan to suit the destination

Some of the benefits:

1. Any updates to the plan in Deskera will automatically be reflected
2. Search-as-you-type on your embedded plan
3. View the true Work Breakdown Structure – expand task lists for a complete view
4. View task details on the Gantt Chart as well
5. Give your clients and project stakeholders complete visibility – Accurate project status. Every time.
6. Get feedback on your project plan from colleagues and experts.

Also now you can not only work on your Microsoft Project Plans on the web, but also publish them anywhere on the web. Deskera is definitely the best Microsoft Project Viewer around!

Embed Project Plans – Increase Visibility. Incorporate Feedback. Improve Efficiencies.

What are you waiting for? Sign Up.

You can now access your Deskera calendars from any calendar that supports iCal, including Microsoft Outlook, Google, Yahoo, Blackberry, iPhone etc.

Using the URL provided, you can access events from all your Deskera calendars in any calendar you choose. You can also choose to export only individual calendars. Learn more about how to export calendars in Deskera.

Whenever your project events are updated in Deskera, you will automatically be notified on your other calendars, whether MS Outlook, Google, etc or your mobile calendars.

This means that now you don’t even have to log in to Deskera to be in sync with your project events. Stay informed of your schedule on the move.

You can also import your existing events in other calendars to Deskera.  So along with importing your existing Microsoft Project plan to Deskera, you can also move your existing schedule and events in Microsoft Outlook, Google, Yahoo, Blackberry, iPhone, etc to Deskera.

One more step towards being the single application for all your project management needs.

Rest of the series: Project Planning, Simplicity

We know how Deskera lets you work on Microsoft Project files on the web. But that’s not all, Deskera offers much more than just Microsoft Project on the web.

In this part of the series, we compare the Collaboration Capabilities of Microsoft Project and Deskera Project Management Software.

Using Microsoft Project for Collaboration

Let’s take the case of John and Richard who are in-charge of end-to-end Project Management including planning all the project activities and Work Breakdown Structure for their biggest client so far.

John’s boss gifted him a copy of Microsoft Project last Christmas (for the extravagant sum of $1000) and he gets going on the project plan immediately.

• He gets a draft ready and wants Richard to take a look at it.
• Richard unfortunately does not have Microsoft Project installed on his PC.
• He tries using a free .mpp Viewer and e-mails out the changes required to John
• John updates the file and resends it for review each time. Way too cumbersome.

So finally Richard gets his boss to spend another $1000 for his own copy of Microsoft Project and suddenly feels all important and in control. So John and Richard start ‘collaborating’, sending each other new versions of the plan by e-mail till the file name reads something like this: Project-plan-(1)(150508)(1.6)final3.mpp

• They are still working on different versions
• More time is spent updating the changes rather than getting any real work done.
• No single version of the file for the team to work on.

The only way to get that done is to spend another $5000 odd for a copy of Microsoft Office Project Server. So after a lot of money and time spent for installation, configuration and training, they can atleast work on the ’same’ file.

But it’s still not Real-time. The copy they are working on is as of last ‘checkout’ date, but they trudge along…

How do they discuss and collaborate on the project plan?

• They send out numerous emails to each other and the rest of the team.
• Using various online chat and Instant Messaging applications such as Yahoo, MSN, Skype, etc.
• Numerous phone calls and brainstorming sessions

Unfortunately all this communication history was either never tracked or lost in heaps of other Minutes-of-Meeting documents.

And they haven’t even started working on the project yet… Just the project plan so far.

What if they switch from Microsoft Project to Deskera instead?

• John uploads his existing Microsoft Project plans to start working on them immediately.
• Richard and the rest of team see the changes being made in real-time and update the Project Plan and Gantt Chart themselves. No additional software required, saving time and money.

• All team members access the project status from any computer running any operating system
• This leads to dramatically lower costs than buying Microsoft Project for each team member.
• John and Richard communicate real-time using the inbuilt chat functionality, or send messages to each other.
• Dedicated project discussion forums are used for gathering feedback, resolving issues and holding all other team discussions.
• Using the dedicated calendars, they setup meetings and events for all project members.
• All communication history is available whenever they need it, even for the new members who would join later.

Collaboration tools including Messages, Discussion Forums, To-Dos and Calendars are leveraged for getting the actual project work done.

And all this at negligible cost compared to Microsoft Project.

So why not sign up for Deskera? Let us know what you think.

In line with our philosophy of importance of collaboration in project management, we’ve included powerful communication tools such as Discussion Forums and Personal Messages.

Discussion Forums

1. Dedicated discussion forums for each project
2. Threaded discussion forums for efficient organization of communication
3. Flag discussions based on importance
4. Preview of discussion posts on a single click
5. Search-as-you-type capability for quick retrieval
6. Discussion Moderation capabilities can be granted to users
7. Rich Text Editing Capabilities
8. Single source of truth for all project communications. Handover’s a breeze.

Personal Messages

1. Single Messaging System across projects for each user.
2. E-mail like functionality – efficient and easy to use.
3. Send messages to anyone in your network
4. Folder Management Capabilities – Inbox/Outbox/Drafts/Custom Folders
5. Get system generated notifications straight to your inbox as well – Connection Requests, Upcoming Events, Project Updates, etc.
6. Search-as-you-type within Messages by Subject, Author, etc.
7. Preview messages on a single click

We hope that these tools make it easier for you collaborate on projects within a single application rather than disparate silos of project communication. Let us know what you think.

Now you can send email notifications for to-dos. Once you create a to-do and assign it to a team member, you can choose to notify the to-do owners by e-mail.

You can select multiple to-dos by holding down ‘Ctrl’ and send multiple notifications at once. We’ve also improved the Mark-as-Done UI by replacing the old checkbox with a neat ‘Tick’ icon.

And thanks to all our customers who said they loved the drag-and-drop functionality. Give it a go at demo.deskera.com and tell us what you think.

Rest of the series: Project Planning

We know how Deskera lets you work on Microsoft Project files on the web. But that’s not all, Deskera offers much more than just Microsoft Project on the web. 

Simplicity

As we’ve noted earlier, 80% of Microsoft Project users use only 20% of its numerous features. So at Deskera we’ve simplified a lot of rarely used Microsoft Project functions to deliver a more capable, yet simpler, project management methodology.

Earned Value Management

All the main EVM values are calculated by Microsoft Project, including: Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS), Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP), Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP), Schedule Variance (SV), Cost Variance (CV), Budget at Completion (BAC), Cost Performance Index (CPI), Schedule Performance Index (SPI), Variance at Completion (VAC), and Estimate at Completion (EAC).

EVM potentially is a great tool to identify variances and discrepancies and warn managers in advance of looming problems. ‘Potentially’ is the key word here.

One thing consistent across the various EVM implementation methods is that they demand quantification of project plans in advance. And accurate quantification at that.

The truth about most of the projects today is that they evolve with time, albeit within specified boundaries, and EVM is not as effective, infact can be misleading even, when it comes to agile projects. EVM for agile projects is still an ongoing project management reasearch area.

Even for achieving maximum potential of EVM methods, collection of real-time true progress information is critical. And the irony is that Microsoft Project does not facilitate that.

Hence the sophisticated EVM tools in Microsoft Project can rarely be leveraged to their maximum potential.

So in Deskera, we’ve employed a simple 0/100 earning rule for all tasks and we’ll be including intuitive and flexible variance tracking techniques after listening to our customers. You guys know best.

Task Types and Constraints

Microsoft Project provides for different calculation types for tasks: Fixed Duration, Fixed Units, and Fixed Work. In addition, tasks may be marked as Effort Driven.

Now the truth is that each of these, whether duration, units or work, possess a degree of variance with the effort involved being a reflection of the same. When the value of any of these metrics changes, the others are naturally affected and subsequently Microsoft Project asks you to specify a reason each time. This would be really cool if it was infact used as a feedback mechanism to train Microsoft Project, but it just happens to be an unnecessary interruption.

Also, there are eight types of constraints that can be applied to individual tasks in a project. But the true purpose of these constraints can be achieved only when the entire team and resources are aware of these. Which is rarely the case for teams using MS Project.

We believe that the ability to define dates and dependencies get the work done, and you can always attach additional notes to tasks.

User Experience

At Deskera, we pay a lot of attention to User Experience and we’ve worked hard to improve it. Whether it’s Microsoft Project’s inconsistent UI behaviour or confusing expansive error messages, we’ve ensured that along with efficient project management, we’ve delivered enhanced usability and navigability within the system.

Don’t take our word for it. Experience it for yourself by signing up.