Archive for May, 2009
by Kathleen Lamphier under Industry Trends
Here’s the seventh and final tip for boosting project team productivity with customizable web-based software. If you’d like all the tips in one easy to read PDF file, click here to request them.
Tip #7 – Anticipate needs for security, service and support
Many SaaS providers have made extensive hardware and software investments that offer an exceptional level of security. That said, not all providers are alike.
When you’re evaluating a potential solution for your Web-based project management needs, consider the following:
Data security
Where is the data hosted? What systems are in place to protect your data? Look for a solution that provides the utmost protection for your business information.
Service and support
What happens when you need help? Who’s available to get you started – and to assist your team as needs arise? Look for service and support policies that can bring rapid relief to your occasional challenges.
Years of experience
Is the provider a new player or a proven partner? Who are its clients and what are their satisfaction rates? Previous history is one of the best predictors of future experience.
Here’s what QuickBase offers in the areas of security, service and support:
QuickBase Data Security
Your QuickBase application data is stored in the same facility that handles millions of tax returns via TurboTax for the Web each year. QuickBase uses industry-standard, 128-bit Secure Socket Layers (SSL) protocol to ensure your information is neither intercepted nor corrupted during transmission over the Internet. In addition, QuickBase uses encryption technology to help protect your data when stored on disk. Click here to learn more about the security, reliability, and confidentiality of QuickBase.
QuickBase support resources
Whether you are new to QuickBase or have been using it for years, the QuickBase Support Center provides everything from answers to common questions to detailed instructions.
QuickBase support resources include live technical support from the QuickBase Customer Success Team, online product help, live online training, and the QuickBase community forum.
Test drive QuickBase support
When you’re trying out QuickBase during a free 30-day trial you have access to all the same support resources as our customers – that includes live technical support. Plus, you have assistance from the QuickBase Concierge Team. Their job is to help you more quickly determine if QuickBase is a fit for your needs.
QuickBase experience
QuickBase is a proven solution backed by Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, QuickBooks and Quicken. Over 56 of the Fortune 100 and thousands of small and medium sized businesses rely on QuickBase. And, QuickBase has been serving customers for over nine years.
What do you think?
Please share your thoughts about and experiences with QuickBase’s data security, service and support. Have you worked with the QuickBase Customer Success Team? The Concierge Team?
What’s next?
This is the final tip in this series. It’s time for some reader feedback. Did you find these tips helpful? Do you have a favorite tip? Or maybe a team productivity tip you’d like to share that wasn’t covered?
What other topics would you like to see covered in the QuickBase blog?
by Bill Lucchini under Industry Trends, Partner Corner
On June 11th Intuit is hosting a free conference to talk about what it’s like to start a software business in today’s technical, economic, and business environment. See my post on TheAppGap for more info on this free event. Should be a great gathering of industry thought leaders including venture capitalists, CEOs, and analysts. If you’re in IT, software engineering, or some related field it might worth coming and engaging in the conversation.
by Kathleen Lamphier under Industry Trends
Tip number six for improving project team productivity with customizable web-based software. The seventh and final tip is coming next week. Want all the tips, all in one easy to read PDF file? Click here to request them.
Tip #6 – Personalize the project experience
Sure, collaborative teamwork is what project management is all about. But your team’s success depends on the integration of individual efforts – each with different needs.
For example, not everyone on your team wants or needs to see all project information, and they definitely don’t all want to see it in the same way. You may want to assign varying levels of information access to project participants. And, each member of your team may want to customize the project management application to view just the information that’s most important to them.
Many project teams find the following personalization features very helpful:
Adjustable permission levels
The entire team does not need equal access to project information. Customizable project management applications allow managers to control what information individuals can see – and their ability to modify, share or simply view it – by assigning different levels of permission. This way, the project manager retains the oversight he needs, while individual participants gain access to just the information they need – no more, no less. And, confidential or sensitive information remains restricted to authorized users.
Customizable dashboards and reports
A “dashboard” is an application’s control center. It’s the first page you see when you open your application, and it puts all the at-a-glance information you need in one place. From it, you can search, add information, create or access reports, and more.
Project management software should enable individuals to arrange their dashboard to their tastes, allowing them to easily access just the documents, records and other information most important to them. It should also enable individuals to create their own custom reports so they can see information how and when they need it.
Get personal with QuickBase
Did you know that Intuit QuickBase provides many ways to personalize your project experience? They include: roles, groups, field level permissions, dashboards and reports.
Roles
You control access to your application and information by assigning a role to a user. QuickBase roles determine what the user can see or do within your application.
Groups
You can save time when managing large groups of users, by creating a QuickBase group. QuickBase groups are a collection of similar users combined together to grant application access or special permission rights to all members at once.
Field level permissions
There may be times when you want to share your application with many users, but limit access to certain fields. QuickBase lets you choose from three access settings: No Access, View or View/Modify.
Dashboards
With QuickBase you can customize dashboards for your users, including personalized views of the information important to them, buttons to get them going to the right place fast, and information to guide them on what to do or what’s new. For example, you can add a report to the dashboard that lets each user see a list of her own unfinished tasks when she opens the application.
Reports
With seven QuickBase report types to choose from, you can display your data the way you want and interact with your data right through your reports. QuickBase reports formats include: table, grid edit, summary, crosstab, calendar, chart and timeline.
Coming next week – tip #7 – anticipate needs for security, service and support.
How are you using QuickBase’s personalization features?
by Kathleen Lamphier under QuickBase News
If you’re using QuickBase to manage projects, here’s a chance to help others searching for online project management tools make the best purchase decision they can by sharing your experience.
Please take a few minutes to post a review of QuickBase project management at onlinepmtools.com.
About onlinepmtools.com
Onlinepmtools.com is a user review website (launched March 2009) that provides user reviews of – you guessed it – online project management tools. At onlinepmtools.com it’s all about user reviews: “Hearing straight from people and companies who have used the tools is the best way to get a feel for quality and fit for your own needs.” So please help others in their search for an online project management tool by posting your review of QuickBase.
Posting your review
Went you get to the QuickBase listing on the website, just click either the leave a comment or the write a review link to share your thoughts. You’ll be asked to rate QuickBase in terms of features, support and ease of use using a five point scale. Then, write a short review in your words of why you chose QuickBase for online project management. You can also choose to be notified by email when additional reviews are posted.
I’m a user too!
Personally I don’t just work for Intuit QuickBase; I’m a user too. I use the product all the time. I’ve worked at other software companies where I’ve used their product a tiny bit internally – or at least taken a training class on how to use it (that was back in my enterprise software days). But at QuickBase I actually use the product a lot – more than I’ve used the product of any other company I’ve worked at.
I think it’s pretty cool that we use QuickBase so much at work. I use QuickBase to manage marketing projects and budgets, report on program results and submit/track website work requests. I also use it to submit and track projects with external vendors. That’s just a few uses off the top of my head.
I like how QuickBase is easy to use like a spreadsheet – it’s got that familiar rows and columns look to it – and the grid edit feature is near and dear to my heart. I also like the fact that I can quickly create and share reports – and export them to a spreadsheet when I need to.
It’s about you
Sure I use and like QuickBase but onlinepmtools.com doesn’t want to hear from me, they want to hear from customers like you, so please do post a review. Thank you!
by Kirk Trachy under QuickBase Advice & Tips
You can enhance your QuickBase Lead Tracking, Sales and CRM applications by adding a LinkedIn button that does intelligent lookups into LinkedIn. Frequently we call people and companies and we wished we knew more about who we are calling. Try adding a simple button to your application QuickBase. QuickBase will pass the company and contact’s name to LinkedIn for a quick lookup.
All you need to do is add the following to a new Formula URL field:
“http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&sik=1178917462007&keywords=”&URLEncode([Name]&”+”&[Company])
If you only have “First Name” and “Last Name”, modify the link so it reflects your usage. Like this:
“http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&sik=1178917462007&keywords=”&URLEncode([First Name]&”+”&[Last Name]&”+”&[Company])
We talk about things like this in many of our 10 weekly live webinars. All are welcome whether you want to ask questions or just watch.
http://quickbase.intuit.com/webinars/
Have a blast with your QuickBase.
Kirk Trachy
Intuit QuickBase | 781-370-4438 | kirk_trachy@intuit.com
