Project Management With New Kanban Task Manager For Outlook

The kalmstrom.com team is proud to announce the release of Kanban Task Manager ‒ a totally new product for project and task management that works like a Kanban board for Outlook Tasks.

Kanban board in Outlook
Everyone needs good project management, but it might be difficult to keep track of all the different tasks and phases of a project. Often some kind of Kanban board is used, either a physical one with cards or some web solution. What kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has done is something much better ‒ we have moved the Kanban board into Outlook and make use of standard Outlook Tasks. This way users don't have to learn a new system, and everyone can see in their computers when something has been changed.



Project management with Outlook Tasks
To use Outlook for project management gives many benefits:

• Drag and Drop Outlook tasks between phases.
  
• Visualize progress and blockers right inside Outlook.
  
• New features, like filter for project or responsible or show tasks for several projects at the same time. These features are already added for version 1, but we will of course continue developing Kanban Task Manager with additional features.
  
• Automatic and instant synchronization between team member computers.
  
• If the SharePoint option for sharing is used the team may be geographically dispersed.
  
• Statistics Excel reports are generated automatically.

Sponsored development
The IT specialists at the German company SABIK Informationssysteme saw the advantages of moving the task management into Outlook. As Sabik already uses another kalmstrom.com application it was a natural step for them to ask us if we could develop a Kanban board that works inside Outlook. We are grateful and proud that they turned to us with their request, and of course we could manage the task (sic!).

Great team work gives support for all Outlook versions
Although we knew we could make it, developing a totally new product is a big undertaking and the process to finalize Kanban Task Manager has not always been easy. We did not make it easier for us by wanting to support all Outlook versions from 2003, also Office 365 and the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010. And all in one installer!

Maybe that is why it has felt so fantastic to see how everything has come together, so that we now can make the release of the kalmstrom.com project management application for Outlook Tasks. The kalmstrom.com team has been working hard, and I want especially to thank our staff at the Indian office for their dedication.

Documentation
When we had a Beta version of Kanban Task Manager I could start creating the web pages, the manual and the slideshow, and our CEO Peter could record a few video demonstrations. I am afraid I complicated things further by suggesting changes and asking for explanations ‒  I had no manual, you know, just a project description, and I am no technician! But our developers and testers have been patient with me, and I believe I contributed to making Kanban Task Manager even more user friendly.

Free for Community Members
We are happy to have a project management application in our portfolio also, and we hope many new and old Members of the kalmstrom.com Community will use it. If your organization is a current Community Member ‒ that is, subscriber to one of our products ‒ you just have to contact us to get a free registration key for Kanban Task Manager.

Try it!
Anyone is of course welcome to try Kanban Task Manager, the new application from kalmstrom.com Business Solutions. Just visit our website and download it. The slideshow gives a first overview, but I recommend you to study the manual and video demonstrations also. The evaluation period is 30 days, and we give full support during that period as well as when your organization becomes a registered user.

The kalmstrom.com team is looking forward to welcoming many new Members to the kalmstrom.com Community!

ACTA No In EU Parliament Comes Closer

Today the Committee on International Trade voted about the controversial anti-piracy agreement ACTA, and the result was a rejection. The Committee will thus recommend the EU Parliament to say No to ACTA.

ACTA is an international agreement on common guidelines on how counterfeiting and piracy should be resisted. It was negotiated by the US, EU, Japan and several other countries.

ACTA supporters believe that the agreement is a necessary protection for intellectual property rights, because ideas, knowledge and creativity are the most important capital in the modern economy. The supporters of ACTA mean that in a globalized world, the protection should to be international. Supporters also point out that no EU legislation will be amended because of the agreement.

kalmstrom.com Business Solutions is one of the companies that thrive on just ideas, knowledge and creativity!  We are not especially worried about counterfeiting and piracy for our own sake, though, because it is difficult - if not  impossible - to copy the  ideas, knowledge and creativity of the kalmstrom.com team.

I can understand the concerns that led up to the ACTA agreement, but there are also disadvantages with it.  Opponents say that ACTA favors companies at the expense of civil liberties and rights. They warn that poor countries may find it harder to get hold of things like medical supplies. Patents and copyrights may create unfair barriers and prevent countries with less research resources from getting what they need to develop.

Protests from European citizens against ACTA have been fierce. A petition got 2.8 million signatures, and demonstrations were held across Europe. I have earlier written about ACTA in several blog posts, but this is perhaps the last time. The EU Parliament will vote about the agreement on 5 July, but now that five different committees have said no to ACTA it is highly unlikely that the Parliament will say yes.

Fax online with improved image quality

PamFax is an application that makes it possible to fax online from anywhere. You don't need a machine for online faxing, just an internet connection. Yesterday PamFax was updated to give improved quality when faxing graphics, photos and scanned documents.

kalmstrom.com Partner
Peter Kalmstrom, CEO of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions, was a product manager at Skype for five years. During this time he was also engaged in the development of the first version of this online faxing product, and after that he has continued to take interest in it. He has also maintained the contact with the founders of PamConsult, the company behind PamFax, and since last year PamConsult and kalmstrom.com have been partners. When we need to fax we always fax online, and as PamFax is the product we use and trust we are happy to recommend it.

Easy and safe to fax online
Online faxing with PamFax is suitable to anyone who needs to send and receive fax in a secure and inexpensive way without having to hassle with a fax machine. Online faxing is so much easier! You can even get your own local fax number. All faxes are conveniently saved online, either in the PamFax portal or at Dropbox, Box and Google Drive. It is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iPhone/iPad and Android.

PamFax update
Yesterday PamConsult released an update of PamFax. Many smaller enhancements have been made, but the most important improvements deal with how graphics, photos and scanned documents are reproduced when you fax online. Earlier they were often too dark, but now the recipient of the fax will get a nice, readable copy, like in the image to the right. All changes are made server-side, so PamFax users don’t need to manually download or update anything on their computers or mobile devices. Next time they start PamFax to fax online they will simply see the updated version.

Next version development
PamConsult has announced that this was the last maintenance update for PamFax 3.4. Now the work on version 3.5 will start. Release is scheduled for mid October, and this version will have several new features. I am quite satisfied with PamFax as it is, but as both a partner and a user I of course look forward with interest to see what next version of this online faxing application will bring.

New Kalmstrom in the kalmstrom.com team – Our best wishes to Siret and Peter!

This last Friday my husband Sigge and I were happy to welcome a new member to the Kalmstrom family, when kalmstrom.com Sales and Relations Manager Siret Toots married our son Peter, CEO of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions.

The couple met at Skype
Peter and Siret both worked at Skype when they first met, and they had known each other for quite a while when Peter decided to leave Skype, to concentrate more on his work at kalmstrom.com. He then invited Siret to a dinner to thank her for good cooperation – and that was when both of them discovered that they had a lot more in common than work.

After that evening they became a couple, and last year Siret left her homeland Estonia to join Peter in Sweden and start working at kalmstrom.com.

Siret is a great asset to both Peter and the company, and Sigge and I feel lucky that this kind and intelligent woman has now married our son and taken our family name, Kalmstrom (or Kalmström in Swedish).

Ceremony at Öland cottage
Peter has a small cottage right by the sea on Öland, the island off the south-east coast of Sweden where kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has its head quarters. The newly-weds will be spending the summer in the cottage, and they also intend to spend many future summers there.

The cottage is surrounded by old oak trees, and this is a good omen as oaks have been sacred in Estonia for thousands of years and still is. On the beach below the cottage there is a short pier, and that is where the marriage ceremony was held.

The official admonished the bride and groom to always remember what they felt for each other this day, and it will not be difficult for Peter and Siret to do that. They can see the pier where they became husband and wife from their living room and as soon as they step out the door!

Unconventional wedding
As you might have understood already, from the choice of place, the wedding was an unconventional event. Swedish weddings are normally not such big affairs as for example Indian ones, but even after Swedish standards Siret’s and Peter’s wedding was small. Only the closest family was present, but among them was the kalmstrom.com Matriarch, who is now 94 years old.
It is also common for the bride to be dressed in white and for the groom to wear dark colors, but Siret and Peter wanted strong and joyful colors instead.

Peonies and Claddagh rings
Siret had chosen both the flowers and the design of the rings. For her bouquet she wanted peony buds in a very light pink color, and the rings are in white gold.

The new Mrs. Kalmstrom is very interested in history and knows a lot about the subject, and Peter had no objections when she wanted the old Irish Claddagh symbol, showing two hands clasping a heart, on their wedding rings. Inside the rings there is the text, “Peter forever” and “Siret forever”, and to reinforce the message there are tiny diamonds in the hearts of the ring – the strongest substance known to mankind!



Dinner of Öland products
After the ceremony the party made a short drive to the house where Sigge and I live, to have a long festive dinner. Öland is known for its gastronomy, and the meal made with mostly local products was delicious.


Siret and Peter sparkled with happiness. It was a joy to just look at them, and they will surely keep this lucky day in their hearts for the rest of their lives. They are not ordinary people, so this unconventional style for the marriage seems to have been just right for them.

kalmstrom.com Tips and new products most interesting blog posts in May

I want to write a varied blog with different angles on big and small events in the IT world, but in May the more product oriented blog posts were the most read. This is not strange, as many readers of the kalmstrom.com Blog are either users of the kalmstrom.com applications or generally interested in development for Outlook and SharePoint.

TimeCard for Outlook
Many people use the Outlook calendar for their time planning, so it is convenient to also report time and expenses from within Outlook. With TimeCard Outlook appointments are tagged with time reporting data, so that the planned time can be reported and no double entries are necessary. The latest update also gives a possibility to have the timesheet data entered automatically into the appointment when you accept a meeting request.

Task management inside Outlook
Kanban Task Manager is a new product from kalmstrom.com that will be released later this month, and I have written popular articles about it several times before. When I published a demonstration on the Kanban Task Manager Beta version the interest was renewed, and a video is really a good way to demonstrate the essentials of an application.

MetaData Creator for SharePoint
Another demo this month showed Peter’s new idea for an application that extracts metadata, like keywords, from documents in SharePoint libraries. This enhances the SharePoint Search feature and also Tag clouds and metadata navigation works much better with good metadata.

SharePoint Content Types
The kalmstrom.com Tips are popular, as always. This month our CEO Peter has created a new demo about the SharePoint Content Types. These are very useful, but unfortunately many administrators don’t know how to utilize them. Instead they put a lot of energy in adding the same thing several times. Learning Content types also requires some effort, but in the long run it is well worth it. Peter is a Microsoft certified SharePoint specialist, so he knows how to do it and would like to see more people give Content Types a try.

If the above subjects sound interesting, I suggest you follow the kalmstrom.com Blog. Maybe you will like some of my other articles on more general topics also?