TimeCard for SharePoint Under Development

I am excited about our current development project, TimeCard V5, which will give TimeCard Workgroup users the option to report time and expenses from SharePoint and not only from Outlook.

Report time from the calendar
The idea behind TimeCard is that you should report time from the same place as where you plan your time, to avoid double entries.

Time is planned in a calendar, so that is where the reporting should be done too. I chose to create my application for the Outlook calendar, as Outlook is widely used and a good platform to build on.

Reporting to database
When TimeCard was developed 13 years ago, most people reported time to a database in a local network, so we gave TimeCard the options Access or SQL Server database. For users who needed to report from outside the network we offered reporting from the Outlook calendar to an ASP page, that forwarded the time reports to the database.

SharePoint superior cloud platform
Today, when the internet makes remote work so much easier, many want to both plan and report their time in a cloud calendar. Therefore it is time to take TimeCard to the cloud as well.

I have found SharePoint to be the by far best cloud solution. If you have followed this blog you know that I aim to give all the kalmstrom.com products a SharePoint alternative.

Plan and report time in the cloud
Version 5 of TimeCard Workgroup will give the option of using the new TimeCard for SharePoint, either as a separate solution or in combination with the Outlook version.

Each user will have his/her own SharePoint calendar, and when the Outlook version of TimeCard is used with the Outlook calendar, TimeCard will synchronize appointments in the two calendars. Time and expenses can be reported from either SharePoint or Outlook.

Similar to Kanban Task Manager
If you know the kalmstrom.com application for project and task management, you have already realized that TimeCard for SharePoint and TimeCard for Outlook will work together just like Kanban Task Manager for SharePoint and Kanban Task Manager for Outlook. You can either use both versions together or opt to use only one of them.

And ASP?
I recommend Community Members using TimeCard and ASP reporting to transfer to SharePoint when TimeCard V5 has been published, but I am not sure all  can manage that. I therefore sent an e-mail and asked them yesterday.

If necessary we will continue to support reporting via an ASP page, but should none of the current Community Members need it for future time reporting we will remove that part from TimeCard.

Customer care
My first aim is to keep subscribers happy, so that they keep using my products. That is why I sent my e-mail to ask about ASP usage.

To the customers, this is one of the advantages of being a subscriber instead of a buyer – the kalmstrom.com team is always there for them. We are happy to give assistance, answer questions and make sure the applications work well. We don't leave you on your own after the purchase!

Release plans
In addition to the SharePoint option, TimeCard V5 will have a new design, Excel reports and support for the 64 bit versions of Office 2010 and 2013, so it will be a while before we have put all parts together. We have recently added more developers to the team, though, so I hope we can release TimeCard V5 in October.

I will come back and tell you more about TimeCard V5 in this blog later, and you are of course also welcome to contact us with any questions you might have.

By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions.

Sandbox Laptop For New kalmstrom.com QA

We are happy to have a new Quality Assurance Engineer in the kalmstrom.com team. Ankita Kunchal begun working at the Indian office a month ago, and she has already become a valuable colleague. And her choice of photos for this blog post shows that she has a sense of humour!

"Learns quickly"
I have not co-operated much with Ankita, so when I prepared this blog I talked to Vijayant Rimza, our Lead QA. Vijayant has introduced Ankita to her tasks and supervised her progress, and he had only good things to say about her.

All new members of the kalmstrom.com team must start with a learning period, and Vijayant asked me to point out that Ankita grasps new things quickly and remembers what she has learned. This is crucial in our business, where we continuously have to update our knowledge.

#3 among graduates
Vijayant was not the first to notice that Ankita is a quick learner. When she took her Bachelor of Engineering in 2012 she was rewarded a bronze medal for being the third best of all graduates at her college this year. After that Ankita was trained in another software company before we offered her a position.

Desktop applications
“I have always tried to learn new things, and in the kalmstrom.com team I do that every day”, says Ankita. “I especially like that I can test different kinds of desktop applications now and not only web based solutions.”

Product testing
During her first month with kalmstrom.com Ankita has helped us with the testing of first Kanban Task Manager for Outlook and then HelpDesk OSP for Outlook and SharePoint.

We have now released updates of both these Outlook add-ons, and Ankita is concentrating on TimeCard for Outlook V5, which will require extensive testing before next version can be published.

Laptop in the sand
Ankita loves to travel, so before she begun working for kalmstrom.com she took a vacation and made a journey. When she visited Aksa beach in Mumbai she created a laptop in the sand, so that she could chat with her friends and tell them about the trip ;-)

Basket player
In her free time Ankita likes to dance, cook and play basketball. She is not tall, but she is quick and a good goalscorer. I am sure she will get a few hits in her work at kalmstrom.com also!

You are very welcome to the team, Ankita! I am looking forward to getting to know you better.

Kate Kalmström
Marketing and Documentation
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Use Excel Charts To Visualize Data - New kalmstrom.com Demo

The kalmstrom.com Tips section earlier had some tutorials for Excel 2010, but now I have also created new ones for Excel 2013. One of them explains how graphs and diagrams can be used to illustrate data.

Visualize complex data
A chart is a diagram or graph that  visualizes numerical data. When they are correctly used, charts make it much easier to understand relationships and changes in large quantities of data. Good charts can make complex data accessible, as information can be taken in more quickly than the data that they are created from.



Changes over time can be shown with a line chart, and a pie chart is good for data that represents percentages. Bars or columns are excellent when you want to compare data and show relative sizes.


Misuse
Charts can also be misused and create confusion or even be misleading. I am sure you have all sometimes looked at a chart in a newspaper or on a website and asked yourself what it is supposed illustrate. And I hope you don't fall for the commercial advertisements that show only the top of a bar graph to make very small changes look bigger than they actually are.

Learn all options
To be able to use the correct chart for each type of data you need to learn the different kinds of graphs and diagrams. Then you know what the alternatives are and can judge which to use in each case.

My tutorial below is just a starter, but I illustrate how using the wrong chart can create overwhelming graphics that is even harder to understand than the original data. And of course I also suggest a better way of doing it!

Excel reports
Most 2013 versions of our products give a possibility to create Excel reports on application data, and I hope users will take full advantage of all the possibilities Microsoft gives us in Excel. The default reports can be manipulated with the standard Excel features, and you can also create custom reports on the data.

Kanban Task Manager for Outlook has 7 default reports, Calendar Browser has 12 and Folder HelpDesk as many as16. All reports are presented with both a table and a chart.

In HelpDesk OSP, which uses SharePoint, we have chosen to give no default reports but instead let the users select in a dialog what SharePoint list and fields should be included in each report.

Welcome to watch the demo! In the kalmstrom.com Tips section you can find more tutorials on Excel and also on Outlook, SharePoint and other subjects.


By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Manager
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

TimeCard For Outlook Updated

Today we have released an update to solve an issue in the kalmstrom.com Outlook add-on for time-reporting: the compatibility with the combination of Windows 8 and Office 2013. More enhancements of TimeCard is under development, but we have decided to publish this smaller update first.

Report time and expenses from the Outlook calendar
When you use TimeCard you don't need a separate tool for time reporting. Plan your time in the Outlook calendar as usual but also tag each appointment with one, two or three metadata, like Project, Customer or Company. You can also add your expenses in the appointment.

When it is time to report, click a button in the TimeCard toolbar in Outlook. A dialog opens where you can review your hours before you click another button to report them. You may also export the time report to an Excel datasheet from this dialog.

Workgroup and Single versions
TimeCard is useful for organizations with hundreds of employees as well as for people who only need to keep track of their own time. Therefore TimeCard has both a Workgroup version – with reporting to a central database and most of the configuration made for all users by the administrator – and a Single version with local reporting and configuration.

Windows 8 + Office 2013
The earlier version of TimeCard was compatible with Windows 8 and Office 2013 as long as your system had just one of them. Windows 7 + Office 2013 worked fine, just like Windows 8 + Office 2010, but when users installed both Windows 8 and Office 2013 they got problems with TimeCard.

Therefore we decided to make a smaller release to solve this issue and not wait until the development of version 5 is finished. Both the Single version and the Workgroup version updates to solve the Win8 + Office 2013 issue have been published today.

SharePoint option in V5
Today's release was just a first step. TimeCard is our main development project right now, when we are working on TimeCard V5.

The addition of SharePoint as an alternative to the current Access or SQL Server database is among the most important enhancements in version 5. If you use

TimeCard with the Office 365 Outlook and report to a SharePoint site you can reach your calendar and report from anywhere, as long as you are connected to the internet.

64-bit support for V5
To add support for the 64-bit version of Office is a complicated process that many application developers refrain from, but we have added this support to most of our products now. TimeCard still only supports the 32-bit version, though, but the next major update will be compatible with 64 bits too. For more info about our plans, please refer to the TimeCard Plans page.

I will of course come back with more info about TimeCard V5 as work proceeds. Until then, if want to use TimeCard with Windows 8 + Office 2013 (32-bit) you are welcome to download TimeCard Single or TimeCard Workgroup or  – if you are a Community Member or Support Customer  – to upgrade your current installation.

By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Connect Outlook to SharePoint with HelpDesk OSP V4

Today I am proud to announce the release of HelpDesk OSP V4. The new version of our add-on has been given additional features and extended support for Microsoft products, and we have also added our new Excel reports feature to HelpDesk OSP. Thank you, team! As usual you have done a great job.

Convert incoming e-mails
HelpDesk OSP can be used for all kinds of publishing from Outlook to SharePoint lists. The kalmstrom.com team uses HelpDesk OSP to automatically convert incoming support e-mails to SharePoint list items.

We also use HelpDesk OSP to easily get images into our bug and enhancement list on the team site. Instead of adding data to a new list item we post an e-mail with a code in the subject, so that Outlook will place it in a folder that is monitored by HelpDesk OSP. To embed an image in an e-mail is easy, and images are often needed to explain problems and ideas. To embed the image directly in a SharePoint list item is more complicated, so you often use an attachment instead – which has to be opened.

Support for 64-bit Office
An important new enhancement is that HelpDesk OSP V4 works with the 64-bit versions of Office 2010 and 3013. For most users the 32-bit version is enough, but some organizations that use HelpDesk OSP need the 64-bit version as they work with huge recordsets and spreadsheets. Most applications only support the 32-bit versions, but I want to give Community Members as much as I can achieve.

Many users don't know if they have a 32- or 64-bit Office installed, but HelpDesk OSP will detect it and select the correct executable when different files are necessary. So for the users nothing will be more complicated when we introduce support for the 64-bit Office. Most will never even notice it!

Win8 + Outlook 2013
Version 4 of HelpDesk OSP of course also supports Windows 8 and Outlook 2013. Even version 3 did that – but not both the new Microsoft platforms together! I am happy that the developer group has managed to solved that issue now. The new HelpDesk OSP logo has the 2013 style, to give further emphasis to the compatibility.

Excel reports
In version 4 of HelpDesk OSP we have discarded the earlier statistics tool, which was good when you had learned it but still had several disadvantages. Instead we now use Excel for the statistics reports. Excel is a well known platform, and you can manipulate the reports with standard Excel tools.

Upgrade or try
Organizations who are already subscribing to HelpDesk OSP are welcome to upgrade their installations. Upgrades are always included in the subscription, just like the support. Please see all the enhancements on the HelpDesk OSP Revisions page.

Does HelpDesk OSP sound interesting to our company? Then you are welcome to download HelpDesk OSP for Outlook and SharePoint and evaluate it for 30 days. Please study the manual, and remember that the kalmstrom.com support team will be happy to assist you if needed.

By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions