Create Calendar bookings straight from Project Tasks

By admin | Published: July 23, 2010

Following user requests we’ve added a really useful new feature that allows you to add an iCal notification to a project task. When you add a task you have the option of attaching an iCal file to the email that Glasnost sends out to all those assigned to the task. With this all the recipients can easily add the task date details into their calendars, pretty much irrespective of what software they use.

By doing this you can make better use of the tasks feature as it now makes sense to add meetings, appointments or reminders into Glasnost. Or indeed, you can block out a team members diary for a set time to work on a particular task.

To make use of this, just add a start and end date and time to a project task, check the new box ‘Send to Calendar’ and that’s it. The recipient will receive an email with a .ics file attached. They click on this and add to the calendar of their choice.

Easy to use and very useful. Hope you like it.

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Glasnost and Powwownow

By admin | Published: May 11, 2010

As well as making full use of Skype we are also great fans of Powwownow. This service allows you to easily set up landline conference phone calls. And the real beauty is that it costs you no more than making a normal call.

Using the free version you first give Powwownow your email address and they send you a telephone number and a pin code. Distribute these details to whoever you want to conference with, and ask them to phone the number and follow the instructions. It’s really so easy and efficient.

There are paid for versions which offer other features that may or may not be of use to you but we just use the standard version.

Typically what we do is:

1. Start a Skype Conference Call
2. Enable screen sharing
3. Dial in to Powwownow
4. Get on with business !

Working this way, Skype provides free screen sharing and powwownow ensures high quality phone calls.

Combine both of these with Glasnost and you’ve pretty well got all you need to operate anytime, anywhere and with whoever you like.

And of course if you want to see each other then simply turn on video mode in Skype.

Glasnost, Skype and Powwownow – what more do you need?

www.skype.com
www.powwownow.com

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Glasnost and Skype

By admin | Published: May 11, 2010

We’ve taken to using Skype a lot recently. In particular the screen sharing facility. For those not familiar with this one can simply allow people you are having a Skype session with to view your computer screen or indeed they can allow you to share their screen.

Whether you are giving a product demonstration, or working together on a document, or simply letting people know what you are working on, this works brilliantly.

Combine Glasnost with Skype and your productivity will rocket !

www.skype.com

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Glasnost 21 and Virtual Assistants – The perfect match ?

By admin | Published: January 13, 2010

If you are a Virtual Assistant then Glasnost has a lot to offer you and could really turbo charge your productivity.

For a start the whole service is available online, so wherever you or your colleagues, clients or suppliers are, everyone can access the same information.

Also the service was specifically designed for working with people outside of your own company or network. Our subscription plans are based on external users who can access projects and image galleries and internal users who also get the CRM / contact management module.

And the functionality we’ve built into the service covers much of what one needs to do on a day to day basis. We originally built this software to help us run our own web software business and we think the things we required are pretty commonplace amongst ‘knowledge workers’. Below is what we needed and what we built into Glasnost. If your requirements are similar it WILL work brilliantly for you as well.

We needed:

Contact Management to:
1. Manage many companies details
2. Manage and interact with many contacts
3. Track all comments, assign tasks and store documents relating to the above
4. Create Task reports for sales meetings
5. Be able to create good looking email newsletters
6. Be able to send these newsletters to unlimited custom mailing lists
7. Link companies to relevant projects
8. Distribute contact details by vCards
9. Keep abreast of what our clients were doing by enabling real-time searching across Twitter, Google News and Google Blogs.

Project Management to:
1. Create unlimited projects and link users to them
2. Track and share comments
3. Track and share tasks
4. Track and share documents
5. Have advanced search facilities across tasks and documents
6. Have good quality reporting on project activity
7. Keep everyone updated by email whenever any activity occurs
8. Have all the above outputted to bespoke RSS feeds
9. Link projects to companies and image galleries

Image Management to:
1. Store and share any number of image galleries for marketing, presentations, websites etc
2. Add comments to images
3. View metadata and licensing information of images
4. Batch upload and edit images
5. Create custom lightboxes
6. View as slideshows
7. Link galleries to projects and companies

Instant Messaging to:
Text chat and share documents in real time with a fellow user

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:
1. Be able to view and keep track of all the above really easily
2. Do it all with a system which is attractive and a pleasure to use.
3. Be able to easily collaborate on all of this with our colleagues, clients and suppliers

Please take a free trial of Glasnost and let us know how you get on.

Antony

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Glasnost 21 integrates with Google News and Google Blogs

By admin | Published: January 4, 2010

Following the integration of real time Twitter search into Glasnost’s Contact Management Module, and the further availability of direct linkage to 3rd party data feeds, we are pleased to announce that we’ve added real time search results from Google News and Google Blogs.

So now, as an example, if you have Microsoft as a contact company in your system you will see a feeds panel that looks something like this:

Data Feeds

This shows that Glasnost is pulling back data from all these services relating to Microsoft. Click on one of them gets you to a screen like this:

Data Feeds

Which enables you to view the full story, move back and forward to further stories from the same feed, or switch quickly to data from another feed.

All of which builds up a fully rounded overview of your customer. What they are saying, and what others are saying about them.

Our aim is to help you be as well informed as it is absolutely possible to be. Linking all the knowledge within your own organisation with the best from outside is a big step in fulfilling this objective.

We hope you find it useful.

Antony

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Add / Edit / View Comments – handy new feature

By admin | Published: December 22, 2009

At Glasnost we always aim to avoid ‘bloatware’. Adding endless functionality can seriously damage the user experience. We’ve aimed from inception to avoid the problems so many of us have experienced with products from …. sssh you know who !

But we do respond to our users, and several have said that whilst they appreciate the ease with which comments can be added, either on their own or attached to tasks, sometimes one simply wants to write a bit more than a quick note. And when you want to say a bit more you need a bit more space to do so.

So our small but perfectly formed comment boxes are sometimes just a bit too dainty.

Which is why we’ve now added a neat little tab in the bottom right of the pop ups that allow you to resize the window to fit your requirement. Either writing a comment, replying to one, or simply viewing a comment is now just that little bit more accommodating.

A small thing – but we hope you find it handy.

Antony

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“How do I know thee? Let me count the ways.”

By admin | Published: December 14, 2009

Sorry to misquote Elizabeth Barrett Browning but we’ve added a number of new ways for you to keep informed about your contacts.

It is now possible to add a URL as a named contact method. So if your contact has a Linkedin profile you can now create a contact method of ‘Linkedin’, specify it requires a URL, and add in the relevant data.

add new contact method

As well as this we’ve added default contact methods for Twitter and Skype. And so, from just the one screen you can see the complete range of contact methods for all your contacts. and of course, click directly through to launch these external data sources where appropriate.

view contact method

Combined with the Twitter feed integration at the company level, we think these enhancements will add to your knowledge and enhance your relationships.

Antony

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Technorati verification

By admin | Published: December 11, 2009

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Glasnost 21 integrates with 3rd party data feeds

By admin | Published: December 7, 2009

Following the integration with Twitter, Glasnost21 has today launched the availability of two 3rd party datasets, directly linked into the Contact Management module.

cityoffices feed

High value subscription services covering the commercial property market, cityoffices.net and Metropolis data can now be accessed on the same screen as company data. So, for example, if you are on the details page for leading consultants Knight Frank you will see, as well as feeds from Twitter, any stories relating to Knight Frank from these two 3rd party sources. And you can also free text search across both these services, regardless of the company you are currently dealing with.

A ‘Pin Story for Later’ feature also allows you to tag stories as noteworthy and store them separately for easy access, or to highlight to colleagues.

For subscribers these services represent an immensely powerful way to incorporate high quality research into your working environment. Rather than going off to another website to access information, that very same information is piped straight into the system you are working on.

Open and transparent access to the information you need…..the Glasnost way.

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Glasnost 21 adds support for vCards

By admin | Published: November 30, 2009

Starting today, Glasnost users can update all their colleagues to new additions or edits they make in the Contact Management module, by automatically sending multiple vCards by email.

To explain the benefits of this, here is the process one of our clients uses to manage their contacts amongst a dispersed team.

This Management Consultant has a team of people spread around the UK and Europe. Prior to using Glasnost they all shared one copy of Outlook to keep track of contacts. On moving to Glasnost they uploaded all their contacts using the bulk contact upload facility in System Admin. That gave everyone access to the latest information. So, when online, all the team had everything they needed.

The only issue then was how to make it easy for everyone to import new contacts into whatever mobile phone they used.

And that is where vCards come in.

Now when you view a contacts full details page you will see a link saying ‘Send vCard to..’ Click on this and you will get a pop up listing all your colleagues on Glasnost. Simply select who you want to email and click OK.

Every user you selected will then receive a branded email saying that they have been sent details of XYZ in vCard format. From there it’s easy to process this information into their mobile address book.

Simple, efficient and very useful.

Hope you like it

Antony

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Glasnost is a Flex-based Online Project, Contact and Image Management tool. This is the developer blog with Glasnost news & views.

For more general information, please see the main Glasnost website