Your All-In-One Web Based Project Management Tool

Getting a printer to print is just one of the many office equipment hassles we have to deal with in the workplace. Thankfully, many offices these days actually operate mostly online, using email and file sharing to disseminate information rather than the ol’ “hard copy”. Using an online project management tool like SantexQ also saves you the hassle of printing documents and wasting paper. Because all the information is easily accessible by team members online, you don’t need to print things out in order for everyone to get a copy.

So be smart, go green and go online! And remember to ask yourself- hopefully before you delve into the treacherous realms of evil uncooperative printer land - do I really need to print this?

Source: blog.indezine.com

It’s mid-February already? How did this happen!? For many, by this time in the new year, New Year’s Resolutions have already lost most of their steam. Now (and often!) is a good time to review your goals for the new year, track progress and refresh your sense of ambition. New Year’s Resolutions are often hard to keep, but it wouldn’t be as sweet of a victory if you didn’t have to work hard to get there!

Just like successful project management, achieving your goals requires organization, realistic expectations and a positive attitude. Here are a few tips on how to keep your New Year’s Resolutions going all year long:

Be realistic. While being ambitious can be a good thing, setting the bar too high is a resolution killer. For example, instead of eliminating your favorite not-so-healthy food altogether, resolve to eat it less often. Have a realistic view of yourself and your abilities and go from there. If you strive for a goal that is truly attainable, it will be!

Make an announcement. Telling supportive friends and family members about your resolutions will make it official. Not only this, but friends and family can help you stay on track. You can even find someone you know who shares your New Year’s resolution and work to motivate each other.

Make a Plan. Instead of saying you’d like to lose a certain amount of weight by the end of the year, make smaller monthly goals. Decide how you will deal with those days when you just don’t want to go to the gym. Take one step at a time and think of ways to stay encouraged, such as having a set list of reminders of why you have this resolution in place.

Track your progress. Even small successes towards your goal should be accounted for. Make short term goals and keep track of them using an online project management tool, or even a diary. Staying on track and seeing your progress will keep you motivated.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. Keeping up with resolutions is challenging, and there will be the occasional slip. Make an effort not to dwell on mistakes and don’t criticize yourself too much over them. Even if you do fall off the wagon, it’s never too late to start achieving your goals.

It takes commitment to turn a new year’s resolution into a habit. Keep with it, and eventually your resolutions will become positive life changes that are just another part of your wonderful personality!

It’s the last few days before Christmas and while we always strive to keep things calm and under control during the holidays, the final stretch can be quite stressful. Shopping, planning, cooking, traveling - it really adds up! The best way to stay organized during the holidays is the tried and true method of creating a to-do list. Take it a step further and plan our these last few days with a schedule.

Much like using the SantexQ online project management tool to create tasks and allot time for each, you can plan your holiday “projects” piece by piece. This way, you can factor in how much time you have along with how much time needs to be spent buying those last few things, wrapping presents, or packing for your trip. It can be as simple as writing out a little list at the beginning of your day.

Holiday planning has some qualities that are quite similar to project management forecasting. When making your list, write down realistic time goals and remember to expect a few bumps in the road and changes to the schedule.

Keeping track of what needs to be done along with how long each task should take will make it easier to handle all the little things that you want to do on a schedule that makes sense. Staying organized during the holidays will reduce stress so that when you’re finally done, you can truly enjoy the good food, friends and family! Have a happy holiday!

Did you know? You can take SantexQ online project management tool for a test drive by taking advantage of our free basic account. Just sign up and you can have your first project up and running in less than 15 minutes. Once you’ve tried it, you can easily upgrade to a Premium Account with the full set of features for a flat fee of $9.95/month.

Premium Accounts include unlimited users and unlimited projects plus key features including file uploads, invoice generation, a punch clock and more.

See the full list of SantexQ features

If you’re still searching for that perfect project management solution, definitely try out SantexQ with a free Basic Account. You’ll be glad you did.

Much like David Letterman’s top 10 list, I have decided to put together a top ten list of most commonly heard office phrases heard around SantexQ headquarters. Perhaps it will give you a taste of what it’s like to work here, perhaps not. The only thing I know is that our online project management tool keeps us organized amongst the chaos of office life! Without further ado, here are the top ten office phrases I will hear in a week:

10. Oh look, another ‘Space Available’ sign is up.
9. I am just going to be in here cranking away…
8. Edit Undo, Edit Undo!
7. Oh what is that on my desktop!? Oh come on you guys!
6. Dude, can you turn down the volume
5. I forgot to clock out…
4. It’s an “off” day (Monday)
3. Do you know how to fax this?
2. Where should we go for lunch?

And the number one office quote is…

1. Tell them I am in a meeting

Do you have any typical office shouts you hear every week? Share them in the comments!

Even the best managers can get carried away in the excitement of landing a new client or getting the go-ahead to begin a new project. From signing contracts to salary spikes to picking your team, the early days of project management are fun but also crucial to developing your overall strategy. After your initial burst of big idea brainstorming, it’s time to settle down and begin planning out all the little details that will hold your project together and create an effective, profitable finished product or service. Here are five smart tips for planning out your next project and ensuring that you’re successful in the end.

1. Create a team. The team you assemble for your project should mesh well together personally and professionally. You don’t need to be friends out of work, but your abilities and ways of thinking should complement each other so that everyone’s strengths are brought out during the process of putting together the project. Pick individuals who are competent and deadline-oriented, and who are comfortable answering to you as well as working with others in the group.
2. Set short- and long-term goals. It’s vital to the success of your project to have a long-term goal that outlines what you want your finished product to look like and how you market it. It’s also important, however, to set smaller, short-term goals or “tasks” to keep you on track and monitor progress in our online project management tool. These goals can be generated in the form of deadlines or milestones and also help to ease your mind once you’re able to cross things off your list.
3. Test out your project in stages. Rather than waiting until the end to test out the effectiveness of your project, give your product or system little tests along the way. This method will help you more accurately identify problems or gaps in your strategy.
4. Stay organized. Set up a filing system, spreadsheets, charts or another organization system that will help you stay motivated and accountable for each of your decisions.
5. Communicate. Keep your clients, supervisors and team members updated with any problems, new ideas and progressions regarding the end result. Communication inspires efficiency and leaves little room for avoidable mistakes.

You’re next project should be a satisfying, invigorating experience, but remember to stay organized, set up a responsible, communicative team, and set goals for yourself to stay on track and finish your project to your client’s liking.

(This post was contributed by Caitlin Smith, who writes about the associates degree programs. She too welcomes your feedback at CaitlinSmith1117@gmail.com)

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday!

The Office Christmas

The interesting thing about project management is that it’s basic principles apply to almost any project. Whether you’re talking about construction, web design, fashion or even your personal life, project management skills can be used to get organized and, ultimately, better accomplish your goals. Wait - did we say project management in your personal life? Yes. And why not?

The holidays can be a very stressful time with buying gifts, planning dinners and entertaining. A lot of tasks need to be done and you need to keep track of everything and everyone as efficiently as possible. Otherwise, you end up with a big headache. If you apply the basic principles of business project management, you’d be surprised how much easier everything will be. Here is a quick guide on how to manage your holidays:

Assign Tasks. Working together with your family or circle of friends to get everything done is a great way to bond. For example, If you’re cooking, give everyone a dish that they are in charge of. Have them find a recipe, make a grocery list, and make them the executive chef on their one dish. You can even hang a big task checklist poster in the kitchen and check things off as you cook. It feels really good to check things off your list! If you like doing things yourself, definitely create a list of tasks (such as list of who you want to buy gifts for, or a list of decoration tasks) and check them off as you accomplish things.

Manage Your Time. Create time estimates for every task or project and try hard to keep within those restraints. Allot a certain amount of time for gift shopping, grocery shopping and schedule your cooking for big meals.  If you have a set amount of time to do something, you will most likely work harder to accomplish your tasks and make much better use of your time. However, the holidays are about enjoying your time together, so if you’ve planned a fun or traditional activity with your family or friends, don’t limit yourself!

Mange Your Clients. Okay, what we really mean is remember that the holidays are about coming together and making happy memories. This time of year can be quite busy, but take a break from all of your holiday rushing around to spend time with your loved ones. They’re the reason you’re doing all of this! If you keep organized you will have the time to take a breath and enjoy all the hard work you’ve put in.

If you’re a tech savvy family (or maybe you’re planning a big Holiday extravaganza at work?) you could use our free online project management tool to organize and assign your tasks and projects. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with how the tool works, plus, it’s absolutely free to use.

Sign up is quick and easy, click here to get started!

To learn more about SantexQ’s online project management tool, visit our website at www.SantexQ.com.

The best kinds of online project management tools are easy to use, and can help you accomplish your goals with efficiency. Of course, finding the right tools depends on what kind of business you run and what types of information you need to organize, but online project management tools are intended to better organize your projects and tasks. Therefore, almost any type of business can benefit from using these tools.

Mapping out your projects, assigning tasks and making sure everyone knows what they are contributing is key to good project management. With an online tool, all your important information - deadlines, client details, time budgets, progress reports - are all available at a glance, at any time of the day. Using online project management tools should be this easy, otherwise you are spending valuable time trying to figure our your software rather than on your projects.

SantexQ is your straightforward answer to time and task management. Sign up now for free and get your first project up and running in as little as 15 minutes! For more information on what The Q can do, visit www.SantexQ.com

Whew! It’s been a minute since we posted a new entry. Don’t worry loyal followers, we’re still alive and kicking. It’s about time we posted a few more SantexQ tips and tricks. Our online project management tool is very easy to use, but it’s genius-ly designed to provide straightforward time and task management, as well as subtle features that can give you the details you need.

Tip #3 (see our previous post for Tips 1 and 2, they’re pretty cool): Using the “Search By” and “Group By” Features

The “Search By” and “Group by” features are a convenient way to sort your projects and tasks. Instead of having to scroll down and figure out who’s doing what and when, you can use these options to display only the information you want.

The features are easy to use and quite intuitive but here’s a quick guide anyway:

• To view tasks assigned to a particular team member click “Assigned to, ” and choose the team member name in the drop down menu. Only admins can see tasks assigned to different team members, regular users can only view tasks assigned to themselves.

• The same directions apply for the Created by and Responsible options.

But wait, it get’s better. You can get even more specific using the “Group by” settings. So you know what projects Herman is assigned to, but you only want to see Open (current) projects he’s been assigned to. What to do?

• Click “Open” in the Group by options and voila! Herman’s current projects will magically appear!
• Want to see only closed tasks he’s worked on? Click “Closed”.

Tip #4: Shortcut - Every client name is a link to their Client Info page

Shortcut City! Instead of going to the Clients Tab to find the info for a client, just click on their name from any place in The Q. You’ll be taken to their individual client info page where you can get the info you need or edit things.

You’ll find that almost everything in The Q is a link to the right information. (Ex: If you click on a project name from the Dashboard you’ll be taken directly to that project’s overview page).

Ta da! We hope you’re impressed.

Keep checking  back for more updates! And visit our website, SantexQ.com, to sign up for our free online project management tool.