- Location
- Glasgow
Have you had a look at Dropbox?
Small business users, need some advice
- Thread starter MrGrumpy
- Start date
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- Location
- Glasgow
Make the schedule in a spreadsheet, then share in dropbox.
We did this successfully on a 10 weeks ride leader rota, 6 leaders involved on an availability base, also rides could be changed from week to week.
Hmm thats a good idea, will see what I can find for that but would mean all devices/PCs would require some sort of excel viewer and/or program to view and edit ??
Need a bit of thought with this, going to be a lot of sheets for it to act as a diary for appointments.
Need a bit of thought with this, going to be a lot of sheets for it to act as a diary for appointments.
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shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
Google or Outlook Calendar: shared email address and password is all you need.
I find Evernote tremendously helpful for longer bits of info, lists etc that I need seamlessly and instantly across different OS's and platforms. Well worth 20 odd quid a year.
Though I guess they could utilise the email aspect of the calendar set up for the same thing if they weren't going to use it as an email address for other contacts.
I find Evernote tremendously helpful for longer bits of info, lists etc that I need seamlessly and instantly across different OS's and platforms. Well worth 20 odd quid a year.
Though I guess they could utilise the email aspect of the calendar set up for the same thing if they weren't going to use it as an email address for other contacts.
jonny jeez
Legendary Member
- Location
- Chislehurst, Kent, UK
Could she not just set up a remote connection into your outlook.
Or perhaps go full on windows/office 365, its all web based and can be accessed anywhere.
Or perhaps go full on windows/office 365, its all web based and can be accessed anywhere.
She already has a client database software package, upgrading to the next package up also then includes a booking diary type thing.
Just need to work out how flexible that is, maybe you pay per user, in which case that needs weighed up against all these other offers. Was erring towards Office 365, as for my Outlook its locked down as its my work account.
Just need to work out how flexible that is, maybe you pay per user, in which case that needs weighed up against all these other offers. Was erring towards Office 365, as for my Outlook its locked down as its my work account.
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jefmcg
Guru
One thing to consider if using a 3rd party site (google or outlook) is privacy. Depending on the nature of her work, just knowing that someone has an appointment with her could be a huge breach of privacy - eg drug and alcohol dependency counselling. Of course, if this is the case everything should be encrypted and password protected. Leaving a phone on a bus could lead to a privacy breach.
If you do keep the data on your own machine, then securing that is very important, as well as off site, secure backups.
If you do keep the data on your own machine, then securing that is very important, as well as off site, secure backups.
The database is not connected at all to the internet, completely offline with backups taken regular locally. She ran out of room for paper records yonks ago, digital is the way forward. The Online diary was just for names and telephone details of appointments, that could be updated by a secretary ( aka the mother in law )No other personal details will be listed however you have got me thinking ? Maybe some sort of local back up personal server rather than google etc etc ( encrypted and pass worded ) ?? However you could really take this to the extreme, where do you stop and what is reasonably practical !!
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
Names and phone numbers are personal data, and extremely valuable to a scammer. Read up on what the DPA demands (there'll be something on the information commissioner's website). And remember the mantra - if you're not paying for the product, then you are the product.
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
As an SME I would advise you need to think quite carefully about what you wish to achieve, the equipment and platforms, iOS or Android. My experience is each impact on or limit what you can do.
I had better clarify my remarks are based on Outlook pre 365. I now have 365 but haven't tried syncing calendars yet.
Outlook falls in two categories, companies who use MS Exchange and those who don't. MSE appears to be far more powerful than using stand alone Outlook. In my experience using stand alone Outlook and attempting to share calendars is tricky and difficult to automate.
Secondly you may want to truly sync contacts and calendar with a phone. If using an iPhone the only simple way to truly sync with Outlook is via iTunes and it works very well. This sync on my uses one calendar - see below.
Note if you try to sync Google calendars with Outlook and iPhone this does not necessarily perform a "true" sync. I need to define this - true sync for me is one whereby two or more calendars are exact replicas of each other and changes in any are reflected identically in others. Using iPhone via iTunes to Outlook achieves this.
When syncing Google calendars with iPhone and/or Outlook what actually happens is seperate calendars are created and "overlaid" in each other. Imagine two calendar pages made of clear plastic - write an appointment on each and lay one on top of the other. You can see both appointments but they are in two different calendars and entirely seperate from each other.
The above may not be a concern but my experience is this. The process is not automatic and relies on people, it's relatively easy to switch the individual calendars on/off by mistake and it frequently leads to duplicate appointments with slightly varying times.
If I had to start again my first port of call, purely for a calendar, would be Google as I think this can be shared regardless of the device.
Keep in mind if you use Outlook for email and contacts these would not be shared if using Google.
I had better clarify my remarks are based on Outlook pre 365. I now have 365 but haven't tried syncing calendars yet.
Outlook falls in two categories, companies who use MS Exchange and those who don't. MSE appears to be far more powerful than using stand alone Outlook. In my experience using stand alone Outlook and attempting to share calendars is tricky and difficult to automate.
Secondly you may want to truly sync contacts and calendar with a phone. If using an iPhone the only simple way to truly sync with Outlook is via iTunes and it works very well. This sync on my uses one calendar - see below.
Note if you try to sync Google calendars with Outlook and iPhone this does not necessarily perform a "true" sync. I need to define this - true sync for me is one whereby two or more calendars are exact replicas of each other and changes in any are reflected identically in others. Using iPhone via iTunes to Outlook achieves this.
When syncing Google calendars with iPhone and/or Outlook what actually happens is seperate calendars are created and "overlaid" in each other. Imagine two calendar pages made of clear plastic - write an appointment on each and lay one on top of the other. You can see both appointments but they are in two different calendars and entirely seperate from each other.
The above may not be a concern but my experience is this. The process is not automatic and relies on people, it's relatively easy to switch the individual calendars on/off by mistake and it frequently leads to duplicate appointments with slightly varying times.
If I had to start again my first port of call, purely for a calendar, would be Google as I think this can be shared regardless of the device.
Keep in mind if you use Outlook for email and contacts these would not be shared if using Google.
Google seems to be the easy and would be my choice after looking at it, has to be kept simple. The real issue just now is the phone not getting answered as the Mrs can`t be doing two things at once and she is missing potential customers. Concerned now about privacy however no matter how secure you keep your data if someone wants it they will find a way ! Maybe need to look at keeping phone number separate from names. We use MS exhange at work and everything is synced but that is a whole new level and not sure we are at that stage for a small business. Might have to just battle on with the paper diary, she is well aware of client confidentiality, she has to be or could be struck off but not given as much consideration to the recording of details as we should off !
jefmcg
Guru
Yeah, google calendar is so simple, and works. That's what I'd chose. It syncs effortlessly with mac and android (and IOS and windows, I'm sure). I'd definitely steer away from a spreadsheet solution. It would be a pain to maintain, you wouldn't get reminders, it would be easy to lose an appointment due to error; and there'd be trouble if someone accidentally used a local copy instead of shared copy and you had to merge them.
KneesUp
Guru
Just use google. Submit.
We have a calendar at work. I can see it on my linux laptop and android phone. OH can see it on her iPhone and Windows laptop. Any changes either of us make are updated almost instantly.
There are lots of other ways you can do it, but google works and is free.
EDIT - plus you can subscribe to other calendars so I get school holidays for example. And I maintain two calendars (one work, one personal) and that also works well.
We have a calendar at work. I can see it on my linux laptop and android phone. OH can see it on her iPhone and Windows laptop. Any changes either of us make are updated almost instantly.
There are lots of other ways you can do it, but google works and is free.
EDIT - plus you can subscribe to other calendars so I get school holidays for example. And I maintain two calendars (one work, one personal) and that also works well.
