| Ocean Digital | email | Jul 25 2014, 10:25 AM |
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I have found two issues with the Tasks section. First, I cannot sort them by priority or status. I can sort by description and date. Im using the network version. I have tried this with two different users on two different computers. This feature used to work when I was trying the demo version. Second, tasks made by one user cannot be seen by the other user. How does a manager or administrator assign a task to someone else or simply share it so that everyone on the network knows what needs to be done? |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Jul 25 2014, 03:06 PM |
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Hi, Please find the answers to your questions below: 1. I cannot sort them by priority or status. I can sort by description and date. Im using the network version. I have tried this with two different users on two different computers. This feature used to work when I was trying the demo version. Unfortunately there was a bug in the initial release of LandlordMax 11.05 and 11.05a that caused the sorting to not work for the Network Edition only for the priority and status of Tasks in some cases. That being said we have done a silent update very recently and if you re-download and re-install the software it will fix this issue. This will of course be rolled up into version 11.05b however until that's released we have included it as a silent update to the existing version. 2. Tasks made by one user cannot be seen by the other user. How does a manager or administrator assign a task to someone else or simply share it so that everyone on the network knows what needs to be done? That's correct. Section 4.9 of the user manual states: "** Important Tip: For the networked system, tasks are specific to a user, they are not shared across all users. Therefore this means that each user has their own list of tasks and can manage them individually." Including a full task management system for multiple people is a full software application in itself. Software solutions that do just this often cost more than the price of LandlordMax. For example Basecamp (https://basecamp.com/) which is considered one of the simplest and easier todo software solutions costs more than most of the Network Editions of LandlordMax (nevermind if you amortize it over a period longer than a year). As such we can provide individual task lists, but once you start to get into managing tasks for others this is beyond what we can offer if we want to keep the software so affordably priced. For this we recommend instead using solutions like Basecamp and so on. Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com |
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| Ocean Digital | email | Jul 25 2014, 03:52 PM |
| Since most other data in LandlordMax is shared between users I'm not sure why sharing tasks would be an additional requirement better met with other software. It seems like an extra step to give each user a personal task list rather than one shared one. But in any case, its somewhere in the manual so now I know. I'll give basecamp a try. | |
| Ocean Digital | email | Jul 25 2014, 04:15 PM |
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Its really too bad about the no shared Tasks. I thought the network version was made so that we could do just that, share tasks and workload. Its the ideal way to communicate with other network users inside the software. Im actually not sure why I have the network version now. I was hoping to coordinate work with my partner using the network version. Further testing during this 30 day period will have to be done. |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Jul 27 2014, 12:24 PM |
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Hi, The Network Edition allows you to work with multiple people on the same data. We do plan on eventually offering some sort of Task sharing but at this time it's not possible. The main issue with Task sharing is that it's not as simple as just sharing Tasks, you also need the ability to manage Tasks. For example I may want to assign a Task to you but at the same time I don't want your co-worker Bob to know or see your Tasks. In some cases I want both you and Bob to know and share Task. In some cases we need to be able to send Tasks to each other. There may also be a history of comments and notes on the Task. So in addition to the Tasks being sometimes visible to some people and not to others, what happens if I assign a Task to you, do I still see it? If I'm your Manager probably, but if let's say Bob sends you a Task that you push on to Jane in Accounting, in this case you may not want Bob to see the results. Maybe Bob is the front desk clerk and should not be able to see the accounting discussion going on behind the scenes. Basically as soon as you start to manage Tasks you get into a whole other realm of software and features. And this is why most solutions that manage Tasks do just this, and often cost a similar price to LandlordMax. As far as I know there is no property management software solution that includes multiple user support along with full Task/Project management included within it that's priced anywhere near our price range. The only solutions I've seen generally start in the $2000-$5000/year and up, at least for the kind of Task Management support you're asking for in addition to full property management functionality. It would be great to offer, just like I'm sure you'd love to offer in-suite laundry, dishwasher, a heated pool, etc. to all your tenants, but in most cases this isn't possible if for example you want to keep the rent amount at say $1000/mth or less. Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com |
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| OD | email | Aug 2 2014, 01:30 PM |
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I realize that Task user permissions can get out of control like you mention and I agree. LLM seems to be for small business and I'm not sure it would be necessary to compartmentalize the tasks as you describe. Everyone working together in a small office generally trust each other and I don't see the need to hide a work task from my associates. In fact, the transparency of a shared list might improve productivity. I would be happy with just one shared list so we can all stay on the same page. Maybe a simple text field for 'assigned to' would solve a lot of what you mentioned. As an individual task list, I don't think its particularly useful in LLM. On OSX the Reminder app works great and syncs on all my devices with pop up notifications. For project management, you're right, this is not designed for that and that is ok. I will probably end up using Asana or Basecamp for projects. I know, I'm breaking balls here but I want to contribute ideas so that the functionality improves over time since I will potentially be using LLM everyday for a long time. |
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| Stephane Grenier | email | Aug 4 2014, 09:35 AM |
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Hi, We looked at exactly what you're describing but we quickly ran into "User" issues. In your office this may work but the thing to remember is that we sell the software to a large number of different businesses and people. As such for many people being able to isolate tasks is critical. For example there may be accounting based tasks that only the owner, accountant, etc. that are very private. For example you may not want the front desk reception person seeing tasks for the accountant, manager, or owner. This can become very problematic. There may even be tasks by the manager for example about other employees that absolutely cannot be seen by others. For example you may have a task setup where you need to fire someone and the tasks is for the work in preparation for this, to get your paperwork, etc. in order. In this case if anyone can see all the tasks this could be very problematic. We are looking at enhancing this in the future however at this time you cannot access tasks for other people. I understand that it would work in your environment but again we cater to a large number of different companies and people, and from what we've seen through our beta testing as well analysis is that it's more important to a larger number of people to be able to have private tasks than having all tasks as global. If you want to manage tasks like you're describing there are a number of other solutions that do just this and do it quite effectively. There is nothing wrong with using more than one software solution to manage your operations, you're already doing that now. For example you probably use Microsoft Word to write all your documents. It would be nice to incorporate it into your property management software but you do use Word outside of the software. Similarly you use a web browser to view web pages on the internet, a program to send/view emails, and so on. Although it's nice to have everything in one solution this isn't always possible, and in some cases it's actually better to separate out the tasks, especially if you want more advanced functionality. Otherwise one solution that incorporated everything in one package would be extremely expensive! Regards, Stephan Grenier Founder LandlordMax Software Inc. http://www.LandlordMax.com http://www.FollowSteph.com |
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