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Guided Tour (*) • Dashboard Web Help |
THE DASHBOARD OF PROACTIME, PIM SOFTWARE and GTD SOFTWAREThe dashboard collects and displays all needed data to organize one's day and to accomplish the planned tasks of the selected day. It is also possible to enter tasks and sessions (meetings, calls, interviews). But the recommended entry is done elsewhere (see Enter activities).
At its first launch, PROACTIME generates a time space of 800 days. Weekdays adopt type Production. By default, the day's productive hours start at 8 am and end at 6 pm. Weekends are Days off without productive hours. The productive hours are used to calculate the workload on the basis of the estimated duration of the day's activities (1). PROACTIME allows to enter the energy cycles, the daily variation of the energy levels, for a better distribution of one's activities according to their difficulty. They are displayed color codes here (2). The settings of the energy cycles and the time space are done in menu SETTINGS. Click on the third box of the status bar to modify the productive hours of a day and to fix the priority day's goal. Latter will be displayed in the title bar.
The dashboard displays all data entered in the other menus and which are related to the selected day. The day's tasks are listed in the right table (1). Activities planned with date and hour are positionned in the central table (2). They are sessions (appointments, meetings, interviews). You can schedule tasks of the right table by drag&drop on the central table. Scheduled tasks are transformed into sessions for their synchronization with OUTLOOK. Top left table displays the pending projects (3). Select a project by left button click to list its actions in the right table. The left table below shows birthdays of partners (contacts). The reminder starts one week before and is displayed until the birthday. Right button click on a partner opens the context menu in order to display his or her file with all corresponding data (see Resource management).
When you select a task or session (1) all its linked resources are displayed (2). On each left table you can view the linked resources by the help of the context menu (right button click). Thus when you accomplish a task all needed resources will be within reach of your mouse. You link resources when you prepare your activities (see Preparation activities). You still can do so by the help of the context menu on the left tables when you organize your day. PROACTIME, however, recommends to prepare them beforehand and to plan only activities which are executable without any further preparation.
You organize your days by selecting the optimized sequence of your tasks. Some tasks may be under time constraint, executable only at a specific time of the day. Some are interdependent and have to be preceded by other tasks. PROACTIME includes in the context menu of right table the option to define a sequence by drag&drop (1). Some t ime management consultants often advise to start with the most difficult or unpleasant task. PROACTIME, however, recommends to select the path of least resistance and to take into account one's motivation. What is important is to get quickly in motion and on track. Then keep moving, flowing and find your best way amidst unforeseen events to achieve your day's schedule with the appropriate flexibility. The context menu of the right table allows you to proceed by motivation (2). A new option offers the possibility to view the available time space in order to exclude what cannot be accomplished that day. Filters are available. You can select tasks by context. Just choose the corresponding option above. If you assign the degree of difficulty to tasks, you can display them using that filter by a click on one of the five buttons below (1 - 5). Use the context menu to display them all again. Sometimes you may also decide to accomplish easy and short tasks first. Just sort the displayed task by a click on the title Durat. of the right table. Your energy cycles are displayed in the central table as color codes. You can optimize your day's organization in taking into account the difficulties of your tasks and the level of energy needed to accomplish them. On the basis of the task sequence in the right table a window will pop up every five minutes, telling you what the next action will be.
When you launch PROACTIME, a window displays the defered activities (1). You can signal their accomplishment or delete them by the help of the context menu. New planning is also possible by drag&drop on the left table (2) or on central table below (3). The window also enable you to organize your day in selecting the appropriate tasks (4). Click on a project in the top left table to display its actions. The context menu also enables you to determine the sequence of the tasks. You can reopen this window on the dashboard by the help of the corresponding icon above the central table.
Real-time tracking of your activities is a highlight of PROACTIME. You record the duration of a specific task by buttons Start and Stop. You can also interrupt real-time tracking (1). When you do not use the real-time tracking of specific tasks, PROACTIME memorizes the time you invest on the different menus and tabs to organize and prepare your tasks. The name of these activities is displayed in the left box of your status bar (2). This is also the case for task tracked in real-ime. On any menu and tab you can click on the left box of the status bar to stop real-time tracking of a specific task. Menu TOOLS also enables you to track PC applications in real-time (3). Real-time tracking of tasks is not a must. You can just signal the accomplishment of a task here or on other tables by the help of the context menu. The duration you estimated when you entered the task will be saved. By default it is one hour. PROACTIME recommends to proceed by smaller steps of 15 to 30 minutes. The duration you enter is only the time needed to accomplish the task and not that of organizing and preparing it. PROACTIME tells you when you are beyond the alloted duration of a task tracked in real-time. You can select between option to end the task or to continue. The time you invest to enter, prepare and organize your activities corresponds to that spent on each menu and tab. PROACTIME promotes an approach by intervals: phases of managing activities at lower levels of energy alternate with phases of performing specific tasks during cycles of production with a predefined duration. You can view your time accounting here (4) or in menus STAT and QUIT.
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© 2012 PROACTIME |
