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Welcome
I would like to welcome you to this issue of Fundamental FOrum, the newsletter for Fundamental Objects. We like to use this newsletter to communicate where we are going as a company and also to offer useful tips in our areas of expertise. I am pleased to say that this issue includes articles on handheld device developments from the noted author, Francis Rabuck and an article describing our new toolset foPM, by our Senior Project Manager, Bo Parke.
 Last fall was exciting for us. We started to release our foPM* project management tools at the Philadelphia PMI conference in October. foPM is a methodology as well as a supporting toolset that spans web, client/server and handheld platform development (see foPM on our site for more on this topic). Our web page has a new look and we are now adding additional training in the areas of handheld devices and project management. We welcome any comments that you may have to improve this newsletter and to focus it more on your needs. Please feel free to submit requests or ideas through the links at the bottom of this page; where you will also find removal and subscription information. Thank you for reading, 
Bill Shadish, Principal |
Mobile Directions
Have you been watching the wave of handheld computing devices hitting the market? Are you part of the explosive growth of new digital cellular phones? I suspect that a large majority of the population that deals with managing people, projects and time have explored or purchased one of these handheld computers to use as a PIM (Personal Information Manager). At FO, we believe in many Fundamental, simple principles and one of the core changes we expect to see in the next few years is a shift in mindset towards these "Personal" information computing devices becoming "Project" management devices and enterprise tools.
The current purpose of most of these devices was to act as a dynamic replacement for the filofax, or leather bound contact and date books. This was all personal information. You probably experienced this gathering of personal information on either paper or one of these new handhelds, during the course of your workday. You probably met new people that affected your projects and collected their name and address. You recorded key dates and meetings for your projects extensively on calendar pages. You kept notes on projects and key facts, recorded follow-up to do activities, and maybe even gathered data related to your project like activity completion progress. All of this information was so critical that many people described their little black organizer books as "their life". Well it’s time to get a life and recognize the obvious, you’re really managing your projects and organization – not your personal information. Recognize and accept this fact and you may ask yourself is this really the best way to organize my projects? Is a project really a collection of names, to do lists, calendars and memos? I hope not. Organizing your information in one place doesn’t mean you’ve organized your project. Most of your projects are organized at the desktop using a computerized project management tool like Microsoft Project. Wouldn’t it be nice to carry your projects on your handheld device? You can - and at The Project Management Conference this month, Fundamental Objects will be demonstrating how to manage your projects at your fingertips on handheld devices. We’ve developed an approach to palmtop project management and along with our training and tools are helping organizations learn how to better control their projects using these powerful devices. With the push of a button you can have two way synchronization of your collection of projects on the desktop with Microsoft Project and in your hand on the Palm Computer (Note other project management tools and handheld devices are also possible). This is just the beginning of our shift from Personal to Project – Information Management. We’ll also be showing on the floor the ability to do rapid survey and data collection, carry full books of information and even how we are doing custom development of applications that include signature capture, bar coding, custom forms, and communications. Too often we don’t notice changes occurring, especially when we are part of the change. Many experts predict that the next Internet wave will be the explosion of these new handheld devices. Even e-commerce on these devices is expected to surpass the more traditional e-commerce volume on desktop PCs. There are three key market factors that will make this Internet Appliance World a reality within the next few years. I’ll be covering these factors in the next few newsletters. These ideas of using handheld devices to help with Project Management fit well with our theme of …"Smaller, Faster, Better". Watch this column for more updates on what’s coming in the mobile world of tomorrow and how it will affect the way you manage your projects. Even better - stop by our booth and see what’s happening today! Francis (Fran) Rabuck is a Senior Consultant with FO and has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry managing a diverse portfolio of projects in various industries and emerging technologies. His current focus is on mobile technologies and how they integrate into current enterprise architectures. He also is one of the few Lotus Professionals fully certified at the Principal level for Lotus Domino for both System Administration and Development (R3, R4, R5), and one of a very select group trained and specializing in the new Domino Workflow products. Pilot News and Information (Good Palm-Pilot Lists and Links) Newsgroups =========== comp.sys.handhelds alt.comp.sys.palmtops alt.comp.sys.palmtops.pilot comp.sys.palmtops Web Sites ========= http://www.palm.com/devzone/ http://www.palm.com/pilotlinks.html Mailing List ========== This is a mailing list of information about Palm and Palm's handheld units. To request a copy of the help file associated to this list, send an email to palm-dev-forum@3com.com and put "help" in the subject. |
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About foPM Written by Bo Parke Have you ever taken a trip without a roadmap? If you are traveling a short distance you can probably afford to make a few wrong turns and still arrive at your destination safely, but if your taking a long trip or a trip with many turns, you better have a roadmap or you will ultimately get lost. Every Project Manager knows that taking a few wrong turns when leading a project can be an expensive and dangerous pitfall. To keep projects on track, foPM provides the "roadmap" to success that every project manager needs. foPM offers a unique combination of cutting edge tools and a "flexible" methodology that enables the Project Manager to deliver projects on time, within budget and with the quality that every client strives for. Best of all, foPM is very easy to use. Way too often, Project Management is not used or followed up on in organizations because the toolset is too cumbersome to use. foPM allows the Project Manager to retrieve the necessary project information without being bombarded with details until they are needed. This is accomplished through the "Project Roadmap" feature that allows the Project Manager to "build" the components of the project that pertain to the project at hand. It is no secret that a good Project Manager is the most important tool for successfully delivering a complex project, but even the most knowledgeable manager needs more than experience and gut feelings to bring intricate projects to a successful completion. |
In the first quarter, we released foWorkOrder; a Work Order management tool for contractors and inspectors.foWorkOrder is an ecasys add-in module, that allows you to track a workorder, right through the customers' home, taking notes along the way. You can draw on a graphic of the home, to show where changes were made and even obtain the customer's signature on the work done, right on the Palm device itself. Information collected is sychronized right into the ecasys database, reducing typing redundancies and errors. |
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New Directions… We’ve made some changes to our process, to allow us to focus more on the consulting aspects of handheld development. We have enhanced our physical palm-based toolset using 3rd party tools and will increase our concentration on the project management portions of our implementations. This helps to reduce overall project costs as well as allowing us to do what we do best --- assist with PM palm-based project management. With this in mind, here are the additional portions of palm development that we now offer. Consulting on Handheld Computing We help with the:
Training Options We offer training and initial support of Palm deployment. We can customize the course to your audience, with the standard topics in our basic course to be covered including:
The use of a Palm device by a project manager is a trend that we see as rapidly evolving over the next few years. The ability to carry almost all project knowledge in a handheld device and have all of your projects "at your fingertips" provides the potential for massive improvements in communication, execution and management of projects. We have found that focusing only on the Palm device itself is doomed to startup problems. Like all projects, deployment requires planning and training. We also help to integrate the palm applications into your existing system architecture. See our site (http://www.fo.com) for more information. Joe Barnes is the New Business Manager, for Fundamental Objects, specializing in large-scale infrastructure and software development projects. His specialties include Windows NT, Visual Basic, Lotus Notes and internet development. Joe can be reached at joeb@fo.com. |
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