Office guys, Project Managers, Engineers, need help

[Gooch03]

Okay, my boss and I are trying to find meeting minutes software to ease our frustrations. What do you guys use? We have autodesk subcontractor but its a clustercrap and the only one that I like, which he doesn't, is MeetingMix.com

Any suggestions?

 

[HYBRED]

We use pen and paper in our design reviews :shrug:

 

[Jack Burton]

Most places I've audited just type them up in Word and then convert them to a PDF.

 

[D's01Snake]

yeah same here, pen paper and a f-load of typing after a big meeting

 

[Gooch03]

That is exactly what I have been doing all along. My boss is just on my ass about finding a program that tracks what items have been completed and what has not.

 

[Blue Blitz]

You can setup stuff like that in infopath but it's a pain in the ass. You can assign drop downs with completed, dates, etc. We either use that or a formatted sheet in Excel.

 

[KaNolton]

Just type it up and attach a corresponding spreadsheet and when a task is completed update the spreadsheet.

 

[Gooch03]

Just type it up and attach a corresponding spreadsheet and when a task is completed update the spreadsheet.

Exactly what I have done. I have a list of action items that is to be completed from each meeting and I check the box once they are complete. My boss wants one where the completed item will dissappear on its own without me deleting it. It's a lot to ask for, but I have to come up with something before the new guy does.

 

[stangposse]

I've used Primavera's Expedition.

 

[Coiled03]

Okay, my boss and I are trying to find meeting minutes software to ease our frustrations. What do you guys use? We have autodesk subcontractor but its a clustercrap and the only one that I like, which he doesn't, is MeetingMix.com

Any suggestions?

Suggestions? Yeah....learn how to write. I mean seriously, you need software to create meeting minutes? If you can't do it yourself, delegate one person at the meeting to take minutes, and rotate at each meeting if it repeats.

 

[DKS2814V]

Excel? PDF? ...yikes

If you want to get serious about project management, there are several tools out there that you can use. I'm not a certified project manager, but do lots of it in my current role, and was essentially a project engineer...

If you want something that you can use to ensure people's action items are assigned and tracked, you can use:

- "Remedy" (we have a lot of teams around here that use this)
- Quickbase (I'm not a huge fan, but it really is useful)
- Savvion (we bought their software and developed it so items within a given timeline can be worked, approved, and tracked for completion. It's painfully easy, but the email notifications can be cumbersome and annoying.)

They way our company is moving now....we're going to start adapting Microsoft Teamspace for all our projects. I've only got elementary knowledge on it's capabilities, but I did a little research on it a few months ago. Microsoft gives a thorough tutorial on some of things it can do.

From what it sounds like you want. Teamspace will do it, and more. So will Quickbase though.

Hope that helps...

 

[DKS2814V]

Suggestions? Yeah....learn how to write. I mean seriously, you need software to create meeting minutes? If you can't do it yourself, delegate one person at the meeting to take minutes, and rotate at each meeting if it repeats.

It sounds as if they need some way to ensure everyone sees the meeting minutes and then is held accountable to their specific action items.

Agreed, they need clear meeting notes, but unless those people know what they need to do and are accountable, notes are useless.

 

[randyp97svt]

If you have a Webex account, you can have the meeting recorded and a transcription sent to you. But you would need the consent of the team to record.

 

[01SaleenS281]

We implemented Microsoft Office Project Professional for a short time and it's just too much work on a weekly basis. It took me what seemed to be 5 times as long to compile our weekly meeting agenda, schedule, etc. It was determined to be way too much time being invested in updating the information on a weekly basis when considering that the old fashioned pen and paper transferred to a Word and Excel document method would suffice.

Link:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HA101747981033.aspx

 

[Mikeyb619]

Excel? PDF? ...yikes

If you want to get serious about project management, there are several tools out there that you can use. I'm not a certified project manager, but do lots of it in my current role, and was essentially a project engineer...

If you want something that you can use to ensure people's action items are assigned and tracked, you can use:

- "Remedy" (we have a lot of teams around here that use this)
- Quickbase (I'm not a huge fan, but it really is useful)
- Savvion (we bought their software and developed it so items within a given timeline can be worked, approved, and tracked for completion. It's painfully easy, but the email notifications can be cumbersome and annoying.)

They way our company is moving now....we're going to start adapting Microsoft Teamspace for all our projects. I've only got elementary knowledge on it's capabilities, but I did a little research on it a few months ago. Microsoft gives a thorough tutorial on some of things it can do.

From what it sounds like you want. Teamspace will do it, and more. So will Quickbase though.

Hope that helps...

I work in the Federal IT field and we currently using a system called Magic but are actually switching to Remedy within the next few months. It helps a great deal with keeping information and deadlines up to date especially amongst a group of people. We create 'tickets' and 'workorders' depending on the project and complexity of the job. It shows when the job was created, who the job has been assigned to, and how long each person assigned has had the job assigned to them. This is especially helpful when multiple people are working on the same thing. When we outsource the jobs, there is a database that helps us choose where to send them based on if its hardware vs software and then breaks it down specifically to make and model of the device or software in question. This helps to save a lot of time in the "where do we send it?" department lol. The Magic software is also known as BMC Service Desk Express

 

[Gooch03]

I use project professional to make scheduling, two week look aheads, etc.

As far as taking minutes down in meetings I always take them, write in MS Word, convert to PDF and email them to all of the team members. It is a very simple task but what is happening is we have people not following up with their tasks and we want to keep track of what is going on. It isn't a big deal when it is 35 or 40 items but we are talking about 300 to 400 tasks that need to be tracked. If there was software out there that could tell me and everyone on our team in a fast and simple way what still needs to be done or turned in by each vendor then it would make it easier for everyone.

 

[stangin99]

MS Word.

 

[Blue Blitz]

We have an intranet setup through "sharepoint' that we can keep project specific files on. Excel files or infopath forms kept on there and updated throughout the week keep the accountable people up to date on what they need to be working on.

 

[DKS2814V]

I use project professional to make scheduling, two week look aheads, etc.

As far as taking minutes down in meetings I always take them, write in MS Word, convert to PDF and email them to all of the team members. It is a very simple task but what is happening is we have people not following up with their tasks and we want to keep track of what is going on. It isn't a big deal when it is 35 or 40 items but we are talking about 300 to 400 tasks that need to be tracked. If there was software out there that could tell me and everyone on our team in a fast and simple way what still needs to be done or turned in by each vendor then it would make it easier for everyone.

Take a serious look into Quickbase. Our major PMs around here use it, and they use it well. 300-400 tasks is on par with any major project, in various phases of the project life.

Sounds as if you guys don't have a specified PM role, and that someone will have to adopt this role along with their other duties.... Keeping up with all the meeting minutes, the working team members, due dates and keep them on track is a full-time job in and of itself.

 

[SVT4ME]

We write notes during the construction progress meeting. My Admin staff puts into a word doc broken down into major topics ie. completed work, new items, RFI's, change orders, submittals etc...