Just in time for iPad 2: SmartPlans 2 for iPad!

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For almost two years, SmartPlans has been the most popular project and task planner for the iPhone. Now it is available for iPad – and now you can synchronize your tasks with Toodledo, the online task list. That means you can share your SmartPlans Tasks and Projects with our other apps including SmartCal for iPhone and SmartPad for iPad.

Welcome to SmartPlans 2.0

An integrated Project, Task and Time Manager for iPad and iPhone

Available on the iTunes App Store mid-March!

Contents

Key Features of SmartPlans 2.0

  • Task Lists with Nested Tasks– Drag a task onto any other task to create a Group.
  • Two types of Projects– Free Style (simple task list or check list)- Structured Project (with hierarchies, targets, reporting)
  • Log the Time of any task or call using the Time Logger– Multi-task by timing multiple items- Pause and re-start items, as your day unfolds
  • Managing Multiple Plans with the Interactive GANTT view– Move, resize, and revise individual projects and plans in a timeline view- Manage your work week by comparing project durations with your work week hours
  • View and Report your Progress– View completion summaries of each task in your project, against plan- Export summaries in PNG (visual chart) and CSV (spreadsheet) and email to anyone
  • Manage your Goals and Contexts– Assign up to six goals/contexts to any Project or Task- Track how you spend time each week compared to your goals

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SmartPlans Basics

Projects are made up of Tasks.

  • Create new Projects simply by tapping the “Quick Add Plan” button and writing in the name of a Project.
  • Select that Project and you’ll see a Task List on the left side.
  • Create new Tasks for that Project just by selecting “Quick Add Task” button and writing in the name of a Task.

That’s pretty much it. Oh. Three more things.

  • Tap on the “Timer” button on the bottom menu bar to track the time you spend on a task.
  • Select which Project you wish to see by tapping on the “Projects” button.
  • Flip your iPhone or iPad sideways to manage multiple Projects with your fingertips.

It’s pretty intuitive. Just tap on the Project called “Quick Start Guide” and you are off and you’re off and running.

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Manage your Tasks

Manage your Tasks by creating a simple Task List

In the main view, Projects are on the right and Tasks are on the left. Select any Project on the right, to see its Tasks on the left.

  1. Create a new Task List by tapping on the “Quick Add Plan” button and typing in a name. For example, “Honey Do’s.”
  2. Tap “Done” on your Keyboard
  3. The “Project Edit” window will pop up (we call then “Projects” but you can use it as a Task List.)
  4. Here you can choose the Color of your Task List. You can also select the Context. See “Contexts” for more info.
  5. Select “Free Style.” Free Style plans are just simple Task Lists and do not appear in the Project Manager. For more info, see “Plans Manager.”
  6. On the left side, just start adding Tasks to your List – simple!

Nest Tasks inside each other (Sub-tasks)

You can create sub-tasks easily by dragging one task on top of another.

  1. Select the task that you want to drag onto another.
  2. Drag it with your fingertip until the other task enlarges slightly.
  3. You will see a confirmation dialog, shown below.

Example: Drag “Roses” on top of “Make list of favorites”

Productivity Tip:

You can expand and contract Nested Tasks by tapping on the triangle on the left side.

Productivity Tip #2

You can change the order of Tasks, and Groups of Tasks, by dragging them up and down the list with your fingertip.

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Create and Manage a Project Plan

Topics:

Manage a Project by creating a Structured Plan

To create a new structured Plan, just type in a name at the top of the Project List section, then press “Done” on your keyboard.

This pops up the “Project Edit” window. Be sure that “Project” is selected at the top. (If you select “Free Style” then you will just have a simple Task List. For more on this, tap on “Manage Your Tasks” in this Guide.

A Few Key Estimates

In the “Project Edit” window shown above, you can enter information about your Project. This is very important because it delivers information to SmartPlans so that it can help you to manage your progress not only for individual Projects, but also for multiple Projects. You can go back and edit these at any time.

  1. Start
    The default start date is today, but the Project does not actually “start” until you begin Timing your first Task.You can set a start date in the future. You can also go to the Planner View (flip your iPhone or iPad sideways) and adjust the start date by dragging the Project bar along the time line.Note: Once you have started the first Task in your Project, you can no longer adjust the Start date.
  2. Estimated Hours
    Just make a rough guess about how long you think the Project Plan will take. You can always change this later.Note: SmartPlans automatically creates a new task called “TBD Task”. The duration of this Task is equal to the total estimated hours that you input here. This “TBD Task” is just a place holder. As you later add Tasks to your Project, the duration of this “TBD Task” will decease accordingly. For example, if you add a Task that you estimate will take you 10 hours, then the duration of your TBD Task will decrease from 80 to 70. See below.
    Before 

    After adding a 10-hour Task

  3. Work Balance
    How many hours per week would you like to spend on this Project? Based upon this, SmartPlans can calculate how many weeks of work your Project will take, based upon the total number of hours and the number of hours per week that you wish to spend working on it. Handy!Note: After you fill out (1) and (2), you will see an estimate of the number of Weeks that your Planned Project will take. You can adjust the number of Weeks by changing the Estimated Hours or the Work Balance. You can also do this visually, with your finger-tips, on the interactive Gantt chart. See “Plans Manager” in this Guide.
  4. Deadline
    Do you have a fixed Deadline for this Project? If so, select “Pin” from the Deadline Dialogue box, and key in your Deadline. This “Pins” the end-date of your Project to a specific date in time-line of the interactive Gantt chart. Default is Un-Pin, which allows you to adjust the Start, End, and Work Balance graphically in context with all your other Projects, as shown in the next section “Plans Manager.”
  5. Context
    It is very helpful to select a Context for your Project. That way, by default all new Tasks that you create within this Project are assigned that Context. You can also assign Contexts to individual Tasks. For more detail, see the “Contexts” section of this Guide.

Add Tasks to your Plan

Just tap on the “Quick Add Task” field to create new tasks. Write in a name, then tap

“Done” on your keyboard.

After you tap “Done” on your keyboard, a Task Detail window pops up. Estimate the Duration. If necessary, you can also change the Context so that it is different than the Project default. (For more info see “Contexts” in this Guide.)

Now Do, Time, and Complete your Tasks!

Just use the Timer to log the time you spend on each Task, and mark them Done when you are finished.

Monitor your Progress

As you complete individual Tasks in your Project Plan, you can monitor your progress at a glance:

In the picture above, each Project is represented by a Box with key information:

  • Start and End dates
  • % Complete
  • Time to Complete

How to Read:

  • In the Project called “Quick Start Guide,” you are 15% complete but you are slightly more than half way to the suggested end date. That means you are behind schedule.
  • In the Project called “Great American Novel,” you are 75% complete but are only about 1/8 of the way into the time that you planned. That means you are far ahead of schedule. Congratulations!
  • In the Project called “Software Development Project,” you appear to be right on schedule. Excellent planning!
  • The Project called “Check List” is just a basic Task List (you selected “Free Style” when you created this Project).

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Manage Your Plans

Flip your iPhone or iPad sideways to see the Interactive Gantt timeline. This is your control panel for managing the complexity of multiple plans from one simple touch screen.

In the above example, your Project Plans are bunched up too much and that means you will be spending more than 40 hours per week on Projects. Is that what you want? If so, you can increase or decrease your total Work Balance in Settings.

There are two ways to achieve a balance of Work and Projects. To do both, just tap any Project to select it. An information panel will drop down to show you the detail of the selected Project Plan:

 

Then, with the Project selected, do one of the following:

  1. Drag it left or right to move it to an “open space” in your schedule. Notice how its related Work Balance color changes as you move it left or right.
  2. Or, grab one of the two ends of the Project “bar-bell” to lengthen or shorten it. This automatically increases or decreases the number of hours per week that you would spend on the Project.

Use these two tools to get full control over which Projects you do when, and for how long. It’s a quick and easy way to lay out a Week, Month, or even an entire Year.

The next two pictures illustrate the results of moving or re-sizing Project Plans. Notice how the Work Balance changes.

In the first one, I simply moved my “Software #2” Project to start a bit later – but I also shortened the time frame of my Photography Project. That created a Work Balance overload in March.

 

In the next picture, by moving the Photography project and also lengthening the duration, as well as lengthening the duration of “Great American Novel”, I was able to achieve a more balanced Work schedule.

 

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Manage your Contexts, Balance your Life

It’s good to balance your Workload evenly, week after week. But what about your Life Balance? How much of your time are you spending on Work, Family, your Spouse or Partner, your Self, on being with other people (Social), and on your Community? How much would you like to spend on each?

SmartPlans enables automatic tracking of your Life Balance through the use of Contexts. In Settings, go to Contexts where you will see the Six Life Balance contexts. you can change the names of any of these.

Set Your Goals

Then, flip your iPhone or iPad sideways and on the top toggle, select “Context”. This will show you the Context view. To set Goals for each of your Contexts, select a Context then move the slider bar up or down to adjust the relative amount of your time that you would like to spend on each Context.

 

Track Your Goals

When you create a new Project, assign one of the six Contexts to that Project. By default, all new Tasks that you create within that Project Plan will be associated with that Context. You can also change the Context of any individual Task.

Compare to Plan

As you use the Timer to time your Tasks, SmartPlans automatically keeps track of how much time you spend on each of the Contexts – regardless of which Projects Plans they belong to. You can compare how you actually spend your time, with how you want to spend your time.

 

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Log Your Time

The Timer is one of the most important features of SmartPlans. The Timer is what tracks progress of each of your Projects, as well as your Contexts. The Timer also allows you to log calls so you can keep track and bill customers. Get into the habit of using this for each and every Task that you work on – just tap the “Timer” button a the bottom of your screen.

The Timer has several handy features:

Activate Anywhere, Anytime

You can activate the Timer from anywhere in SmartPlans. This is handy if you happen to get a phone call and need to just get started timing right away. Here are the three scenarios for activating the Timer:

  • Select “Timer”and GoIf you are in a hurry, just tap the “Timer” button at the bottom of the screen, then hit the “Start.” The Timer will automatically create a new Task called “New Item” and it will automatically assign the default Project to that Task. You can change the name and the associated Project later.
  • Select a Project Plan and GoIf you are working on a Project but don’t know what you want to call the Task, just select the Project box from your main view, then tap the “Timer” button. SmartPlans automatically creates a new Task called “New Item” and assigns it to that Project.
  • Select a Task and GoYou can also log the time of any specific Task that is already in your list. Just select the Task to highlight it, tap on the “Timer” button at the bottom of the screen, then tap “Start.” It will start timing your chosen Task.

Time, Pause, Resume, Multi-Task

  • You can Pause the Timing of any Task just by selecting the “Pause” button.
  • You can Resume the Timing of any Task just by selecting the “Play” button.
  • You can time multiple items a the same time.
  • You can mark a timed Task as “Done” by selecting the “Stop” button.

“Recover” Feature: Interrupted? No problem

What happens if you are in the middle of task and you have to close your iPad and run? That’s easy. As long as you close SmartPlans (by tapping on the “Home” button on your iPhone or iPad), the next time you open SmartPlans, you will be presented with a pop-up dialog.

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Report, Export, Backup

You can view a graphical summary of when you completed each Task in a Project. Just select the Project and tap on the “Reports” icon:

Save It

Tap “Save Snapshot” to save it as a picture in your iPhone or iPad photo gallery.

Export It

Tap on the “Export to CSV” button to save the report as a CSV-format file. It is automatically attached to an email which you can then send your self. A CSV-format file can be imported into most spreadsheets. The email also contains a snapshot of the report:

Back It Up

Just tap on the Settings button on the main screen, then select General -> Database -> Backup. This enables you to send yourself an email with your database attached. You can then restore the database simply by tapping on the hyperlink in the email – as long as it is in your iPhone or iPad’s Mail program.

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Synchronize

Now you can connect to Toodledo, the free online task list – and from there, you can share your Tasks and Projects with other apps including our own SmartCal planner for iPhone and SmartPad organizer for iPad.

Just go to Settings -> Synchronization to register your Toodledo account name and password. If you do not already have a Toodledo account, just tap on the link to sign up.

Now, from the main screen, tap on the “Synchronize” button each time you want to sync. That’s it!

Notes about Synchronization:

  1. SmartPlans automatically syncs all Projects, and all Tasks, with Toodledo. In Toodledo, Projects are called “Folders.”
  2. If you already have Folders with Tasks in your Toodledo account, those will automatically be synchronized over to SmartPad. Some people may find this useful. Or, you may find it helpful to keep your Projects separate from your other ToDo’s by creating a separate Toodledo account.
  3. Task and Project information is not transferred over to Toodledo – only the Task name and Duration.
  4. You can share your Tasks, and your Projects, with our own SmartPad and SmartCal if you also sync those apps to your Toodledo account. Again, Task and Project information is not transferred.
  5. You can share Task and Project information between SmartPlans on your iPhone and SmartPlans on your iPad. There are two ways to do this. Sync them via Toodledo, or import/export via Backup.
    • Syncing via Toodledo will lose all information such as Timer status of each Task.
    • If you Backup your database from your iPhone then restore it to your iPad, you will be able to retain all information such as Task and Project information, timer status, and reports.

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