Q Is it possible to make an appointment for a whole week in just one step?

A Yes, it is. In the repeat section you can select the "Calendar section" to open up the pop-up calendar. Then just double click on the week number and every working day is selected this week.

Q How do I focus on the most important tasks in my daily work?

A TaskTimer has a pre-defined system for prioritising Tasks which makes it possible for you to recognise and focus on the most important tasks in order to reach your goals. Hereby you enjoy improved utilisation of your time.

Q If I change a task or an appointment in a project do I then have to change it in my daily plan as well?

A No, the total integration in TaskTimer between days, weeks, months, tasks and projects means that when you update in one place you update everywhere.

Q In our organisation we always lack information because people communicate in different ways. Can TaskTimer help us?

A Yes, the pre-defined Templates in TaskTimer ensures improved communication as the templates enforce the users to structure their information.

Q How do I move or resize a sub-window (like Daily View) in TaskTimer without a mouse? When I press ALT-SPACE I only get the option to move/resize the main TaskTimer window?

A After you press ALT-SPACE, press the right arrow button. This will give you the system menu for the active sub-window.

Q How can I easily get an overview of my department’s activities?

A With the facilities People overview, Daily, Weekly and Monthly view, the possibility of viewing other people’s plans and of having an unlimited number of views open simultaneously you get a feeling of total information and control.

Q I spend so much time booking meetings. How can I increase efficiency working with TaskTimer?

A A number of facilities in TaskTimer, like Booking, availability of Equipment and Resources, Automatic circulation of agendas and Messaging increase efficiency as no time is wasted on contacting people in order to book meetings, distributing agendas and looking for equipment.

Q In the Address Tab of the People View there is no field for the work fax number. Different people within the same company sometimes have different fax numbers?

A It is possible to change the name of one of the existing fields, for example the Home number, to, for example, "Fax Number". This is done by SYSOP. Alternatively, one of the three "additional telephone number fields" could be used.

Q How can TaskTimer ensure realistic planning and effective management of my business projects?

A With TaskTimer you are given guidelines and structure for a simple, but yet effective model for business project management. This includes clear rules, like who may do what and the possibility to establish uniform and co-ordinated project and plans across departments.

Q How can I achieve increased control with the implementation and progress of my projects?

A By using the Status Task, Status Indicator and Status Automation facilities in TaskTimer you ensure a uniform and structured status reporting on both individual and organisational levels. The facilities enable you to focus on what is important without spending time on all the details.

Q How can I ensure teamwork and a smooth implementation of projects in my department?

A In TaskTimer you can assign a project manager and a project responsible, allowing you to delegate and supervise projects. Thereby, your employees become motivated and feel responsible for the projects.

Q How can I ensure rationalisation and optimal utilisation of the resources in my department?

A The Project Workload views in TaskTimer give a clear overview of the workload and involvement of each individual in the department and thus makes it possible to avoid overloading people or not utilising available resources.

Q People in our project groups always lack information. How can we avoid this with the use of TaskTimer?

A In TaskTimer you can attach Notes, Files and Objects to Projects. Thereby all project members have access to central information and documentation and you get increased group effectiveness.

Q How do I simply create a meeting with my project team?

A Simple. When you create an appointment in TaskTimer, select the Project Team as participants to the meeting. Don't forget to attach an agenda (using TaskTimer templates) and include relevant project information.

Q How do you use Scenarios?

A With the Scenario feature, you can save an unlimited number of TaskTimer "Desktop" layouts. This is a very strong feature if you are dealing with different sets of launched views to provide a certain over view in a certain situation (Scenario).

Q Can you attach OLE documents?

A Yes, in TaskTimer it is possible to attach OLE documents, i.e. an MS-WORD document, to an activity. Any number of OLE documents can be attached to a single activity thereby making it possible to use TaskTimer as a storage for documents.

Q How can you reserve time for preparation of meetings?

A A feature for meeting preparation is included in TaskTimer. You are given the possibility of linking a Standard Task to an Appointment activity, representing the preparation of the meeting. By use of this technique, you can choose any time convenient to prepare the meeting, and you are at all times provided with the full picture of time allocated to a meeting just by one click.

Q How can you see who are working in which companies?

A The classic problem of finding out who is working in a specific company is solved with TaskTimer. In TaskTimer People and Companies are separated as individual items, but linked by the user. By use of the "expand/collapse" technique, a single click will make it possible for the user to see the persons linked to a company or to see the companies linked to a person.

Q How can you handle meeting locations and equipment?

A With TaskTimer meeting locations can be booked and handled separately. For each meeting location, a responsible person can be pointed out. This person will automatically be informed each time the location in question is booked. In connection with booking a meeting, equipment like overhead projectors, TV sets, and video machines can also be linked to each meeting location and automatically be booked at the same time as the location.

Q Can you attach notes to Messages?

A Yes, it is possible to attach a small message when responding to a request. This is a simple, but effective way of giving response to the originator of the request.

Q Can you decide whether a note should be private or public?

A Yes, first of all the possibility of having several notes attached to one activity is available, and secondly, the user can choose for each attached note whether the note should be private or public. I.e., when changing the agenda for a meeting, the agenda will now be redistributed automatically to all people involved in the meeting if the agenda is placed in a public note attached to the meeting.

Q How can data be entered more quickly?

A For quick creation of an Appointment, a Contact Task or a Standard Task, it is possible to type the description on the line in the view without having to open a dialogue. Changing the description of an activity will also be possible directly in the view.

Q How do I handle a damaged TaskTimer database?

A Here are some general guidelines for dealing with database problems:

Error message: "Too many TTS Faults, please re-index the database"

This is not a database error. It simply means that the built-in Transaction Tracking System has too many unfinished transactions. Simply re-index the database and go on working.

Error message: "Missing System Record"

This is an indication of serious damage to the database. If at all possible, restore a backup. If no backup is available:1. Make a copy of the database in its current state2. Run a re-index (it may not succeed)3. If this does not help, please continue to "Other problems"

Other problems

1. Make a copy of the database in its current state.

2. Run a re-index.

  2a. If the re-index fails, copy the database to a local harddisk before performing the re-index. If that works, but it didn't work on the network, carefully study your network connection for problems; See the README.WRI file that comes with TaskTimer.

By the way: It is a lot faster to re-index a database on a local harddisk, so even with moderately sized databases it gives a performance benefit to copy the database to a local harddisk before re-indexing.

3. If the re-index did not solve the problem, it is recommended to restore the backup. When you restore a backup, at least you know what you lost. If you continue with the below steps you may end up with a usable database, but you will have no way of knowing exactly what data has been lost!

4. If you can login to the database, but certain operations fail, try to run the Verify program in TaskTimer (File/Database/Verify).

5. If the problem persists, contact your local Mobipro support representative for further assistance.

If there is no local Mobipro representative in your country, or if they do not sell and support TaskTimer, contact support@mobipro.com for assistance.

Notice that the database you should send to your Mobipro representative should be the copy you created in step 1! Please also prepare a detailed description of the problem and how to reproduce it, in order to speed up recovery.

Two common error messagesThe most common error messages are 0064 and 0065.

0064 is hexadecimal for 100 and means "Disk Read Error". This can occur when there are problems with the network connection or possibly when there is damage to the disk where the database resides.

It may in some cases also occur during Login. This is caused by some inappropriate intelligence in some network drivers and can only be circumvented by trying again a moment later. Versions of TaskTimer later than 3.0x will circumvent the problem by simply asking the network drivers to turn of their "intelligence".

0065 is hexadecimal for 101 and means "Disk Write Error". This is often caused by a disk that has run full or by the user having insufficient access rights to the network.

Q What is ODBC?

A Open database connectivity (ODBC) is an application programming interface (API) enabling different applications to share databases by establishing a common interface. TaskTimer is delivered with a native database that can accommodate up to approximately a 50 users (this is highly dependent on the network and should not be seen as a guarantee). If you need more users, you should run TaskTimer on an ODBC database. Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle 7/8 and Sybase system 10/11 can be used with TaskTimer.

Q I get "Data Stream Error" while docking back to the main database

A Some TaskTimer users, taking advantage of the facility to dock out, have encountered an error messsage about 'Data Stream Error', while docking back to the main database. The following is a description as to why it happens, how it happens and how to react if you encounter this type of error.

Why it happens:Whenever you dock out TaskTimer creates an extra database file called TXXXDOCK.TTW. Unlike other files in TaskTimer, this does not hold nicely ordered sets of data in records. Instead it is a raw data stream which holds memory objects of anything you change or create while docked out. Such a file format is very efficient when processed by the program. The unstructured format, however, also makes it vulnerable. Any damage will in effect make everything in the file after an error useless. And the file can NOT be repaired.

Therefore, when you dock in, data will be transferred back to the main database to the point where an error occurs. Then no more data can be read and you get the message about 'Data Stream Error'.

If you see this error there is no point in working any further with the docked out database. Any changes are added to the end of the TXXXDOCK.TTW file. And that is the part of the file that cannot be transferred back to the main database.

How it happens:If the computer crashes or is otherwise interrupted in an uncontrolled way, you may experience this problem. The write cache scheme used by Windows 95, which is on by default, may fool the database to think the data has been written to the harddisk some time before the actual write takes place. If the computer crashes in the meantime the error occurs. Other write cache schemes may have similar sideeffects. With the write cache disabled the problem should not appear.

What you can do about it:As stated the file cannot be repaired and you will have to abandon the local database. However, you may choose to print your appointments and other relevant information from the docked out system before abandoning it. It can then be entered again manually after you have returned to the main database.

Conclusion:If you get the 'Data Stream Error' while merging a local database to the main database you must abandon the local database and some or all of your modifications made while docked out will be lost. To minimize the risk of this kind of problem you should disable any write cache schemes while using TaskTimer.

Q What is the idea behind the docking feature and how does it work?

A The idea behind the Docking feature is to copy the necessary part of the database onto the laptop’s hard disk, so it can be accessed even when the TTW-user is away from his office.

Before disconnecting his PC from the network, the TTW-user must make a copy of the information he needs. The procedure is called to dock out and the database created by this process is referred to as the local database. After that, he can log off TaskTimer, log off the network and disconnect the PC. While being away from the office, the TTW-user can start TaskTimer and work on the local database. When returning to the office, the TTW-user logs onto TaskTimer, selects the main database and TaskTimer will automatically merge the changes made in the local database back into the main database.

Q How can the import/export facility be used?

A The Import facility can be used to add data to the TaskTimer database. It cannot be used to replace any data. Input is comma separated value (CSV) files with or without a header line indicating the field names. Such files can be produced by most database and spreadsheet applications. The Export facility can be used to copy data from the TaskTimer database onto files which can be processed by other applications. Output is comma separated value (CSV) files with or without a header line indicating the field names.

Q Why is there, by default, a license number called TT6.0-L050-371970028-demo in the File - License Numbers?

A This license number is for demo-users. Whenever you create a demo-user, he/she will be registered with this license number. There is no limit to the number of demo-users you can connect to one demo-license number. Demo-users registered with this demo-license number will be limited to 50 log-ins.

Q The installation of TaskTimer stops at 5%. The set-up program hangs. What do I do?

A This problem has been recognised on a PC with a partly installed virus scanner (dr. Solomon). If such a problem does not disappear after a reboot you should try to re-install any virus-scanner you may have on the PC. You should also try to start Windows with CONTROL-key pressed since this will prevent any start-up programs from starting, thus eliminating the risk of conflicting use of system files.