From: Seth Hollander (sethhollander_at_mac.com)
Date: Mon Mar 31 2003 - 21:38:01 PST
I for one *love* these threads. Not that I have much to add to it, though.
In fact, I'd like indicate one of the main ways in which I use my Newton by asking whether there's a way I might improve upon it. I'm a lawyer at a state public utility commission. I use mainly the calendar and Notes app (I like One Note better). My personal notes can be pretty much anything. From time to time I'll use the outline feature of the notepad to write my cross-examination questions.
Calendaring is a key feature for me, and is made possible by a utility called Caret Pro. Our dockets all follow the same structure, so for example I'll schedule a meeting called "Docket No. 03-01-01 Hearing," and it only takes two taps to write the title. Same with "Docket No. 03-01-01 Briefs."
Here comes the question. Each docket may have from 10 to 20 associated events. And, of course, schedules ALWAYS slip. So while it may be easy to create the schedule for the first time, if the schedule slips and I've got to move 12 remaining events, it's, well, a PITA.
What I currently do is a find on the docket number, using the built-in Find button. What comes back is a list of events. I'll tap the event that needs to be moved, but when I'm done with that one, I've got to do another find, and figure out what remains to be moved.
Is there an add-on that would ease this process? Maybe something that would let me set dates and times for a whole list of items in one swell foop. I could imagine a search result list that is editable, or maybe there's some way to link calendar items with a case, and cobble together some type of case management system out of that.
I was very close to solving the problem using our Lotus Notes database. Our database was designed mostly as a document tracking mechanism, so it wasn't set up for case management from the start. But we've added some basic tools. Our time schedules are Lotus Notes forms, which were only envisioned to be documents that can be retrieved - I had to push to mine that data so that we can create calendars out of the data that's already there. We're just now able to populate the Lotus Notes PIM database from our document database. Unfortunately, the document database replicates itself into the PIM database so the calendar can see the events, but synchronization tools don't see the events (they're looking for an entirely different form).
Synching with the PIM database could have been a solution, because once clerical staff changes the schedule, the changes flow through to the individuals' calendars, and then to the Newton. But since neither Intellisynch nor Lotus EasySynch Pro work, it's very likely that I've been struggling with Cadenza in vain. Our IT guy may be able to solve the problem by writing some agent, but that will take some time.
So, it looks like my best bet is to improve my current system.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks-
-Seth
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