Task Manager

[Fred]

Why is the Task Manager tool absent from Groove 2007? My assumption is that
it competes with MS Project, although it is such a "light" version it doesn't
really pose that much threat, does it?

Anyway, what if I create a Task Manager tab in Groove 3.1 - will v7 users be
able to access and use the tool, or is there really some incompatibility?

 

[Mason]

Hi,

Groove 2007 will remove some unstable tools including Task Manager. In the
future, new form based tool will provide user more flexibility and
customization to end users. That's a trend.

 

[Fred]

Sounds good, but we really need a method for assigning and tracking tasks in
multiple projects now. I use 3.1 on my PCs with a Task tool in full swing,
but our new folks can only get and use the 2007 beta. What can we do in this
mixed environment today?

 

[Emily]

The tool Task Manager is no longer available for adding to new or existing
workspaces.
Instances of these tools in existing workspaces will continue to function in
Groove 2007.

If you want to manage Tasks in Groove 2007, I recommend you to use the
TeamDirection Project tool which is a strong tool and you can sync it with
Microsoft Project.

Note: The new version of TeamDirection Project tool for Groove 2007 is not
available. It will be ready with the RTM version of Groove 2007. Thanks for
your understanding.

related website: http://www.teamdirection.com

 

[John Milan]

Hi Fred,

Allow me to jump in here. I'm from TeamDirection and we did the Groove
Project Edition back in the day. Going forward, we are improving
TeamDirection Project so it will work with tasks from Groove and SharePoint.

But if you really need a Groove 2007 task list today, you can use ours found
here:

http://www.teamdirection.com/tdweb/products/solutions.php

When our Groove product is released, it will in fact work with the above
task list.

Best Regards,

John Milan
TeamDirection
intelligantt.blogspot.com

 

[Fred]

Emily, let me verify something you said - I have excerpted below:

Instances of these tools in existing workspaces will continue to function in
Groove 2007.

So, if I create a Task Manager tool in a new workspace using Groove 3.1, any
v7 beta users in the workspace will be able to successfully use the tool now.
AND, when I upgrade to v7 myself, I will not lose the tool, but "inherit" it
from the other users. If that's true, I may just keep one of my lesser-used
computers running 3.1 indefinitely for the purpose of launching "abandoned"
tools

 

[Fred]

Thanks, John. Along with Emily's suggestion I have been looking at the Team
Direction site. Since I am using Groove 3.1 and don't want to switch to 7
till it is released, and our new folks are having to use 7 beta since 3.1 is
no longer available, we are in this mixed environment for a while. So
anything specifically for v7 doesn't look like I can use it in 3.1 (I get
error messages when trying to install).

My question is, if I purchase and install Team Direction Project for 3.X,
will it work today in v7? And when all of us are finally in v7 is there an
upgrade path to the v7-specific Team Direction tool?

Perhaps I should just launch a v3.1 Task Manager tool as Emily suggests and
run with that for now since it appears that it will work in the mixed
environment - then look into Team Direction once Groove v7 is officially
released.

 

[John Milan]

Let me try repeat the questions and provide answers

1) Can any Groove 2007 tool run in Groove 3.x

No.

2) Can any Groove 3.x tool run in Groove 2007?

No 3rd party tools from Groove 3.x can run in Groove 2007. Groove 3.x tools
*can* run in Groove 2007, but they do so by running in a Groove 3.x sandbox
within the Groove 2007 environment. Because of this, a Groove 2007 user
cannot add tools to a sandboxed Groove 3.x workspace. Your strategy of
keeping a Groove 3.x client handy for particular tools will only work as long
as Groove 3.x sandboxes are supported going forward.

3) What about TeamDirection Project?

Microsoft and TeamDirection will provide an upgrade path for TeamDirection
Project since so many people bought Groove Project Edition. In fact, we are
even contractually obligated (MS and TeamDirection). The next technical
refresh of the Groove 2007 Beta should contain 1/2 of the upgrade solution,
then TeamDirection will release Project which will complete the upgrade
solution.

Before we release, of course, we will have a beta too, to make sure the user
experience continues to be excellent.

4) If I purchase TeamDirection Project for Groove 3.x today, what does the
upgrade path look like?

If you purchase TeamDirection Project from our site, we will honor that
license for TeamDirection Project's next release (the Groove 2007 and
SharePoint 2007 compantible version). The upgrade path itself would entail:

Upgrading Groove 3.x to Groove 2007
(When you upgrade Groove, all your workspaces with TeamDirection Project
will export their Project data.)
Installing TeamDirection Project 3.0 (I think is the release name).
(When you install TDP 3.0, it will find all the exported Project data.)

The end result: Groove 2007 and a desktop TeamDirection Project application
that contains a nice, organized list of Projects you can open and synchronize
with Groove (and SharePoint).

I apologize for the long post, but I suspect you may not be the only one
with these questions.

Best Regards,

John Milan
TeamDirection
intelligantt.blogspot.com