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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 5, 2008 / 5 Elul 5768

PlanPlus Online Now Phone-happy

By Mark Kellner

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Like Diogenes looking for an honest man, I keep searching for organizational tools. Some exciting ones are in the offing, but one deserves a revisit: PlanPlus Online (www.planplusonline.com), which is the digital embodiment of the Franklin Planner made famous a number of years back, now supports mobile devices, and quite nicely.


The Franklin Planner, now published by Franklin Covey Corp., is one of those things you either "get" or you don't. In its paper-based version, the planner will present you with space to map out and record your day: appointments, to-do items, expenses, notes, and so on. By encouraging you to prioritize your "daily task list," based on your own values and goals, the idea is to organize your work into ways that advance your life, not just your list-completion skills.


Many large companies -- Sprint and DuPont are two names that come to mind -- adopted the paper planner in the 1990s, and the volumes remain somewhat popular today. But so much is shifting to digital formats, and the FranklinCovey folks have moved right along with that, just in case you're not into dead trees all that much.


Online, from a desktop computer using a standard Web browser, your screen layout is similar to the printed planner page. There's a place for everything to be inserted; the key difference being that, since we're talking keyboards here, you can probably read what you've written more easily.


On a handheld device (my choice was the Apple iPhone 3G) the format is tailored for the smaller screen. You don't lose much in the way of functionality here, and it's nice to have the convenience of entering items while on the go.


Two nice differences are worth noting. Now, you can set up PlanPlus Online to text message and/or e-mail your daily task list and appointments every day at a pre-set time. Mine is at 7 a.m. The cost is built into the monthly service fee of $25, and it's a nice option, a digital kick-in-the-pants if you will.


The other feature of PlanPlus Online works better, I believe with a desktop or portable computer - not a handheld - and some training. You can customize the back-end of the system to track and monitor just about any business process you might have. Since the company that developed PlanPlus Online with Franklin Covey is into the "CRM," or customer relationship management, space, there's an emphasis on sales processes. You can use these to track prospects, assign them to a team, make sure everyone is doing their part.


But what if your business isn't straight commercial sales, but rather a service or "influencing" business such as public relations or lobbying, let's say. Those are two occupations with plenty of followers in this area, and it would be nice, I'm guessing, to have a way to organize all this.


That's where the customization comes in: with a little training, you can turn that sales form into a lobbying contact tracking system. The data can be exported to a spreadsheet or database for tracking. Records can contain attachments including Microsoft Word documents, photos and other files.


Suddenly, we're not just looking at a time-tracker. Instead, PlanPlus Online is a task manager-cum-content management system, one that could probably work very nicely in a small enterprise. (Multinational firms probably have their own systems in place already.) And, the price seems right.


There really is a sweet spot here: software as a service, or SaaS, with that extra soupcon of customization that brings great value to the end user. In a demo, the process worked flawlessly, and even a non-programmer such as your columnist could get the hang of it with a day or two of instruction.


I'll confess to a 16-year love affair with what is now the FranklinCovey system. This new iteration extends the franchise and might well snag your interest.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.

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