Friday, December 21,2007 @ 8:50pm
First Look: Daylite productivity suite
With the compatibility provided by their new Intel processors, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's secure nature, Macs are slowly making their way into the business sector, replacing their Windows-based counterparts. As businesses adopt the Mac platform, there is a greater need for productivity software, something which Windows computers have no shortage of options. Marketcircle's Daylite Productivity Suite gives users a full-featured business application that allows users to plan and coordinate their work day with others, while integrating Apple Mail's powerful features with projects and contacts.
Daylite Productivity Suite allows you to organize calendars, contacts, organizations, projects, opportunities, groups, tasks, appointments and notes, with custom tags, built-in alarms, and notifications. Daylite is also networkable, allowing multiple users to collaboratively organize their company's workflow. Daylite Mail Integration – the component that completes the Productivity Suite – integrates projects, tasks, and other event types with contacts inside and out of the organization, so customers can be updated on the status of their requests, or management can keep tabs on the status of a project.
Daylite's calendar functions should be familiar to anyone who uses iCal on a regular basis. Calendars can be modified in either daily, weekly, or monthly views, and events are either created by clicking and dragging over the desired time frame and then defining details in the ensuing dialogue box, or by double clicking any space in the calendar field. You can title events, set locations, categories, status of the event, start and end times, time zones, details, alarms, and link related projects or people to it. Repetition of the event can also be set on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
Daylite's calendar tab
Contacts can be imported from the Apple Address Book, or added from within the program, providing three tabs-worth of metadata that can be filled in, from anonymous extra fields, to personal relationships and linking that person to customers or employees or others. Contacts can be grouped and searched through from a few different view types. Organizations work similarly to contacts, offered through an identical window that lets you file entries in whatever way you wish. Groups are simply compilations of contacts, organizations, and tasks that are related in some way, which simplifies overviews of matters at hand.
Projects, opportunities, and tasks are sections that allow you to create overviews for events of different magnitudes. Projects are meant to manage multi-step objectives for individuals or groups, providing a communal area where team members can prioritize items related to the project. Opportunities are similar to projects, but represent business that has yet to materialize, allowing you to determine whether an opportunity is worth taking, all things considered, or if it has been won or lost. Tasks are more simple, representing smaller items that either do not have a particular due date, or are a one-off sort of action that requires no further explanation, such as "Deposit Paycheque" or "Have Storeroom Swept".
Daylite's task tab
Appointments allow you to keep track of times you have set aside for meetings with clients and such. You can browse lists of users to see if they are available on a given day so an appointment can be made. The notes tab can track emails and footnotes regarding events or people.
Daylite's appointments tab
Daylite's notes tab
Daylite Productivity Suite is a full featured office companion that has received praise from the likes of industry tycoons like Leo Laport from G4 TechTV's Call for Help program. Check back soon as we complete an in-depth review for Daylite and the Daylite Mail Integration.