Pint Vs Barrel - Why Order a Barrel when all you need is a Pint!?

If, all you would end up taking is a
“Pint”, why order a “Barrel”?
www.excelsquare.com 1

Let’s begin the Story…
2www.excelsquare.com

Boss
Peers
Your Team
Organization
Other External
Sources
Telephone
E-Mail
Typical Management Issues for Professionals
Tasks accumulate from
many Sources & Channels
in today’s World
Let’s take a look at the typical issues that executives face related to managing their own tasks, in
the corporate world today, across many industries!
My Tasks

Projects are
affected!
Impact of Task Overload
Too many tasks
on one’s plate
Tasks get dropped,
forgotten
No clear picture of how many
tasks are done, how many
pending
Nagging feeling about
Productivity Loss
Wish You had a Simple Tool…

Task Management v/s Process Guidelines
Process
implementation –
for Managing Tasks
and Projects
No standardized
tool
Use of
Sophisticated tools
Sophisticated off-the-
shelf Product
Sophisticated
customized tool
Hybrid approach to
sophisticated tool
Use of Simple toolsCompany could be in any domain
/Industry –
Manufacturing, IT, HealthCare, C
onsulting, Service
Oriented, Government
Agencies...and so on
If we broadly categorize companies based on their process guidelines
towards task management or project management…

Characteristics of Process Implementation Categories
Across these 3 variants of process implementation, let’s see their pain
points and other characteristics as seen in the organizations
Category: “No Standarized Tool”
No set policy or process to manage projects
High risk at
organization level
Severe impact on Schedule,
Effort, Quality of Projects
Project readiness issues
for people
Significant Productivity Loss

Category: Use of a Simple Tool - Characteristics
Category: “Use of a Simple Tool”
Process promotes use of a simple friendly tool
Set framework for managing
tasks/projects
Higher rate of adoption of
the tool
Higher Planning and
Tracking efficiency
When complexity of projects increase, will
need to look at more sophisticated tools
Easy for management to
review

Category: Use of a Sophisticated Tool
www.excelsquare.com 8Years of experience
0-2 years 2-4 years 4-6 years > 6 Years
Introduction of
sophisticated/complex
planning tool
Plan starts
going stale
Direct Introduction of Sophisticated Tool
Usage of
individual’s own
non-standard
templates and
tools increases
Trying to
implement
complex
planning tool
Juniors, Individual
Contributors
Seniors, Individual
Contributors
Leads Senior Leads,
Managers
1
2
3
4
Usagecomplianceoftheplanningtool Scenario -1

Category: Use of a Sophisticated Tool
www.excelsquare.com 9Years of experience
Introduction of
sophisticated/complex
planning tool
Plan starts
going stale
Direct Introduction of Sophisticated Tool
Usage of
individual’s own
non-standard
templates and
tools increases
Trying to
implement
complex
planning tool
Juniors, Individual
Contributors
Seniors, Individual
Contributors
Leads Senior Leads,
Managers
1
2
3
4
Lack of experience with
tool based planning and
tracking for considerable
time creates low comfort
zone and influences
detachment from the
typically complex tool
Scenario -1Usagecomplianceoftheplanningtool

Scenario 1 – Characteristics
A Sophisticated tool is chosen for managing projects, and employees
are exposed to the tool when they move into managerial roles
• Employee exposure to sophisticated tool – direct and
sudden
• Employee gets lost in the sea of features
• Creates motivation issues for using the tool
• Training on the sophisticated tool less effective
• Under utilization of tool
• DROP-OFF Effect on usage of tool
• Process Compliance issues
• Attempt to expose sophisticated tool to juniors leads to
chaos and increases license cost
Scenario -1

Features used
Features not used
Scenario 1 – Feature Usage Sample Scenario -1
Only a small subset
of features utilized
Product Feature Set of
Sophisticated Tool

Introduction of
sophisticated
/complex
planning tool
Hybrid Approach
Introduction of
friendly PM tool
Company continues
supporting use of
the simple tool
Juniors, Individual
Contributors
Seniors, Individual
Contributors
Leads Senior Leads,
Managers
Years of experience
UsagecomplianceoftheplanningtoolCategory: Use of a Sophisticated Tool Scenario -2

Introduction of
sophisticated
/complex
planning tool
Hybrid Approach
Introduction of
friendly PM tool
Company continues
supporting use of
the simple tool
Juniors, Individual
Contributors
Seniors, Individual
Contributors
Leads Senior
Leads, Managers
Years of experience
UsagecomplianceoftheplanningtoolCategory: Use of a Sophisticated Tool
Previous experience with
tool based planning and
tracking for considerable
time creates higher
comfort zone and the
implementation of plan
using even complex tools
becomes fairly successful
Scenario -2

Hybrid Approach – Characteristics
Junior level executives are exposed to task management (and
management of simple projects) via simpler, friendly tools
• Employees exposed to simple and friendly tools for first
3-4 years
• Will work with sophisticated tool after getting a grind in
planning and tracking with simpler tool/s
• Training on the sophisticated tool more effective
• Better ROI for the sophisticated tool due to better
utilization
• Better quality of planning and tracking due to higher
maturity with the tools
• Easier adoption of sophisticated tool
Scenario -2

Features used
Features not used
Hybrid Approach – Feature Usage Scenario -2
Easily learnt & Majority
of features utilized
Simple Tool

Features used
Features not used
Better understanding of the Tool &
better utilization of the Tool Features
Sophisticated Tool

Ideal Scenario
Task tracking and
management of simple
projects using Friendly
Management Tool
Juniors, Individual
Contributors
Seniors, Individual
Contributors
Leads Senior Leads,
Managers
Management of projects using more
Comprehensive Management Tool
0 – 4 Years > 4 Years

Addressing the Issues
Here’s where X-TrackAmaze comes in…as a
simple and friendly tool…
So, What is the way out to resolve some of these pressing issues?
In fact, you would see how X-TrackAmaze evidences the
fact that complex problems don’t always need complex
solutions, rather they often just need….
a stroke of simplicity

Where exactly does X-TrackAmaze fit in?
X-TrackAmaze, as a simple and user-friendly tool can fit in into various scenarios of
implementing planning and tracking tool
In these different scenarios, where does X-TrackAmaze fit in?
X-TrackAmaze
X-TrackAmaze
X-TrackAmaze
X-TrackAmaze
Problem of
many tasks,
many channels

Attractive, color
based interface
Why Would It Work?
Simpler, Intuitive Minimal efforts to
manage plan
Ramp-up time of just a few
minutes!
Great stepping stone
for using complex tools
Already in use by hundreds
of thousands of users!
Works equally well for Juniors and
Seniors

What is in it for the Corporates?
OK, X-TrackAmaze works for the Executives, What’s in it for the
Organization?
Opportunity for implementing Simple Yet Effective Planning
tool across the organization
Lower cost of procurement, lower efforts, higher Productivity
gains and Increase in ROI
With current users reporting gains as high has 25%, total gains
across the organization can be huge!
Perfect stepping stone for juniors
A double advantage since it can be used by executives for
tracking their own individual tasks as well…

Summary – Impact on Stakeholders
Organization
Employees Customers
• Enhances Productivity
• Enables streamlining of tasks
on hand
• Provides motivation
• Organization accumulates benefits from across its employees
• Better efficiency, significant ROI, enhanced productivity,
enhanced process compliance, positive impact on the quality
of deliverables…
• Better quality deliverables to Customers
• Part of efficiency gains may also be
passed on to the Customers that would
help build better relationships and better
business prospects

X-TrackAmaze – A Closer Look

ExcelSquare – Makers of X-TrackAmaze
 Excel Square Tech (referred to as ExcelSquare in this presentation) was started
by a team of professionals that has decades of extensive experience in the
Information Technology Industry
 Team with significant exposure to Product development as well as Custom
services to international clientele across domains like Health Care, Education,
Finance, Logistics, Airlines and many others
 The focus of the team was to bring out high utility tools in the Productivity
Space to the Professional and Education world
 X-TrackAmaze, ExcelSquare’s first launch has seen tremendous response with
over 200,000 downloads from ExcelSquare’s download center, microsoft.com
and other download sites
Goal
Provide simple tools and solutions to the Professional and Education World...
Mantra is...Productivity Through Simplicity
More on ExcelSquare at – www.excelsquare.com

X-TrackAmaze – The Basics
 X-TrackAmaze is a simpler and intuitive project planning and tracking tool
that is built on top of Microsoft Excel
 It provides a template for managing our tasks, activities and project schedules
with utmost ease
 It is designed with simplicity and usability as the primary guiding factors
 It is well suited for Professionals across industries and across experience
levels
 It works on the “Power of 2 letters” – Using just 2 letters for the entire status
management!
 Available in 3 versions* on Windows
– X-TrackAmaze 10 for Microsoft Excel 2010 (32-Bit & 64-Bit)
– X-TrackAmaze 07 for Microsoft Excel 2007
– X-TrackAmaze 03 for Microsoft Excel 2003
 It is developed and brought to you by ExcelSquare
*There would be feature differences between different versions of X-TrackAmaze due to inherent differences
between different Microsoft Excel Versions.

A Quick 30 Second Glance…
Before we jump into getting more glimpses, a quick look at the facts
surrounding X-TrackAmaze
What is it called? X-TrackAmaze, the simpler planning & tracking tool
How many have got this so far? > 200,000 downloads across different versions
Which Industry Users are currently
using this?
Manufacturing, Information Technology, Consulting, Health
Care, Education, Government, Insurance, Finance, Banking
and many more
Where are the current Users from?
USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Mexico, India, China, Singapore,
Australia, South Africa, Dubai…many more
Who are the people who are using
this?
CxO’s, VP’s, Senior Managers, Managers, Process Analysts,
Entrepreneurs, Researchers, junior execs…
What kind of companies are these
Users from?
Small, Medium, Large Corporates
What do you need to use this? Windows OS, Microsoft Excel 2010 / Excel 2007 / Excel 2003
Fact Sheet

Some Glimpses and Features

A few glimpses of the Tool
A View of the Daily Plan

A few glimpses of the Tool
A View of the Daily Plan
In one look it intuitively shows,
through its colour indicators –
-Completed tasks
-Delayed tasks
-Tasks that are on track
-An overall feel of the health of
the Plan
All the indicators are generated
automatically with the help of
just 2 letters
And with a couple of clicks
more, you can –
-See what is the pending tasks
for the day
-Do Status updates
-Extend Plan
-Take a snapshot of say, Today’s
tasks (and may be copy that to your
mobile later)
-Archive completed tasks
-Export the plan to PDF format

A few glimpses...(contd)
A View of the Attributes that can be used in the Daily Plan

A few glimpses...(contd)
A View of the Attributes that can be used in the Daily Plan
Attributes like Category, Priority and
others help in providing different
perspectives for the status of tasks.
With attributes you can
-Generate attribute-wise reports
-Filter attributes and view plan
-Customize the attributes to what is
relevant to your context (e.g. Change
“Priority” to “Department”)
-Manage the plan more efficiently

A few more glimpses...
A View of the Home Page
Home page helps navigate to
different sheets like Daily Plan,
Weekly Plan, Reports…
-Easily, Quickly
-With minimal clicks to move
across worksheets

A few more glimpses...
A View of the Home Page
Home page helps navigate to
different sheets like Daily Plan,
Weekly Plan, Reports…
-Easily, Quickly
-With minimal clicks to move
across worksheets
Shortcuts – For Feedback, Did-You-
Know tips, Help file and About X-
TrackAmaze
- With 1-Click access

A few more glimpses...(contd)
A View of the Dashboard
Graphs showing the overall status
-Bar Chart
-Pie Chart
Graphs are managed automatically
when refreshed

A few more glimpses...(contd)
A View of the Dashboard
Graphs showing the overall status
-Bar Chart
-Pie Chart
Graphs are managed automatically
when refreshed
Dashboard from attribute
perspectives. For example –
-Categorywise Dashboard
-Partywise Dashboard
-Prioritywise Dashboard
-…
Dashboards are managed
automatically when refreshed

A Quick look at some Features
 Extremely intuitive and simple with almost zero learning curve
 Facility to track tasks at daily level and weekly level
 Facility to use the planner for fixed schedule or for recurring tasks
 Automatic management of Status of tasks
 Need to use just 2 letters for managing the status
 Automatic colour indicators for intuitive information display
 A quick, “What are my current pending tasks” view
 Dashboards with built-in instant reports
 Multi-perspective reporting
 Qualitative and Quantitative reporting for quick assessment of the
health of the plan
 Facility to create new reports and graphs
 Facility to export into PDF format and as a snapshot

Features/Attributes Reference...
A Ready Reckoner

And So…

What some of our customers said...
 “X-TrackAmaze 07 is a superb and effortless tool for simple project management. With straightforward
documentation and intuitive information management, X-TrackAmaze 07 easily surpasses the array
of templates, forms and shells people typically use to track routine multi-step tasks and projects. And
all with the familiar excel interface –Brilliant!”
– Mike Ries, Management Consultant
 "The excelsquare template is an impressive tool. Easy to use yet powerful. The dashboard reports are
professional...and they make me look great in meetings with my boss and colleagues! I was
also thoroughly impressed with the email support for my questions after I bought the product. Very
timely responses and helpful, thorough answers. I would recommend to all my colleagues!“
– Patrick Fisher, Director, Product Management
40
 "I've tried several project tracking software packages in the past and have found them to be so
cumbersome (or so expensive) to use that it wasn't worth it. Finally I've found a product that is simple,
user-friendly and a pleasure to use. I've already created a plan to manage several complex projects I'm
working on simultaneously, and it's actually working to keep me organized and on track. And, as if that
wasn't enough, the price can't be beat! Thanks for a wonderful product... An amazing value!“
- Sydney Tyler Thomas, Grace Bay Publishing
www.excelsquare.com

What some of our customers said... (contd)
 "Thanks. This is one of the easiest planning packages I have ever seen. I really like its simplicity”
– Susan Rice, CPO, United Way of Franklin County
41
 "I was looking for a program that would list my tasks and that I could keep up with my entire week.
After about 1 month of using X-TrackAmaze 07, I really wish I had this a long time ago. I accomplish at
least 25% more every day.
– Chris Ingalls, Process Analyst, TBR-Strategies.com
 "I am very impressed with X-TrackAmaze product. Not only is it simple to use, but it also has great built-
in reporting.
I was able to test this product early, on Windows 7. The excelsquare team was able to solve some
issues with running in the Windows 7 beta environment. I never expected them to fix the issue as fast
as they did.
– Rich Russell, Director of Technical Services, Kent Washington School District
www.excelsquare.com

Just to reiterate...
 X-TrackAmaze is...
– Simple, Simple… (and… Simple!)
– Powerful, Pleasant
– Impactful, Intuitive
– Colourful, Compelling
– Efficient, Effective
 And... It helps Enhance the Productivity Significantly!
If we have to summarize about X-TrackAmaze in a few words…

If, all you would end up taking is a
“Pint”, why order a “Barrel”?
Again…The Question is…
more Simplicity...
more Productivity

What Next…
X-TrackAmaze, as a simple and user-friendly tool can fit in into various scenarios of
implementing planning and tracking tool
So, Where do you see X-TrackAmaze can play a role in your world?
X-TrackAmaze
X-TrackAmaze
X-TrackAmaze
X-TrackAmaze
Problem of
many tasks,
many channels
Need this! Will reach out
at
excel@excelsquare.com

Visit www.excelsquare.com to download free trial version of X-TrackAmaze
THANK YOU
You can also see the introduction video of X-TrackAmaze
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFKursFBhL0
45
ExcelSquare
A fully functional trial
version is available
from our download
center

Pint Vs Barrel - Why Order a Barrel when all you need is a Pint!?

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