Or any other feed reader of your choice – Google, Yahoo, Thunderbird, Netvibes, FeedDemon, Krawler[x] and even web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)  is a way for content publishers to make news, blogs, and other content available to subscribers.

Using the Global RSS Feed provided in Deskera, you can get notified of updates across all your projects.

Individual RSS Feeds are also provided for:

1. Individual Project Updates
2. To-Do List Updates for each project
3. Event Updates for each project and
4. Individual Calendar feeds as well

All you need to do is click on the  icon, subscribe directly by selecting your Feed Reader (Microsoft Outlook, Google, Yahoo, etc.) or you can also copy the URI from the address bar and paste it into your reader.

Deskera is the only truly Microsoft Project Compatible project management software available. You can import your existing Microsoft Project plans, collaborate on them and export the updated plan back to Microsoft Project.

Now Deskera allows you to embed your project plan anywhere on the web.

1. Get the embed code from the Export option in Deskera
2. Paste it into your website, blog or any HTML editor
3. You can change the dimensions of the plan to suit the destination

Some of the benefits:

1. Any updates to the plan in Deskera will automatically be reflected
2. Search-as-you-type on your embedded plan
3. View the true Work Breakdown Structure – expand task lists for a complete view
4. View task details on the Gantt Chart as well
5. Give your clients and project stakeholders complete visibility – Accurate project status. Every time.
6. Get feedback on your project plan from colleagues and experts.

Also now you can not only work on your Microsoft Project Plans on the web, but also publish them anywhere on the web. Deskera is definitely the best Microsoft Project Viewer around!

Embed Project Plans – Increase Visibility. Incorporate Feedback. Improve Efficiencies.

What are you waiting for? Sign Up.

We know how Deskera lets you work seamlessly on Microsoft Project on the web. But that’s not all, Deskera offers much more than just Microsoft Project for web.

In this series of posts, we’ll take on Microsoft Project by doing an in-depth head-to-head comparison around what we believe are the primary four decisive factors while looking for a Project Management Software.

• Project Planning
• Collaboration
• Resource Management
• Deployment and Pricing

PROJECT PLANNING

One of the features we love in Microsoft Project is the ability to quickly create tasks, set dates and define dependencies. This can be attributed to chiefly:

• A spreadsheet style data entry interface
• An interactive Gantt chart where you can drag and drop tasks and links

Microsoft Project:

So we went ahead and did exactly the same in Deskera. For existing Microsoft Project users, switching has never been easier. And for the others, this is one of the fastest ways to create plans anyway.

Deskera:

And as Joel Spolsky says: “Good UI designers use consistency intelligently, and, though it may not show off their creativity as well, in the long run it make users happier.”

We’re sure you would agree.

Rest of the Series – Simplicity, Collaboration

Let me take you through the Project Plan in Deskera

The Task Grid lists out all your project tasks along with their duration, dates, predecessors and resources. Now it not only looks like an Excel sheet, but acts like one too. We find it much easier to edit task details in the cells in the classic Excel fashion rather than having to

• Click to open a form
• Find the fields you want to change and then key in the information and finally
• Click to close the form (and some people seem to throw in a confirmation message everywhere just for kicks)

On the right, we have the Gantt chart. An interactive one, you drag and drop tasks and links much like Microsoft Project, but the coolest thing is that it’s truly collaborative, REAL-TIME. Much like Google Docs. We weren’t kidding about combining the best of both worlds.

Now let’s move on to the toolbar:

• New template:Many projects within a company tend to have a set of common tasks, hence the inclusion of templates. Templates not only make it easier to enter the same tasks across projects, but at the same time ensure consistency across projects, making it easier to compare performance. So select those common tasks in the plan and click ‘New Template’, give it a name and you are done.
• Insert Template:To insert tasks from a template into you plan, select a blank row, click ‘Insert Template’  and select the one you want.
• New Task:Adds a blank row in the grid where you can start keying in the information directly
• Indent and Outdent:Indenting a task pushes it to a lower level while outdenting it promotes the task to a higher level. So when you indent a task, it’ll become a ’sub task’ of the task above it and outdenting it would make it a ‘parent’ task of the one below it.
• Show Progress:Displays the progress(% complete) of all the tasks on the Gantt chart.
  
• Overdue Tasks:Highlights only the tasks which are overdue on the Gantt Chart.
  
• Show Priority:Displays the priority level(High/Moderate/Low) of all the tasks
• Show Resources:Displays color-coded resources for all tasks on the Gantt Chart.
• Task Information:You can update and edit task information by clicking here. Update the task’s % completion and attach notes as well.
• Import/Export Plan:Import/export your existing plans from Microsoft Project. Both .mpp and .mpx files are supported.
• Reports:Generate extensive reports on your project’s status. You can generate reports on activities, resources, milestones and you can also track your project costs.

Get your own hands-on experience at demo.deskera.com.

Deskera is an attempt at making life easy for business & office users. As a business user Deskera gives you an integrated desktop that lets you:

• Manage your projects & teams effectively
• Manage your office documents
• Manage your tasks, contacts appointments and calendar schedules
• Connect with your colleagues

Deskera interoperates wonderfully with popular Project Management softwares like Microsoft Project®. It lets you export/import to & from Microsoft Project®.

Could Deskera be your Business Web-Desktop ? We’ll let our users decide.

Deskera is currently available to a select few beta customers open to all for sign up. You can signup here: signup.deskera.com