schedule

Easy Shift Scheduler offers users a program to help keep the dizzying statistics of the workweek in check. This Excel Spreadsheet appears to offer everything an employer could want, but the trial version makes it hard to know for certain.

The program is a colorfully designed spreadsheet with a large number of tabs across the bottom to provide you with all the different angles needed to manage employees' time cards. With 11 screens dedicated to employees, scheduling, shifts, and total hours, users can manually fill in the upcoming schedules of up to 25 employees. We imagine the most useful tab … Read more

Power Notes provides a way of taking digital notes that could meet the needs of all users. While its features are great, some users may grow dislike the program's design.

With basic icons outlining its options for creating new notes and organizing, users will find Power Notes' interface to be pleasing at first. However, creating a note offers a confusing collection of options and sidetracks that might not appeal to all users. Fortunately, the program also offers a Quick Note option that cuts to the basics of note-creation. The online Help file offers a clearer definition of how to … Read more

Designed for church personnel, this complex program offers the tools to help you create and manage church schedules. Because of the various events, people, and other things it tracks, setup may take some time, and less experienced users might be overwhelmed by the program's busy interface. We also found some problems for those running Vista on their computers.

The program's main interface is busy and little has been done to dress up this database-driven program. On first run, a menu gives you the option of creating a new file with or without the help of a wizard. Some … Read more

I'm a Google Calendar user. It's easy to use. And for the most part, it helps keep the schedules of individual users organized. But one of its shortcomings is in scheduling meetings. In my experience, it just isn't nearly as advanced as it should be when it comes to things like arranging meetings among a group of people in various time slots. And unfortunately, the same goes for Yahoo Calendar and Microsoft's Live Calendar.

So I've decided to venture out in search of online applications for scheduling. Some are better than others, but many are worth trying out.

Calendarfly: Calendarfly is designed for schools, small organizations, or families. After you register with Calendarfly, you're immediately brought to a cluttered page that's difficult to understand, at first. But after a while, you'll get used to it.

When you start adding events to your calendar, Calendarfly lets you share them with others. Parents can also have their child's events added to their own calendar in a different color, keeping them apprised of what's going on in their child's life. Calendarfly lets you input the location of the event you're planning, thanks to its new geo-coding feature. It can be a little buggy, but it usually works well. If you're a teacher, parent, or coach, Calendarfly isn't a bad scheduling option.

Divvy: Divvy isn't your typical scheduling tool. In fact, it's designed to help you make more money in your business. But its scheduling tool is really handy. When you want to create an appointment, the tool brings you to a simple input page that lets you pick the time, as well as add a description and a title.

If you're operating a business, you can also input how much the appointment will cost. Thanks to Divvy's vanity URLs, you can direct people to your personal Divvy page, giving them full access to your appointment availability. They can then schedule a time on your page in seconds. It works well.

Genbook: Genbook, similar to Divvy, is designed for small businesses that want to streamline their scheduling. The tool first requires you to input your business information. From there, you can list your services and input on the app's calendar when you'll be available.

Creating appointments is made easy with the site's appointment tool. But my favorite feature is Genbook's Customers module, which automatically saves pertinent customer information whenever one signs up for an appointment. It displays the customer's name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. It's really helpful. Genbook comes in three versions--Free, Solo ($19.95 per month), and Standard ($39.95 per month).… Read more

Bills and Reminders offers users a way to keep track of their bills and debts with a program aimed at those who may forget to pay. While the navigation of the program is a little rocky at first, users will find a competent program that is short on frills.

This program might instantly overwhelm users, as the main screen is composed of a confusing number of spreadsheet-like rows and columns, along with added boxes in a rainbow of colors. Fortunately, users are prompted to go to the product's Web site and take a tutorial to ease any confusion. The … Read more

Ncome and Xpense is a program to monitor all finances in order to balance your household budget. You'll need to spend a little time mastering its overwhelming interface, but it's worth the time and effort.

This program's interface is initially a shock to the system. Users are ushered into a screen full of rows and columns, boxes and color-coded categories that are certain to result in a few head scratches. Luckily, the program's online Help file will explain the layout and hopefully result in an ability to navigate the intricately organized program. Once we familiarized ourselves … Read more

Keeping dates and times straight is a necessity in today's overbooked world. Cotton Calendar claims to be a dynamic program to help users get themselves organized, but it falls flat on nearly every promise it makes.

This program looks about as simple as a calendar can. It features a small month-view calendar with some simple buttons along the top. Users can cycle through the months and year by using these buttons, but they are very confusing. The monthly view of the calendar is disappointing because users cannot intuitively click on a day and add a note. While we acknowledge … Read more

Lets Clean Up Plus offers an easy to use solution to keep family members on task with household chores. While it may be too detailed for users just wanting a simple to-do list, it's perfect for parents who know it pays to be very specific about what you mean when you say clean the kitchen (or any other room).

This program's clean simple interface is easy to follow, but a simple wizard is available to help you set up your household cleaning needs. As the screen highlights a room, it presents a series of drop-down menus to specify … Read more

This reasonably-priced program includes all the tools you need to stay organized. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, and entering data could take time, but the effort pays off with this effective calendar and contact management system.

This program embeds itself into your system tray. A click on the icon brings up a pop-up menu. From this long list, users can choose to view their address book, calendar, or appointments. Other menu items let you choose hot keys, change the desktop background, and set a shutdown timer.

Each of these options open a separate window, and while there … Read more