Built for Need: Agenda Fusion 7 [Archive]

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Steve Sharp

04-08-2005, 05:00 PM

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-header" /> Product Category: Productivity Manufacturer: <a href="http://www.DeveloperOne.com">Developer One Software</a> Where to Buy: <a href="http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=10115&associateid=204">PocketGear</a> (Affiliate) Price: $29.95 USD (Upgrading from version 6.86 is free, upgrading from versions 6.x prior to 6.86 is $14.95 USD) System Requirements: Works with all Windows Mobile 2003 and 2003 Second Edition Pocket PC and Phone Edition. Pocket PC 2000/2002 and Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition. Requires 3.5 megabytes of storage space and can be installed to main or expansion memory. If VGA support is desired, the installation size can be slightly larger. Pros:<li>Expanded contact information is useful; <li>Allows easy linking between notes, tasks, external files, and contacts; <li>Version 7 features a backup utility that will save all project data; <li>The new project view adds a new dimension of functionality to the program; <li>Supports drawing, note writing, voice recording, and transcribing functions.Cons:<li>The program's size is considerable, for a Pocket PC application; <li>The $29.95 price tag for the non-upgrade version is somewhat expensive; <li>Does not have a Today screen plug-in for appointments and tasks; <li>Many features, but some are confusing to set up and use.Summary: Agenda Fusion 7 combines features and functions that include powerful project management tools, linking, and easily creating recurring tasks and applying them to multiple days. The mainstay of this upgraded version is the Project View, which allows the user to view a multi-tiered listing of various projects, tasks, appointments, and reminders. Agenda Fusion 7 is not designed for the application size-conscious Pocket PC user. If your needs can be handled with a few, relatively simple organizational applications, then Agenda Fusion 7 may not be for you. However, if you're looking for a high-power organizational and project management tool, something to help you get a grip on multiple projects, one that will allow you to associate files, contacts, and organize task entries in your contact list, then Agenda Fusion 7 is a very nice program. Read on for the full review!<!> <PAGEBREAK> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-contactview" /> Figure 1: Agenda Fusion 7 supports expanded contact information. Powerful Program--But Be Prepared to Read the Manual I've been described as a "typical male" in that I hate asking for directions and tend to only read product instructions at the expense of feeling like a dolt and a failure. However, in order to make the most of Agenda Fusion 7, be forewarned that it's unlikely that you will master, or even get started being good at using this program if you try to rely on your wits and intuition. Agenda Fusion 7 is a heavy-duty personal management productivity package for the power-user who has many contacts, appointments, and jobs to manage. The program has many features and functions that expand many of the functions that are built into the operating system. Agenda Fusion 7 also adds new functionality, such as linking files, contacts, and projects, and grouping, sorting, and organizing your information in many different ways. Agenda Fusion 7 supports many powerful functions for the busy professional, and it does this very well. Some aspects and functions of the program are not as user-friendly as they could be, and I would not describe this as an intuitive or self-explanatory program. A certain amount of time must be invested to set up and learn how to use the extensive project management features. I relied on a good bit of trial and error to find, and I finally bit the bullet and downloaded the user manual in .pdf format and decided to get educated on the finer points of the program. The user manual is 38 pages long, which is both a testament to all of the features, and an indication that the you'll probably need a bit of help in figuring how to use some of the features. Agenda Fusion will synchronize with Outlook on your desktop, and will migrate links from Outlook into the appropriate Agenda Fusion folders. It's a high-power personal productivity program that provides calendar views and viewing options that make the calendar function, contact list, alarm settings, and that is built into the Pocket PC operating system look like a silly toy. <li>Agenda Fusion 7 will synchronize with Outlook on a desktop computer; <li>Agenda Fusion 7 supports button mapping for quick launching and launching from Pocket Outlook links to Agenda Fusion views; <li>Supports drag and drop functionality in moving or organizing information; <li>Allows the user to customize the icons associated with various entries in the Fusion views.<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-weekview" /> Figure 2: See all of your appointments and tasks for the week in the weekly view. Getting it All Together For those who have set up a database, generated a milestone chart, or managed a cumbersome project, you probably know that investing some time in organizing things now can save much time in the future. The set up of Agenda Fusion 7 is similar to this type of effort. Developer One has done as much as they can, in terms of making it as painless as possible to create associations and links and importing your contact list and so on, but the bottom line is that only you can organize your information in a way that is meaningful to you, and that takes a bit of time. Much of the power of this program comes from the Project View that marks this program as being useful for its target market, but as they say, "garbage in, garbage out" and if you don't take the time to read and understand how to set up your information and projects, then there's not much to be gained by being able to look at the Project View. A nice thing about Agenda Fusion 7 involves the associations that you can create and that ease consolidation and navigation to all material that is pertinent to a particular person or project. Information is easily edited, and the different icons make for quick references to items of a certain type. I particularly like the feature that enables the entry of recurring tasks or reminders, without having to manually re-enter the information, each time. I also like being able to divide my appointments into increments other than the standard 1 hour or half hour intervals. In what I call the day-planner, time increments can be broken down to intervals as small as 5 minutes. <PAGEBREAK> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-hourlyweek" /> Figure 3: Agenda Fusion 7 supports a visual breakdown of your day by the hour. So Many Features, So Little Time For the sake of doing justice to all the features of Agenda Fusion 7, I cannot spend an inordinate amount of time babbling about each feature, but my purpose is to provide an idea of the many things that it has to offer. Aside from the items that I have mentioned already, Agenda Fusion 7 provides support of configuration and customization of tabs and tab views which enable the user to decide how and what information will be presented. Multiple calendar views allow the user to view the calendar for the entire year, or zoom in to an hourly view of a particular day. Fusion Utilities provides support for voice notes which can have written notes attached and can be saved as part of meeting notes, a reminder, or simply a voice memo to yourself. View tabs for calendars, for example, can also be mapped to buttons on the Pocket PC for quickly opening a particular view that is referenced often. Entering appointments or modifying/adding/deleting appointments works in the same way that the appointment minder that is built into Windows Mobile operating system works, so there's no learning curve, there. Significant days in the "Year View" of the calendar, such as deadlines, birthdays, or that all-important wedding anniversary, can be highlighted very easily. Alternatively, Agenda Fusion 7 supports a "show birthdays/anniversary" feature that will not only remind you of such dates, but it will indicate the years being celebrated. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-yearview" /> Figure 4: Significant days for the entire year are viewable in the calendar view. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-todayview" /> Figure 5: Although Agenda Fusion 7 provides a format, within the program, that resembles the Today screen, this view is not actually the Today screen of the Pocket PC. I wish that Agenda Fusion 7 had a Today screen plug-in or view on the existing Today screen, but it doesn't include one. Developer One has, however, created a view that resembles the Today screen, and they even provide instructions on how to make the Agenda Fusion 7 "Today view" look like the Pocket PC's Today screen. Another feature that I liked, included in the Fusion Utilities, is called "Fusion Find." As the name implies, it is a search tool that searches all fusion items, and displays the information associated with that item, when it is located. For someone with an extensive list of people, items, or projects, this is a time-saving feature that also allows filtering, and is, therefore, invaluable for someone with many entries to sift through. <PAGEBREAK> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-caticons" /> Figure 6: The user can customize the icons for various categories of items that are displayed task view or project view. Moving right along, we have the Tasks View. To its credit, Developer One makes this sound easy to use, and I've been accused of being slightly thick on more than one occasion, so maybe it's just me. But, I had some trouble getting my Tasks View to work as it's supposed to. The idea is that tasks can be grouped by status, date, category, etc. and can be consolidated into a common view. I'm sure that it was operator error, but this never quite worked as I hoped and didn't feel very user-friendly to set up, in my opinion. Users can also change or segregate items by category. Along these same lines, categories can be hidden from the viewable list. So, if you don't want prying eyes to discover that you take Fluffy to the Bow Wow Boutique each Wednesday afternoon, this can be categorized as "personal" and hidden from the main view. A strong element to Agenda Fusion 7 involves contacts and tools for managing contacts. Agenda Fusion provides a contact editor for contact listings, an "attendees list" for meetings, and custom sorting of entries in the contact listing. Agenda Fusion 7 also supports a "Favorites" group for commonly used functions, and this feature works much like the bookmarks in a web browser. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/sharp-af7-0330-projectview" /> Figure 7: The new Project View is the centerpiece of Agenda Fusion 7. At last, we come to the previously mentioned Project View. Yes, I tossed it out there as a key feature, earlier, but I wanted to talk a bit more about this. The Project View enables the user to see, either in general terms or in specific detail, all of the subprojects and tasks that are going on under a primary project or projects. The all-inclusive "tree view" display is very convenient for seeing "the big picture" and provides an easy means of checking any aspect of any item that is listed. From this perspective, the Project View is the centerpiece of the Agenda Fusion 7 program. Odds and Ends There’s no way to offer a comprehensive analysis of all the things that Agenda Fusion 7 will do, or evaluate how well each function works. Almost as soon as version 7 was released, Developer One identified and corrected several bugs, and the current version is officially version 7.1. I didn’t encounter any bugs, and the only problems that I encountered were likely attributable to my lack of intellect. From a user standpoint, I can anticipate two main criticisms of this product, and I’ll address those, right here. With many of the Pocket PC devices that people commonly carry, main memory is like gold, and folks would sooner chop of their pinky than give up nearly 4 megs of main memory for a single software package. Developer One does advertise that Agenda Fusion can be installed to main or expansion memory, but they also warn that certain features, such as opening Agenda Fusion with a mapped button, may not work if the program isn’t installed to main memory. In addition to this, I can hear the naysayers grumbling about the $29.95 price tag and rattling off a list free programs that will do "everything they need" and at a small faction of the size. Well, if you only need one or two functions that Agenda Fusion 7 provides, then by all means, download a free copy of whatever program will serve your purposes. You wouldn't likely go out and buy Oracle to create a shopping list, and so it goes that Agenda Fusion 7 is overkill if you only have a minimal amount of data to organize. Conclusions Agenda Fusion 7 is a large program, but it’s also a very powerful program, for those who can benefit from the large-scale capabilities that it provides. It requires some patience to learn to use, and then some more time to set up projects and tasks. Once set up, it worked well for items that I was able to set up. Agenda Fusion 7 provides many features and functions that a project manager or supervisor will likely find helpful. But, these features and functionality don’t come without a price. Like most comprehensive software packages, it costs money, and it occupies some space. Be that as it may, it worked fine on my MDA II or O2 XDA II, if you prefer. But this is not a program for the garden-variety, casual-user. Developer One has identified the needs of those who manage people, tasks, and schedules, and they have geared this product toward that market. There’s much power in the code of Agenda Fusion, but there’s a steep learning curve as well. If you need the program, and you’re willing to commit yourself to learning the nuances of its workings, are willing to obligate a few megs of space to this application, and can spare the price, then it’s a wonderful program to have. A free trial of the program is available at Developer One, Handango, and PocketGear. If Agenda Fusion 7 sounds like something you need, then by all means give it a try. Steve Sharp is a senior system analyst by day, and a freelance writer by night. Steve is 38 years old and a native and life-long resident of Huntsville, Alabama. His first book The Art of Managing Everyday Conflict was released in May, 2004 by Praeger Publishing.

sylvangale

04-08-2005, 06:22 PM

Some problems with the cons of Agenda Fusion:

Cons:

The program's size is considerable, for a Pocket PC application
I would like to know the size of this application vs Pocket Informant. Since any application of this caliber, including Pocket Informant... are of considerable size :oops:

The $29.95 price tag for the non-upgrade version is somewhat expensive;
Pocket informant has the same non-upgrade price tag...

Does not have a Today screen plug-in for appointments and tasks;
Neither does Pocket Informant, Pocket Informant's developers suggest using Pocket Breeze... which also supports Agenda Fusion.

Many features, but some are confusing to set up and use.
Not as confusing as Pocket Informant :wink:

Thought I would point out that I am a proud user of Pocket Informant and continue to use Pocket Informant only because of an upgrade discount. :devilboy:

Jacob

04-08-2005, 06:24 PM

Steve Sharp

04-08-2005, 06:52 PM

bvkeen

04-08-2005, 06:55 PM

Some problems with the cons of Agenda Fusion:

Cons:

The program's size is considerable, for a Pocket PC application
I would like to know the size of this application vs Pocket Informant. Since any application of this caliber, including Pocket Informant... are of considerable size

:devilboy:

When you install, the installation package says about 4 MB.
The plus is that all of it can installed to an SD (runs fine from there), which is where I run it. (It is reported that installing to any place but RAM can result in some problems with associating AF with buttons - I haven't encountered because I do not assign AF to any of the buttons).

The only downside I've experienced with it is that it appears to lock up my x50v when I tap the "New" on the Today screen. I really don't use the "New" from the Today screen much, so this has not been a real issue for me.

I own the latest AF and PI and it's always hard to choose between the two. I've finally settled on AF (previously did PI) because I like its views better and because of its project view (which I think has untapped potential, and my understanding is that D1 is working on expanding its usefulness).

huangzhinong

04-08-2005, 07:22 PM

AF lock up devices since verion 3.0 when the today "New" is clicked, esp after AF is uninstalled.

AF 7.0 is good, I like it better than PI. PI 2005 has a terrible interface, but a perfect core. AF 7 can be installed into buildin flash, so size is not a problem for me. The only complaint about af7 is the speed. It's not as fast as buildin outlook. Of course, PI is also slow, comparing with buildin outlook. So 95% time I still use the buildin outlook.

sylvangale

04-08-2005, 11:06 PM

Some problems with the cons of Agenda Fusion:

Just because the cons of Agenda Fusion are common with PI doesn't mean they aren't cons, it just means they'd show up in the cons in a review of PI as well.

If the cons that are being applied to Agenda fusion are applicable to all software of it's type then it should not be stated as a con of Agenda Fusion itelf.

I point it out since to me it implies a bias, on a front page article no less, against Agenda fusion and I am sure it would be seen as such to others who frequent this site. I would expect reviews of a higher standard on pocketpcthoughts.

1. Agenda Fusion is of no bigger size than other contact management software, at 4MB, it is quite svelte. The fact that it can be installed completely on a memory card is a plus since competing software cannot be.

2. The $29.95 price is a normal price. It isn't expensive compared to other major contact management software available.

3. None of the other major contact management software provides a today plugin. Why should Agenda Fusion be expected what no one else provides?

4. Agenda Fusion is seen as having better ease of use in setting and many complain that there are not enough confusing options.

MerlinAZ

04-08-2005, 11:22 PM

D1 is aware of the "New" button problems.
There are some discussions about it on their forum. Hopefully the next version will take care of it.

StarTide

04-09-2005, 01:11 AM

One thing that makes AF very useful to me, is that each view (Week, Month, Agenda...) can be filtered separately. This allows me to track different schedules and tasks simply by changing views.

As far as a Today plugin, I've begun using the AF Today view instead of a Today plugin, and it works quite well.

Startide

Anthony Caruana

04-09-2005, 01:29 AM

Nice review

I've tried both PI 2005 and AF7 and at the end of using each for a week I went for PI 2005. The biggest thing for me was that PI 2005 was much faster on my device. (I posted on this at my site. If you'e interested see
this post (http://www.thepdaguy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=59). Also, I'd been a PI user for some time and am just used to the PI way of doing things.

If you're after a good Today plug-in I recommend Calendar+ from Mohair Sofa. Take a look at this site (http://www.mohairsofa.com/Default.aspx/document/10)

sylvangale

04-09-2005, 03:02 AM

Jacob's point is exactly right. While it's nice and helpful when a reviewer has tne luxury of offering a side-by-side comparison of two competing products, regrettably I did not have this luxury when preparing this review. Please notice that I don't say that Agenda Fuion is better or worse than PI or any other PPC app. I simply annotated my opinions regarding this app., in and of itself. If I saw something that *I* saw as a shortcoming, I listed it without regard for how it compares to something else.

Steve

I may have been a part of one too many Agenda Fusion vs Pocket Informant wars that I automatically assumed there was bias in the article, which I am sorry to have assumed.

The cons could be understandable if you were comparing Agenda Fusion to the built in apps of a PPC, a comparison in which yes any other application is big, expensive, and packed with so many features that some are dumb-struck.

That said comparison is still a pretty bad comparison. A person reading this review would assume well... Agenda Fusion doesn't look like a good buy... and since it is a Pocketpcthoughts review, a trustworthy source of PPC knowlesge, that the other major contact management player... Pocket Informant is the better buy.

Most if not all the cons would certainly have changed upon review of Pocket Informant... which has a little steeper learning curve, is larger, can only be installed into main memory, and costs $29.95.

Look forward to your next review! :mrgreen:

gtarent

04-09-2005, 03:48 AM

[quote="sylvangale
That said comparison is still a pretty bad comparison. A person reading this review would assume well... Agenda Fusion doesn't look like a good buy... and since it is a Pocketpcthoughts review, a trustworthy source of PPC knowlesge, that the other major contact management player... Pocket Informant is the better buy.

Most if not all the cons would certainly have changed upon review of Pocket Informant... which has a little steeper learning curve, is larger, can only be installed into main memory, and costs $29.95.

Look forward to your next review! :mrgreen:[/quote]

Ok, maybe I am missing something, but I see no comparison at all to pocket informant in his review. As for the cons.... he is basically saying that it is a super powerful PIM, that many users will barely scratch the surface of, and thus the memory requirements and cost of the program may seem too much. I completely agree with him. I also agree with you that Pocket Informant has the same issues but that doesn't make any of them any less of an issue. As an analogy I offer an expensive bottle of brandy which sells for several hundred dollars. To an average consumer the brandy is overpriced. To a truly appreciative consumer it is worth every penny. The fact the brandy is priced similarly to a competitor doesn't make the warning that the average user may not appreciate it any less valid...

Steve Sharp

04-09-2005, 06:02 AM

That said comparison is still a pretty bad comparison. A person reading this review would assume well... Agenda Fusion doesn't look like a good buy... and since it is a Pocketpcthoughts review, a trustworthy source of PPC knowlesge, that the other major contact management player... Pocket Informant is the better buy.

First of all, I suppose that I owe you an apology for posting a review that didn't live up to your expectations for the quality of the reviews that yo expect to see on PPCT. Reviews are checked for formatting, content, and grammar and approved by higher authorities before being published by the site's owner. Therefore, I defer to their judgment regarding quality, but I am sorry if my review didn't meet your expectations. Incidentally, *all* reviews published on PPCT remain on the front page for about a week.

In regard to the possibility of leading people to infer that PI is a better buy, for all I know, maybe it is. I have no idea, and I am not in a position to make that call. In my opinion, both programs are "niche" market programs, and frankly, neither are products that I, personally, have a need for on a daily basis, nor do most of the PPC users that I personally know.

Most if not all the cons would certainly have changed upon review of Pocket Informant... which has a little steeper learning curve, is larger, can only be installed into main memory, and costs $29.95

I disagree that the cons would change if I had reviewed PI. It's not a matter of changing a "con" to a "pro" or being neutral, simply because some aspect of a program is as good as the "norm" or marginally better than some competing program. If both cost $29.95, then instead of this fact making the programs equal or canceling out the price as being a"con," I would simply list the price as a "con" for both of them. The same thing goes for app size. In short, my observations are not relative to anything else, in this review. If it's confusing to me, then it's confusing, and it doesn't matter whether it's more or less confusing than PI or anything else. If $29.95 seems expensive to *me*, then it's expensive, no matter how much any other app costs. So, it's inaccurate to believe that if I knew all the details about PI then I would have taken a more positive stance on these issues with AF 7.

I should point out that the "cons" list is a standard format feature that is expected in every review that PPCT publishes. They are subjective, and a dozen people could probably cite a dozen different things that they view as "cons."

Regardless of whether we agree or disagree on my opinions regarding the faults with AF 7, you may rest assured that I'm fully aware that PPCT receives about 1,000,000 hits each month, and that there is a great deal of responisibility that comes with having a review for any product published on this site. And, regardless of how objective I attempt to be, reivews are, largely, subjective. Therefore, reviews are apt to be a source of disagreement. For this reason, I generally do not engage in discussions regarding my rationale, opinions, or the quality (or lack thereof) of my work. I have made this exception because I felt compelled to help you understand how products are assessed and why these lists of "cons" exist.

Look forward to your next review!
Thanks! My review coordinator and my point of contact at Developer 1 were very satisfied with my effort. Perhaps my next effort will come closer to satisfying your expectations, as well.

dma1965

04-09-2005, 07:20 AM

Unless PI comes out with a Project View, I will have to make a permanent switch.

Jerry Raia

04-10-2005, 12:17 AM

You can never ever say anything about AF or PI without starting a war. :roll:

lapchinj

04-10-2005, 04:23 AM

You can never ever say anything about AF or PI without starting a war. :roll:Yeah I know what you mean! But I don't know what the problem is. I solved this problem over a year ago - I use them both and I can't be any happier :mrgreen:. I wonder though if I can still get into the fight even though I would be concidered a biased participant for the other side :wink: .

Jeff-

stronggeek

04-11-2005, 04:38 AM

Unless PI comes out with a Project View, I will have to make a permanent switch.

Yea, I've seen it mentioned in several threads about PI not adding a project manager but a "Time Line" view instead.

The TL view is usesless to me for the way I work though I can see others benefiting from this feature.

I personally would like a project manager view as well, but alas the developer doesn't see a need for it.

I don't need it a full-fledged PM, but something similiar AF's would be nice.

I'm currently using AF and running it off my SD card (can't do this with my 4705 and PI) and I do like the Project view and I'm looking forward to the expected new features of the Project View and other program fixes.

I'll still check out new releases of PI, but for right now I'm expoloring and learning things about AF that I didn't know before (and honestly I didn't give a fair shot until now) and I'm surprised at the amount of features I either over looked or have been recently implemented).

Thank Goodness we have choices!

dma1965

04-11-2005, 06:11 AM

I currently have both installed (I just love that 128meg SX66 RAM) in main memory and I am currently defaulting to AF for my main PIM, and the Project View is the most used feature of any PIM I have ever used. I just got promoted to CTO of my company, and I have a tons of projects to manage, and having everything relating to a project available in a hierarcy makes my life a lot easier. I know that project management specific software exists, but I live in my PIM, and I want that to be a part of my PIM ! AF is currently riddled with some bugs that I find annoying, but I am willing to overlook them for the project view. You really have no idea how useful it is until you try it. I bought the program the first day I used it, and that is only 4 days after paying for the PI upgrade to 2005, which, frankly, offers me nothing new of any real use. The makers of PI are claiming that the timeline view will have features added that will make it capable of project management, but for now it is about as useful as a winter coat in Florida. In fact, I really do not see how this "upgrade" is an upgrade at all. It just looks like a rearrangement of what was already there. Sure, I know that there is a laundry list of changes, but I would have to say D1 trumped them on this. Still, I anxiously await to see how the makers of PI approach this. Alex is a great programmer, and I am sure he has something cooking.

Ripper014

04-25-2005, 05:36 AM

I have to agree with sylvangale in that reviewing Agenda Fusion without a comparison against its competitors does seem to be a little unfair.

I appreciate the efforts and time the writer put forth in compiling the article... but it would probably have been better if along with the pro's and con's that it was noted that the competitors shortfalls are the same. Otherwise like sylvangale said it seems that these shortcomings only apply to Agenda Fusion which is not the case.

I have used both programs... and continue to test each version... I cut my teeth on the early versions of Pocket Informant... but have since decided that for me... Agenda Fusion is a better fit.