Archive for June, 2010

FIFA Fan Fest 2010

Thursday, June 10th, 2010
fanfest

2006 FIFA Fan Fest in Munich

In less than 24 hours one of the worlds most anticipated sporting events will kick off in Johannesburg, South Africa- the 2010 World Cup.  While the U.S. has been notoriously lacking in the international soccer (futbol anyone?) spirit,  the increased popularity of MLS teams around the country is sure to trickle down into this year’s World Cup hype.  Regardless of the turnout here in the U.S. one thing is for sure: the rest of the world is ready to party.  For the 2006 World Cup games the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA- actually a french acronym hence the the difference) began to host official public viewing venues.  The venues were in 12 different cities around Germany, and the turnout was huge-18 million people showed up to the events over the course of the games, six times as many people that watched the games from inside the 12 stadiums.  For the 2010 games FIFA is doing it even bigger with the International FIFA Fan Fest-events will take place in six major cities around the world: Berlin, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Mexico City, Rome, and Sydney-where Fan Fest coordinators used Shiftboard to schedule over 1,000 volunteers.

Attendance is expected to be even higher than in 2006.  Fan Fest is now a way for people to travel to the spirit of the games, especially since it is often near impossible to snag a coveted ticket to a World Cup match, and often priced well out of many people’s means to even travel to the host  city.   This years FIFA Fan Fest in Sydney will have the capacity to hold 30,000 people, and is expected to reach capacity on all match days.

-Nahid

Tags: ,
Posted in Online Scheduling | No Comments »

Customer Driven Updates

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

One of the unique aspects of Shiftboard is our ability to work and excel with clients from very different industries. From small businesses of ten workers to hospitals scheduling thousands of individuals, people come to Shiftboard looking for an efficient way to manage their scheduling. We see this diverse client pool as a strength – a symbiotic relationship dynamically beneficial for all parties involved.

Shiftboard does not operate on a one way street. Our clients provide us a wealth of intellectual power and perspective to improve our product. We provide schedulers with a service, they use it and respond, and we incorporate their feedback.  Recently we received enough input regarding a certain feature that we escalated it on the development list. When assigning a shift, you can now assign it to multiple individuals in the same step. Clicking ‘Pick Multiple’ will give you a list of workers who can take the shift. Simply toggle multiple members and click “assign”. Don’t worry, the options to individually assign, bulk assign, auto assign, check availability and enforce seniority still exist.

Our developers are sharp, but our clients’ insight is invaluable. Please keep us in the loop. Share your ideas and suggestions, we are all ears and your thoughts are heard.

- Alison

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Alison's Updates, Customer Stories, Online Scheduling, Product | No Comments »

Weave ‘em together

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

The world is integrating, fast. At the macro level, economies are increasingly interlinked, their confidence and health retreating or rising with the flux of global financial and political tides. Our personal lives are more and more interconnected, allowing us to communicate and synchronize via a range of media. Integration between the applications and tools at our disposal helps to make us savvier and more versatile in an ever changing world.

Recognizing that Shiftboard is not the only calendaring system our clients use, we have rolled out an iCal integration feature. Now with any iCal compatible calendaring, such as Google Calendar or Outlook, you can synchronize your Shiftboard schedule to your other calendars. By selecting to Publish iCal/Google Outlook, your Shiftboard schedule and any changes you make will syndicate with the other iCal compatible systems associated with your account’s email. When you make a change in your Shiftboard calendar, you will also see that change in your Google Calendar.

We live in a rapidly evolving and fickle world. With the help of Shiftboard, you can now diversify and weave together your calendaring, making you a more adaptable agent in a sea of change.

- Alison

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Alison's Updates, Online Scheduling, Product | No Comments »