What is "QuickPlan Slck BOT"?

"QuickPlan Slack BOT" acts as a BOT to represent a QuickPlan project, which can communicate (via text chatting) with other project members, to deliver the information of project tasks, and to collaborate with the project members to update the status of the project tasks, via Slack service.

(it’s not easy to understand? ok, please check the next one)

"QuickPlan Slack BOT" is a macOS App

• Install on a Mac (of yours)
• Connects to Slack as a robot, to talk with your project members via Slack apps (for web, iOS, Android, Windows, etc.)
• Loads one QuickPlan project file (with .qpp file extension)
• Listens to queries from the project members and deliveries the task schedule to the project members, via Slack text DM (direct message)
• Collects task updates (% Complete) and collects suggested tasks from the project members, via Slack text DM
• Consolidates (approves/rejects) task updates and suggestions, by the project manager, to create a new version of project schedule.

(it’s too technical related? ok, please check the next one)

A "QuickPlan Slack BOT" is a project management assistant, whose responsibility is to understand the project schedule you gave, and to answer the queries from the project members about the tasks, to collect the task updates from the project members for you to review. Because of some "unknown" reasons, the project management assistant (the bot) can only live on a Mac and to talk via Slack.

How do we Start?

As you need an assistant (with very limited capabilities) to help you on the project schedule communication and collaboration, living on a Mac device, charting via Slack service

• Prepare a device for the assistant to work – A Mac with macOS installed
• Hire an assistant – download the FREE "QuickPlan Slack BOT" app from Mac App Store
• The assistant needs a speaker – Create a Slack token for the app to be a BOT (details please check below the "BOT configuration" segment)
• Gave the assistant a project schedule - Import a QuickPlan project into QuickPlan Slack BOT
• Of cause your team members should be able to talk with the assistant (the slack BOT) - A Slack team created for your team

Then the assistant can start to work (project members can DM to QuickPlan Slack BOT to talk). When the assistant is at working (the app is running), the project members can chat with the assistant, if the assistant left (the app is not running), the assistant of the cause will not serve the project members.

BOT Configuration

• Run the "QuickPlan Slack BOT" app

  

• You should be already a slack user (register an account at slack.com). And it will be better if your team is familiar to use Slack service for team communication. If you and your team have no any experience to use Slack, I’d like to suggest to try the Slack service for team communication and collaboration before try following.

  Login you Slack account and go to bot configurations page (make sure you have a slack team ready), enter username as you like and click Add Bot Integration.

  

• Next, you will be brought to an edit configuration page. Under Integration Settings section, there is an API Token. Copy it to somewhere, and you will need it later. Fill in the form to customize your bot and click Save Integration.

  

• Next, in QuickPlan Slack BOT app, fill the token created in preview step into the token field, and click Connect to Slack button, the app will start to connect to slack server.

  

  

  

• Click Import Project button to load a project file (.qpp file, created by QuickPlan apps for iOS and Mac).

  

• Now the Slack Bot should be ready to serve, the project members can find the bot in the slack team, and DM "hello" to start. Click to visit more details about the communication content.

  

Permission Control

We can customize how QuickPlan Slack BOT serves for specific slack users, such as to allow or not allow the bot to share project file with non-project members. We can also disable the permission of some command to disable the functionality, for example, if only use the bot to delivery project schedule (not to collect project member updates), we can disable the access for all the users to send a command to update task status.

If you have the problem to understand it, please have an IT expert to be involved

Notes

• QuickPlan Slack BOT is NOT designed to replace any one of the critical steps in your project management process. The BOT is an additional tool to help you and your team member saving efforts for project schedule delivering and status tracking, to make the work more convenient if possible, but this app does not intend to make your management work depends on it.
• QuickPlan Slack BOT is based on the Slack text message, to help team communication and collaboration for project schedule with pretty low cost (QuickPlan Slack BOT is free now, there is no future charge from SwiftApp, you may use Slack free plan or paid plan). The information (user interface for communicating with project members) is text-based. If you need more complex and customizable user interface for the functionalities, this is NO a solution for you.
• Your project file is hosted in QuickPlan Slack BOT app on your Mac (We have no server to host your project). If the app is not running, the bot will not work. If any of you like to have the project be hosted on our server to get the BOT works, please let us know it, we may consider developing an online paid service for the purpose. (Now on the market, most of the online project schedule collaboration service fee is about 1X$ per user per month, for some users, the price may be very high. Like MS project online, Trello)
• Please contact slack support team if you have problem for slack service only