Seize the Day with Calendar Analytics

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Originally published on the Microsoft CIO Network. Join today.

Business may be good and the future bright, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: your calendar is still a mess. You start your day, then 6 meetings and 14 phone calls later it’s dark outside. And you’re left wondering where the day went.

Sound familiar? It’s a pretty common scenario for most executives. During the drive home don’t you sometimes wonder, “Could I be spending my time more effectively?”

Looking at my calendar in Outlook, it wasn’t easy getting an answer to that question. Though I could see all my appointments, what I really wanted was an analytics tool to tell me where I spend the most time, whom I engage with, and—most importantly—is there a better way to manage my time?

I’m happy to announce that, with the release of the Calendar Analytics Tool, you can actually do those things. This just may be the coolest BI tool to come out in a long time. And, best of all, it’s free.

Calendar Analytics allows you to connect to your Microsoft Exchange Calendar to get dashboard views on meeting statistics inside Microsoft Office Excel 2010. Specifically you can do the following:

  • Automatically retrieve time spent in calendar
  • Drive ad-hoc analysis of your meeting times by day, by hour, by categories, and by business priorities
  • View information about past meetings and future scheduled events
  • Customize your views (using slicers, DAX formulas, or reference tables)
  • Access this analysis for yourself and anyone who shares their full calendar details with you

You can read more about Calendar Analytics on the Microsoft News Center (see “Crushed by Your Calendar? Try This App”). Also, check out Bruno Aziza’s interview with SharePoint General Manager Eric Swift (see “The Secrets Of Time Management... Revealed”).

Download the Calendar Analytics Tool here. I hope you find it to be as useful as I did. Please share your comments here.

The opinions and views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily state or reflect those of Microsoft.