Organizations unfamiliar with working remotely might find themselves anxious or unsure of the rules of engagement in a virtual world or unfamiliar with the communication platforms available to facilitate remote meetings.

A communication plan is a critical part of all projects, and even more so essential to the success of a project amidst social distancing and work from home restrictions. The project manager that identifies these challenges and develops a preparedness plan is more likely to continue successful project management, even throughout a pandemic.

1. Develop and communicate expectations of a “Work From Home” or remote environment

Take the initiative to develop a communication plan for working within a virtual or remote environment and identify to the team your expectations of how the team will operate in this new space. Set aside time at the beginning of a remote project to identify how roles, responsibilities, tasks, schedules and deadlines will be communicated to team members and stakeholders.

By clearly identifying the processes and the methods of communication in the remote environment, the project manager can establish their leadership, while conveying confidence to team members and stakeholders encouraging “buy-in” to the environment.

Tip: Balance formal meetings with informal meetings, like those conversations that would happen while grabbing a cup of coffee or at the water cooler. These informal meetings provide the occasion for candid conversations, while maintaining the motivation and bonds, built during the coffee or lunch break.

2. Familiarize yourself and the team with available technology

Take the time to evaluate virtual meeting or video conferencing platforms and acquaint yourself with the selected application. Utilizing a video conference platform like ZOOM, Microsoft Teams or GoToMeeting allows the project team to communicate “face-to-face” and provides meeting management features including screen sharing, recording, chat, raise your hand and even closed captioning. Video, unlike traditional conference calls, offers the benefit of visual cues from participants. Without the visual cues from video conferencing, participants may limit their input or feedback for fear of interrupting another team member.

Once you are familiar with the features and functions of the application, provide resources to the team to test drive the selected application, prior to using it for a project meeting. Creating a recording of your simulated meeting is a great way to help familiarize your team with the platform, increasing engagement and positive outcomes.

Tip: Use video conferencing platforms for team building, for the recognition of a job well done and even for social engagement. Throw a party, create game rooms and even host “happy hour,” to encourage internal communications and camaraderie.

3. Data Centralization and Sharing

Amidst the current work from home directive, organizations have no other option than to centralize data, documents and reporting within a single information, file sharing platform. Productivity suites, including ASANA, Wrike, ZOHO One and Microsoft Power Apps contain word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database applications, paired with communication and project management tools – providing a single portal shared by team members and stakeholders.

Productivity suites provide organizations a cost-effective sharing solution that can often be shared within the organization, along with external users including clients and vendors, making it easy for project managers to share documents, manage and share project boards, implement process automation, manage resource allocation and utilize communication tools for status meetings and presentations.

Tip: Project managers typically assist with the evaluation and implementation of a productivity suite and are most likely responsible for the status of tasks, percentage of completion and that resources are available to complete tasks according to the project timeline. Take the initiative to keep dashboards and project boards up to date, so that team members are set up for success.

4. Prioritize Monitoring and Utilize System Notifications

Project management tools provide dashboards that can be tailored for specific requirements including task management, Gantt charts, resource utilization and planned vs. actual forecasting for projects. Built within these elements are notification settings that allow the project manager to visualize key performance indicators and potential risks to the triple constraints within a project.

Tip: Take the time to understand how notification settings operate within your productivity suite. Notifications can be established to automatically trigger and communicate deadlines to internal and external stakeholders and distribute reports to project team members, management and the client. The availability and access to reporting and project assets allows remote team members to feel empowered and supported, even when you can’t be there in person.

If your organization does not currently use a file sharing, centralized information system or project management tool and productivity suite, now is an ideal time to improve communications, productivity and process improvement through the implementation of these systems.

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Comparing the API functionality, ease of integration, and developer support for online meeting tools Zoom and GoToMeetingGoToMeeting Integration Capabilities

With the adoption of online meeting tools accelerated due to the pandemic, businesses are inquiring about using those tools for their customers, and integrating them within their existing software platforms. Recently, our software development team completed software projects integrating both Zoom and GoToMeeting. During the process, we learned about the API offerings, working with their support, and determining what can and cannot be done through their development APIs. This is a post focused for developers on the API integrations, not the features of each tool. If you are looking for a costs and features comparison, check out G2 or Capterra.

The goal of this article is to point out the pros and cons of each platform, and to help developers understand the differences between the two platforms from an integration standpoint.

Development Tools and Requirements:

Both of these projects were developed with Microsoft.NET, and utilized the C# programming language. They are both web based applications, and utilize the latest .NET framework. The end goal was also similar. Both applications required users to schedule, configure, and manage virtual meetings directly through the application without having to login to the virtual meeting platform. For each of the tools, we have broken down the integrations into 5 aspects: API Tools, Ease of Use, Features, Support, and SSO.

GoToMeeting Integration Capabilities

We started integrating an application with GoToMeeting because it was the preferred virtual meeting application for our client. They have been using it for years, but saw a need to make it even easier for their clients by integrating it into their customer portal.

API tools

They have an API per product (Meetings, Webinar, Training, etc.). We integrated with the Meetings API. They supported trying out API calls via the documentation. They have a .NET SDK, and we used that to integrate with their API. The value of using an SDK rather than calling the API directly is having to spend less time writing code, since the code is written for you in the SDK. In order to use the API, you have to create an app in their developer center.

Ease of Use

Integrating with the .NET SDK was difficult. There were few examples and little documentation on the SDK itself. The API was better documented. The biggest challenge was if an error occurred using the SDK, it did not describe what the error was. The largest chunk of time spent integrating with GoToMeeting was troubleshooting what was wrong with our calls in the SDK.

Features

Meetings has a limited range of features. Our business requirements were fairly simple though. We wanted the ability to schedule meetings in the future, and they supported that option. Other features they have are scheduling instant meetings, changing how people can connect to the meeting, like phone or video chat, adding a password, and scheduling recurring meetings. At least via the API there was not much more you could customize for the meeting.

Support

They have documentation for their API endpoints. The documentation was useful and helped with integrating with the SDK. From the styling, my guess is they used Swagger to autogenerate the API documentation. It was descriptive enough to use, but it contained very little insight on how the fields are validated.

SSO

They support SSO, but we did not use it. Using it would require the user to have to log into GoToMeeting to make API calls. Our business requirements required the user not having to log in to GoToMeeting, so we used a different approach. The other option is direct login, which is how we did it. The difference here is we store the account username and password securely with the configuration and log into the API for the user, so they do not have to.

Zoom Integration Capabilities

We started integrating with Zoom for a client after they researched 3 platforms, and determined Zoom best fit their needs. API integration was a must for this client.

API tools

Zoom has a very extensive API supporting many of their different features, but for our business requirements we integrated with the Meetings and Users API. Like GoToMeeting, in order to access the API, you had to create an app in their marketplace. Their API supported trying out API calls, which was helpful. One very interesting tool they have is the ability to automatically generate code in whatever language you are working with. Unfortunately, this tool was not very useful for C# since it did not autogenerate the request body and response body models as classes. They did not have a .NET SDK.

Ease of Use

Since they did not have a .NET SDK, we had to write the code ourselves to connect to the API. Writing the model classes was a little time consuming since their models are fairly in-depth, but there was significantly less troubleshooting and debugging compared to integrating with the GoToMeeting SDK.

Features

Zoom has a wide range of features, far too many to cover in this article. Our business requirements for integrating with Zoom were a little different. We wanted to automatically register certain users, so they have a unique URL to attend the meeting, in addition to other minor features like muting participants as they join. Zoom supported these capabilities and much more. In fact, there are so many options it can be a little bit overwhelming.

Support

They have documentation for their API endpoints. Their API documentation was very descriptive, especially regarding the valid values of the body parameters.

SSO

They support SSO, but we did not use it. Instead, they allow creating a JWT token with a Client ID and Client Secret generated from the app in the marketplace. This does not require storing sensitive data like usernames and passwords.

Pros and Cons of GoToMeeting and Zoom Developer Integrations

Overall, both platforms have an API, and allowed for integrations with 3rd party software. Both of the platforms met our client’s requirements from an integration standpoint, although our client’s requirements were not terribly complex.

Zoom Pros

• Very customizable.
• Easy authentication.
• Great API documentation.

While each platform was able to meet our needs, we found the following items to be lacking

Zoom Cons

• No .NET SDK or NuGet package.
• Requires more dev work to integrate with.

Conclusion of Zoom and GoToMeeting from a developer perspective

The integration with each platform met our client’s requirements. With most software projects, now that we have completed the first phase of our integration, our clients are asking for more features and capabilities. We will continue to develop features for integrating both with Zoom and GoToMeeting, and update this document accordingly.

Capitol Tech Solutions is a digital agency that builds software solutions that helps businesses optimize their operations using the Microsoft.NET platform. Our team of developers is standing by for your project, so contact us today to get your project started.

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Digital Strategies for Restaurants During the COVID-19 Pandemic

There is no doubt that all types of businesses are being negatively impacted by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In order to fight the spread of this virus, various cities and states are enacting shelter in place orders, which have an even larger impact on businesses, especially those that are in the food service industry. The recent shelter in place order in California required that restaurants eliminate all in-restaurant seating, but allowed drive-through and or pick-up/delivery options to remain in place.

Capitol Tech Solutions has had the privilege of working with Pushkin’s Bakery during this pandemic. Pushkin’s is Sacramento’s exclusive wheat/gluten and dairy-free dedicated bakery with several locations. They have immediately taken the necessary steps to ensure that they follow all of California’s shelter in place orders, while also still serving their customers to the best of their ability. In order to do this, they have shifted from primarily serving their food in-restaurant/bakery, to curbside pickup and even local/nationwide shipping.

Along with this, we have worked with Pushkin’s to develop new digital strategies to help them during the pandemic. Our first step was to work with Pushkin’s to create an easy-to-use Shopify website for customers to place orders online. Customers can order cupcakes, cookies, pastries, bread, and even order a completely custom cake, all from the comfort of their home. The customer selects a pickup date/time during the checkout process, Pushkin’s receives and fulfills the order, the customer pulls up to a Pushkin’s location where they are then greeted by a Pushkin’s employee with the order in hand. More recently, we have worked with Pushkin’s to get their proprietary flour blend up onto the website and ready for delivery. Because of the website, they are now able to ship their flour out nation wide, reaching people who may never have had the opportunity to eat at Pushkin’s. Their website has allowed Pushkin’s to expand their business into new areas all across the country.

So how can Your Restaurant Adapt to COVID-19?

Website platforms like Shopify provide you with so many tools and plugins to help your business be successful. Like we mentioned before, Pushkin’s utilizes a Shopify plugin that allows customers to create fully custom cakes. This same plugin could be utilized for your restaurant. For example, if you sell cheeseburgers, your customers can select what items or condiments they want on their burger, what they want to remove, add a side of fries, select whether they want to pick it up or if your restaurant has the ability to deliver the food then your customer can choose to have it delivered, and then they checkout. Here’s the best part: you keep all of the profits from the order.

Utilizing Social Media to Keep Your Customer Informed

Newsletter Announcement

A large list of emails can be used for more than just a newsletter. You can use them for other various marketing tools. Maybe you want previous customers to discover you on Facebook. Restaurants have partnered with Capitol Tech Solutions to run a Facebook page like campaign targeting those specific customer emails. We have also used those email lists to run retargeting campaigns to get customers back to a website or drive them back to a restaurant.

Optimize Your Restaurant’s Digital Strategy

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Continued Support of Our Clients During Social Distancing

We are taking the following measures to ensure that Capitol Tech Solutions is there to serve you, our clients, every day during these uncertain times.

• As of last Wednesday, we have given our employees the option to work remotely from home in a secure network environment. Our team is experienced at managing projects and deadlines with our clients at a distance. Despite this change, we will continue to deliver excellent service to our clients and meet our project deliverables and deadlines.
• For the websites that we maintain, create content for, and host, nothing will change. Our secure servers and backup systems are in place to ensure security and protection of your online presence.
• We are continuing to follow the latest guidance and advice from the Centers for Disease Control and our local Department of Public Health to protect our team and avoid the spread of this virus.

What CTS Can Do to Help Your Business Maintain Normalcy

As COVID-19 brings disruptions to our normal daily lives, we are working to assist our clients in utilizing their digital online presence to communicate important business information such as:

• Adding a Coronavirus-related banner notification message to the top of the website
• Sending out timely business updates on their various social media platforms
• Updating website FAQ’s or social media pages with any COVID-19-related business updates

As always, we urge all of you to contact us via email or phone with any questions, concerns or issues that you have. We are here to help you succeed during these unprecedented times.

For more information on COVID-19 within the Sacramento area visit the Sacramento County Website.

Get the latest COVID-19 updates and best practices from the CDC Coronavirus (COVID-19) website.

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