[ale] Looking for application software for a small business

[Jim Lynch]

Geoffrey wrote:
> Jim Lynch wrote:
>   
>> I have a dear friend that runs a small beauty shop/spa with 3-4 
>> employees and is tired of running over to the shop when someone calls 
>> during off hours to schedule an appointment.  I told her I'd see if 
>> there was any open  source software that might help here.
>>
>> I googled for scheduling and appointment calendars but didn't come up 
>> with anything. 
>>
>> Anyone have experience with this?
>>     
>
> What kind of functionality are you looking for?  You've got simple 
> calendars that can sync to portable devices and have reminders, such as 
> jpilot, sunbird, kpilot, korganizer and the thunderbird add-on lightening.
>
>   
She's barely above novice level with computers and has just expressed an 
interest in moving from paper to the computer.  At this point she 
doesn't have a computer in the office, but getting one is not an 
obstacle.  Obviously she's going to need internet access if she expects 
to access it from home, either from her office computer or a third party 
website, like Google. 

Since she has more than herself to schedule, a system that allowed 
multiple people to be scheduled is preferred.  The simple calendars you 
speak of appear to be personal rather than group calendars.  I don't 
think she needs/wants the ability to sync.  A web based system would 
probably work just fine.

 It would be important to have a way to backup the data locally or even 
on paper at the beginning of the day in case of network or systems 
outages.  It would be somewhat of a disaster to lose all your 
appointments and not be able to schedule new ones. 

Jim.