Integrating AgileAgenda with Basecamp

AgileAgenda allows you to share your schedule in several ways, one of those ways is through the popular project management web service called Basecamp. This page explains how to set up and use that integration.

What is Basecamp?

Basecamp is a project management service run by a company called 37signals. It allows a team to share information through a variety of formats. Basecamp is not owned, nor is it operated by AgileAgenda and you must have your own Basecamp account to use it through AgileAgenda. Basecamp allows third party applications (such as AgileAgenda) to connect to it and manipulate it. Through this interface, you can use AgileAgenda to populate the Todo lists in Basecamp.

Who should use this?

Sharing AgileAgenda schedules through Basecamp is perfect for anyone already using Basecamp, or anyone who requires features such as message boards, whiteboards, and chat. If all you want to do is share a schedule online with your colleagues, then the "Save to AgileAgenda.com" option in the "Share" menu of AgileAgenda may be easier for you to use (plus, a one year subscription to AgileAgenda.com comes with the purchase price).

Sharing your schedule on Basecamp

AgileAgenda allows you to upload the list of tasks in your project as Todo items in Basecamp.

Before doing this, you must enable API access for your Basecamp account.

To enable API access for your Basecamp account

Log into your Basecamp account
Click on the Dashboard tab in Basecamp.
Click the Account tab and scroll down until you see "Basecamp API"
Accept the Basecamp Terms of Service and enable the Basecamp API

Uploading your schedule to Basecamp

To upload your schedule to Basecamp follow these steps:

Create your schedule in AgileAgenda and save it to a file.
Select the "Share->Upload to Basecamp" menu option. A window such as this will open:
Enter your Basecamp username and password in the appropriate fields.
Are you using OpenID? Click here

Using OpenID with AgileAgenda and Basecamp
If you go to the "MyInfo" section from within basecamp, right under the OpenID section there's a yellow section that resembles the following:

If you take the username/password it gives you and enter that into AgileAgenda it will allow you to upload your schedule.

Enter the URL to your Basecamp account in the URL field

Select whether you access your Basecamp through normal http, or secure SSL access. Important: If you select the wrong option, your upload will fail mid way through with a generic error message.

Click the "OK" button. AgileAgenda will connect to Basecamp and retrieve your list of available Basecamp projects.

Select your Basecamp project and push the OK button.

AgileAgenda will retrieve a list of contacts that work on that project and display the following dialog.

Select the Basecamp contact for each AgileAgenda resource and press the Ok button. If you don't select a contact for a resource, the Basecamp Todo item will still be created, but it will not be assigned to anyone.

When you click the OK button, AgileAgenda will go through the process of uploading your schedule to Basecamp.

Important: After uploading your schedule, you should save your AgileAgenda file. Data about the Basecamp upload will be saved to the file. This helps to ensure that the AgileAgenda project and the Basecamp project can stay in sync.

After you've completed your upload, you can open up Basecamp in a browser and look at the Todo lists for the project which will be populated with the tasks from AgileAgenda as seen in this example:

What data is synchronized?

Tasks

One Basecamp Todo item is created for each task
When tasks change in AgileAgenda, they are updated in Basecamp on the next upload.
When Todo items change in Basecamp, only the completion status is updated in AgileAgenda on the next upload.

Resources

One Todo list for each resource is created.
Resources can be associated to Basecamp contacts so Todo items are correctly assigned.

Basecamp is a registered trademark of 37signals, LLC