software review

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Review: Tool to Make Project Planning Fast and Enjoyable

By Victoria Zhlobich

Project plans made easier to do and to share

If you are in the market for a software that helps to make project planning and the sharing of those plans really easy, you may like GanttPRO.

GanttPRO is an online Gantt chart software used for project planning, task management, collaboration, team and resource management as well as cost management. The software is highly estimated by professionals thanks to an intuitive UX/UI design, a short learning curve, and robust features. Worldwide 350K+ managers and other project participants already tried the solution and made sure that project planning and management can be fast and enjoyable.

The software is mainly used by teams. However, managers and individuals use it for personal projects and purposes too. The tool has a 14-day free trial with all the features available so that anyone can decide whether GanttPRO is a good fit for them.

The software is able to become a powerful and affordable alternative to Microsoft Project. In case you already planned your project in MS Project, you have a chance to import it to GanttPRO and see for yourself all the advantages.

In GanttPRO, there are ready-made Gantt chart templates designed for a variety of professional spheres: software development, construction, marketing, design, manufacturing, etc. They include typical tasks and offer a typical structure for an easy start. However, templates are fully customizable.

The main benefits of GanttPRO

Transparent task management

Task management in GanttPRO

You can create tasks literally in seconds from one menu defining:

  • Their start and end dates
  • Assignees
  • Dependencies with other tasks
  • Deadlines
  • Progress
  • Status
  • Priority
  • Duration and estimation
  • Completeness
  • Milestones
  • Requirements
  • Colors

All this information is available directly in the task settings menu. In the project grid, you can add columns or hide those you don’t need.

One of the most useful features in GanttPRO that distinguishes it from competitors is the possibility to add Custom columns. They do not limit project participants to certain settings and allow working with personal information available through Text, Number, Date, List, Checkbox, and Color columns.

Team and resource management

Resource Management in GanttPRO

GanttPRO online Gantt chart maker allows working with real team members and virtual resources. Team management is available via email invitations only on the Team plans. At the same time, virtual resources are created just in a few clicks and available even on the Individual plan. If you are not deeply engaged in team management, virtual resources can be a working way-out. The tool offers the following time working units for team and resource management: per hour, per item, and cost.

  • Per hour means that the cost is calculated per hour for a labor resource
  • Per item means that the cost is calculated per item for a material resource
  • Cost is a fixed value with no connections to time and items

GanttPRO makes provision for the following roles: an Owner, an Admin, and a Member.

  • An Owner of a project is in charge of billing and has all the rights on it: he/she adds or removes people, grants rights to edit a project or see costs.
  • An Admin has almost the same rights as an Owner but he/she can’t pay for the subscription.
  • A Member can work only on those tasks that he/she is assigned to. All the rest is not available

Collaboration

Collaboration in GanttPRO allows team members to be fully aware of current updates in tasks. Project participants can:

  • Comment tasks
  • Attach files to them
  • Describe requirements for tasks
  • Mention people
  • Get real-time notifications about changes in tasks they are assigned to.

Export and sharing

Export and sharing on GanttPRO

The Gantt chart software allows having a physical project at hand thanks to the advanced Export feature as well as showcasing plans to third parties thanks to Sharing via URL feature.

Export in GanttPRO is very powerful. On the screen, you can see how your chart will look like after exporting.

You can choose the following options:

  • Format: PDF, PNG, XML, Excel
  • Paper size
  • Orientation
  • Filter
  • Zoom
  • Critical path
  • Today marker
  • Workload
  • Type of columns

Sharing via URL allows presenting to third parties, even not registered in GanttPRO, two states of a plan: a dynamic and static ones.

The dynamic option means that a plan is updated even after sharing when changes happen in a project.

The static option means that a plan remains the same as it has been at the moment of creation. It does not reflect changes.

Conclusion

GanttPRO is a tool for everyone who needs powerful planning, team management, and collaboration. It is all combined with an intuitive interface and an affordable pricing policy.

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5 Benefits of Using a Future Fit Critical Chain Project Management Software

Software review by Irina Viter, multi-project management researcher

Epicflow is an online Project Management tool designed for business experts who want to manage large numbers of projects simultaneously without project delays and cost escalations. The web-based PM software works in tandem with MS Project and Jira, the most commonly used project management tools, as well as Topdesk, Trimergo, Primavera, and CA Clarity.

This online project management tool was developed by two Dutch scientists, Albert Ponsteen and Jan Willem Tromp, to prevent overload, reduce planning headaches, and set priorities in dynamic workplaces. Having spent nearly 30 years in project management environments of different kinds, Ponsteen and Tromp recognized that project management experts are badly in need of software features that can bring order and simplicity to their multi-project environments.

Benefits and Strengths

  1. Epicflow is the next generation of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) software, offering capacity buffers for resources in addition to time buffers. It approaches project management from the perspective of resource availability, as this is the most effective way to avert the risk of overload and release bottlenecks as soon as they appear. The key benefit of the Epicflow project management tool is that it creates perfect flow by helping business leaders create effort-based workloads and set priorities.
  2. With Epicflow, project management experts can achieve complete visibility over team performance and notice the “bugs” in their business processes as soon as they show up. The system immediately points to overloaded, “stuck” employees who hold back a project’s velocity. You get a real-time overview of all projects in the portfolio, sorted by priority.
  3. Epicflow creates order out of chaotic planning routines. Its smart algorithm eliminates all the waste so people can work according to project priorities and situations of overload are reduced to a minimum. Project managers immediately feel the reduction in planning and management overhead.
  4. This innovative management tool helps you reach high team performance. With adequate resource planning and effort-based workloads, employees are less likely to suffer stress at work, and will be more proactive.
  5. Epicflow increases project awareness by including a mobile application to control resource groups and stay abreast of current projects regardless of location.

Features

Epicflow’s features complement MS Project and Jira, upgrading them for multi-project environments and infusing predictive analytics into an ordinary capacity planning routine. The most striking features of this PM software include:

  • Future load graphs to help you take control of resource planning and predict the impact of additional projects on the existing projects in your pipeline;
  • A pipeline showing multiple projects, milestones, and bottlenecks;

 

Epicflow pipeline software for projects

Pipeline with bottlenecks shown in red above

Pipeline indicating the amount of hours that a project lacks below

epic flow PM software

 

  • Historical load graph presenting group performance, capacity, load, and output over time;
  • Burndown chart;
  • Weeks remaining;
  • Task list;
  • Reporting;
  • User mapping.

Epicflow resource management software

The allocation of resource groups among three PM tools (Jira, Trimergo, MSP) and their associated workloads.

 

Clients Success Stories

Epicflow has already proven effective for many clients in the form of its previous offline version Flow MPM. This is what clients have to say about the software:

  • TKF: “With this project management software we increased our output by 200% and reduced lead-time by 50% in 2 years. We are also able to give our customers a realistic commitment.” Hans de Boer, R&D Director, TKF
  • THALES: “This PM tool resource status is giving you visibility in the near future whether you run into bottlenecks. By doing this it gives you enough time to act accordingly.” Frank Zalm, Program Manager, Thales Nederland
  • DSM: “Analyzing FLOW MPM data shows that agility on projects is increasing and efficiency is going up.” Rigo Bosman, Application Development, DSM Dyneema
  • PILZ: “Epicflow has given us a significant improvement in the amount of projects we can deliver nowadays.” Jan Tournois, Director, PILZ NL

 

Visit Epicflow for more information.

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Unconventional Uses for Gantt Charts

By Matthew Jagiello

Gantt charts are already very well-known among project managers around the world. They are de facto an industry standard, used by thousands of companies and institutions – if not far more! SoftwarePlant has looked at some of their clients to see whether Gantt charts can be used in a creative way, in industries very foreign to classic management and businesses themselves. The results are stunning!

Education

Everyone used to be a child at some point in time. This leads us to schools. Remember all these lesson plans, charts of teachers’ free days, duty hours, announcements, etc? Most likely your school was doing all of this using only a printer (or even pen and paper). Nowadays, some schools use project management software* in order to optimize workload and make everything run smoothly. In fact, universities and colleges also do.

Physical work

“Project management” is still too often perceived as something strictly related to cleanly shaven people in business suits. But our customers beg to differ – some of them construct buildings, roads, railways and many other things. Gantt charts and risk matrixes help them manage deadlines*** and serve the public in a timely manner.

Politics

When we follow political campaigns, we usually remember only a few key people from each party. This is precisely what the so-called spin doctors are for. But the truth is, political parties are as big as some corporations! In the US, the Democratic Party has 43.1 Million members, while the Republicans hover around 30 Million**. This is a massive number of people, all working on the same projects around the whole country – and good project management software does help them achieve the results they yield.

BigPicture

Events

We all love to go to a concert once in a while. But even professional project managers from other fields rarely stop to think about the sheer scale of some of the cultural events they attend. The scene/stadium, sound systems, lights, tickets, everything involves a lot of hard work, and the deadline is permanently set in stone – it is pretty much impossible to postpone a concert. In order to ensure proper start and finish dates, some of SoftwarePlant’s customers install JIRA with the plugins and look at the risk matrix like a hawk guarding its chicks.

Military

Logistics, engineer corps and administration amount to far more people than actual combat troops. Each soldier needs to be fed, dressed, transported and equipped on time, often abroad and in harsh conditions. The US started using Gantt charts around WW1****, and continues to do so until this very day. Even there the SoftwarePlant’s software has certain uses among military organizations, though details are (as expected) strictly classified.

Entrepreneurs

SoftwarePlant is a start-up company. The interesting thing is, their product is used by many other start-ups, sometimes even from the same industry. They are pleased that other young entrepreneurs like their solutions and wish them luck with their ventures. After all, Skype, a small Estonian company before acquisition by Microsoft, could not have been developed if not for Gantt charts.

These are the cases that were found the most interesting – but what about you? Do you have an unconventional use for Gantt charts, be it practical or hypothetical? If yes, we encourage you to contact us and share this wisdom. Who knows, there may be great rewards…

Sources:

* http://www.smartsheet.com/blog/Gantt-charts-for-sixth-graders

** http://2012election.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004483

*** http://archive.excellencegateway.org.uk/media/KSSP/scheduling.pdf

**** http://www.chroniclegraphics.com/community/blog/a-brief-history-of-the-gantt-chart/

BIO

BigPicture_logoSoftwarePlant is a Polish-American start-up company that produces software for Project Portfolio Management. Its main products are developed for the JIRA platform, but custom development, training and implementations are also available.

 

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