July 2010 - RationalPlan

Review – RationalPlan Multi Project

We are continuing the series of reviews for our products. This time Preetam Kaushik from Bright Hub has written a RationalPlan Multi Project review. Here it goes:

“RationalPlan Multi Project, the powerful multi-project management software enables developing of project plans, allocating resources, monitoring project progress, managing budgets and analyzing workload of all inter-related projects with common resources and shared dependencies.

Overview

Rating

RationalPlan Multi Project (www.rationalplan.com) is well-conceived project management software that is principally geared for people who have to centrally manage projects. RationalPlan Multi Project, as the name indicates, is designed for simultaneously handling multiple projects that are interwoven with common resources and task dependencies.

RationalPlan – Project Module and Technical Compatibility

Rating

The key functions of RationalPlan Multi Project are to develop plans, assess work pressure, assign tasks, monitor budgetary limits, control finances and track project progress. In a nutshell, RationalPlan Multi Project is capable of scheduling, estimating, improving the overall efficiency of team members and comprehensively managing inter-related multiple projects untill completion.

Computer professionals acknowledge RationalPlan Project software as not only as an alternative to Microsoft Project but even more powerful as RationalPlan has quite a few extra-features; including the complex multi-project management. It must also be noted that RationalPlan can be operated on various platforms – Windows, Mac OS X, Linux as well as all other Java enabled platforms.
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By Tiberiu Ghioca|2022-11-18T10:20:14+00:00July 29th, 2010|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, Project Portfolio Management, RationalPlan, Reviews|Comments Off

RationalPlan Review

While browsing the Internet and reading articles related to project management I reached Ian Burgess blog. And after reading some of his posts I just felt the need to get his opinion on RationalPlan products so I contacted him. That was an interesting point of view and I would like to share it with you:

“Some time ago I was asked to try and review RationalPlan by Tiberiu Ghioca. There are two versions of the application Single Project and Multi Project. The version I used was the Multi Project Version which retails for around $98 per user (compare this to MS Project more about that later).

The one obvious advantage along with the price is the fact the application works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. This is appealing as I am among the few Windows users (by the way I am happy with this) in most of the projects I work on. So finally a Project Management application that is not online (I travel a lot and do not always have easy access to the Internet) that can be shared among all the users on a project.

What is the best environment for RationalPlan?

From using the application over the last few months it holds its own in the SME and Micro Company market against any of its competitors. Where the project management is maybe only a full time job for one or two individuals or where a small team are delivering projects to multiple clients at the same time.

How did it road test?

Well I used this on a group of small projects using the same delivery team and was really pleased with the ease of use and simple interface. This screen shot was taken on a EEE with a 10.1 inch screen and this is a suitable screen resolution to make the application easily usable when I was on the move. Its lighter functionality in comparison with MS Project on was never really an issue when I was mobile.

What can it do?

From a functionality level it is more than capable of managing projects, baselines, risks, cost and resources which is really all you need to manage a project. If you are an MS Office applications user you may miss the import and export functionality the MS Project has with Visio and Excel. Although I have to say what I love about this application and has set it above all the other competitors that I have looked at is the project set up wizard. I have shown this to a few project managers who are starting out and everyone has been impressed with this tool.
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By Tiberiu Ghioca|2022-11-18T10:20:14+00:00July 19th, 2010|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, RationalPlan, Reviews|Comments Off

Great Microsoft Project Alternative With Interproject Dependency Support

Some time ago Satish from Open-Tube.com wrote an interesting review for our RationalPlan products. In what follows I shall republish his review but he has all the credits for it:

“While creating and managing a project plan, have you ever run into a problem of having the resources shared between projects and you don’t know how to deal with such situations in your Microsoft Project? Well, we know Microsoft Project does not handle this scenario quite well. If you are a project manager who needs to manage resources centrally then you need a planning tool that would help you manage resources centrally. We have one such tools called RationalPlan Multi Project that is simple and its specifically designed for project managers that need to handle the company’s projects and resources in a centralized way.

With RationalPlan Multi Project you can have all your company projects and resources in one place. Not just that you can create dependencies between tasks from different projects but more important, you can share resources hence you will be able to track a resource’s overallocation state over multiple projects. The Project Portfolio view will help to get an overview of all your projects. Another key differentiator is that a “what if” scenarios capability is offered via multiple undo/redo levels that allows you to make changes and safely get back.

RationalPlan has three different products for various practical needs.

1. RationalPlan Multi Project – RationalPlan Multi Project allows you to manage multiple projects at once, projects that share common resources and/or with dependencies between their tasks.

2. RationalPlan Single Project – RationalPlan Single Project allows you to schedule and track unrelated projects individually

3. RationalPlan Project Viewer – For people involved but who don’t need or shouldn’t change the schedule related data. The Project Viewer is freely distributed for everyone to see the content of a project in the most flexible manner and not just as printed reports.

The software operates on all popular platforms starting with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and all other Java enabled platforms.

Try the Trial version by downloading form the RationalPlan website.”

Thank you Satish for you review.

By Tiberiu Ghioca|2010-07-16T10:51:12+00:00July 16th, 2010|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, Reviews|Comments Off

What Is A Project Management Software?

Overview

Project management software is a term that covers many kinds of software, including project planning, project scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, communication, task and time tracking and the list can go on. All these areas are covered by project managers that are used to deal with small, medium and even complex and large projects.

A project management application is a simple tool that helps managers and team members successfully plan, manage and execute the various tasks involved in each project under time and budget constraints. The most important part in the success of a project is the project managers experience and knowledge in the project management area. The project management tools are just an extension that help the manager.

Types of project management software

There are several types of project management software. It may be a desktop application, a web-based software or it can also be a hosted software solution that allows access from remote locations through Internet or Intranet.

Desktop applications are used by single users and working generally with system files. Web-based and hosted solutions can be set up to allows access for multiple users simultaneously in a concurrent manner on a central data repository.

The biggest advantage of a desktop application is the increased execution speed. The application runs faster and has a better response time than web-based solutions. This happens because web-based development technologies have not evolved well enough to allow faster running. Still desktop applications have the disadvantage of just one user working with them at a given moment of time. In order to solve this problem it is recommended to use custom server based solutions with desktop clients. This way the server offers the possibility to work concurrently on common data while the desktop clients give execution speed for users when working with the server module.

How to choose the right project management software

Project management software is designed so you can manage all aspects of your project needs effectively. There are different types of software available, and the most will allow you for the complete management from beginning to end. This includes starting with WBS construction, project planning and scheduling to progress tracking etc.

Here are some of the benefits from a project management software that you can expect:

it should be simple, easy to use and user friendly
project planning: provides a clean way to break down your project, build schedules, allocate resources, and manage budgets
resource and cost management: get resources and finances under control
project tracking: track project evolution regarding task’s completion, time and costs
brings project’s critical issues to your attention
team work and collaboration

Besides all these features the product price is also an important factor. There are basically two major payments methods: a one time purchase and a monthly fee. Based on your budget or income it is up to you to decide the most appropriate method.

Keeping all these aspects into account Stand By Soft designed RationalPlan, a project management software suite that follows the general recommended guidelines from project management software domain.

By Tiberiu Ghioca|2022-11-18T10:20:14+00:00July 14th, 2010|Project Management Software|2 Comments