February 2011 - RationalPlan

What Is A Project Portfolio Management Software

Manage multiple projects with shared resources within your company

PPM, short for Project Portfolio Management, is a term used by project managers and project management organizations (or PMOs), to describe methods that enables corporate and business users to organize a set of projects into a single portfolio. Project portfolio management software refers to a software product that allows users, usually management or executives within a company, to easily organize and prioritize the projects. It will allow them to review the portfolio and will assist them in making key financial and business decisions for the projects.

A closer look

But project portfolio management is about more than managing multiple projects. Each portfolio of projects must be treated as a whole and needs to be evaluated by its business value and adherence to strategy. As each project must reach its goal and produce its final deliverable in the same way a portfolio should be designed to achieve a specific business objective or benefit. Bob Buttrick summarized it like this: “Directing the individual project correctly will ensure it is done right. Directing ‘all the projects’ successfully will ensure we are doing the right projects.”

A growing number of vendors offer project portfolio management software, which has dramatically simplified the process of building a portfolio. But the first step is for companies to prioritize their business strategies. Portfolios can then be assembled and assessed based on how they meet those strategic needs. Once companies determine the business priorities they want their projects to meet, they need to break down the portfolios. Teams are assigned to different business units, and each of those teams handles a separate portfolio.

Previously, projects were approved and then managed independently. They were evaluated as a whole at the executive level only when it came time to put together annual reports. Nowadays with the latest project management software solutions project managers can better handle the portfolio using executive dashboards and other such tools. Working at portfolio level is about working with summary or key data and as less details as possible. It is important to avoid information overload. The detail of each project should be kept at the project team level, managed by the individual project managers.

The recent trend toward improved resource tracking and leveling functionality in PM software is a great boon to the portfolio manager. Actually, without the possibility of knowing what each human resource in the pool of project personnel is capable of and when they will be available to work, you cannot say that you are managing a portfolio. You need such a work management software in order to keep your project’s work balanced and avoid supplementary costs introduced by overtime working rates.
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By Tiberiu Ghioca|2022-11-18T10:20:12+00:00February 25th, 2011|Project Management Software, Project Portfolio Management|Comments Off

New Features Added In Version 3.21 For RationalPlan Project Management Software

The new version for the project management suite RationalPlan from Stand By Soft comes with additional features like better reporting capabilities, improved Microsoft Project integration, more undo and redo actions, online launch from browser and much more. And all these are now also available in Dutch language.

RationalPlan is a Microsoft Project alternative with additional features like multiple projects management, shared resources and email integration developed to assist busy business owners looking for a better way to manage their projects. For those companies that need a concurrent user project management system RationalPlan Project Server is a better solution by adding a server module that gives project managers concurrent access to a central project data repository.

Important changes added to this version:

Better reporting capabilities
Manage projects directly from browser when using RationalPlan Project Server
Improved dependencies rendering
Improved Microsoft Project integration
More Undo and Redo actions
Translated to Dutch
Possibility to reset passwords in RationalPlan Project Server
Added colors for tasks for tables
Added description to iCalendar items when sending emails
UTF-8 characters support for the server

Almost any view from RationalPlan can be printed either to the printer or to a PDF file. All the user has to do is to customize the way he wants that view to look (arrange and resize columns, scale to the preferred timescale, filter, etc.) and then print it. But there are certain reports that can not be printed this way by using a view. And for these reports an additional method was created which is independent of the current view from the application. Reports like the project status, project information, working calendars, etc. that were not available in previous versions can now be generated as PDF files.

One of the most important features that was added in current version is the possibility to launch the Multi Project product directly from the browser while using the Project Server. There is no need to install it anymore on each user’s computer. With this feature RationalPlan makes an important step in becoming an online project management software.

Other changes make working with RationalPlan easier. Dependencies are displayed in more details using not just the dependency type but also the lag amount if needed. This is the most visible in the Predecessors and Successors columns. More undo and redo actions will help users to safely return to an older state of the project’s plan with the minimum effort. Now the colours for tasks can also be used in the tables and not just over the chart. This gives a better insight over the project or a nicer way for reporting. Plus iCalendar support was improved by adding descriptions to each item.

Certain changes where also made to the project server product: password reset mechanism, support for UNICODE characters for languages like Chinese, Japanese, Russian, etc.

And all these are now available in Dutch language thanks to the great efforts and help from Cees Riedijk a trainer of project management software.

RationalPlan suite includes:

RationalPlan Single Project – project management software for single projects
RationalPlan Multi Project – project management software for multiple projects, projects that are interconnected through dependencies and share common resource
RationalPlan Project Viewer – free project management software viewer, the solution for anyone (from project stakeholders to team workers) to view projects details
RationalPlan Project Server – a centralized management of company’s projects while offering concurrent/controlled access for different users

RationalPlan Project Management Software is available at http://www.rationalplan.com. It can be download from https://www.rationalplan.com/download.php.

About Stand By Soft

Stand By Soft was founded in 1997 as a software company specialized in building desktop applications and components. RationalPlan is a project management software that follows the general recommended guidelines from project management domain. MOOS Project viewer is a Microsoft® Project viewer that allows you to open, view in a dynamic way and print any Microsoft® Project file

Contact name: Lucian Ioan
Address: Aleea Parului, Nr.4A, Craiova, Dolj, 200346, Romania
Email: marketing@rationalplan.com
Phone: +40727159969

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By Tiberiu Ghioca|2022-11-18T10:20:12+00:00February 15th, 2011|Microsoft Project, News, Project Management Software|Comments Off

Advantages and Benefits of Project Management Software

Some time ago project management was represented by three things: a pencil, a piece of paper and a methodology. But the time flies and the technology evolves… so why stop here? Why not use the technology? Software industry has evolved so much and can do wonders. With the introduction of project management software a few years back, the tools a project manager has at their disposal has been greatly increased.

The new project management tools

There are many different versions and variations to what is available on the market, having many cost ranges including programs for small businesses and all the way up to programs capable of keeping a corporation in business. Managing a business is no easy task, however, and keeping track of everything is often the hardest part of owning a business. These software solutions can make it easier for businesses to communicate with employees, clients, share files and track the status of projects and assignments.

Project management software can be a lifesaver for busy business owners looking for a better way to manage their business. But just having this sort of software program in place won’t help project managers be more effective. It will only allow them to have access to more data, which may in turn make them more efficient. They still need to know how to communicate to the project head and be clearly able to delegate responsibilities to the project team members.

Project management software has a simple goal: to help those involved in managing projects to achieve their objectives. For individual projects, the objective is to deliver the expected output from the project on time, within budget and to the expected quality. However, for those that manage multiple projects, project management software must do a lot more and it often has a different label, such as project portfolio management software, or resource management software.

So how can project management software deliver such benefits?

Some businesspeople may wonder what project management software can offer that the old tried-and-true cannot. It is quite simple: project management software achieves its objectives by providing pertinent and reliable information that the project stakeholders have confidence in. So the starting point is to look at how credible information can be delivered from such a system.
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By Tiberiu Ghioca|2022-11-18T10:20:13+00:00February 8th, 2011|Project Management Software|Comments Off