How Does RationalPlan Position Against its Competitors?

While publishing our products over a specialized reviews directory we were asked: “How do you position yourself against your competitors?“. To summarize it the answer would be: “RationalPlan puts the accent on productivity and tries to be as easy to use as possible: straightforward and intuitive“.

The Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule)

Compared to other products it has the same power but it is more affordable to the users. If you compare for example RationalPlan Single product with Microsoft Project standard version you get 80% of the functionality at 20% of the price. There was a customer – whose name I can not mention without his approval – that after buying RationalPlan he wanted a refund because he was not finding certain features available in MS Project. After explaining him where he can find that functionality we also recommended to keep the product. A few days later we received this answer: “Now that I get to know RationalPlan better, I wouldn’t want to miss it anymore. You helped me save a lot of money by “preventing” me from buying MS-Project 🙂”

Embedded project guide

Project management applications tend to be a little bit more complicated and require some training for users to understand how to use them. There are special terms and notions that need additional explanations to understand them. RationalPlan offers an embedded project guide that takes users step by step through the whole process of initiating, planning and controling a project. It is great for a novice or accidental project manager but has the power and the tools to assist an experienced one. Once users get used to the software they can hide the project guide, increase the workspace area and create their own pattern in using the product.

Works everywhere

RationalPlan was developed to work on any operating system: Windows, Mac OS X, different Linux flavors. Even more with the cloud service module it can run directly within the browser no matter what the underlying operating system is.

Great support

One of the main aspects that RationalPlan believes in is the client satisfaction. That is why customer support is a priority. RationalPlan is not a big brand and people do not know it that much but anyone that gets to work with it prefers it over the competitors. Here are just a few testimonials to confirm the customer satisfaction.

However the final verdict is what the users say about RationalPlan products!

By |2022-11-18T10:20:02+00:00May 27th, 2015|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, RationalPlan, Reviews|1 Comment

RationalPlan Multi Project Software Review: Graymark Costruction

When Ted Stephens, owner of Graymark Construction, purchased RationalPlan software for project management, he was elated at the level of project planning he was able to get for his $90 investment. RationalPlan lets contractors create consistent project plans, allocate resources and analyze workload, track work progress, estimate projects’ costs and manage budgets. Stephens said, “It is much easier to use that Adaptec, which I’ve used before, and more feature-rich.”

When a change comes up, Stephens can quickly change the work flow to accommodate it. On one project this construction scheduling flexibility saved a week of labor, which Stephens estimates at $2,500.

One drawback is that RationalPlan is not tied in with QuickBooks software with respect to the hourly rates and time, which adds a little more work to setting up projects, Stephens noted.

Overall, Stephens rated RationalPlan a perfect 10 out of 10. This software for project management fits all of Graymark’s needs on projects large and small. As Stephens put it, “We have been able to be more productive, my workers appreciate the direction and timeline, and my customers love being able to see their project end!”

Here is the full review for RationalPlan Multi Project.

By |2022-11-18T10:20:13+00:00January 6th, 2011|Reviews|Comments Off on RationalPlan Multi Project Software Review: Graymark Costruction

RationalPlan – a feature-packed and ergonomic project management suite

The editors from 3d2f.com published a review for our RationalPlan suite that we shall publish in this post:

If you are a project manager, you know well that the success of any project heavily depends on your ability to interpret the client’s requirements, efficiently communicate them to the team, assess risks and factor them into the cost and duration estimates, closely monitor tasks on the critical path/chain, as well as to create detailed project plans that are easy to follow and hand over to another project manager, if need be. All of the above requires a great deal of skill and knowledge, as well as reliable and easy to use PM tools. So if you’ve got everything a good PM has, but are still on the look for the right software, check out RationalPlan!

RationalPlan is a convenient project management suite covering every aspect of the typical PM process. With RationalPlan, you can keep the company’s resources and the project budget under control using built-in cost estimation and cash-flow monitoring tools, tackle such issues as delays and buffer overflows, keep track of the overall project progress using key indices and even simulate various project evolution scenarios! The program offers a wide assortment of PM tools, from Gantt charts to WBS trees, and minimizes the familiarization time with the help of a clean and intuitive user interface.

If you are seeking a project management tool that will help you get your work done more efficiently than ever, don’t miss RationalPlan!

By |2022-11-18T10:20:13+00:00December 15th, 2010|Project Management Software, RationalPlan, Reviews|Comments Off on RationalPlan – a feature-packed and ergonomic project management suite

RationalPlan Multi Project Software Review: HPS Maintenance & Restoration

Tony Kramer, a senior contract manager at HPS Maintenance & Restoration, faced challenges trying to communicate complicated project details using Excel spreadsheets. At the same time, he did not have the budget to invest in a full-blown construction project management tool like Microsoft Project or Primavera P3. So Kramer scoured the Internet until he stumbled upon RationalPlan. At a cost of only ÂŁ60, it was cheap enough that he could just dive in.

RationalPlan does not have all the bells and whistles of some of its more expensive competitors, but it does have all the basic features Kramer requires. For example, Kramer appreciates the ability to be able to pass detailed planning information on to his contract manager. In addition, the application makes it easy for multiple people to keep track of the status of projects without a lot of back and forth phone calls.

Kramer rates RationalPlan an 8 out of 10 and recommends the software to anyone planning medium sized jobs or who needs to send a schedule to an outside body via a PDF file.

Here is the full review for RationalPlan Multi Project.

By |2010-11-10T16:01:45+00:00November 10th, 2010|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, RationalPlan, Reviews|Comments Off on RationalPlan Multi Project Software Review: HPS Maintenance & Restoration

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 Good

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 Good

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.
(more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:14+00:00July 29th, 2010|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, Project Portfolio Management, RationalPlan, Reviews|Comments Off on Review – RationalPlan Multi Project

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.
(more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:14+00:00July 19th, 2010|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, RationalPlan, Reviews|Comments Off on RationalPlan Review

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 |2010-07-16T10:51:12+00:00July 16th, 2010|Microsoft Project, Project Management Software, Reviews|Comments Off on Great Microsoft Project Alternative With Interproject Dependency Support
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