PlanBee description
PlanBee - alternative management software to MS Project

PlanBee is an alternative management software to MS Project wich can calculates early start, late start, early finish, late finish, float (Slack) and identifies critical path activities.

Calculates and summarizes resource costs. Shows all project data in a "spreadsheet" pattern for ease of understanding.

Data may be manually entered or imported from a file or the clipboard.
Independent re-sizeable and hideable windows show PERT views and Gantt (bar chart) views of the project in addition to the "spreadsheet" view.

Activities and links may be set up and edited in either spreadsheet or PERT views or both at once, since all views are kept synchronized.
Up to 1,000 activities.

No limit on links per activity (within total of 1,000 links). Links may be Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start or Finish-to-Finish to handle overlapping activities.

Links may have minimum time lags specified. Individual activities may have their dates "fixed". Pop up "working day" calendar with 200 year range. Easy to change working/non-working days.

Activity durations and lags may be specified as either "working days" or "calendar days" - both types may be used in the same plan.~Scale of PERT and Gantt charts are adjustable both on-screen and for printing (to make best use of pages).

Reports, PERT charts and Gantt charts may be either printed, or copied to the clipboard for pasting into other programs. Each project may have its own resources list, or master resource lists may be maintained for use across projects.

Activities may be grouped into up to three levels, with resource cost summaries available at each level. On a network other users may have read-only access while one user has a file open for exclusive update.

Pro version ($69.98 USD) adds features for use with larger plans and in a corporate environment, including resource levelling, costing, administrative detail and enhanced export facilities.

Here are some key features of "PlanBee":

· Calculates Early Start, Late Start, Early Finish, Late Finish, Float (Slack) and identifies Critical Path activities (how?)
· Shows all project management data in a "spreadsheet" pattern for ease of understanding. Just click for the Quick Start Guide to see how easy it is. Optional Task Definition Assistance View for those who don't like to work in a spreadsheet grid.
· At-a-glance spreadsheet indication of dependency relationships.
· The currently selected task in the spreadsheet is indicated by aqua (blue).
· Tasks which affect its timing ("precedents" or "predecessors") are indicated by magenta (purple).
· Tasks whose timing are affected by it ("dependents" or "successors") are indicated by yellow.
· Tasks which neither affect the timing of the selected task nor are affected by it are indicated by neutral grey.
· Task data may be entered manually or imported from a file or the clipboard.
· Independent re-sizeable and hideable windows show PERT ("Activity on Node" or "AON") views and Gantt (bar chart) views of the project in addition to the "spreadsheet" view.
· Activities and links may be set up and edited in either spreadsheet or PERT views or both at once, since all views are kept synchronized.
· Setup of PlanBee to access a shared copy of the program over a network is easy. Network file sharing permits multiple users on a network to have read-only access to a plan file while one user has it open for exclusive update. They may modify it and save it to a different file name if they wish.
· Up to 1,000 activities with up to three levels of sub-project or departmental grouping.
· No limit on links per activity (within total of 2,000 links).
· Links may be Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start or Finish-to-Finish to handle overlapping activities.
· Links may have minimum time lags specified.
· Individual activities may have their dates "fixed".
· Pop up "working day" calendar with 200 year range. Easy to change working/non-working days.
· Activity durations and lags may be specified as either "working days" or "calendar days" - both types may be used in the same plan.
· Scale of PERT and Gantt charts are adjustable both on-screen and for printing (to make best use of pages).
· Task data and results may be exported to the clipboard or to a comma-separated or tab-delimited file. They may then be imported to many other products such as spreadsheets and other project management programs.
· Reports, PERT charts and Gantt charts may be either printed, or copied to the clipboard for pasting into other programs. They may also be distributed by "printing" to the Windows printer driver which came with your fax card or to a PDF-producing printer driver such as Jaws PDF Creator or similar products. PDF files may be easily uploaded to your web site.


Limitations:

· 30 days trial