New in Project KickStart 4.0 (Mar 7, 2007)
- The Planning Wizard is similar to our current planning interface. Steps have not been changed. However, the following features have been added:
- 1. Undo button on each page
- 2. Enhanced Look and Feel of the program.
- 3. Right mouse click enabled.
- 4. The Task List view includes a cost column and a % done column.
- 5. A new Task List toolbar makes adding new tasks, subtasks and notes clearer.
- 6. A Task Information dialog allows for easy editing on both the Task List and Gantt chart.
- 7. New Report wizard gives more flexibility in printing Task Reports and Individual Assignments. You can use the Report Wizard to select the data to print (date range and completed vs uncompleted tasks), see print previews, and specify Headers and Footers.
- Gantt Chart:
- 1. To make scheduling easy and quick, Project KickStart 4 provides a starter schedule for new projects by setting today as the start date and assigning a one-day duration to each task. This creates a waterfall or cascade pattern, with one task following the other. To adjust the schedule to fit your project, you can move task bars around as well as change their start dates, finish dates, and durations. Also, you can change the project "start date" to change all the dates in the project.
- 2. Weekends are shown as non-working days.
- 3. And, you can set non-working days and holidays by clicking the "Working Days" icon on the Gantt chart tool bar.
- 4. Phases which contain tasks are represented by a different symbol than the task bars -- it "contains" the tasks.
- 5. There is a % done column, and % done shows on the task bars of the Gantt chart.
- 6. You can set milestones (the task bar turns into a diamond-shape) by setting the task duration = 0.
- 7. You can change the color of task bars for emphasis.
- 8. You can print three styles of Gantt chart reports (wall chart, scale-to-page, and repeat tasks on every page).
- 9. In addition, you can use the Report Wizard to select the data to print (date range and completed vs uncompleted tasks), see print previews of the Gantt chart, and specify Headers and Footers of Gantt reports.
- Imports/Exports:
- Project KickStart 4's exports (which were called "links" in Ver 3) have been substantially enhanced:
- 1. Word export saves in Word doc format
- 2. Excel export saves in Excel workbook format
- 3. PowerPoint export lets you chose a design template, provides clearer information, and lets you include an image of the Gantt chart in the presentation.
- 4. Outlook Export lets you:
- export your tasks onto the calendar as a reminder on the due date
- improves the Task View in Outlook
- preserves the original order of your tasks within any project
- The Import from Outlook to the People Library has also been improved:
- On Import, you can see the company name as well as the person's name, to help you identify which contacts to import.
- Imports contact intormation into an address book in the People Library , showing Company name, phone number, email, etc.
- Also lets you import contacts from the Outlook Business Contact Manager
- 5. ACT! 7 and later (2005/206/2007) are now supported with an enhanced Export and Import. Yes, Project KickStart now exports to ACT! 2007.
- The Export puts tasks on the ACT! calender as timeless to avoid clogging up your calendar view
- The Export is smart enough to be able to update your existing tasks from the same project:
- It preserves the task history (task cleared, notes, etc.) in ACT!.
- It updates the latest task status and assignments (rather than overwrite all the tasks in ACT!)
- You can create ACT! assignments right from Project KickStart.
- The Import from ACT! 7 and later to the People Library has also been improved:
- And it displays the company name as well as the person's name to help you identify which contacts or users to import.
- 6. The MindManager X5/6 export/import provides a 2-way exports between the programs and adds a Project KickStart icon to MindManager 6 for ease of use.