A Review of GanttPRO
The market for project management tools is continually evolving and there continues to be a growing number of tools available for project managers. Here, we’ll be taking a look at GanttPRO.
GanttPRO is an online Gantt chart tool that is suitable for all companies regardless of their size and industry. With an increasing number of employees working remotely, this project management tool can help improve communication and collaboration within the project team. The main features of GanttPro are:
- Gantt Chart and timeline
- Task management
- Team collaboration
- Resource management and resource workload
- Portfolio management
- Gantt chart templates
- Integration with JIRA Cloud
GanttPRO can also assist by automating workflow, prioritizing the distribution of tasks so that deadlines are met.
Gantt Chart Timeline
The Gantt Chart timeline in GanttPRO provides a detailed view of the project status. All project team members who have access can create tasks, dependencies, and milestones using the timeline. Project progress can be tracked helping with the adherence of deadlines. Working time for resources can be logged and detailed information about tasks can be displayed.
The timeline can be customized to personal preferences; with the option to display it in days, weeks, months or years depending on the duration of the project. Personal calendars can be created to track days off or public holidays as well as task commitments. Tasks can be color-coded for ease of display so that they are apparent to the user, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Task Management in GanttPro
Projects adhere to the Critical Path method; a chain of tasks that determines the shortest period to accomplish a project. The Critical Path highlights the tasks that are critical so that they can obtain priority over other tasks. Typically, if a task on the Critical Path is behind schedule, it will affect the project’s completion date.
GanttPRO also has many features that help track the progress of tasks. GanttPRO task management includes estimating the progress of projects, time logging, project status, deadlines, and durations. All of these features are found in the task settings, where tasks can be quickly created and assigned to a member of the project team.
With one click, using the drag and drop feature, task completion dates can be altered and reconnected with the dependencies to other tasks on the timeline. If the date of any dependent task is changed, the auto-scheduling feature will automatically update the timeline, as shown below in Figure 2.
Figure 2
During a project, if a task is canceled and the project needs to recommence from a different point, the project history can be opened allowing users to restore any part of the project.
Team Collaboration
Robust and effective communication amongst team members is essential for successful project outcomes. Using GanttPRO, project teams can leave comments and contact colleagues with ‘@’. GanttPRO also enables the attachment of files from a device or via Google Drive.
All members of the project team can receive real-time notifications related to task assignments. Push-notifications can be received during task assignments notifying team members when tasks are expected to start or end as shown below in Figure 3.
Figure 3
Resource Management and Resource Workload
GanttPRO assists in adding people to the project where roles and responsibilities can be defined whether that is a project member, an administrator or the project manager. Multiple team members can be assigned tasks.
The resource workload can be tracked and monitored. If a resource is overloaded it is easy to assign more resources to the task. Similarly, if there are too many resources assigned to a task, they can be moved to a new task.
Virtual resources can be added to the project and assigned tasks. Values can be set for all team members and virtual resources whether these are fixed costs or defined as an hourly rate. GanttPRO will automatically calculate the cost of a resource for the whole project.
Personal calendars can be created for each member of the project team before the start of a project, where any vacation time, exceptions, and days off can be factored into the project, as shown below in Figure 4.
Figure 4
Portfolio Management In GanttPRO
A project portfolio is a group of projects that an organization runs to strategically achieve company goals. GanttPro supports Project Portfolio Management (PPM) allowing users to effectively manage several projects that correlate to the organizations core goals.
By using GanttPRO as a project portfolio management software, users can create and manage project portfolios. GanttPRO’s interface helps users to concentrate on key projects, prioritize and understand which projects align with the company’s business objectives and successfully run them.
PPM will track the progress of projects without switching from one project to another, managing the selected projects at the same time. Status and updates can be controlled, as well as team collaboration enhanced, with the option for team members to leave comments for each other and attach any additional files required. PPM workloads can be monitored as well as finances and deadlines adhered to, as shown below in Figure 5.
Figure 5
Gantt Chart Templates
GanttPro offers multiple Gantt chart templates, to suit the differing needs of industry. Construction, marketing, web design and retail are just a small sample of industries that are catered for with specific templates. It is also possible to create and save a personally constructed template. Data can be copied and pasted from previous projects into new Gantt chart templates.
Gantt charts can be downloaded in different formats including PDF, Excel and PNG. Users can also add Gantt charts to presentations for stakeholders or project manager meetings. Below in Figure 6 are the selection of Gantt chart templates available.
Figure 6
Integration with JIRA Cloud
Integration with JIRA Cloud will add some efficiency for large and mid-sized companies for the project teams and the distribution teams who work on IT projects. It is important to note that both project teams and distribution teams will be able to save their functionality to the JIRA Cloud.
Additional Benefits of Integration with JIRA Cloud:
- A Robust workflow – the actual information ensures that there is a minimal risk of the project team receiving irrelevant details.
- Real-time synchronization ensures that changes made to the schedule will reflect in data being updated throughout the project, so that no data will be lost, and a true display of the project remains relevant.
- The integration will help with budgetary expenses, by saving time and money on developing another tool that will perform similarly to JIRA Cloud.
- The integration also helps with faster communication so that emails between the project team and unnecessary meetings are kept to a minimum.
Summary
GanttPro is certainly a very easy-to-use, online project management solution centered around the Gantt chart. The Gantt chart templates are a great base for the start of any project and they can be saved and selected for similar projects in the future. By using the timeline, working time for resources can be logged and detailed information about tasks can be displayed. Resources can be tracked and monitored, supporting the achievement of project deadlines.
The good news is, you check out a fully functional version of GanttPRO for yourself with a free 14-day trial.