Multi Project Planner

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on December 22, 2009

Multi Project Planner offers a vast array of tools to manage complex projects. It has all that you need to oversee any project, but its overwhelming options may hold some back.

The program's interface is clean and useful but a bit disorienting from the start because of an embarrassment of riches: Multi Project Planner offers so many details that its commands are difficult to memorize. Even the tutorials are confusingly dense with instructions and examples. In the end, Multi Project Planner produces readable, multicolored charts showcasing every aspect of a project, from daily responsibilities of individuals to total man hours on a project and the status of simultaneous jobs. Unfortunately, it took an inordinate amount of time to reach that point. It felt as if we were constantly filling out the same details over and over, which was both tedious and daunting, not a pleasant combo. Multi Project Planner's best feature quickly generates work hours for employees, a breath of fresh air. This comprehensive planning tool requires more data input than most other project management programs we've tested, and to make good use of it, you really need either project management experience or a great deal of patience. However, it's a powerful program that provides impressive results, albeit with some serious focus and effort.

Multi Project Planner has a 30-day trial limit. Although it demands experience and attention to detail, its results are of such a high quality that we recommend this program to those who are serious about project management.

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Publisher's Description

From Adaptive Planning Tools:

Multi-Project-Planner addresses the problem of planning and scheduling multiple concurrent projects competing for shared and scarce resources. To this end Multi Project Planner's main planning board is build like the 'Job Shop Scheduler' used in the manufacturing business. In a Job Shop a job runs through a set of operations such as cutting, sanding, drilling etc, where each operation is conducted on a machine capable of performing the operation. In order to schedule the jobs, the Job Shop Scheduler contains a master schedule, where each row represents a machine, on which the operations are booked according to available space in time and capabilities of the machine. Likewise Multi Project Planner contains a master plan, where each row represents a work team, offering a set of competencies and upon which the activities of the projects are booked according to available space in time and competencies required by the activities. Planning a project in Multi Project Planner involves two steps: 1. Creating the gantt chart for the project in a separate window. 2. Drag and drop the gantt chart unto the master plan, letting Multi Project Planner figure out the scheduling. This 'Divide and conquer' strategy greatly eases the task of scheduling multiple concurrent projects competing for shared resources. The layout of the master plan directly addresses the problem of resource conflicts as they are immediately visible. Further the layout allows an emphasis on flow of throughput over the capacity, thereby preventing sudden build up of resource demands. Together with a lot features, the layout greatly eases the daily handling of multiple projects as well as minimizing the lead-time for the projects and finally minimizes the strains on the brains of the planner. Look and feel of the familiar planning board.

What's new in this version: Version 3.2 adds