Patrick DiceyManager, Customer Project Management| CentralSquare TechnologiesOrlando, Fl, United States
We use this tool at my current company and I am curious to know if any other PMs are using the OpenAir system and how they like it.
Overall, I really like it. It has a "WBS" type of setup with tasks, planned hours, and baseline/budgeting compared to actuals. Also all in the same tool inc;udes timesheets, resource availability/bookings, expense reporting, and invoices. There is a lot of built in reporting capability as well. Overall, it's a nice "one stop shop" and works pretty well with an easy to use interface and quick refresh/load times all in a web-based cloud system you can access from anywhere.
The only thing it doesn't seem to do REALLY well is integrated scheduling. I still find myself using MS Project and manually integrating the two, so there is some redundancy. The tool does have some capability with tasks/predecessors/successors and a gantt chart but it seems very rudimentary. While I haven't used it much, I don't think it would be adequate. Also, with refresh times it would be time consuming to use compared to being quick/proficient in MS Project.
This seems to be a common gap. I know Cobra/OpenPlan and Primavera are more integrated for cost/schedule but then you lose the other integrations I mentioned. I also feel these tools are more catered to large defense type of programs instead of a commercial environment.
With that said, how do others like OpenAir? If you use it, how do you tackle integrated scheduling?
Is there really a better truly integrated cost/scheduling option other than those I mentioned?
