Hi, does anyone know any tools which can take data from a MS Project Plan and use it to create something more visual?
I am thinking something which can be used in those rather common situations where one is required to present forthcoming project activities, their resource requirements, dependencies etc, to relevant managers etc, and where the MS Project Gantt charts (or other chart types I have spotted in there) may be a bit too detailed & not suited to using in a high level presentation.
Sure I can do something in Excel or Powerpoint, but I would prefer to automate this as far as possible.
Thanks
By the way, when I typed this post it was in paragraphs, but the preview of it has removed those- is there a way to retain them? Saving Changes...
Please ignore the footnote about paragraphs, they clearly just disappear at teh preview stage to reappear when posted. Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Hi Tim,
Have you looked at using the conditional formatting features of MS Project. Provided is a library of graphical indicators that can be easily incorporated into your MS Project schedule to create a very visual and useful project schedule. You can dashboard traditional green/yellow/red indicators, provide for flags and alerts and other useful graphics. And best of all, this is all automatic and right within your MS Project schedule. This can be done at the top level of your WBS or for every task. And for further details, you can expand your WBS as needed. Also, you can add columns to your project schedule to facilitate rendering additional information (text, data, graphical indicators) to bring your schedule to life and make it more useful and usable to your audience that you are presenting to.
Thanks Mark, yes I had considered using MS Project, however I'm really looking for an add-on; I wish to retain my main MPP in it's usual format of data + gantt, with several extra columns in use, and then be able to migrate some of the data from that into a charting application as & when I need it; if I go down the conditional formatting route I either need to run 2 copies of the plan or keep manually doing & undoing the formatting. The format options are limited too, with the network diagram being particularly poor.
In the meantime I have been trying out a few alternatives:
1. MS offer a presentation add-in to project. It's quick and simple, but with limited functionality & choice of what you can bring down or what template to use.
2. Milestone Project Companion by Kidasa- intially this seems more like it, the menu layouts are a bit odd, bringing back distant memories of Lotus 123, but there's loads of functionality (too much perhaps), plenty of templates, and generally many good looking features. However, it seems very buggy & I couldn't get the data to transfer down from the MPP. Am waiting for their tech support to get back to me.
3. Pert Chart Expert by Critical Tools - limited, as you will guess, to producing pert charts , but otherwise seems aok. Perts are not bad for use in presentations and I can soon copy and paste it into a powerpoint & add a couple of intro pages etc. It connects to MP Project well and pulls all the data across, the manual actually says if you change things on the pert chart then they effectively change in the MPP - however what "effectively" means in this context is unclear, I'd think they either change or don't. I would test it out, but that brings me onto the main issue - the demo version is limited to 50 tasks- what this means is where your MPP has over 50 tasks irrespective of whether you have selected them or not. At that point most functions shut down, so it's a crap demo.
I'm now going to try Option 4 - try to find a friendly secretary who has Visio and some time spare.
greeno for england! just get rid of them tim! up for some rooftop cricket? Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Hi Tim,
Sounds like we have been down the same path on this one. I quite agree with your assessment about the conditional formatting functionality of Microsoft Project being too limited. Though we use the conditional formatting quite a bit in every schedule, I wish that there was a way to add other graphical indicators as we have a number of unique indicators that we use for different project/program/portfolio metrics. Also, the formula syntax is not intuitive for occasional Microsoft Project users and it could be improved upon. Nonetheless, there doesn't seem to be an add-on that is significantly more attractive than just staying within the Microsoft Project and Microsoft Office tool set. Please let us know if you find an attractive and compelling alternative. And yes, the friendly and supportive secretary/admin with time to spare is always a great help.
Great post. I hope we hear and learn from others. Cheers. ~ Mark Saving Changes...
Basically the whole gantt is presented as a mind map and you can drill into whatever part of the plan you like. I find this extremely useful and easier to digest than meters of traditional gantt.
cheers
steve Saving Changes...
Jack BlackChief Project Officer| PMConnectionJackson, Oh, United States
Same as previous post:
1. PowerPoint add in by Microsoft
2. Milestone Project Companion by Kidasa
3. Pert Chart Expert by Critical Tools
