Review Project Management Software Planner

Friday, 15 January 2010 00:00 Written by Thomas Brandstetter

Moments like these are unusual; even rare. But once in a while we still find a real gem in the family of project management tools. We found one such gem in the project management application “Planner.”

The tool is licensed under the “GNU General Public License” and is therefore available to all users for free. Originally the tool was developed as an application for the GNOME desktop, a desktop similar to Windows for GNU/Linux and UNIX computers. A Windows version is available in more than fifty languages. However, the tool is almost unknown outside of the Linux/Unix community.

WBS	.
Planning	.
Resources	.
Reporting	.
Import Export	.
User Interface	.
Documentation	.

WBS

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is done in a way comparable to Microsoft Project. For the input of tasks there are two views available: “Gantt” and “Tasks.” Both views can be used for input of tasks in form of a table, and can be moved according to the structure. Alternatively, input can be performed through an appropriate dialogue.

Planning

Planner knows all four standard relationships between tasks. The relationships can be introduced into the Gantt chart or as predecessor into the task dialogue. A direct input into the table view is not provided.

Either an effort or a set duration can be allocated to a task. When allocating an effort, the duration will be calculated automatically according to the allocated resources. Limiting the input to these two variants makes the use very easy, clear, and understandable for everyone.

Planner Gantt-Chart View

Our personal favorite among the features, automatic priority-controlled resource leveling, is currently in development. A corresponding version can be set up in Linux to be tested. The resource capacity, however, can already be tested in the current version. The “resource usage view” shows availability and capacity for all resources in a very convenient way.

The display of “free buffer” and the highlighting of tasks on the critical path contribute to a well-rounded planning functionality.

Resources

Resources can be set up with typical master data (including wages) and with a detailed availability throughout the duration of the project. An allocation to a group of resources is possible. Since the resource view does not provide grouping or filtering according to groups, this feature needs to be considered for information only.

Planner Resource View

Reporting

The current plan can be exported exclusively in a set HTML format, and can be published afterwards. More extensive reporting functionality is not offered.

Import/Export

In addition to data export in HTML format, the tool also offers import of Microsoft Project 2002 XML files. Further import/export functions are currently not available in the tested Windows version.

When using the Linux version, other “experimental“ import/export interfaces can be used. For example, resources can be imported via LDAP or from an Evolution address book. A PostgreSQL database access is currently available only as a “technology preview.”

User Interface

Despite the fact that the technology of the project management tool „Planner” is based on a GNOME GUI library (GTK+), the differences between the tool and a pure Windows application are small. The tool is easy to use and requires only a short training period.

Due to the limiting of tasks types to two (“set effort” and “set duration”), the behavior of the tool during timeline planning is always comprehensible. This is also a clear advantage compared to Microsoft Project. The variants “set duration,” “set unit,” and “set effort” usually overwhelm a user. “Planner” does not pose this problem.

Documentation

For a freeware tool, Planner offers a surprisingly functional Help system. Luckily, due to the easy handling of the tool, the documentation has to be consulted only rarely. However, in the event of questions or problems, there are usually appropriate hints in the help-function.

Conclusion

Compared to other freeware planning tools, Planner can be considered an insider tip.

In addition to the easy, clear, and always comprehensible date planning, the tool offers everything that is necessary for simple planning scenarios. Tools that are available for a fee, especially Microsoft Project, which is the market leader, offer considerably more functions. Added functionality, however, makes using the software more difficult, especially for users who do not work with the tool on a daily basis.

If you can do without certain features like base lining, earned value analysis, or more complex analyses, you should definitely consider this tool.