Planning software takes a more realistic view

Micro Planning International has incorporated several powerful new features into the latest release of its X-Pert planning and scheduling software.

Available now from Micro Planning International, X-Pert v3.5 (Windows) allows users to show widths of task boxes to indicate durations, add colour to task boxes to indicate progress and criticality (traffic lights) and include "three point estimating" for task durations.

When working on a logic network diagram, in precedence dependency mode (PDM) users now have an option to show the widths of task boxes to indicate approximately the duration of each task.

This facility immediately redraws the diagram with the boxes repositioned to show concurrent activities and to indicate the relative task lengths.

The switch to view the network in Gantt view has been retained.

The benefit is that users will see a linear time dimension to their logic networks.

When working on the network diagram in precedence dependency mode, users now have the option for adding colour to task boxes.

This "traffic lights" feature can be selected to show background colours of the task box with: red for tasks with float less than or equal to zero yellow for tasks with float less than or equal to 10% green for all remaining tasks; and blue for tasks with progress information.

Rather than a ballpark estimate, project managers can use three-point estimating to gain a greater degree of control over how the end value is calculated.

The end value is the weighted average of three estimates (optimistic, most likely and pessimistic), providing a more balanced view of how long the task or activity is likely to take.

Using X-Pert 3.5, users can now set multiple duration values or scenarios for each piece of work.

The whole project can then be analysed using either of the entered durations, or the calculated duration.

In addition, an additional configuration option disables automatic update checking on product launch.

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