Simple yet effective

Using CS Project, planning a project is as simple as:

• Listing the tasks that need to be done, either by entering them into the spreadsheet or simply by drawing bars on the screen
• Deciding on the sequence in which tasks can occur by linking them with the mouse in the bar chart, pert chart or spreadsheet
• Deciding who or what is required to do each task by dragging a resource from the histogram and dropping it onto one or more tasks (this step is optional)
• Estimating the cost of each task using fixed or variable costs (this step is optional)

Once the project has been set up, you can at a glance see:

• Which tasks affect the project duration
• Which resources are over-allocated
• When more resources are required to finish a project on time
• When money will be committed
• When the project will break even
• If any new projects can be taken on by the company
• What risk of running over time or budget is involved in a project

Critical Path Analysis - the critical path is automatically calculated for your project. It indicates which tasks require the most attention if you wish to complete your project on time.

What-if Analysis - Quickly establish what will happen to the project duration or the project cost if there is e.g. a labour shortage or a continuous increase in labour, material or equipment cost.

Features for professionals - not only is CS Project very easy to use, it also offers the professional planner many powerful features, such as:

• Hammock activities
• Roll up multiple bars onto one line
• Full control over resource levelling
• CARLO (Cost and Resource Levelling Optimisation)
• Matrix reports
• Splitting of tasks
• Overtime
• Variable availability and unit cost escalations
• Multiple calendars for tasks, links, resources and projects
• Multi-project management
• Cross-project links
• Sub-projects
• Monte Carlo risk analysis
• ODBC-based data exchange system for data repository

Suitable for any project - CS Project can be used successfully in many spheres of business:

• Ladder Links allow planners of construction projects to schedule overlapping work correctly.
• The ODBC-based data exchange system allows maintenance planners to import work requests from maintenance management systems (database).
• The assign bar chart view allows production planners in a job shop to decide when to fit new orders into the existing schedule.
• Material resources and unit cost escalations allow a plant engineer to plan and control spare parts and labour requirements for services several years in advance.
• Flexible calendar management allows the project manager in a software development project to handle skilled individuals effectively.

Task and Time Management - the bar chart displays the tasks that have to be performed, as well as when they have to start and by when they have to be finished. It can also show the order in which work has to be done.

• Set ASAP, ALAP, Start/Finish On, Start/Finish By, Start/Finish After and Work Between constraints
• Link tasks using FS, SS, FF, SF constraints with leads/lags
• Plan and track fixed costs
• Promote/demote tasks to build up WBS outline
• Expand/collapse summary tasks in Gantt and roll up multiple bars onto one line
• Use 10 user-defined text fields, 5 user-defined numeric fields and 5 user-defined date fields to customise the system to your needs
• Filter and sort tasks on any field including user-defined fields

Resource Management - the histogram is used to display and manage the usage of labour, materials and equipment. Over-allocations of resources are highlighted, showing you where and when more resources are required to complete the tasks on time.

• Create a common resource pool to be shared by a number of projects
• Assign resources by dragging and dropping onto tasks
• Labour/material/other resources
• Make resource assignments effort or duration driven
• Escalate resource costs and vary availability over time.
• Show assignment bars on Gantt
• Delay resource assignment to start after task start
• Promote/demote resources to build up RBS outline
• Summarise resource usage according to the outline structure for single or multiple projects
• Define custom rules for resource leveling

Multi-project Management - CS Project automatically consolidates all projects that are loaded at the same time in a workgroup view. This is used to show resource usage over all projects.

• Open more than one project simultaneously
• Share a common resource pool in a group of projects.
• Use the workgroup window (with Gantt / Resource / Pert / Assign Gantt / Crosstab views) to effortlessly consolidate data across projects.
• Create links between tasks in separate projects
• Use sub-projects to build up large schedules
• Protect sensitive data with passwords on a project, resource table or ID level.

Reporting

• Create presentation quality charts and reports on any output device supported by Windows
• Print all reports in multi-page, banner (wallchart) or force-to-pages format
• Print detailed periodic or to-date breakdowns of resource usage and costs
• Store multiple report and view layouts and switch easily between them
• Customise reports in terms of layout, fonts, colours, symbols, fill styles. Incorporate your company logo
• Use the screen preview to check your reports before producing prints

Data Exchange

• Transfer text between programs using the clipboard (e.g. between CS Project and a spreadsheet).
• Transfer projects to other systems (e.g. estimating, planning, time chainage, reporting, risk analysis etc.) using the MPX format.
• Import or export data from/to external databases using a simple, graphical ODBC interface.
• Store and retrieve data from a central data repository (any ODBC database).
• Share project data seamlessly with CS Project Lite.

Tracking Progress

• Store a baseline schedule of tasks and resource assignments for comparisons between the current schedule and the original plan.
• Record actual start and finish dates, percent complete, actual and remaining durations for tasks.
• Perform slip-to-date and stretch-to-date operations to reschedule projects based on actual data.

Costing - set up an accurate costing for your project with expenditure and revenue. Then display a cashflow curve of committed costs. You can also track progress with S-curves of resources or costs.

• Plan/track fixed costs (per task) as well as variable costs (by resource usage)
• Summarise costs according to RBS/WBS structures for single or multiple projects
• Use tasks and assignment baselines for detailed Earned Value Analysis

System Requirements

• Personal computer using a 386 or higher processor
• One of the following: Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later, Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.1 or later, Microsoft Windows NT 3.5 or later, Microsoft Windows 95.
• 4MB recommended
• One 3.5" high-density (1.44 MB) disk drive
• Hard disk with 8MB free disk space for a full installation (3MB minimum)
• VGA resolution monitor or higher
• Mouse
• Can be installed on workstations or network servers
• Any printer or plotter supported by MS Windows.