Make A Plan And Go: Twiddlebit's Pocket Plan Reviewed [Archive]

Jimmy Dodd

11-08-2004, 06:00 PM

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-gantt_view.gif" /> Product Category: Productivity Software Manufacturer: <a href="http://www.twiddlebit.com">Twiddlebit Software</a> Where to Buy: <a href="http://www.twiddlebit.com/pocketplan.htm">Twiddlebit Software</a> Price: $29.95 USD System Requirements: Pocket PC 2000/2002/2003 Pros:<li>Excellent use of Pocket PC's small screen to display lots of data; <li>Synchronizes with Microsoft Project and Twiddlebit's Plan for the desktop; <li>Highly configurable.Cons:<li>Data files are not 100% compatible with Microsoft Project; <li>Synchronization is at the file level; <li>Does not support resource leveling.Summary: Project management is a complex art. Juggling tasks, resources, and time while trying to track progress and make decisions based on schedule changes can be a daunting endeavor. A tool like Microsoft Project makes it easier to automate much of this work, but often when a decision is required the data is back on your desktop while you are in a conference room or on the production floor. Twiddlebit's Pocket Plan (v 2.06) allows you to take your project data with you anywhere, but can you really squeeze the functionality of a management tool like Microsoft Project into a Pocket PC? Read on for the full review!<!> <PAGEBREAK> Overview Twiddlebit's Pocket Plan is a project planning and management application that lets you track task status and resource usage in a graphical manner. During the initial planning stage of a project, Plan allows you to schedule tasks and allocate resources against those tasks. Tasks can be scheduled for certain dates, or they can be chained to follow the completion of other tasks. Once the project is underway Plan allows you to track the progress of task completion and compare it to the original schedule in several ways. For those not familiar with project management software, Twiddlebit includes a brief tutorial on project planning/tracking along with the manual for Pocket Plan. Installation Installation of Pocket Plan is easy - simply run the setup.exe file from the desktop and ActiveSync will complete the process. Pocket Plan can be installed to either the main memory of a Pocket PC or to a memory card. The footprint is small and simple: a single executable file (496k) plus a sample Plan file demonstrating most of the application's features make up the whole of the installation. Some additional configuration information (colors, view layouts, and registration information) is stored in the system Registry. As usual, the plan files' sizes are dependant on the amount of data they contain, but they tend to be compact. The sample plan included with the application contains 20 tasks and 7 resources, yet still measures only 5k in size. Data Data stored in Pocket Plan can be broken down into two main types: tasks and resources. Tasks are the actions that must be performed to move a plan to completion while resources are the people and equipment required to perform the tasks. Resources can be uniquely identified or grouped into a single resource with multiple units of work. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-task_edit.gif" /> Figure 1: The Task Editor. Tasks are entered into the plan through a tabbed dialog. The amount of information that can be associated with each task is large but Pocket Plan breaks down the fields into manageable sections. The initial tab lets you input a name for the task, plus set a series of constraints that affect the scheduling of the task. The resources tab lets you add or remove resources assigned to perform the task, while the dependencies tab allows for specifying tasks that must be completed before the given task can be started. The tracking tab contains information related to the expected and to the actual progress made on a task for a given date, and the costs/notes tab carries data on the costs associated with a task plus a free form notes section. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-tracking.gif" /> Figure 2: Task Tracking. Tasks can also be configured in a hierarchical manner using summary tasks. Summary tasks can be useful for grouping tasks into multiple phases (such as requirements analysis, design, and implementation) or functional groups (database team, web development team, and network team). A summary task has a start and end date based entirely on the earliest start date and latest end date of its subtasks. Summary tasks can have dependencies that affect the subtasks appropriately. Also, the work and total cost fields for a summary task are the sums of those fields for its subtasks. Likewise, Plan automatically calculates the progress on a summary task based the progress of each of its subtasks. A third type of task that Plan supports is the milestone. A milestone is a task with zero work and length of zero. As such it represents not an action to perform but an important event in the plan and is used simply as a marker of the plan's progress. It has no real effect on the scheduling of the plan beyond its presence. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-resource_edit.gif" /> Figure 3: The Resource Editor. Resources are, by comparison, much simpler than tasks. Aside from two cost fields (charge/hr and charge/use), the Max Units field (which allows for setting up a resource pool), and a list specifying the work hours of the resource, the remainder of the resource data is for identification purposes only (name, initials, email, group, code, and notes). The id information is used in some of the displays, but other than that it has no effect on scheduling. Resources can be stored within the plan data file for use exclusively with that plan, or they can be stored in a separate file so that they may be shared amongst different plans. This is very useful if you have a fixed team of resources that is assigned to subsequent plans. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-work_hours.gif" /> Figure 4: Seting A Resource's Work Hours. Most editing features are intuitive for anyone having experience with Microsoft Windows products. There are no non-standard controls included, and features that are not available due to the current configuration are disabled appropriately and immediately. Each tab in the dialogs is laid out cleanly and logically which is a great aid to use considering the amount of information available in the task editor. <PAGEBREAK> Views Pocket Plan provides two views of the plan, a Task List and a Gantt Chart. These two views correspond roughly to Microsoft Project's single Tracking Gantt view. Due to the limited size of the Pocket PC screen this works much better than trying to display both views at once. Additionally, two separate views are available to examine resources and their utilization, plus a calendar view to allow for configuring work and non-work days. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-task_list_view.gif" /> Figure 5: The Task List View. The List View displays a table of all tasks in the Plan. Information included is the description, start and end dates, amount of work (hours, days, etc.), allocated resources, dependencies, % complete, saved start and end dates, early start and end dates, late start and end dates, resource, fixed and total costs, work breakdown structure codes, and the user value. The columns can be resized but not reordered. This can result in a lot of scrolling if you are interested in viewing specific the columns of each task, such as the description and the total work columns. Column resizing is not saved with the application either, so if you make any changes to the width of the columns they will be lost when you close the plan file. Icons are used in the Task List View to represent the presence of notes on a task (a yellow "sticky-note") and to represent a constrained date (a pushpin) on any of the date fields. Tasks that are 100% complete are displayed with a green check mark next to the ID. Summary tasks are shown in bold face, and their subtasks are indented. Summary tasks can be collapsed to hide their subtasks or expanded to show them as desired. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-gantt_view.gif" /> Figure 6: The Gantt Chart View. The Gantt View displays tasks as colored symbols on a timeline with each task on a separate row. Different task types use different symbols: normal tasks are shown as bars, milestones are shown as circles, and summary tasks are shown as half-height bars with dropped ends. Baselines can be displayed as separate bars along with the actual task and progress is shown as a colored fill within the task's bar. Dependencies between tasks appear as thin, arrowed lines pointing from a task to its dependent tasks. Two independent text fields can be configured to display with each task in the Gantt View, one on the left and one on the right. These text values can be selected from any of the task's fields and different fields can be selected for tasks, milestones, and summaries as desired. The Gantt View does a good job of squeezing a lot of information into a limited amount of space. Color is used effectively to differentiate between normal tasks, summary tasks, critical tasks, baseline tasks, and progress. Work days and non-workdays can have different colors on the timeline as well. All of these colors can be modified by the user and are global to the application. The colors are retained between executions of the application. If the screen is too cluttered for your tastes then most of the displayed items can be turned on or off from the Options dialog box. In many situations you may want to focus on a specific subset of the plan's tasks. For these cases Pocket Plan provides a Filter tool to allow you to select from a group of predefined task sets. Options are limited to displaying tasks that use a specific resource, or tasks that are complete, in progress, not started, or are critical tasks. Users accustomed to Microsoft Project's wealth of built-in filters such as Summary Tasks, Milestones, and Late Tasks may find the filters available with Pocket Plan limiting and there is no means to define custom filters in the application. Moving through the tasks and time range is accomplished by use of vertical and horizontal scrollbars, respectively. Additionally, two buttons on the toolbar allow for jumping to the current date and to the date range of the currently selected task. The toolbar also contains zoom-in and zoom-out buttons that allow for displaying time ranges from a length of twelve hours to the entire project length on the width of the Pocket PC screen. Tasks can be sorted according to a main field and a secondary field. The sort affects the display on both the Task List and the Gantt View, though it has no effect on the actual scheduling of the tasks. The hierarchy between summary tasks and their subtasks is also unaffected by the sort, although the subtasks within a summary task will be sorted. Finally, the recalculation of the Work Breakdown Structure code can be turned on or off. This is handy if you want to retain this code throughout the plan's lifetime. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-resource_graph.gif" /> Figure 7: The Resource Graph View. The Resource Graph is used to show resource utilization for a single resource across time. Since Pocket Plan doesn't support automatic resource leveling, this is the only way of determining over allocation. The graph is simple enough, dates where the resource is allocated at 100% or less are shown in green. Dates where the resource is allocated at over 100% are shown in red. Like most of the application, color values can be selected for the two states. Two buttons on the toolbar allow for easily stepping through the resources, and a pair of zoom-in and zoom-out buttons allow for viewing more or less time on the timeline. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-resource_list_view.gif" /> Figure 8: The Resource List View. The Resource List offers a simple list of all resources with most of their attributes. Like the Task List, columns can be resized but not reordered, and changes to the column widths are not saved upon exiting the application. Also like the Task List the Resource List View allows for editing records by double-tapping on a list item. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-holidays.gif" /> Figure 9: The Holidays View. The Holidays View allows for setting up multiple calendars of work/non-work days. The Holiday View appears as a year-long calendar and tapping-and-holding on a date pops up a context menu that allows you to set the date as a workday or as a holiday. Also available from the context menu is the ability to edit the working hours of the workday for that date, as well as an option to open the resource itself for editing. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/dodd-oct10-plan-summary.gif" /> Figure 10: The Plan Summary View. The Plan Summary view allows for setting or viewing the start and end dates of the plan as well as setting or viewing a baseline for these two dates. The differences between the baseline dates and the current dates are displayed as well. Also, this view displays overall progress in terms of work performed, work remaining, percentages for both these values, and the total work included in the plan. Costs for the plan are also displayed as a sum of the resource costs, a sum of the fixed task costs, percentages for these two values, and the total plan cost. <PAGEBREAK> Scheduling Tasks The value of a tool such as Pocket Plan is mostly measured in its ability to automate much of the scheduling process. Having to edit dozens of start/end dates because of a single task slipping would leave the product little more helpful than a plan written on paper or stored in an Excel spreadsheet. Fortunately, Pocket Plan measures up to the larger desktop applications in this regard with only a few features missing. Tasks are scheduled with three criteria in mind: rate, work, and date. Rate is the resource units/day assigned to the task, while work is the amount of effort in man-days required to complete the task. Date refers to the amount of time required to move from 0% to 100% complete. Plan's scheduling algorithm is the simple formula work = rate X date. For each task you select two of the criteria and set their values and Plan automatically calculates the third. Additionally, each task can be constrained to start as soon/late as possible, with a fixed start and/or end date, to start before/after a fixed date, or to end before/after a fixed date. Finally, each task can be marked as dependent on another task's completion. These are the same constraints available in Microsoft Project (although they are named differently) and allow for maximum flexibility in mapping real scheduling requirements to the plan. The effects of setting these are very useful in practice. The results of adding or deleting a task, changing the number of resources assigned to a task, or changing the scope of a task can immediately be seen on all subsequent tasks and the plan as a whole. This allows for easily testing proposed changes without having to propagate those changes manually throughout the plan. Baselines are another feature supported by Pocket Plan that can help monitor the progress of a project. Baselines can be generated at any time from the Options menu and can be set for a single task, all non-baselined tasks, all tasks not started, or all tasks. The baseline is basically a snapshot of the task's start and end dates that is stored independent of the task's actual start and end dates. Both the actual start and end date (which can change during the course of the project) and the baseline can be displayed on the Gantt View simultaneously. This allows for easy tracking of slippage or slack within the plan. Unlike Microsoft Project, only a single baseline can be saved for each task. This could be a problem in large projects but the ability to set baselines on only specific or unstarted tasks mitigates much of the limitation. Missing from Pocket Plan's scheduling capabilities is any kind of resource leveling. Resource leveling allows schedules to automatically adjust for maximum resource utilization. At its simplest, resource leveling helps prevent a resource from being over-allocated. Pocket Plan does not prevent a resource from being assigned to two or more tasks simultaneously that would exceed 100% of its rate value. It does, however, make note of the overage in the Resource Graph. Thus, planners have to do a bit more work to avoid such conditions in complicated plans. <PAGEBREAK> Exporting tasks to Pocket Outlook For those who use Pocket Outlook's Task application (or any other application that uses the Pocket Outlook task database) Pocket Plan provides an export function that copies Plan tasks to Task records. Export allows all tasks to be copied at once or allows only currently selected tasks or tasks selected by a filter to be exported. A category for the exported task can be specified (which defaults to "Plan:" followed by the plan's name) and existing tasks in that category can be automatically deleted before exporting takes place. Other options for export include prefacing the task name with the summary task name (if one exists) and setting a reminder for each task. Synchronization During installation Pocket Plan registers a file converter with ActiveSync that performs that actual translation of the Pocket Plan files to and from the desktop. Synchronization between Pocket Plan and the desktop can be handled in one of two ways. By default, ActiveSync copies the pln files without conversion. This allows the Twiddlebit's Windows Plan application to share files with a device. If Microsoft Project is used on the desktop then the converter can be configured to synchronize Pocket Plan pln files with Project's mpp, mpd, and mpx file formats on the desktop. Configuration is performed by opening Options in ActiveSync, selecting the Rules tab, and clicking the Conversion Settings button. This opens the File Conversion Properties dialog box. In the Device To Desktop tab there will be an entry for Pocket Plan Document. Selecting that item and clicking Edit will open an additional dialog box allowing you to select which type of Project format you wish to convert to. In the Desktop To Device tab you select one or more of the Microsoft Project file formats and perform the same steps to specify Pocket Plan document to convert to. In either configuration, the Plan's Activesync converter works at the file level, so it makes no attempt to merge changes that have been made on both the device and the desktop. Doing so will result in the loss of one of the sets of changes. Also, the conversion process only works on those features that Pocket Plan uses. Features that Project supports but Pocket Plan does not are discarded during the conversion. This can result in a loss of data in the original Microsoft Project file if the file is converted to a Plan file, then converted back to a Project file. Fortunately, Plan supports the most commonly used fields supported by Project, but if you plan on performing "round-trip" synchronization you will be well-advised to verify that all of the data you use is supported on both platforms. The documentation suggests always keeping a backup of the Project file, just in case. Conclusions While certainly not as flexible as the full featured Microsoft Project, Pocket Plan does a fine job covering the majority of Project's most used features at a very reasonable price. Making good use of a limited screen size to display the maximum amount of information, and with an interface that is both clean and intuitive, Pocket Plan will probably be a sufficient for most small to medium size project management situations. Coupled with the ability to synchronize data with either Microsoft Project or Twiddlebit's desktop version of Plan, Pocket Plan will let you take project planning to places you never could before.