Project Management software 3

[Jboggs]

Can any of you recommend a fairly simple and easy-to-use project management software? In particular, this software will be used to help plan and track the progress of a $2 million industrial project that will involve numerous trades, suppliers, contractors, utilities, etc. as they climb all over each other in the process of refurbishing a steel mill production line that was shut down years ago and is scheduled for restart in a few months, all while fully supporting the existing production processes surrounding it. The project manager is a fresh, young engineering graduate that is jumping in with both feet but, as the saying goes, "he doesn't know what he doesn't know". A slight further complication is that we are an American division of a large Japanese corporation. Many of you will understand the complications that introduces.

I personally have experience using MS Project in the past. It is an amazing tool with fascinating capabilities, but in this case I think it's "too much". Like most of the high-end software tools, one could spend more time learning the tool than managing the project. This young man will not have that kind of time available. Our management is perfectly happy with a simple Excel spreadsheet with a few colors and symbols. I was hoping to give this young man a slightly more intelligent and useful tool though, one that might actually allow him to avoid some of the land mines without requiring his full attention nursing it. So, maybe something halfway between Excel and MS Project.

Any suggestions? Thanks to all!

 

[gtaw]

The thing with MS Projects is you can keep it simple or add more details if they are needed.


Best regards - Al

 

[rb1957]

"Our management is perfectly happy with a simple Excel spreadsheet with a few colors and symbols." ... to manage a $2m project with "numerous trades, suppliers, contractors, utilities, etc. as they climb all over each other".

Good Lord ! can you see the train wreck that'd become ? (I think you can)

Simple planning can work, IF (and only IF) your organisation has intimate knowledge of the subject (refurbishing) the target (this particular plant) the issues that can arise (and can solve them on their feet).

How to co-ordinate many independent vendors working in different (or the same) part of the plant, interacting with each other, ...

unless of course your management is trying to make a $2m project into a $2b one ?

"Hoffen wir mal, dass alles gut geht !"
General Paulus, Nov 1942, outside Stalingrad after the launch of Operation Uranus.

 

[tygerdawg]

It is gently suggested that a grave disservice is being foisted upon "this young man" by not providing the opportunity for him to learn something useful. If pretty Gantt Charts is all that is needed, then use crayons and scratch paper.

There are other packages out there. I am most familiar with MS Project. It has its merits and my mid-level proficiency with it has served me well over the years. With the right kind of guidance and probably 16-24 hours of dedicated in-front-of-the-computer contact time, this young person could learn and develop the fundamental skills of:
[ul]
[li]developing indented task lists to accomplish project steps and phases[/li]
[li]assigning milestones to anchor achievements and deadlines[/li]
[li]linking the tasks & milestones in some coherent logical manner with a variety of linked Start & End dates[/li]
[li]developing a resource pool with effectively-populated calendars[/li]
[li]assigning resources and work effort to tasks[/li]
[li]iteratively attempting to level tasks, perform what-if analyses, identify resource & schedule shortfalls, then make corrections[/li]
[li]make graphs & reports for effective communications[/li]
[li]deploy MS Project as a daily-use tool to monitor and drive activities[/li]
[/ul]

Advanced tasks (for future learning) involve assignment of risk adjustments, Critical Path Analysis, and Work Breakdown Structures.

Allowing this to happen may be a win-win for everybody involved.


TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Manufacturing Engineering Consulting

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[SWComposites]

My experience with MSProject is that it can very easily turn into a giant time sink where all one does is try to update the schedule details and therefore spends no time on actual project management.

This young engineer needs to learn "project management" not "how to update some complex MSProject file". Suggest using a hand drawn GANTT chart on a large paper roll on the wall of a conference room (it work just fine before computers). Once he/she learns the basics of scheduling, task linkage, and project management, then he/she can decide if MSProject is the right tool to use on the next job. This person needs to spend time talking to every trade, contractor, supplier etc and understand their needs, time frames, etc. And they need to be on the site talking to all of them on a daily basis, not stuck in front of the computer trying to update 1000+ lines of MSProject schedules.

The keys to effective project management is understanding all of the tasks that need to be done, understanding the dependencies between tasks (ie, what has to be done before what), having insight into what can go wrong, and most importantly being able to anticipate and mitigate issues before they happen.

 

[Jboggs]

Appreciate all the comments folks. Any specific software suggestions?

 

[rb1957]

you say you're familiar with MS Project, so everything else requires learning.

I would take care to set up the project was well as you can, to ask the "right" questions now.

Are there limits to how many people can work on site at any time ? in specific areas of the site ?

How will the different vendors interact ? do they need power ?

Is there a logical sequence for the work ? (you don't want to undo work so someone else can access their work place.)

Are some vendors only available at limited times ?

"Hoffen wir mal, dass alles gut geht !"
General Paulus, Nov 1942, outside Stalingrad after the launch of Operation Uranus.

 

[GregLocock]

The beauty of Project is that you can switch from dependency view to Gantt chart seamlessly. So you can structure the job like a flow chart and then get the pretty bar chart with the horrible holes in it that everyone can understand. I honestly can't see much point in using anything else, as that will become a mess of different interrelated documents.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[CWB1]

Assuming traditional lean project management, I'd suggest Project. There is a plethora of free training materials/videos online and the software can be readily had via MS365.

 

[FACS]

If you are looking for an alternative, try Asana

 

[mfgenggear]

jboggs

look into MRP server based programs, one I worked with was profitkey, but there is much better out there, secondly this is not a one man job, and one engineer tied up doing project management is not a great idea. usually it's a production control task. working with engineering. the question will be so critical on design engineering releases. make or buy. ordering material, production engineering planning.

 

[MedicineEng]

Look into ProjectLibre.
It is free and has the most used MS Project functions.

 

[kjoiner]

Hello,

We use Jira in our R&D department for tracking numerous projects (electrical, mechanical, firmware/software). Our R&D department also receives a large volume of support requests from other departments. We adapted Jira to create a portal for departments to submit requests.

Kyle