Author Topic: Looking for Project management timeline software (Read 34,694 times)

kartal · « **on:** January 01, 2009, 07:29 PM »

Hi

I am looking for a software that would let me input tasks-events-projects. I know any calendar app can do this. But what I am looking for is to be able to visualize this data set in different ways. Many calendar apps can only do daily-weekly or monthly which does not serve my need. I am looking for something that can also show as gant charts or yearly timeline etc. At the moment I am using Gantt project and Lighting(mozilla). The main problem I have with Gantt project is that it does not support .ics calendar format(import or export) so I need to enter data multiple times in multiple applications. I use tracking software to track my time on projects. I can export the data from tracking app as .ics but Gantt project does not import any .ics calendar

Any suggestions? No googleing advices please. I am looking for applications that are used or tested by Dc members.

thanks

kartal · « **Reply #1 on:** January 01, 2009, 09:58 PM »

I just looked at Gexm organizer. It looks like it has some nice calendar stuff. Too bad it cannot subscribe to a network calendar which is what I need mainly

Dormouse · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2009, 11:41 PM »

It does Outlook import/export, but can also import/export other file formats including csv and ics.

kartal · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2009, 11:55 PM »

I personally do not use outlook so that part is useless to me. And .csv format to be messy. It can export .ics, no importing though.

I am trying to find one that can use subscription as well not just basic import export.

Dormouse · « **Reply #4 on:** January 02, 2009, 12:13 AM »

Calimanjaro will subscribe to a calendar & share on network or internet. Again, not a feature I have used (though I vaguely remember trying it out a long time ago). Nice range of options for how much can be displayed (up to 24 months), but nothing fancy in terms of task management etc. Not been in development for some years as far as I have seen.

kartal · « **Reply #5 on:** January 02, 2009, 02:29 AM »

CAlimanjaro is looking good except its yearly layout is vertical rather than horizontal

kartal · « **Reply #6 on:** January 02, 2009, 02:47 AM »

Btw I tried csv import into Gemx and it fails. It does not import anything really.

Dormouse · « **Reply #7 on:** January 02, 2009, 11:11 AM »

Quote from: kartal on January 02, 2009, 02:47 AM

Btw I tried csv import into Gemx and it fails. It does not import anything really.

Thanks. Have you reported this as a problem?
It's not something I have tested.

In practice, I try to avoid most importing and exporting with all programs as it often seems more problematic than it should be. I only really test it with programs with databases I will always need access to. And I shall probably keep all my heavier duty task management in TDL. I have tested import/export from that prog - and again it has not always worked as it should have done, though I'm sure Dan would help sort out any probs if it proved necessary. As a once off, I usually find that I can fiddle around and get it to mostly work.

Now that you have raised it, I might check import/export out here, just to get a practical idea of its limits.

Dormouse · « **Reply #8 on:** January 02, 2009, 12:05 PM »

Quote from: kartal on January 02, 2009, 02:29 AM

CAlimanjaro is looking good except its yearly layout is vertical rather than horizontal

Yes, that took me aback when I first saw it too. Then I got used to it. And now it seems more intuitive than the other way. I do use a lot of different calendars in different contexts, and occasionally have to look twice because of the different orientation. One advantage of the vertical orientation is that it works better on widescreen monitors especially if you have 2 years open.

kartal · « **Reply #9 on:** January 02, 2009, 07:19 PM »

Dormouse,

All I need is a yearly planner calendar tool(So far I failed to find any app). I just realize that it would be overkill for me to buy Gemx just for that feature considering its price. I mean it looks like nice piece of app but really beyond more than what I need. Also it cannot subscribe to ics calendar whic is a big minus for me.

Btw I realy think that its is budgeting modul is unnecessarily complicated. I tried entering some spendings , but I got confused about how to handle all the interface. All I needed was to enter couple dollars and items to see how it works out and I gave up.

Dormouse · « **Reply #10 on:** January 02, 2009, 08:40 PM »

Quote from: kartal on January 02, 2009, 07:19 PM

All I need is a yearly planner calendar tool(So far I failed to find any app). I just realize that it would be overkill for me to buy Gemx just for that feature considering its price. I mean it looks like nice piece of app but really beyond more than what I need. Also it cannot subscribe to ics calendar whic is a big minus for me.

Btw I realy think that its is budgeting modul is unnecessarily complicated. I tried entering some spendings , but I got confused about how to handle all the interface. All I needed was to enter couple dollars and items to see how it works out and I gave up.

Purely as a year planner, I much prefer Calimanjaro.

I also think that the value of the GemX product is all about its having many functions, so if you only want it for one it would be overkill. Financially, $49 for two copies is quite a good deal even for just one component, if you really want that component (of course, this is only true if you have someone to share the cost with and it does assume there is a component you really want). I've been playing with it for a while and have only recently got into more heavy usage. I've not got into the spreadsheet/budgeting module yet; had thought I'd have no use for it and that its fixed column names were too restrictive, but have started to see how it might be useful to me. Many of the sections I haven't used at all (yet).

Of course, I do also have many other progs and, on an individual basis, usually prefer those - eg
RTF Note prog - TreeDBnotes etc
Spreadsheet - Excel etc
Budget prog - Quickbooks etc
Mindmap - Conceptdraw, Edraw, XMind, Freemind, Cayra etc
TaskList - TDL, List Pro etc
Year Planner - Calimanjaro, EssentialPIM
Calendar - ???, Calimanjaro, Outlook, Spicebird; can't really say I like any of these & GemX's may be the most useful here
Contacts - I don't use heavily, same comments as for Calendar really
Password Manager - Keepass, Roboform (though only use it a little for websites so far - it's not integrated with Iron or Opera which are my most used browsers)
Browser - Opera, Iron, FF etc
Email - The Bat!, Spicebird, Thunderbird, Courier, Outlook etc
Journal - I haven't really been using one, so quite happy to use this
File Explorer - Q-Dir, Dopus, Xplorer2, etc
Calculator - haven't usually had one open, so am using this more (though there is one on TLB)
So, all in all, the value to me of the prog is its multiplicity of functions in a relatively moderate overhead. And it is portable. Because of this it is getting used more than my preferred progs for most uses and I tend to use my preferred progs most now only for the high intensity work.

kartal · « **Reply #11 on:** January 03, 2009, 12:48 AM »

I use Essential Pim free version which gives year planner and .ics import export. But the problem is that i just imports so but no subscription. It is the best alternative so far.

Dormouse · « **Reply #12 on:** January 03, 2009, 02:35 AM »

EssentialPIM Pro claims to be able to sync with Google Calendar (which is an ical/ics implementation). Maybe there would be a way of doing it through that? Not sure how easy it would be since Google only claim to sync with Apple/Sunbird ical implementations.And Pro isn't a cheap app if all you are wanting from it is the ability to subscribe to a year planner. I found the whole search for year planners really tedious, and I didn't even want ics subscription (though I did want ideally to be able to see longer periods than a year).

kartal · « **Reply #13 on:** January 03, 2009, 07:19 PM »

I am all looking for offline solutions, otherwise there are bunch of online calendar.

Based on my searches for sometime I come to conclusion that actually Gemx has a really a good calendar(one of the best for this purpose). The minute they implement Ical subscription(both ways) I would buy it right away. Do you know if they are planning such feature in near future?

Btw I managed to import .csv into Gemx Organizer from Gantt project.

Dormouse · « **Reply #14 on:** January 03, 2009, 07:52 PM »

I've no idea about their future plans. There had been a previous suggestion that they create links with the iPhone - ie it should basically be ical subscription - but there was no response at the time. Same suggestion has been made again, and they say they are considering possibilities but no promises. I suspect that they are fairly early in the design cycle and haven't got round to the detailed features. I also suspect they are looking as something akin to a complete rewrite of the basic structure and so it will be hard to know now how much of what is there in current version will make it through to the end. This is just my own suspicion (no evidence).

kartal · « **Reply #15 on:** January 06, 2009, 05:01 AM »

After searching for days, I could not find anything that I can use for this purpose. Maybe I am the only person on the planet has this kind of need

PPLandry · « **Reply #16 on:** January 06, 2009, 05:32 AM »

Quote from: kartal on January 01, 2009, 07:29 PM

I am looking for a software that would let me input tasks-events-projects. I know any calendar app can do this. But what I am looking for is to be able to visualize this data set in different ways. Many calendar apps can only do daily-weekly or monthly which does not serve my need. I am looking for something that can also show as gant charts or yearly timeline etc. At the moment I am using Gantt project and Lighting(mozilla). The main problem I have with Gantt project is that it does not support .ics calendar format(import or export) so I need to enter data multiple times in multiple applications. I use tracking software to track my time on projects. I can export the data from tracking app as .ics but Gantt project does not import any .ics calendar

What is missing in InfoQube to fill your requirements? Perhaps, I could add it quickly...

kartal · « **Reply #17 on:** January 06, 2009, 05:58 AM »

I am looking for 2 main things

yearly planner

Ical(ics) subscription (local, network, internet)

PPLandry · « **Reply #18 on:** January 06, 2009, 01:36 PM »

What do the bar colors represent? Coming up with something like this:
[attachthumb=#]
Should be quite easy.

kartal · « **Reply #19 on:** January 06, 2009, 04:42 PM »

PPLandry

I will use this funxtion to see a yearly project and task planning. Some of my projects takes at least couple weeks. So it is very important for me to see what really happen how much time I spent last year for example.

Ideally the kind of information I would like to see on the calendar

-Name of the task
-Duration of the task

Also I would like to see couple more view methods like

-52 weeks (rather than months)

PPLandry · « **Reply #20 on:** January 06, 2009, 04:53 PM »

>-52 weeks (rather than months)

Isn't that basically what the Gantt does for you? (which IQ already has)

kartal · « **Reply #21 on:** January 06, 2009, 05:18 PM »

Yes if IQ has gantt chart that could be related to calendar data, then that should do it.

PPLandry · « **Reply #22 on:** January 06, 2009, 06:01 PM »

Yes, each grid can include a Gantt and you can set which date fields to display. You can also choose the horizontal scale from minutes to months

kartal · « **Reply #23 on:** January 06, 2009, 06:27 PM »

Ok that is good to hear. Do you have any plans for ical subscription(read write)

PPLandry · « **Reply #24 on:** January 06, 2009, 07:12 PM »

I'm finishing up the calendar (outlook-style, grid-style is already implemented). If it is "requested", I could do it immediately after that