Practice Management Member Conversations

 View Only

Community HTML

Clouds

Quick Links

Who we are

The Practice Management Knowledge Community (PMKC) identifies and develops information on the business of architecture for use by the profession to maintain and improve the quality of the professional and business environment.  The PMKC initiates programs, provides content and serves as a resource to other knowledge communities, and acts as experts on AIA Institute programs and policies that pertain to a wide variety of business practices and trends.

    

Expand all | Collapse all

Project Schedule Software

  • 1.  Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-01-2018 05:56 PM

    Any advice out there on project scheduling software.  We are a 50 person firm who has used a variety of gantt style schedule software, but have not found one that works very well.  Cheap software does not have the options we need, and Microsoft Projects is expensive, cumbersome, and quite frankly does way more than we need to do.

     

    We need a mid-range price, gantt style, project scheduling software. 

     

    Any suggestions?

     

    Thanks

     

    David E. Cameron, AIA, LEED BD+C, NCARB
    Partner / Senior Architect
    Architectural Design Consultants, Inc.
    d.cameron@adcidesign.com
    608.254.6181

    www.adcidesign.com

     



  • 2.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-02-2018 05:32 PM
    look at Kidasa's "Milestones".  Can import / export to MS Project, and has more options for graphic presentation of information.  There's a section of samples on their site, ranging from wedding planning to architecture and engineering.

    --
    best regards,
    Joel Niemi
    - Architect
    425.422.4276
    jniemiarchitect@gmail.com
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/jniemiarchitect





  • 3.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-02-2018 06:13 PM
    We use Smart Sheets, a free online closed based spread sheet with an easy to use Gant chart.


    ------------------------------
    James Zack AIA
    Architect / Principal
    Zack/de Vito Architecture + Construction
    San Francisco CA
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-02-2018 06:18 PM
    David, you might investigate BQE's 'Archi-Office', it is a very popular software in our industry.  Just don't get sucked into their new 'Core' system, it has, in my professional opinion, serous flaws, related to time-tracking and financial management. 
    Good hunting!
    Respectfully,

    ------------------------------
    Steve L. Wintner, AIA Emeritus
    Founder-Principal
    Management Consulting Services
    Georgetown TX 78633-5712
    slwintner@managementconsultingservices.com
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-02-2018 06:31 PM
    Please let us all know if you find such a software.  We have tried to find one as well with no success.  It seems we find programs that clunky, stripped down, with lousy appearance, or part of a gigantic project management software that is so complicated you need a two week course just to learn how to login.


    Brad McKenzie, AIA
    Assistant Director of Business Operations
    Project Architect








  • 6.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-06-2018 09:20 AM
    I recently did a review of four project scheduling applications on my website. You can read the reviews here:

    Project Scheduling Software for Architects - ArchSmarter -

    ------------------------------
    Michael Kilkelly AIA
    Principal
    Space Command
    Middletown CT
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-04-2018 10:37 AM
      |   view attached
    ​David,
    My advice is to develop your own based on the way you run your projects.  You can use an out of the box program if it works for you, but customize it to your firm.

    Years ago, I purchased an out of the box program, and it just did not work the way I wanted it to.  So, I threw it away and looked at how documents were produced in my company.  I spent some time developing a process for producing construction drawings based on "Theory of Constraints", "Lean Construction" techniques, and a few other types of process publications.
    I have attached one of the end products of the process I use and you are welcome to use it.  Every task entry was placed for a reason.  It is not perfect, but it worked for me.

    ------------------------------
    Michael Clark AIA
    Director Of Design
    H&H Design-Build
    New Albany IN
    ------------------------------

    Attachment(s)

    mpp
    Schedule Main-Renovation2.mpp   1.23 MB 1 version


  • 8.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-05-2018 09:31 AM
    I will keep watching this thread in hopes that someone can suggest a project scheduling software that will create a working summary of multiple projects. I understand this can be done by "tricking" MSProject, but we have no need for something as complex as that. We frequently have 20 projects under contract (as specifications consultants); we want to track their phase schedules and deliverables deadlines, of which there are typically only 5 to 10 separate activities per project, very linear, with simple dependencies. Of course, the deadlines always change.

    Our hope is to be able to at least see, if not "manage," our entire workload. Am I dreaming to hope there is something out there like this?

    ------------------------------
    Philip Kabza AIA
    Principal
    SpecGuy Specifications Consultants
    Mount Dora FL
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 03-06-2018 06:36 PM

    Have you tried "Wrike?"

    It is an online project scheduling software.  Can accommodate multiple project schedules, and team members.  It is built around teams, but can be used as standalone.



    ------------------------------
    Rick Baker Assoc. AIA
    Owner
    Rick Baker Design
    Santa Rosa CA
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Project Schedule Software

    Posted 05-23-2018 08:09 PM
    Philip: Your needs sound relatively simple compared to those requiring actual project scheduling/management software. Have you tried playing with data filtering in an Excel spreadsheet or Google Docs? I'm thinking of something with columns for project, task, start, due, and assigned to. For dependencies, create formulas with the duration added to the completion date of the prior task, or whatever gets you there. With that, you could:
    • Sort on any of the columns to group things by project or by who a task is assigned to.
    • Hide tasks that won't start until next month.
    • Limit the display to certain projects or things due this month, etc.
    I'm working with another architect right now who uses Google Docs to log submittals and RFIs and track response progress. They have it set up to automatically color code an entry based on who's court things are in. They have also created saved data filters for each consultant so we can all access the log online and filter it with two clicks to find out the status of any item. It works out nicely and does not require any back end customization or heavy duty contract management software.

    ------------------------------
    Steven Hovland AIA
    Associate Principal
    Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
    Emeryville CA
    ------------------------------