Gantt Charts For Everyone

In LifeHacker’s write-up today, by the How-To Geek, we learned about an awesome Web-based Gantt tool for project management called Gantter.  If you’re used to MS Project, you’re in luck, because the app looks a whole lot like it.   And, if you’re using MS Project for some of it’s more advanced features on your local computer, you can import your MS Project files right into Gantter for sharing with your remote team.

I really see that this is best used when you have a LOT of participants with minor roles and you don’t want to fork out for the CALS for the web project server or you just don’t have the cash for MS products anyway, what with all of your outsourcing to Pakistan and India, right?

It’s straightforward to use the app, so you can bring new people up-to-speed on it in now time.  Just add tasks and resources to your WBS like you do on MS project,   If you need to, you can download the project plan as an XML file for loading into Project at the home base.

Gantter is completely free project management software – yes, FREE, so Gantt away and manage those projects like you’ve never managed before.

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If you’re low on funds, but still want to manage projects like the pros do, you may want to check out the free Gantt Charting tool - GanttProject.  This project management and scheduling software boasts the ability to document and depict your usual Gantt-type task hierarchy and dependencies.  Not only does it bust a move on your Gantt Charts , it also creates mean PERT charts — all of which can be exported to HTML reports, PDF reports and Microsoft Project.  You can also (if you’ve given up on MS project) import your Microsoft Project .mpp file into GanttProject.  Take a look.

It’s amazing what the concept of Open Source has done to the software industry.  Realize, my friends, that "Open Source" is another way of saying "no support" — if you feel that your team needs project management software that works perfectly all of the time and that you should be able to call the vendor and complain to them every time you get stuck or it does something stupid.

1. Microsoft Project is not for you.
2. Open Source is not for you.

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SmartDraw is far more than just Gantt Chart software.  Their charting software tools helps you work smarter by communicating visually.

The idea behind this is that since people are six times more likely to retain & understand information shown to them visually, their Gantt Chart software helps businesses boost their bottom line by making this valuable communication run even more smoothly, allowing your team to complete projects on (or even ahead of) time.

Whether it’s a flowchart to explain a business process, a Gantt chart to show a project schedule or an organizational chart, their 40 different types of charts visuals, including timelines, maps, decision trees create presentation-quality visuals in just minutes.

Their Gantt Chart software is becoming the software tool of choice for healthcare systems looking to standardize processes and visually document those processes across hospital departments in order to meet ever-stringent regulatory requirements.

Currently, more than 1,400 hospitals and healthcare systems in the US depend on SmartDraw’s Gantts, flowcharts, and org charts to:

• Simplify, clarify and standardize healthcare processes
• Efficiently and effectively document an organizational structure
• Prepare and educate staff for surprise compliance inspections
• Improve compliance with regulatory bodies and accreditation programs

Their Gantt Chart software is designed to be usable by anyone from IT department to nursing to translate complex processes into compelling, professional-quality process flows, PERT charts, Gantt Charts, and other diagrams in minutes and without any special training.

Visual processes are more easily remembered and understood by others. In fact, studies have shown that people remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and fully 80% of what they see and do.

Paul Stannard, CEO of SmartDraw says, “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in the number of hospitals using SmartDraw to document processes and organizational hierarchies so that they’re ready when a surveyor visits.  [Our software’s] processes are easier to communicate to the surveyor, easier to communicate to staff, and easier for management to review for better decision making.”

Microsoft Office integration is supported as well, export to MS PowerPoint®, Word®, Excel® and other applications takes only a click, making it easy to share graphics with others in plans, reports, and presentations.

SmartDraw’s charting software includes templates for Flow charts, Gantt Charts, PERT Charts, and all other business processes.

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The most intensive project management certification available, lots of people are working on their project management training to keep up with today’s crazy pace of continually revised processes and new breakthroughs in the field of project management such as the Gantt chart and PERT chart. To cope with the challenges of a PMP certification exam, most exam takers employ different PMP exam prep methods that suit their own learning styles and preferences.

PMP Training to Prepare for Exams

Project management training courses are focused on furnishing the participants with project management concepts and knowledge needed to pass the PMP certification exam and earn the prestigious credential of certified project manager . There are so many factors impacting your ability to pass the exam, such as gaining credentials that establish you as professionally capable to handle intricate project management tasks.

Therefore, many individuals embark on PMP training as one of the methods to get necessary PMP exam prep. If you are unsure where to located the best PMP training programs, book, or classes, the internet offers huge array for that. Beware of possible scams when searching for PMI or ITIL project management schools. The cost of lessons, the exam, and books can be quite high, so you want to make sure you get the best value from your education fees.

Focus of Project Management Training

Successful project management produces tremendous positive impacts on organizations which use it,  It stems from the management team up to the employees who realize the value from the methods you have created. Several individuals who apply for a PMP certification exam hoping to propel a career in project management engage in PMP training programs to create more focus in their knowledge-acquisition process.

Here are major areas that are validated for competence during the PMP exam:

• Ability to utilize available resources and create strong teams .
• Familiarity with fundamental tools of project management such as Process Flow Charts , Gannt Charts and Pert Charts .
• Identification of project risks and ability to quickly devise plans to mitigate those risks.
• Efficient usage of the resources assigned to your project.
• Creating a step-by-step action plan that was subjected to intense examination and risk assessment.

Training to Re-Learn PM Skills

Although the PMP certification exam is has questions which are multiple-choice, the test requires you to hone the skills and theory that which has been gained throughout your project management career. Of course, all PMP exam prep methods require you to begin your study with theory, later evolving into action-driven methods that employ the theory previously learned.

Project management courses are quite effective as a PMP exam prep for various reasons. But the most basic reason is basically due to its ability to help an individual re-learn basic skills that are fundamental in a project management task.

First, a good project management course is one that enables you to turn information into the driving force of your project. Unless you have the proper knowledge and information, you often get stuck in your project. So, information is the motor that keeps everything running.

Your ability to interact with people is another vital skill you will learn through PMP education. This is closely tied up with your ability to gather and handle information since your personnel are basically the ones to put into effect your strategic planning.

Taking PMP preparation training course are quickly becoming the best way to prepare for the PMP exam and to earn the high salary that being a top-notch project manager can bring. There’s a fine line that distinguishes theory from practice but these are fused together in a training curriculum for effectively studying for the PMP certification exam.

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Work, Wages and Profits by Henry Gantt ,  a book originally written for employers advocates the “efficient utilization of labor”.  Gantt advises the use of the “task and bonus” system is offered in order to have workers increase their output. Total work packages are divided into “tasks” and split among the workforce to allow for the efficiencies of specialization. Those who complete their tasks by the time attained by the fastest and most efficient worker gets a “bonus” for their effort.  This was instituted Bethlehem Steel Company plants.  This mechanism for reward, after only two months, indicated that the reward structure “eliminated the constant necessity for driving the men .”  H. L. Gantt identified that “the average monthly output of the shop from March 1, 1900, to March 1, 1901, was 1,173,000 pounds, and from March 1, 1901, to August 1, 1901 [having implemented the task and bonus system] it was 2,069,000 pounds.” The facility had 700 employees and had to shell out the bonus to a mere 80 men of the workforce of 700.

Since this book was originally published in 1913, its copyright has expired, and the work is now available through the public domain.  You can read this book on Google and even download the PDF version.  http://books.google.com/books?id=p2ANAAAAYAAJ

Enjoy!

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