RationalPlan Reviews & Product Details

Ease of use, clear gantt chart and useful for budgeting

Cant shorten the bars from the left side by drawing them

construction of 45 houses, ideal for programming time lines and resources

Fully featured. Easy to learn. Does a full import of mpp files.

As far as I can tell, I cannot export to mpp files. I guess it is doable through a xml file, but this is implies an extra step I don´t want my colleagues to have to do.

We work in development of scientific equipment in an operational setting. The group includes scientists, many using Macs, and engineers, mostly using windows and microsoft project.

The ability to set up a projects and track the progress

it is not very easy to learn are your own. Needed to have an instructor/expert

employee are more productive and timely

It works as a very competent project management tool, and is free on Ubuntu for single-use. It will open and save MS Project files - which helps with sharing plans.

Could do with additional analytics (unless these are on more expensive version) No full open-source edition (esp for Windows)

Planning relatively simple projects and sharing with other teams

Simple and straight forward project planner. The quality is in the ease of use and functionality. RationalPlan is a tool I use in every project. Helps to organize the stages of a project (I use the Multi version)/phases and all the activities. Nowadays I even use it to calculate costs and resources (hours) to plan the project portfolio. Support from RationalPlan is exceeding expectation. Prompt and correct response. The team solves issues swiftly.

The reports on costs and resource usage are very detailled. I would prefer an overview of highlights on resource capacity (though I can present it on a screen, printing it is not really easy). Next to that I would like to print a full project report (front page, financial overview, gantt, resources and costs) in 1 print. Risk management is still minimalistic (for most sufficient though).

Project planning; resource planning (multi projects); fast adjustments in complex projects with a lot of changes during the start-up of the project(s).

I like the simplicity of the program and ease of use while still having enough functions to create meaningful schedules.

At times I run across buggy issues while using the program that keeps lines highlighted.

The ability to create clear Gantt charts with dependencies.

I have been planning projects lasting months with several workstreams and dependencies between activities. It allows me to do this in a simple enough way to be effective

I haven't really found anything to dislike!

Both the creation of the plan, and the communication of it

Transitioning from Windows to Linux became a challenge when it comes to Project Management software. I though nothing could beat MS Project and until finding RationalPlan, all the applications I tested were either buggy or seriously missing features. It was a huge relief finding RationalPlan as (almost) all of the features I expected were there, and even more. The product is solid, extremely intuitive, extremely helpful and don't think this as unimportant, it looks good! Absolutely nothing to complain about on the usability front. It is very clear lots of investment has been made so the application is a doddle to use. On thing it does not have and possibly rightfully so, automatic leveling. This is completely compensated by a flawless manual leveling interface. After using it for a while I started understanding the idea behind the decision of not doing auto leveling and it started making sense. Moreover, it has excellent reports and I absolutely loved the fact that they are customizable so I can export them and send them directly to customers without having to worry about branding issues. Spectacular! The other lovely feature is the fact that it makes it very easy to send emails concerning the project. I have only tested the Single version, on which I got all this for free, but the prices are very acceptable as even the Multi version will take no one to bankruptcy. Even small companies should be able to afford it. The bottom line is that I intend using it even if getting back to Windows. Amazing value!

The fact that it took me so long and too much pain before I discovered the existence of this application!

I am budgeting custom made software development projects.

As a project manager we use GANTT charts to understand where we are. We run RationalPan our own server and it is fantastic value for money.

There is nothing really to say here, if you know and like Microsoft Project then this fits the bill and exceeds.

We run multiple engineering and construction projects and use RationalPlan to control everything from concept to close out. The additional enhancements like risk control are a value add that we find extremely useful.

Working on a multidisciplinary group we always have people working in different OS. This is the best alternative for us. Is a complete project management tool.

better integration with MSProject is some times needed, but in general is a complete tool for me.

Exploring how to manage my time on multiple projects.

An easy-to-use project management tool with dependencies and a gantt chart for a tiny fraction of the MS project price, and it doesn't slow down my poor bloated laptop. It generates pdfs and it's file can be viewed by anyone with a free viewer

Filters on the different columns could be easier to use, and so could levelling resources; however, they are just a thing to learn and they work fine once you do so

I have used this program for building a school with a large team and for a personal task list that had complicated dependencies, and everything in between.

This tool, unlike many others my organization investigated, is based on sound project management principles. the sidebar "Project Guide" walks the user through the basis process of setting up, planning, and controlling the project. We were especially impressed that the WBS view keeps the focus on the tasks, before moving on to identification of predecessors and dates. It also offers the functionality of assigning and leveling resources at the correct stage of the project scheduling process. Once you have experienced the right-click functionality to indent/outdent tasks, add predecessors, etc., you might not want to ever go back to MS Project. The email support is reliable, fast, and friendly, regardless of the time of day. The free Viewer allowing users to open MS Project files is fantastic.

Some of the language used to describe Fixed Units vs Fixed Work tasks is somewhat awkward. we have also found that it does not play well with WebEx, which we use to train remote users.

Our organization conducted an exhaustive search of project scheduling tool vendors. Our criteria included: - Based on sound project management principles - User-friendly interface - Lower cost than MS Project - User/administrator support - Most of the functionality described below: Must have Features: - Gantt Chart view - Automatic duration/finish date calculation - Manual date entry option - Import function - Reports Nice to have features: - Non-working time calendars - Multiple dependency types RationalPlan was the only tool that met all these criteria.

Simple, llightweight, multi-user, excellent customer support that usually respods in less than an hour.

None. Rational Plan fills our needs perfectly.

We use Rational Plan for our local office project management.

It's clean and easy to use. Definitely the best for Linux (I use Ubuntu)

The printing functionality could be improved to make it easier to create a PDF to send to customer (it should be easier add comments, additional information like project name, ecc)

create plans and share it with team and customers

This is the best alternative to Microsoft Project I have seen. It is much easier to use for either a very simple project or to expand as much as you wish for more complexity. I have used many planning software products going back many years to when these programs were only on mainframes. I have a small business now and use it for keeping things on track and also to estimate projects. I would recommend this to anyone.

Not much. I have a little trouble printing portions of a project.

Exploring how to manage my time on multiple projects. Estimating project durations and cost. Staying on track with projects.

When I want to "plan", I should not think about how to use a software packet. This should come by intuition. And, that is how I feel when I use your soft.

I can not find anything that I would possibly dislike

just starting up with the soft.

I really like this software. It has a WBS portion to help construct your project ans it also has a Risk management Area. These are 2 features that really set this apart from other basic task tracking software. Don't get me wrong it does have task tracking and a Gantt View for schedule.

The only thing I would like is a mobile app. I am out of the office and a mobile app would make this software so much better.

We used this software to create an internal tech training project.

Ability to export to PDF and also to MS Project via XML.

Sometimes the XML export doesn’t work for all users

Ability to create project plans using a Mac computer.

I have over the last 4years, have used RationalPlan software successfully as a teaching aid for Project Management at James Cook Univeristy. I find it is well supported, intuitive to use and the students are confident and competent in its use in less than one hours tuition, which allows teaching and learning to be a more rewarding process for all. Students have been able to successfully develop highly detailed and well constructed plans with the use of this tool. The steps take away anxiety with the software's inbuilt guides and hints and its ability to quickly transform schedules into budget costs which non-accounting students are very pleased with. At the end of the subject they are very proficient with this project tool and have found it easy to translate into other industry compliant project software. I would highly recommend this as a great tool for teaching project management & planning. This tool delivers at a fraction of the cost what other much more expensive software does.

I have none and find this latest version smoother to use than previous and have found that each upgrade is delivering a better finished product and very good value.

Teaching Project Planning to Tertiary students. Students who have utilised this class have gone on to use the software in developing plans and schedules for group assignments in other tertiary subjects and in planning their PhD. In teaching, this tool delivers the ability of much more sophisticated software at a level that reduces anxiety in students and allows better learning to be acquired.

I like that it is web-based and easily compatible with Mac, and it has similar features to MS Project which made it very easy to switch. It has all of the task and Gantt Chart features that the executives work with want to see. It integrates with Outlook, so tasks can be emailed to responsible staff. The export to PDF is great for sharing a snapshot of all the tasks in the entire project along with the Gantt Chart.

The export to Excel loses the tier levels of the tasks and subtasks. There's no way to set up emails on tasks that are late. The main way to track tasks is by manually entering the percentage of work completed.

I am using Rational Plan as a MS Project substitute and have greatly benefitted from the PDF export which allows me to quickly provide a copy of any project for status at executive meetings.