PM SOLUTION PRO entered into a strategic partnership with SEAVUS, a world-class software development and consulting company in July this year. SEAVUS has 15 offices supporting 4,000 clients in eight (8) countries. The partnership is designed to help further expand the footprint of the Seavus’ Schedule Reader/Schedule Cleaner toolset and to increase the value of the project and business services we provide to our clients.
Our business alliance creates an opportunity of adding “Schedule Reader and Schedule Cleaner” software solution to PM solution Pro’s consulting, technical, training and learning portfolios.
Let’s talk about SCHEDULEREADER…
Whether you are working on a small project or a massive billion-worth project, it is important to have project management software that allows team collaboration to complete the project within the planned budget and time. Everyone in the team should be up-to-date with the recent changes of the project plan.
Updating Progress Using ScheduleReader
Usually companies have weekly status reports where the project manager is in the middle of the project information flow. In fact, they receive the updates from the team members, making sure that the project milestones will be finished on time, and then creates updates to the project plan in order to pass the information to the others involved in the project. However, if you want everything to go smoothly in the company workflow, as well as to encourage team productivity and efficiency, you will need a tool that follows the concept of simplicity, and yet owning powerful functionalities to keep activities on track.
ScheduleReader is the app of need.
ScheduleReader – More than a XER Viewer
As a standalone desktop software, ScheduleReader is a versatile tool that presents project data from XER, XML, and XLS files exported form Primavera P6. It allows its users to view, analyze, organize, and share project data from project schedules. With clean and sophisticated interface, the goal of ScheduleReader is to provide project teams, schedulers, planners, managers, engineers, subcontractors, and contractors a better approach to sharing and understanding project data.
Showing complete views on project progress, applying filters and organizing columns are at the core of ScheduleReader, but the ability to use layout files, as well as building a cooperative working environment are the functionalities that make ScheduleReader a cutting-edge, companion tool to Primavera P6.
Progress Update: The Standout Feature
Supporting team collaboration and effectiveness, ScheduleReader has introduced Progress Update feature to create cooperative working environment that will keep everyone involved in the project informed with the most accurate data.
How does it work?
The Progress Update feature provides a two-way collaboration, so anyone in the team can update the schedule accordingly with their completed or delayed activities. The Progress Update mode allows users to insert proposals for updates in the Activity and Assignments views updating % Complete, Actual Start, Actual Finish, Activity Status and Activity codes. The fields available for update depend on the working habits and the workflow in the company. Usually, the project scheduler is responsible for defining the field that are available for updates. The updated proposals are saved in separate .xls/.xlsx file, placed and saved in a newly created folder in the same location where the original schedule file is located. The new file can be imported into the project’s reflection, merge them and have a clear view for every change parameter in each activity. This enables the project scheduler to quickly gather feedback of each activity progress from all members in a ready to update format. After reviewing all proposals, the scheduler can choose to import the new update in the original schedule in Primavera P6 or reject the proposals.
How to Use Progress Update
The Progress Update mode in ScheduleReader is simple to use. It requires only three easy steps:
Step 1:
Open ScheduleReader, and import your XER/XML or XLS project file.
Step 2:
Start the Progress Update View and enter into Collaboration mode.
Step 3:
Now, you can review your assignments, and input your proposals, so the scheduler can review them.
After completing these three simple steps, your work is done. The new file is ready to be reviewed by the scheduler, so they can accept or reject the proposals.
Benefits of Progress Update
The goal of Progress Update is to improve and simplify the communication between project managers and schedulers. With its simple interface, every project member can create a proposal for activity update without make changes to the original plan.
Moreover, this feature simplifies the entire process of updating the activities since the excel file with the update proposals is easily accessible from the same location as the original file. Having this on mind, Progress Update functionality also saves time in the entire process of communication as well as it improves team productivity and efficiency.
To sum up, ScheduleReader with its Progress update will enable:• Secure two-way communication between the schedulers and others involved in the project• Feedback and activity status update• Centralized proposal updates from all project teams in a single point of access• Save time in updating the project schedule
Final Thoughts
Created as a simple XER viewer, during its years of development, ScheduleReader has become one of the most cutting-edge complementary solutions to Primavera P6. Its Progress Update feature creates collaborative working environment that will keep every team member up-to-date with the latest project updates without causing damage to the project.
To get first-hand experience and evaluate the benefits of Progress Update, download ScheduleReader’s FREE 15-day Trial here: https://www.schedulereader.com/free-schedule-reader-trial
Source: Darko Atanasov-Seavus Marketing Specialist
To find out more about PM Solution Pro offerings, visit our website https://pmsolutionpro.com or contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]
About the Author
Rufran C. Frago is the Founder of PM Solution Pro, a Calgary consulting, product, and training services firm focusing on project and business management solutions. He is passionate providing advice, mentorship, education and training through consultation, collaboration, and what he uniquely calls, student-led training.
BOOKS AUTHORED BY RUFRAN FRAGO
- Risk-based Management in the World of Threats and Opportunities: A Project Controls Perspective.ISBN 978-0-9947608-0-7.Canada
- Plan to Schedule, Schedule to Plan.ISBN 978-0-9947608-2-1.Canada
- How to Create a Good Quality P50 Risk-based Baseline Schedule.ISBN 978-0-9947608-1-4.Canada
- Schedule Quantitative Risk Analysis (Traditional Method).ISBN 978-0-9947608-3-8.Canada
- RISK, What are you? The Risk Management Poem: Children’s Book for all Professionals.ISBN 978-0-9947608-4-5 (Canada)
