For that 99%, PlanBee is a good alternative at a fraction of the price. For the first 30 days nobody can beat the price unless they pay you, because you get a 30 day free trial (see below). After that, you can pay as little as US $29.98 for the basic version or US $69.98 for the Pro version.
PlanBee is easy to use because it's intuitive. If you can use a computer, you can set up a project in PlanBee. It's even easier than most spreadsheet applications, yet with a similar interface. All you have to do is enter the task names, task durations and linkages in the grid and the project is created for you - with the program assuming the most prevalent values about task and linkage characteristics. By following the Quick Start Guide beginners can set up simple project plans in no time at all, yet skilled users can create plans of great complexity by using the advanced features available.
Of course, you can overrule these with your own parameters. For example, the program starts off assuming that no work proceeds on Saturdays and Sundays but that it does on every other day. You can specify that some or all tasks must proceed without a break once started (like a continuous pour for concrete). You can define a different working day calendar for any or all years from 1900 to 2100. You can define several standard calendars for use with similar projects in different jurisdictions. You can define several standard calendars for use with similar projects in different jurisdictions. Did you know that while Americans take off the Fourth of July, Canadians take off the First of July and the French take off the Fourteenth of July as national holidays? You can create an American, a Canadian and a French holiday calendar and any others you want to use.
For those who like to think visually, you can design your project directly in the PERT view, adding tasks and linkages with "point and click".
Calculates Early Start, Late Start, Early Finish, Late Finish, Float (Slack) and identifies Critical Path activities (how?)
Shows all project management data in a "spreadsheet" pattern for ease of understanding. Just click for the Quick Start Guide to see how easy it is. Optional Task Definition Assistance View for those who don't like to work in a spreadsheet grid.
| | At-a-glance spreadsheet indication of dependency relationships. The currently selected task in the spreadsheet is indicated by aqua (blue). Tasks which affect its timing ("precedents" or "predecessors") are indicated by magenta (purple). Tasks whose timing are affected by it ("dependents" or "successors") are indicated by yellow. Tasks which neither affect the timing of the selected task nor are affected by it are indicated by neutral grey. |
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Task data may be entered manually or imported from a file or the clipboard.
Independent re-sizeable and hideable windows show PERT ("Activity on Node" or "AON") views and Gantt (bar chart) views of the project in addition to the "spreadsheet" view.
Activities and links may be set up and edited in either spreadsheet or PERT views or both at once, since all views are kept synchronized.
Setup of PlanBee to access a shared copy of the program over a network is easy. Network file sharing permits multiple users on a network to have read-only access to a plan file while one user has it open for exclusive update. They may modify it and save it to a different file name if they wish.
Up to 1,000 activities with up to three levels of sub-project or departmental grouping.
No limit on links per activity (within total of 2,000 links).
Links may be Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start or Finish-to-Finish to handle overlapping activities.
Links may have minimum time lags specified.
Individual activities may have their dates "fixed".
Pop up "working day" calendar with 200 year range. Easy to change working/non-working days.
Activity durations and lags may be specified as either "working days" or "calendar days" - both types may be used in the same plan.
Scale of PERT and Gantt charts are adjustable both on-screen and for printing (to make best use of pages).
Task data and results may be exported to the clipboard or to a comma-separated or tab-delimited file. They may then be imported to many other products such as spreadsheets and other project management programs.
Reports, PERT charts and Gantt charts may be either printed, or copied to the clipboard for pasting into other programs. They may also be distributed by "printing" to the Windows printer driver which came with your fax card or to a PDF-producing printer driver such as Jaws PDF Creator or similar products. PDF files may be easily uploaded to your web site.
Works with all 32 bit Windows systems (Win95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP). Totally self-contained. Does not install, change or delete any system files or DLLs on your system. As small as a (as a CD image including manual it is a ).
Resource Allocation and Leveling.
Costing Functions.
Administrative Detail Editing (Notes assigned to tasks, Cost Account Codes, Manager Names, Unique Key for use in exporting to external databases).
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
Automatic Emphasis - an aid in selecting exporting details.
Hiding and Inactivating Dependency Links Grouped into "Families".
Specifying "Marginal" Criticality.
Each project may have its own resources list, or master resource lists may be maintained for use across projects.
Activities may be grouped into up to three levels, with resource cost summaries available at each level.
A Web Page may be produced automatically including your choice of task details, either in black and white or your choice of colours. 
Click here to see an example in colour. Click here to see another in monochrome.
Spelling note: the correct spelling is "Gantt Chart", but if you are doing a web search for references to it you should also look for "Gant Chart", "Gaant Chart" and "Gannt Chart" since these are very common spelling errors.
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While the directly usable installer is very convenient, it is an EXE file and some systems block these or warn against their use. However you are downloading the file directly from the Guy Software site and therefore no other party has had the opportunity to tamper with it. Click here to download planbee.zip (), a zipped archive copy requiring an unzipping tool (see below). Click here to download PlanBeeEvalCD.zip, a ZIP file containing a CD image ( - you extract the files onto a blank CD to obtain a CD which auto-starts when you insert it) which includes a printable manual in addition to the PlanBee installer files. | 
 | Security/Privacy note: Windows XP/SP2 has features to warn you about downloading or opening files which might have been altered. When you are downloading Guy Software products from the Guy Software website no such risk arises, since no other party has had any opportunity to tamper with them. You may use them safely. | ';} ?>
| If you are unfamiliar with installing downloaded software you may click here to see a tutorial. | |||
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You may view the help file on line by clicking here. (If your browser does not know what to do with a HLP file, it might ask you which application to open it with. If so, please select WINHELP32.EXE in your Windows directory.) | ||
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Although the help file contains all of the information, you may download a ZIP file containing the manual in MS Word 2.0 format (which most word processors can read) by clicking here or a file in PDF format which needs the free Adobe Acrobat reader by clicking here. | ||
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Most computers already have a copy of the free Adobe Acrobat reader. If yours doesn't please click here. | ||
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Neither the evaluation nor the paid-up version display third-party advertising, or send information from your system to any other place. |
Pricing for PlanBee (US Dollars)
Prices in Pounds (£), Euros (€) and other currencies are conversions from US Dollars and will be recalculated based on currency rates at the time of order.
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For classroom use in a bona fide educational institution the six user package may be used for any number of users currently teaching or attending classes on the campus to which the purchase is registered.
For the single copy licence, if PLANBEE is installed on the internal hard drive (or equivalent) of a computer and one person uses that computer more than 80% of the time it is in use, then that person may use PLANBEE on one other computer.
Buy the Fully Licensed Version of PlanBee by
clicking here
EmailGuy Software,
1752 Duchess Avenue
West Vancouver
British Columbia V7V 1P9
Canada
Tel: (604)926-1370
Fax: (778)279-1752
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Note that Vancouver is in the Pacific Time Zone, 8 hours behind GMT. |
