

This is version 8.0.3 of the software, and I still think there are plenty of improvements that could be made. The end result was a shocker, although it looks odd partly because the whole project is scheduled to take one day as there is no automatic linking of dependencies: It was hard to work out the keyboard shortcuts, but the Insert key (should have guessed!) gave me a new task.

The most annoying thing with this was that every task was added above the previous task, so if you think in a start-to-finish sequence like me you end up having to reshuffle all your tasks into the right order or your project schedule is effectively upside down. I don’t know why anyone would want to use a graphics package to build a Gantt chart when there are project management tools out there that do it so much better. I switched to trying to build a Gantt chart.
#CONCEPTDRAW OFFICE 7 PRO#
I maintain that alone PRO is not as good as other tools out there, but the ConceptDraw Office suite is designed to be highly integrated, and this is where you start to see the benefit. You can produce dynamic reports from PROJECT and it will automatically create attractive graphical representations of any given time, in PRO. And here is where ConceptDraw PRO really comes into its own. In fact, you need to have PROJECT all set up and populated with a stack of data, and then PRO will sort out your reports for you. I thought the purpose of a dashboard was to facilitate real-time status reporting, and designing your own graphic each time certainly doesn’t do that. You could use the pie chart feature to make a dashboard yourself, but it’s a lot of hassle (I tried) and it’s hardly interactive.
#CONCEPTDRAW OFFICE 7 SOFTWARE#
I wasn’t sure if it was me looking in the wrong place, or if the software had been oversold. I also couldn’t find anything related to creating a work breakdown structure. But I couldn’t find any reference to dashboard in the help, or in the templates. Interactive dashboard? That sounds great! There’s also an example of a project indicator presentation in the reviewer’s guide, which shows completeness and complexity in a very nice donught diagram. It also provides project teams with a comprehensive tool to create WBS and track project status on a highly interactive dashboard.” The media kit also says that it can be “used as a project whiteboard to represent necessary business and project-related data. It’s software that produces professional-looking graphics and diagrams like flowcharts and network diagrams, instead of you relying on clip art for your presentations. It’s a fancy drawing package, a bit like SmartDraw. This, according to the vendor, “is a powerful diagramming and drawing tool that enables users to effectively visualize and communicate information and processes.” The third and final piece in the ConceptDraw Office suite is ConceptDraw PRO. I have reviewed ConceptDraw PROJECT and MINDMAP.
