P2ware Planner Suite 2011 - new project management software

A couple of months ago P2ware published new version of its successful project, programme and portfolio management software - P2ware Planner Suite 2011 or short Planner 2011. The version is heavily based on Planner 2008 and introduces many various changes based on customers feedback. I am not able to list them all because there are many important ones and lots of small and very small changes and improvements. Many of the major changes have special value for enterprises, professional project/programme/portfolio managers/directors. All in all the improvements are consistent with P2ware Planner Suite approach of creating top project management tools that support project planning, project execution, project reporting, resource management and support for programme and portfolio management. The software is an excellent solution for project management with PRINCE2® or PMO that implements other popular standards such as PMI® PMBOK®. Current version of P2ware project management software can be used also by various agile practitioners because it is now capable of storing data required in various agile diagrams and analyses, e.g. it is now possible to create Burndown Charts as work planned and performed can be stored in plan snapshots.


If you are new to Planner (either 2008 or 2011) you may find interesting following hyperlinks:

• P2ware project management software tools overview - brief description of selected functionalities of Planner 2011
• Screenshots of Planner project management software - to see all descriptions of views that support project management
• P2ware Planner project management solutions - to read how the software is used from large systems to small teams and individual project managers
• Free download of Planner project software - to try it yourself. There is a sample (plan of project management training) that shows how planning and project execution looks like in P2ware Planner.

Planner 2011 and Planner 2008
Quite recently I've been told that after a glance Planner 2011 is similar to Planner 2008 PM software and there seem to be very few changes in this version. And I agree with the former thesis: Planner 2011 and Planner 2008 share common user interface, user experience and workflow. Project managers around the world that use P2ware project management tool in 2008 version would probably be not content if P2ware Planner was completely new project solution that has completely new features and written from scratch user interface... Instead Planner 2011 is a perfect example of continual improvement in project management software and that guarantees that existing customers that mastered current version of the software will have no problems at all in learning new versions of P2ware PM software and receive some small changes in the application even in the same version of the software!


New project management functionalities in Planner 2011 software
It is difficult to begin :-) There are three types of new features

1. In dekstop - project software for personal computers,
2. In Planner Server - software for managing projects, programmes and portfolios,
3. In both versions - changes in how project plans are described.

Changes in Planner desktop project software

Lessons log in Planner project management software

Custom project template in P2ware Planner software

• Added a new view: Lessons Log. Lessons learned log is 
• Added a new view: Interface Customisation. This enables users to hide views, perspectives and properties that are not used in particular project, department or industry. The functionality is meant to make the software more approachable to project managers and make project management software contain data that is really required and avoid data overload.
• Added functionality allowing to localise properties names, i.e. translate them in any other language allowing to create custom multinational plan templates
• Added new view: Resource Assignments.  It has been an important upgrade since version 2008. The view allows to manage resource assignments more effectively, assign many resources to many various activities in just a few seconds.
• Added SharePoint (WSS, MOSS) integration to facilitate creating project documentation portals and document linking and management.
• New mechanism allowing to describe the plan templates. It will facilitate plan templates management and usage.
• Enhanced start screen to enable better plan templates usage.
• Reports control refresh (slightly improved UI).
• Added new data type - Rich Text Format (RTF). This allows to create rich documents describing plan objects.
• Added new functionality of renaming column headers in tables and trees across the application. It allows to create shorter and meaningful names adjusted to organisation.

Changes in Planner Server - project, programme and portfolio management software

Most of the changes in Planner Server affect Enterprise Project Management systems.

Enterprise project management system built with
P2ware Planner Server

• Planner Server user interface refresh.
• New set of sample Planner Server global reports: Organization Projects Chart (all projects in time), Plan Review (all plans with details), Planned Resource Assignments, Portfolio Budget, Portfolio Review (all important data in portfolio management), Programme Review (programme with all important data in programme management), Resource Review, Resources in projects.
• New set of sample Planner Server plan reports: Activities summary report, Highlight Report, Issue Register, Issues with Related Objects, Product Checklist, Products Descriptions, Resource Assignments, Risk Register, Risks with Related Objects, Work Packages.
• New set of sample Planner Server user reports: Issues With Related Objects, My resource assignments (by Date), Risks With Related Objects, Tasks List, Time Sheet report, My Work Packages.
• Added functionality of browsing resource load while assigning resources to activities via Planner Server. It allows to assign resources that are currently available.



Planner Server is a centre of project, programme and
portfolio management system - new user interface

• New and changed web services that enable development teams outside P2ware to create external components having access to all plan and resources data. This facilitates creating external synchronisation components, e.g. Importing or exporting data from/to ERP or other IT systems.
• Added organisational units support to Planner Server. It allows to organise resources into units and manage them more effectively.
• Added functionality allowing to show or hide reports on Planner Server. This can be used to create advanced reports visible only to selected users. What is more, access is managed by access control list.
• New control and enhanced security settings allowing to create detailed security settings for Planner Server users.

Changes both in Planner Server and desktop Planner project, programme and portfolio management software

• Enhanced unified plan and resource synchronisation. Data synchronisation is done in one intuitive way.
• PRINCE2® 2009 naming changes.
• Extended plan snapshots. New version adds more data on planned and actual timing and work.
• Added to Risk Register changes allowing to manage not only threats but also opportunities.
• Added new data type - object reference. This allows to link various objects with other plan elements.
• Added Integrated Windows Logon.
• Improved and faster data transfer protocol (desktop - server) with detection of version incompatibility.
• Changes in calendar management. Enhancements allowing to manage calendar setting across the whole organisation.

The list of changes (if I decided to list them all) would be impressive. For example one small but useful change that is not listed is in Product Flow Diagram and Product Breakdown Structure: you may select any number of products and create a new work package with these products inside - simple, brilliant and powerful. This particular feature was suggested by one of P2ware customers. Thanks!