Press Room

Handheld Computing Magazine, August/September 2002:

Project Management Goes Portable by Dave Johnson

Natara's Project@Hand ($49), (from www.natara.com) is another smart alternative for synchronizing with existing Project files. Project@Hand features a desktop conduit that transfers your Project files to the handheld, where you can view them in outline form, complete with the same subtask structure you originally generated on the desktop.

As you probably expect, you needn't just reference an existing project, either; you can update the project plan on your handheld, and the updates are reflected on the desktop after HotSyncing. The program has an elegant interface, including a fuel gauge-style completion bar that you can drag with the stylus to update task progress-on-the-fly. Every task can have associated resources as well. You can add tasks, change due dates and task durations, and even link task to other tasks in full Project style. Of course, Project@Hand isn't intended to be a stand-along project planner...you can't create new projects from scratch on the Palm.

By itself, Project@Hand only works in outline form. The heart and soul of any traditional project plan is the Gantt Chart, though. A Gantt Chart is a graphic representation of the project timeline that shows the relationship of the project timeline that shows the relationship of tasks, subtasks, and deadlines with a standard language of bars and brackets. It's almost always the preferred way to to view project plans on the desktop, and here is where Project@Hand excels. If you add Natara's $15 Project@Hand Gantt Chart module, you can view any project in outline mode or as a Gantt right on the PDA. With Project@Hand Gantt Chart running, you can scroll around your projects and modify the display with a wide assortment of filters.