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GCN Home > 03/20/06 issue

Project managers get a powerful tool

The latest version of FastTrack makes it easy to see cause and effect

By John Breeden II, GCN Staff

Even the longest journey begins with a first step. The same can be said for agency IT projects. But you need to make sure you’re taking that step in the right direction.

FastTrack Schedule 9 from AEC Software can help by breaking down projects in terms of the human and financial resources, as well as time, needed to complete different stages. Some projects simply can’t be achieved with the available resources without sacrificing somewhere else; FastTrack can accurately point this out.

Once a project is programmed into FastTrack, you can see at a glance if you’re likely to complete it by deadline, and whether your proposal will affect other projects in the works. Although it can take some time to program every aspect of a project, that upfront attention to detail will pay off in the long run.

Ideally, the person using FastTrack will be a professional project manager. However, the interface is surprisingly simple, so even someone untrained or doing part-time project management can pick it up. We were consistently pleased with how the program could think ahead and alert us to planning conflicts as they arose.

Although most of our testing with FastTrack was on a PC-compatible system, the files it generated also work on a Mac. They can even interface with the Mac’s iCalendar tool.

You also can convert FastTrack files to work with Microsoft Project, the program’s main competitor, which is helpful if you have both programs or need to share data with contractors who may not have the same software.

When you start a project, you begin at the main window, which looks a bit like an Excel spreadsheet. There are buttons that take you to the Schedule, Calendar or Resource view. If you’ve been using FastTrack for a while, these views will be populated with data about existing projects and people your project will pull from. There are also several templates you can load to help streamline the process, including several designed specifically for government agencies.

More news on related topics: Software Applications, IT Management



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