Seavus Project Planner is a standalone desktop application that is used for creating project plans with main purpose to give project managers full overview of the project plan flow as well as overview of the resource's assignments. It allows project managers to create project plans, assign resources and track the progress of the project according the project management theory.

With Seavus Project Planner the users are able to create their own project files in .spp file format for a much reduced cost as a replacement for the expensive Microsoft Project® suite of products. Additionally, Seavus Project Planner can be used to effectively manage and understand project schedules, offers better control of resources and finances, quick access to the information you need and effective information communication.

Using Seavus Project Planner you can create a task in five ways: By entering a single sign in the field of the Task Name column from the Gantt Table, by drawing the contour of the task bar on the Gantt chart, drawing task's contour trough the working days in the calendar, entering task's name in the appropriate field in the Task Form and using Milestone Rollup and Milestone Data Rollup.

The resources can be classified into two categories: Work (human resources) and Material (equipment, money, etc.). Using Seavus Project Planner you can insert resources in four ways: from the Resource Sheet View, by filling the resource's information in the Resource Form, typing the resource's name in the Resources Name Form and from the Task Category Views.

Quick Bars are options designed to help you when working only with your keyboard. By using these options you can gain quick and easy access to most common options with using the function keys. Navigation is done with the arrow keys. You can leave from the Quick Bars by pressing Esc.

There are three Quick Bar views available:

• The Views Quick Bar, which can be accessed by pressing the F3 function key. It will display quick menu where you can find the most common used views.
• The Standard Quick Bar, which can be accessed by pressing the F4 function key. It will display quick menu where you can find the most common used options from the File menu.
• The Structuring Quick Bar, which can be accessed by pressing the F5 function key. It will display quick menu where you can find the most common used options for structuring your information in the document - from the Project menu, Structure options.

 

With the Seavus Project Planner, beside the original native .spp file format, you can also import projects created in Microsoft Project (.mpp) and Microsoft XML files (.xml). The Import option is located under File menu. After selecting this option, new dialog window will open, where the user can browse the appropriate file.

Yes. In order to make Seavus Project Planner User interface more interesting, we have applied five different styles that are available to you in the View menu, Style sub-menus: Plastique, Cleanlooks, WindowsXP, Windows and the Default style.

Yes. With the wizard that can be found in the Tools menu you can create New Base Line for the current project, change the current Base Line and return to a previously saved Base Line. Also, you can create unlimited number of Base Lines.

You can contact our Customer Center for your technical issues at support@seavusprojectplanner.com, and one of our representatives will contact you promptly. For general issues, email customercenter@seavusprojectplanner.com.

Yes. You can create custom calendars from the Change Working Time dialog in Seavus Project Planner which enables you to modify existing predefined calendars or create your own new calendar that will meet all your needs.

The Reports are available in the Reports menu where a new Report window will be shown containing 4 (four) groups of reports which can be viewed, exported and printed. The available export groups are General, Present Activities, Assignments and Costs.

In this group the user can find basic information about the project (Project Dates, Costs, Resources, Work) and detailed reports about the Critical Tasks, Working Weeks and Milestones.

This toolbar contains features which are useful when you want to do a quick update on the %complete on the selected task in Seavus Project Planner.

Creation of summary task is possible from the Gantt Chart view by using the indent-outdent feature. The summary task will be created by selecting the tasks under the task that is going to be summary and clicking on the icon for the "Indent" feature.

Split Task is option available in the Edit menu as well as on the standard toolbar. Split task is task that starts on some particular date, then it stops and continues on another date. Although it seems that the task's duration is increased, in fact it stays the same.
By choosing and clicking on certain task, you can split the task in two on the place you clicked, and by dragging the clicked mouse with the second part of the task to the right, you are creating a break in the task. The two parts of the task are connected with thin interrupted underline.

• You can create task predecessors for the currently opened task and link them in the Task Information dialog in the Predecessors tab, by entering the predecessor's ID, its name and predecessor's type.
• Another way is to do it directly in the chart side of the work space by click and hold on the predecessor bar and then drag the pointer to the successor bar until you notice the link line between them and then release the mouse. You can modify the link type by double-click on the link line that connects the two tasks.
• Link also can be created if you select the tasks that you want to connect by Ctrl+click on the tasks and then click the Link Tasks icon that can be found on the standard toolbar or choose same (Ctrl+F2) option in the Edit menu.

You can add/remove columns by right-click on the column title and chose Show/Hide Column drop-down menu.

There are:
Resource Filters:

• All resources
• Overallocated resources
• Work resources
• Material resources
• Attached resources

Task Filters:

• All Tasks
• Completed Tasks
• Critical Tasks
• Date range
• Incomplete
• Milestone Tasks
• Summary Tasks
• Task Range
• Attached Tasks
• By Resource

 

Resource groups:

• No Group
• Resource Type Group

Task Groups:

• Complete and incomplete
• Critical
• Duration
• Milestones
• No group
• Priority

Clicking on one of the options, will group the tasks by the predefined criteria.

 

Some views, such as the Gantt Chart, have a timescale at the top. For the moment, the timescale in Seavus Project Planner displays two tiers: a top tier and a bottom tier.
Currently, there are three levels of zoom in Seavus Project Planner:

• Top tier shows days, Bottom shows hours.
• Top tier shows weeks, Bottom shows days (default zoom level).
• Top tier shows months, Bottom shows weeks.

 

Yes. Seavus Project Planner supports inserting other projects (sub-projects) within your existing project (Master project). You can do if you go to Insert menu and choose Insert Project.

You can create shared resource pool from the resources in your project and use them as resources in other projects so you can have precise information regarding their allocation.

Resource Sharing options can be found under Tools menu.

From the window menu select the "Split" option to Split the window to show two views simultaneously.

In any of the Gantt Chart views, you can change the layout options of the bars for the active view in Seavus Project Planner. You can open the Format Bar dialog by right-clicking on the bar and choosing Format Bar option.
Format Bar dialog has four tabs, each for every element of which the chart bar is made. They are:

• Start - presenting the start of the bar
• Middle - presenting the background of the bar
• End - presenting the end of the bar
• Progress - presenting the progress line in the bar

Each tab contains two sections in which you can define:

• Brush that defines the fill (background) of each bar element and
• Pen that defines the border of each element.

For the Brush, you can set:

• Whether to use gradient for the fill or not
• Start color and its alpha transparency
• End color and its alpha transparency – available only when using color gradient
• Pattern is available only when not using color gradient

For the Pen, you can set:

• Border color and its alpha transparency
• Border pattern

You can use Preview check box for previewing the new formatting style, or Reset button if you want to return to default formatting.

 

In any of the Network Diagram views, you can change the layout options of the diagram boxes (nodes) for the active view in Seavus Project Planner. You can open the Format Box dialog by right-clicking on the box (node) and choosing Format Box option.
Format Box dialog has four sections:

• Preview - presenting the box with the applied changes
• Data template - drop-down list with templates, each of them containing different set of information
• Border - giving options for formation the diagram box:
     - Shape - formats the box shape
     - Color - formats the color of the box lines
     - Pattern - formats the lines
     - Showing grid lines - horizontal, vertical
• Background - giving options for formation the box background:
     - Whether to use gradient for the background or not
     - Start color and its alpha transparency
     - End color and its alpha transparency - available only when using color gradient
     - Pattern - available only when not using color gradient
     - Text color - sets the font color

 

Column layout can be formatted. You can initialize the Column Settings Dialog from the Format menu, by choosing Column Settings option.
This dialog gives you options for the chosen column from the drop-down menu to format:

• Column title
• Cell alignment
• Cell Text Font
• Cell Text Font Size
• Cell Text Color

 

Seavus Project Planner integrates with Google Apps, allowing users to collaborate and share project information between them. The uploaded project files are stored in Google Doc making them available while working in your office, at home or while you are on the road.

You can find more details in the User Manual.

The process of printing the information you need can be as simple as clicking a button or as refined as customizing and previewing the existing views. No matter how simple or refined the process, printing a view or report consists of essentially the same steps:

• Select the view or report that best presents the information you want - If a predefined view or report does not meet your exact needs, you can apply different tables or filters, or change the way tasks, resources, or assignments are grouped.
• Make display changes by choosing Page Setup - For example, you may want to use Header or Footer.
• Preview a view or report before it is printed - Previewing a view or report can help you verify content and display changes you made so you can adjust them again if necessary.
• Print the view or report - To make printing as efficient as possible you can specify the options you want. For example, you can print a range of pages (defined by page numbers or dates) and print multiple copies.

You can make changes to the way a printed view or report looks by specifying page setup options such as page orientation, scale, or paper size. The Page Setup dialog for a view is directly accessible through the Page Setup command on the File menu. The page setup options for a report, on the other hand, are accessible through the following procedure:

• On the Reports menu, click Reports.
• Click the report type you want, and then click Print Preview.
• 3Click Page Setup.

Once you open the Page Setup dialog, you can follow the steps below to specify the page and other printing options for a view or a report. Note that some of the options in the Page Setup dialog available for views may not be available for the reports. Some options may differ between different views as well:

• Click the Page tab in the Page Setup dialog.
• To change page orientation, under Orientation, click Portrait (vertical) or Landscape (horizontal).
• To change the paper size, click the paper size you want in the Paper Size box.
• In the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right boxes, type or select the new margin settings
• Click on the Header tab
• Select the type of the header in the Choose Header frame.
• To select the alignment of the header's text or image, click on the Right, Center or Left button
• Click on the Footer tab
• Select the type of the footer in the Choose Footer frame
• To select the alignment of the footer's text or image, click on the Right, Center or Left button
• Click the View tab.
• To display or hide page borders, under View tab, in Borders section check or clear the check-box.
• In Page Numbering section you can enter the first page number
• In Print section you may choose whether to print Legend and Notes.

Before printing a view or report, in addition to the page setup options, you can specify print options such as the printer and its properties, the print range for pages, the number of copies, and the date range.

• On the File menu, click Print.
• Under Printer, Print range, and Copies select the print options you want.
• To change printer properties, click Properties, select the options you want, and then click OK.

 

Yes, you can deactivate your License and use it later on your new PC. The "Deactivate" dialog appears during uninstalling your Seavus Project Planner from Add/Remove Programs. You should click Yes to deactivate your License.

For successful deactivation, you need active Internet connection and properly configured firewall and/or proxy so the communication with our secure Activation Centre can be done.