If your office is anything like mine, you spend long days chained to your desk, working at a desktop computer.
There’s nothing wrong with a desktop—I love having a full keyboard and the computer’s superior processing power. However, in today’s modern office, you aren’t limited to a desktop computer to do your work.
Available for both Mac and iPad, OmniPlan is a resource and project management software solution that allows users to manage tasks and resources, monitor plans, and control costs. OmniPlan’s interface features a customizable Gantt chart view, and provides visual filters that allows users to view or hide dates and tasks at will. Amman – Daheyat al rasheed – Wifak Street 94; Phone: (+962) 6 516 30 40; Fax: (+962) 6 516 30 41; E-Mail: [email protected]; Website: www.omniplan.me.
We live in a world of work-life blending, where we check our work and personal emails on our phones before bed, update tasks with a swipe instead of a click, and aren’t shy to “Bring Your Own Device” to work. For project managers, that means mobile-optimized project management software is a must.
The iPhone is a beautiful piece of technology. Consumer Reports says that the iPhone 8 has the best camera and battery life of any iPhone yet, not to mention the addition of wireless charging, making it one of their highest-rated phones ever. For iPhone-wielding project managers (or those still holding out for the soon-to-be-released $1,000 iPhone X) there are lots of project management apps to keep your projects moving while you’re on the go.
OmniPlan 3.10 – Robust project management software. September 26, 2018 With OmniPlan Pro, you can create logical, manageable project plans with Gantt charts, schedules, summaries, milestones, and critical paths. These may include when a scheduled start date for a task occurs before the start date of the project. OmniPlan can import XML, MPX, and MPP files directly from Microsoft Project. You can also export information to iCal, CSV, Microsoft Project, Exchange, HTML, OmniOutliner, OmniGirafle, as well as image formats.
In fact, there are so many project management apps that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. A quick App Store search reveals over 150 options. There’s no way you can try all of them.
Project management apps for iPhone
Just a fraction of the selection of project management apps available for the iPhone
I’ve taken the time to filter through reviews and test out some of the most-celebrated project management apps for iPhone, and used the following criteria:
Must be optimized for teams (no single-user task management apps)
Must offer communication tools
Must offer file sharing
Must be consistent with the desktop project management software
Must offer task management
Must provide search
Must have an extra “wow” factor
From these requirements, I pulled the following seven stand-out options from the App Store. They’re ordered alphabetically below, and all options are compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Pros/cons are based on product descriptions, our observations, and customer reviews.
1. Asana
The Projects view in the Asana iPhone app
Asana has continually stood out as an outstanding project management software option, and its mobile app is no exception. It offers a sleek design, easy file sharing, and really does do away with unnecessary emails. The latest update (6.3.0) added a new calendar view with easily adjustable deadlines.
Pros:
Offers almost all features available on the desktop version
Push notifications
Drag-and-drop interface
Instantaneously updates to the cloud
Cons:
Can’t delete projects from the app
Can’t add projects using templates
No app customizations
No bulleted or numbered list formatting
Price: The app itself is free in the App Store. The service (online and mobile) is free for up to 15 members, then charges $9.99 per user, per month. Smaller teams qualify for discount pricing.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 9.0 or later
App Store customer rating: 4.7/5
Used Asana? Leave a review!
2.Basecamp 3
The Company HQ screen in Basecamp 3 for iPhone
When it comes to popular project management software, Basecamp rightfully makes the top five. Basecamp’s software offerings are easy-to-use basic project management winners, and the app is no exception. The latest version (3.6) added improved sketching and drag-and-drop functionality for images and files.
Pros:
View client commentary and approvals
Simple, intuitive interface
Quick data sync and real-time communication
Outstanding customer support
Cons:
The app can struggle when internet connection is poor
A few aesthetic design issues
Little customization
May not offer enough features for Agile IT project management
Omniplan 3 Keygen
Price: The app itself is free in the App Store. If you want to use Basecamp 3 with a team, it’s a flat rate of $99/month after a 30-day free trial, regardless of the number of users or projects.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 9.0 or later
App Store customer rating: 4.7/5
Used Basecamp 3? Leave a review!
3. Clarizen
A discussion in Clarizen
When it comes to enterprise-level project management apps, Clarizen offers a feature-rich tool at a great price. If you’re managing a project portfolio and want an on-the-go iOS app, Clarizen should be on your short list.
Pros:
Robust billable and non-billable time tracking system
Permissions management
Sort and filter your projects and tasks
Upload expenses into a template with your phone’s camera
Cons:
There is a small learning curve to use the app effectively
Custom views made on the desktop version are not visible
Some users have reported that the app may freeze if you lose your data connection
The interface can be unintuitive for some actions
Price: The app itself is free in the App Store. The service starts at $45 per user, per month, after a 30-day free trial, and scales up with more added features.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 8.0 or later
App Store customer rating: N/A
Used Clarizen?Leave a review!
4. OmniPlan 3
The Gantt chart view in OmniPlan 3
When it comes to top project management software for Mac, OmniPlan 3 stands out against its competition. It’s an Apple-first program, designed with iOS devices in mind.
Pros:
Designed end-to-end for Apple users
Networking diagrams, Gantt charts, tasks, and subtasks
Scheduling and tracking reports
Task hierarchy designation
Cons:
No time tracking
Microsoft Project file imports sometimes fail
Because there is so much data on screen at once, some text can appear small on Gantt charts and networking diagrams
Not great for Agile project management
Price: $74.99 in the App Store after a free two-week trial. Includes service. Pro upgrade (which adds features such as Monte Carlo simulations, change tracking, and Microsoft Project import/export) available for another $74.99. You can also continue to use the app just for document viewing for free. The desktop version is sold separately.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 11.0 or later
App Store customer rating: N/A
Used OmniPlan? Leave a review!
5. Smartsheet
A basic project in Gantt view with dependencies on the iPhone app
Smartsheet is one of the most popular desktop project management tools on the market, so it’s no surprise that the Smartsheet iPhone app is also a popular tool. The mobile app does almost everything that the desktop application does, including Gantt charts, collaboration, and file sharing.
Pros:
Take pictures with your iPhone camera and add them directly to charts
Built-in templates for quick chart creation
Search and filter features for finding projects
Quickly switch between List view, Grid view, or Gantt view
Cons:
No monthly pricing. You are committed to six months at a time (after the 30-day free trial)
Pricing for Team and Business plans is not available to the public
No Kanban view
You can’t zoom or quick jump on the mobile sheets, making it difficult to view and navigate data-rich charts
Price: The app itself is free in the App Store. The individual plan is $94.99 for a non-renewing six-month subscription, after a 30-day free trial.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 10.0 or later
App Store customer rating: 4.8/5
Used Smartsheet? Leave a review!
6. Taskworld
Project completion view in Taskworld
Taskworld takes Apple’s love of simplicity and applies it to its mobile app. The interface is clear, straightforward, and does exactly what it promises to do.
Pros:
Wonderful user experience; very easy to learn and use
Task-based file management
Time tracking by task and entire projects
Interactive calendar that makes who’s doing what clear
Cons:
No landscape view
No Gantt charts
Reporting features unavailable in app
No customization
Price: The app itself is free in the App Store. The service starts at $5.99 per user, per month for solo users, or $8.99 per user, per month for teams, after a 15-day free trial, and scales with team size.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 9.0 or later
App Store customer rating: N/A
Used Taskworld? Leave a review!
7. Wrike
A new task in Wrike for iPhone
Wrike has a stand-out mobile app and just released a ton of new features, such as starred tasks, intuitive navigation, offline task creation, table reports, proofing and approval, and time tracking.
Pros:
Simple interface with lots of easily-readable information
Great customer service
Can be used in all industries, but particularly good for advertising and sales
Mainly used for communicating updates and file management
Cons:
Some users have experienced stability issues
Subtasks aren’t labeled with their associated projects
Doesn’t support all of Wrike’s features, such as creating repeating tasks
Description editor sometimes has formatting issues
Price: The app itself is free in the App Store. The service is free for up to five users, then scales from $9.80 per user, per month.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 9.0 or later
App Store customer rating: 3.2/5
Used Wrike? Leave a review!
What apps do you use for project management?
There are a ton of project management apps for iPhone that I haven’t covered here. What else do you think belongs on the list? What are your experiences with these apps? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
Looking for Project Management software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Project Management software solutions.
Thank you for choosing OmniPlan as your companion on the path to better project management. The app you’re about to explore is packed full of tools that handle the heavy lifting, number crunching, and visualization of your projects so you’re free to focus on the stuff that matters. With OmniPlan 3 we’ve carefully reconsidered every piece of the app from the inspectors to the Gantt chart to make it both more powerful and easier to use, and added tons of great new features to boot.
OmniPlan is ready to support, organize, and track your project’s progress whenever and wherever you need it — both on your Mac, and beyond. On iPhone and iPad, OmniPlan for iOS offers up-to-the-minute project editing, review, and presentation.
Note
OmniPlan for Mac (the subject of this manual) is available both on the Mac App Store and directly from The Omni Group.
OmniPlan for iOS is available on the App Store as a Universal app that works on all of your iOS devices.
Sync between versions is supported via Pub/Sub with the OmniPlan Pro upgrade for OmniPlan for Mac.
OmniPlan for Mac requires OS X Yosemite, while OmniPlan for iOS requires iOS 9.
This manual is your guide on your journey through OmniPlan for Mac. You’ll learn to customize task and resource outlines to visualize, maintain, and simplify your projects. Break down tasks, optimize the required resources, control costs, and monitor your progress — all at a glance. And with the OmniPlan Pro upgrade, you’ll access the features you need to take your multi-user and multi-project plans to the next level. As you go through your workday with OmniPlan you’ll notice that, in dozens of little ways, the app is ready to work better right along beside you.
Created with love,
The Omni Group
How This Documentation is Organized
This manual that you have before you (either in OmniPlan itself, online, or in iBooks on your Mac or iOS device—or both) has been assembled in such a way that you’re provided with a complete tour of OmniPlan.
Omniplan 4
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the latest and greatest updates to OmniPlan 3, and explains just what this manual is all about. The few chapters following are a great introduction to the app, so if you’re new to OmniPlan proceeding through from the start isn’t a bad idea.
To help guide you through the documentation and better learn about all things OmniPlan, here’s a list of the chapters that you’ll find up ahead:
Chapter 1, Introduction
The chapter you’re perusing right now. Here you’ll find notes on the newest OmniPlan features, an introduction to the app, and guidance on how to get the most out of this manual (we think the EPUB version is a great way to read the docs).
Chapter 2, Getting to Know OmniPlan
This chapter dives right in and gives you a top-down overview of OmniPlan’s user interface. You’ll learn about toolbar, the app’s five views (Task, Resource, Calendar, Network, and Styles), and, of course, the inspectors. Nothing too deep; just the basics to get you rolling — it’s a great place to start becoming familiar with OmniPlan’s various bits and pieces.
Chapter 3, Working in OmniPlan: A Tutorial
If you’re eager to get your first OmniPlan project up and running, this is the place to start. The tutorial guides you through the process of setting up and maintaining a project, from creating your first task to reaching the last milestone. After you’ve worked through it you’ll have the tools you need to build your own project from the ground up.
Chapter 4, Maintaining your Project
After your project is up and running, OmniPlan helps you keep it carefully tended — like a bonsai tree — to help it mature into its final form. When unexpected circumstances arise, adjusting the project will keep it shepherded toward the goal. This chapter explains violations, scheduling and leveling, establishing and working with baseline schedules, catching up and rescheduling tasks, and other tools for ensuring your project accurately reflects the real world.
Chapter 5, Collaboration and Multi-Project Review (Pro)
OmniPlan Pro offers additional tools for more complex project arrangements. If you work on projects that are geographically distributed or have more than one contributor, or you’re responsible for multiple simultaneous projects, the collaboration (Pub/Sub) and multi-project dashboard features are tremendously helpful for managing even the most complex project states. This chapter explains how!
Chapter 6, Working in Task View
Understanding tasks and the relationships between them is key to using OmniPlan to the fullest. In this chapter you’ll learn — in detail — how to use Task View to model the work you need to accomplish so you can monitor and update its progress with confidence, including sections on task grouping and splitting, hammock tasks, mastery of the Gantt chart, and more.
Since they live as optional columns in Task View, this chapter also introduces OmniPlan’s Earned Value Analysis tools to OmniPlan Pro users.
Chapter 7, Working in Resource View
If tasks are a project’s building blocks, resources are its lifeblood. Accurately assessing and organizing your resources will help your project run at peak efficiency, and this chapter delves into how Resource View can help you do just that with tips on creating and assigning resources, making resource groups, tracking your project from a resource-based perspective, and the concepts of duration and effort.
Chapter 8, Working in Calendar View
Tasks and resources are united in the calendar view, where schedules can be set for every aspect of the project to make sure goals are met on time. Establishing the working hours for your project, and universal and individual exceptions to them, are covered in detail here.
Chapter 9, Working in Network View
New in OmniPlan 3, Network View provides a way to visualize and develop your project as a node-based diagram of tasks and groups (similar to a PERT chart). It’s great for rapidly iterating on a new project or getting a strong representation of the relationships between tasks, and this chapter explains how to get the most out of this new view.
Chapter 10, Working in Styles View
OmniPlan includes a professional-grade default set of fonts and styles designed to clearly convey information about your project. The app also offers a full set of tools for customizing your document’s presentation, from styles affecting the entire project down to individual bar colors in the Gantt chart. Styles View is where you’ll go to customize the visual side of your project at a high level, and this chapter explains how it’s done.
Chapter 11, Using the Inspectors
As you move between views in OmniPlan, the inspectors bring continuity to your experience and provide detailed access to controls for whatever aspect of the project you’re working on at the moment. This chapter details the settings each inspector provides for your Project Info, Milestones, Tasks, Resources, Styles, Custom Data, and Attachments.
Chapter 12, Importing and Exporting
OmniPlan contains all the tools you need to execute projects at all levels of complexity, but sometimes external requirements call for interaction outside the OmniSphere. Luckily, OmniPlan is great at those too! Here you’ll find details on all the formats the app can understand and export, as well as details on Microsoft Project support present in OmniPlan Pro.
Chapter 13, Reporting and Printing
When it comes time to share your project with colleagues or the outside world, OmniPlan Pro’s new and improved reporting interface makes it stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers the finer points of generating reports using the HTML themes included with OmniPlan, and provides tips for modifying them or creating your own. Printing reports — to paper or PDF — is also fully supported.
Chapter 14, OmniPlan Preferences
This chapter covers a variety of customization options to get OmniPlan working the best for you. Within OmniPlan Preferences you’ll find custom controls for data entry, display of times and dates, document and HTML template management, server repository account settings (in OmniPlan Pro), and options for when and how OmniPlan should check for updates to itself.
Chapter 15, Glossary
Screentolayers 1 2 0 4. The glossary contains an alphabetical list of special terms you’ll encounter throughout the app, this documentation, and other project management resources you might be familiar with. If you’re just starting out in project management or you’re curious about how OmniPlan implements certain concepts, this is a great chapter to check.
Chapter 16, Managing Your Omni Licenses
For the most part, you should never have to worry about your Omni license, particularly if you’ve purchased OmniPlan from the Mac App Store. If you purchased OmniPlan from our website, however, you need to enter specific information from the license email you received from us.
This brief chapter walks you through the process of adding your license info in OmniPlan, shows you how to remove a license, and even tells you where we “hide” the license on your Mac just in case you ever need to send that to us or transfer it to that brand new Mac you’ve purchased.
Chapter 17, Getting Help
If you ever get stuck when working on something in OmniPlan, or if you have a problem with the app’s license, or you just want to tell our Support Humans and the DocWranglers what an awesome job they’re doing, feel free to get in touch. This chapter points you to all of the resources we have available: Support Humans, Support Articles, Videos, and Documentation.
Tip If you’re currently using other versions of OmniPlan (iOS or earlier Mac versions) and want to get up to speed as quickly as possible with projects already in progress, see the What’s New in OmniPlan 3 section of this chapter. For projects with multiple contributors, see Collaborating with Multiple Contributors for a quick start guide to getting synced.
What’s New in OmniPlan 3
The newest version of OmniPlan has been redesigned from the ground up to complement the ways you work. From beginning your first project to completing its final task you’ll find things throughout the app — as well as brand new features — that improve the experience over previous versions. If you’re new to OmniPlan, you’re in for the best app that it’s ever been.
Omniplan 3 License
In addition to the updated look and feel of interactions throughout the app, the following brand new features have been added in OmniPlan 3:
The Great Inspector Redesign
The look of the inspectors has been updated to a clean new visual style consistent with design trends in Apple’s most recent versions of OS X. And as with Omni’s other Mac apps, selecting an item in your current view smartly selects the inspector most relevant to your selection.
Beyond these interaction improvements, the inspectors have been reorganized into discrete categories that live in tabs across top of the inspector sidebar. The largest change comes to the Project inspectors, with styles governing the entire project moved out of the inspectors to the new Styles View.
Styles View
One of our goals in OmniPlan 3 is to prioritize how you want your project set up, so it’ll look just as great as the precious information it holds. The new Styles View treats the overall look of your project as a peer of other views on your data, and teams up with the Style inspector to edit the appearance of the Gantt chart, text, columns, and rows of your document to your exact specifications.
Try out Styles View by clicking the rightmost button in the view switcher in the toolbar.
Network View
Network View is a new way to look at your project, showing it as a diagram that emphasizes the relationship of dependencies between tasks rather than the chronological view presented by the Gantt chart. You can try Network View by clicking the fourth button in the view switcher in the toolbar.
Meeting Task Type
The new Meeting task type is useful when an entire project team (or subset of the team) is required to work on a task simultaneously. When a task is set as a meeting, it will not be scheduled until all of the resources assigned to it are available.
Whether multiple resources work on a task independently or in the meeting format is determined by a switch in the Resource Allocation section of the Task inspector.
Introducing OmniPlan Pro
Many OmniPlan users find that the tools to create, maintain, monitor, and complete a project — all features of the base app — fully encompass their needs. If your project management system requirements are more complex, we offer a package of additional tools designed to extend OmniPlan to unprecedented levels of flexibility, extensibility, and power.
The suite of OmniPlan Pro upgrade features includes:
Multi-Project Dashboards
In OmniPlan 3 Pro, get a customizable overview of multiple interconnected projects with the Multi-Project Dashboards feature. Choose File ▸ New Dashboard to create a new project group; then drag and drop OmniPlan project files onto the view, and they’ll be magically added for your perusal.
Monte Carlo Simulations and Effort Estimation
Another new feature in OmniPlan 3 Pro is the ability to estimate on-time project and milestone completion using Monte Carlo simulations. These are a great aid for planning ahead, providing tip-offs for when resources should be shifted to ensure on-time project completion. The simulation package also provides a handy Auto-Estimate Effort tool for tasks where effort isn’t already assigned, making completion forecasts quick and easy.
Upon running a simulation, a set of horizontal bars appears on days surrounding each milestone (represented as a small diamond); one bar equals 20 percent confidence that the milestone will be complete on that day (5 bars on a day means that according to the simulation, a milestone is 100% likely to be completed on that day). Hover over the bars on each day for greater detail.
Earned Value Analysis
OmniPlan 3 Pro offers several new custom column types in Task View that are useful for tracking and managing the budget of your project. This full implementation of the Earned Value Analysis method brings greater oversight and control over project expenses.
When paired with the new reports interface, keeping tabs on the cost of your project is easier than ever before.
New HTML Reports Interface
With OmniPlan 3 Pro, we’ve prepared some great new reporting templates for your project that you can use to print or export your data with a more polished and easily readable look.
To preview your project with any of the available templates, use the Reports button in the toolbar or choose File ▸ Reports.. to access the new HTML reports interface. You can print your report with the chosen template directly from the interface.
Returning Features in OmniPlan Pro
Microsoft Project Import and Export — consistently updated interoperability with Microsoft’s project management software
Publishing, Subscribing, and Change Tracking — multi-user sync and collaboration across one or many projects
AppleScript Support — automate common actions and extend beyond the app with the OmniPlan AppleScript library
If you’re an existing user of OmniPlan, you’re on the Pro upgrade path already. If you’re a new user considering OmniPlan, you now have the option of the Standard version with all the things you need to get started, or the Pro version that includes the features described above.
The OmniPlan Pro upgrade is available as an in-app purchase via the Mac App Store if you purchased it there, or from Omni’s own online store.
How to Try Pro
You can download the trial version of OmniPlan from our website. At any time throughout the trial period you can switch between Standard and Pro using OmniPlan ▸ Free Trial Mode ▸ Try Pro/Standard Edition to compare features and see which is the right fit for your needs.
Likewise, if you purchased OmniPlan 3 Standard from the Mac App Store you can download the trial version from the Omni website and run it side by side to compare features.
If you own a Standard license from the Omni store and would like to try Pro, if you’re still within the trial period you can temporarily delete your license (OmniPlan ▸ Licenses) to revert to trial mode and give Pro a try. If you’re outside the trial period, contact us and we’ll be happy to provide a Pro trial license.
Note Unsure whether you have Pro installed? Check OmniPlan ▸ About OmniPlan for details on the current version and licensing status of the app.
Using This Book
One of the beauties of having OmniPlan’s documentation available in electronic form is that it’s always available whenever you need it. We have built the documentation right into the Help menu. We have put all of the documentation on our website where it can be searched and bookmarked. And we’re continuing the ongoing trend of creating EPUB versions of the docs and making them freely available on the iBooks Store.
Tell Us What You Think
We’re constantly working on updates for our documentation. Whether it’s CSS work, correcting the occasional typo (yeah, they do sometimes slip through), or adding details or clarification for a specific feature based on something we’ve heard from a customer, we’re always trying to make our documentation better and more useful for you.
If you have any specific comments you’d like to send us about the documentation, please do. You can drop us an email message via our Support queue, or you can ping us on Twitter; we’re @OmniWranglers.
Finally, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to read the docs.