GRN Consulting bills Project Professional as the platform independent project planning tool. Maybe not the biggest of boasts given it is written in Java. None the less it runs on an impressive array of platforms including Windows, Apple Mac OS X, HP-UX, IBM AIX, Linux and Solaris as well as Linux, Pocket PC and now Symbian OS UIQ devices.

All versions of the tool share a common XML format file so a project can easily be edited on a desktop and then transferred to a PDA or smartphone. In this review we are looking at both the Windows desktop and UIQ versions.

The key features of Project Professional are the ability to record project tasks, resources and risks, as well as maintain an addition contacts list. The resulting schedule is displayed as a Gantt, with the option to view it as a simple task list.. A number of reports are provided to show project progress, costs information and provide task information by day or resource.

The schedule is tightly structured in Project Professional, with a specific breakdown into Phases, Activities and Tasks. These are complemented with Milestones and Holidays, with Holidays taking the place of a Project or Resource calendar.

Creating a project structure is a slightly disconcerting exercise at first. Unlike most tools we have used in the past, which maintain the order to items in the project, Project Professional automatically sorts them into schedule order. As a result the layout of the project can change significantly as a project is built, as shown below.

In addition to the basic hierarchical structure the project tasks order can be defined by specifying it predecessor tasks. Despite the fact that links can be created between phase and activities, our tests suggested that the only links which affect the plan schedule are those between tasks.

(It is worth noting, in the screen shots above, that the data entry screens obscure the lower UIQ status bar making it impossible to activate the on screen keyboard.)

Two other parameters control the scheduling in Project Professional, a tasks priority and its assigned resources.

Resources are created in a simple register. A separate contacts directory is also provided to record information about people who interact with the project but do not work on its tasks. In addition to basic contact details resources also have their cost and available days per week recorded.

Multiple resources can be assigned to a task, each with their own task effort. Each resources work can be defined as front, even or back loaded (although these loading seem to be purely informational as they do not seem to affect the scheduling). Interestingly Project Professional makes no direct association between a projects duration and the effort of the assigned resources. In the desktop version it is possible to set the duration to be equal to the effort during task definition. Obviously this means care needs to be taken to ensure task duration is not accidentally set to be less than that implied by the effort (unless overloading is desirable).

Scheduling works quite efficiently and includes a resource leveling capability. The leveling is somewhat conservative. For example, two tasks that use the same resource but for only 50% of its available time schedule sequentially not concurrently.

Once a plan has been created and scheduled it can be baselined so that future progress can be measured. A project can also be rolled back to its baseline.

Tracking progress is achieved by flagging tasks as "started" and recording their percentage. The Gantt chart indicates progress with a percentage complete bar as well as coloring the bars to show scheduled, started and completed tasks. (On the desktop version these colors can be user defined.) The Gantt has few other features, it does not show links between tasks nor does it show any baseline.

The feature of Project Professional that extends it beyond a simple project scheduling tool is the ability to record and assign risks. Each risk is given a sequential id, brief description and a detailed description. The risk is assigned to a project team member, given a resolution by date and identified with status flags of Open, Critical, In Progress and Closed. Risks can be linked to the tasks that would be affected by their occurrence. In the UIQ version a useful view is provided of the tasks affected by the risk.

Separate fields to identify mitigation actions and impacts would be a useful additions. Such additions would allow this feature to be used as a full risk register.

Project Professional has a number of built in reports and enquiries, including:

• Day List, which shows active tasks and risks for the day (also by a date range on the UIQ version)
• Tasks by Resources
• Earned Value
• Progress
• Actual vs. Baseline
• Costs Analysis

Project Professional can be used as a handheld viewer or editor for Microsoft Project plans. Data is exchanged using CSV format files. This functionality was not tested (although the CSV export and imports were exercised). We suspect that because of the differences in the level of information stored between the two tools Project Professional would be best used as a viewer. The export function also has an option to create an HTML summary.

GRN Consulting's web site also provides a facility to share project templates. The mechanism is somewhat clumsy. We did not check all the available categories but the promise of a library of templates seemed a little more than the reality. It is a nice idea though.

Project Professional is a solid, basic scheduling tool. A few features make it stand out from competing products, features such as resource leveling and recording risk. It is let down by a somewhat basic Gantt chart graphic and lack of reporting. However as a budget tool to carry a project schedule and record project information while on the move it is more than adequate.

Project Professional is not one of the cheapest desktop and PDA enabled project planning tools. From GRN Consulting's web site it costs £99.99 ($190 US) for the desktop version and £39.99 ($75 US) for the UIQ, Pocket PC and Sharp Zaurus version of 2.0 it is at least twice the price of the alternative UIQ planning tools. However they do have special offers through various resellers. At the time of writing pdaPointer have the UIQ version on sale for $29.99 until 22nd April, while the standard price at Handango is $49.99. Similarly Tiger Direct and CompUSA use a software provisioning system to supply the products on CD and are currently offering the Desktop Edition at a discounted rate of $129.99. A full list of resellers can be found here.

An evaluation version of the desktop version of Project Professional is available from www.grnconsulting.com. The UIQ version currently is only available as an outright purchase.