Author: Jim Spiller

Jim is President of Critical Tools, Inc, makers of the WBS Schedule Pro software. Jim has been a part of the Project Management Software business since 1985. For the past 20+ years with Critical Tools, Jim helped design and develop what is now called WBS Schedule Pro. Learn more about Critical Tools, Inc.

Critical Tools Presents WBS Schedule Pro

WBS Schedule Pro was ranked as one of the top tools our Project Managers use alongside Microsoft Project. Join us for an overview on how to use WBS Schedule Pro for effective Project Management.

You’re Invited to Join a WBS Schedule Pro Presentation

This is your invitation to join Critical Tools for a webinar presentation of our popular WBS Schedule Pro project planning software. WBS Schedule Pro makes creating and presenting projects easy. During the presentation, I will cover the following key topics on creating, displaying, and managing projects using WBS Schedule Pro. Using the WBS Chart to a Define Project A Work Breakdown Structure Chart (or WBS Chart) is an intuitive way to brainstorm a new project. You can visualize your projects by breaking them down into manageable pieces in a Top-Down graph known as a WBS Chart. Create Summary Tasks and Tasks to define the hierarchy and structure of your project. Below is an example of a WBS Chart from WBS Schedule Pro. I will show you the best way to create WBS Charts like this in WBS Schedule Pro! Creating Dependencies and Displaying the Critical Path in a Network Chart Every project has tasks that have to be done in a certain order. Linking tasks and defining the critical path is an important part of scheduling a project. The Network Charts in WBS Schedule Pro makes this super easy. We will show you how simple it is to create the dependencies and link the tasks in a project. Here is an example of a Network Chart: Using Gantt Charts Gantt Charts in WBS Schedule Pro are useful if you are not using WBS Schedule Pro with MS Project. The Gantt Charts in WBS Schedule Pro resemble the Gantt Charts in MS Project and are a great way to present your projects in a more traditional format. In my webinar, we will briefly discuss the Gantt Chart capabilities of WBS Schedule Pro. Creating WBS and Network Charts from Existing Microsoft Project Plans Many users combine Microsoft Project and WBS Schedule Pro together. WBS Schedule Pro contains a seamless integration to all versions of Microsoft Project. With WBS Schedule Pro, you can create presentation quality WBS and Network Charts from existing MS Project plans. Transferring WBS Schedule Pro Plans to Microsoft Project Some like to create their projects first in WBS Schedule Pro and then transfer them to MS Project. Any project created in WBS Schedule Pro can be transferred to Microsoft Project with the click of a button. We will demonstrate this process. For New and Existing Users If you haven’t used WBS Schedule Pro before, please join us for the webinar! I am confident you will see a better and easier way to plan and manage projects. You can even download a Demo version and check it out beforehand. To start the WBS Schedule Pro setup download, click here. Try it out and bring your questions to the presentation. If you have used WBS Schedule Pro before or are currently using this product, I promise you will learn something. I plan to demo many tips and tricks, and again will welcome questions about the best way to use WBS Schedule Pro. Register now or watch recording by clicking here.

Using WBS Schedule Pro – By Critical Tools

  *This is an MPUG Vendor Session. The presenter will discuss 3rd party Microsoft Project add-ons or services in a no pressure, stress-free environment. These add-ons are not out-of-the-box functionality and require product trial or purchase. Your information is safe, we do not sell or share your information.   Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs): This Webinar is eligible for 1 PMI® PDUs in the Technical category of the Talent Triangle.   Event Description: WBS Schedule Pro is a Windows-based project management software application designed to be a feature-rich yet easy-to-use tool for planning and managing projects. The presentation includes the recommended approach for using WBS Schedule Pro to plan and manage projects, including how to use a WBS Chart for planning, how to create a schedule and define the critical path using a Network Chart and how to use the many additional features within WBS Schedule Pro to plan any project. Other areas of discussion will describe how to customize the various charts in the software, how to use WBS Schedule Pro with Microsoft Project and how to Import/Export data. Also included throughout the presentation will be many shortcuts and valuable tips for using WBS Schedule Pro effectively.   Presenter Info: Jim Spiller – President of Critical Tools, Inc, makers of the WBS Schedule Pro software. Jim has been a part of the Project Management Software business since 1985. For the past 20+ years with Critical Tools, Jim helped design and develop what is now called WBS Schedule Pro. For more information, visit Critical Tools’ Vendor Page   Have you watched this webinar recording? Tell MPUG viewers what you think! [WPCR_INSERT]  

Using WBS Schedule Pro – By Critical Tools

  *This is an MPUG Vendor Session. The presenter will discuss 3rd party Microsoft Project add-ons or services in a no pressure, stress-free environment. These add-ons are not out-of-the-box functionality and require product trial or purchase. Your information is safe, we do not sell or share your information.   Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs): This Webinar is eligible for 1 PMI® PDU in the Technical category of the Talent Triangle.   Event Description: WBS Schedule Pro is a Windows-based project management software application designed to be a feature-rich yet easy-to-use tool for planning and managing projects. The presentation includes the recommended approach for using WBS Schedule Pro to plan and manage projects, including how to use a WBS Chart for planning, how to create a schedule and define the critical path using a Network Chart and how to use the many additional features within WBS Schedule Pro to plan any project. Other areas of discussion will describe how to customize the various charts in the software, how to use WBS Schedule Pro with Microsoft Project and how to Import/Export data. Also included throughout the presentation will be many shortcuts and valuable tips for using WBS Schedule Pro effectively.   Presenter Info: Jim Spiller – President of Critical Tools, Inc, makers of the WBS Schedule Pro software. Jim has been a part of the Project Management Software business since 1985. For the past 20+ years with Critical Tools, Jim helped design and develop what is now called WBS Schedule Pro. For more information, visit Critical Tools’ Vendor Page   Have you watched this webinar recording? Tell MPUG viewers what you think! [WPCR_INSERT]  

WBS Schedule Pro and Microsoft Project

I’d like to introduce you to WBS Schedule Pro, a software tool for working with Microsoft Project. Whether you are new to WBS Schedule Pro or already use WBS Schedule Pro together with Microsoft Project, I  think you will find the information below useful. How does WBS Schedule Pro work with Microsoft Project? There are two ways to use WBS Schedule Pro with MS Project: 1. Create WBS and Network Charts from existing MS Project plans. In this scenario, WBS Schedule Pro installs buttons into MS Project to integrate the two tools. Simply open an existing MS Project plan and click a button to produce a WBS or Network Chart of your MS Project plan in WBS Schedule Pro. As you make changes in WBS Schedule Pro, these changes are instantly reflected in the MS Project plan. Alternatively, you can use WBS Schedule Pro as a Front-End project planner to MS Project by creating projects first in WBS Schedule Pro and then transferring these to Microsoft Project. Many users prefer to start planning projects using the WBS Chart in WBS Schedule Pro and then move to MS Project for advanced scheduling. Why use MS Project with WBS Schedule Pro? Use MS Project with the WBS Schedule Pro tool for WBS and/or Network charts. For WBS Charts WBS Charts are not available in any version of Microsoft Project. Begin the planning process using the WBS Chart in WBS Schedule Pro. WBS Schedule Pro can also take a MS Project Gantt Chart (with indented Tasks) and convert it into a Top-Down hierarchical view of your project. It’s the perfect way to visualize the structure and breakdown of your project. For Network Charts The Network Charts in WBS Schedule Pro are simply better than Microsoft Project’s Network Chart. If you need to produce Network Charts from your Microsoft Project data, WBS Schedule Pro’s Network Charts are much easier to read and print on far fewer pages. There are also numerous advanced features for working with Network Charts that are not present in Microsoft Project. WBS Schedule Pro makes it easy to plan any project by giving you the tools and intuitive user interface to create and schedule Tasks quickly and easily. Microsoft Project can be overwhelming at times and WBS Schedule Pro can help overcome many of the complexities of MS Project. What about Project Online? The new Project Online Application from Microsoft is a set of Web-based tools for working with your Microsoft Project data. Don’t let this confuse you, there is no online version of Microsoft Project. The traditional Project Professional and Project Standard Desktop applications that have been around for 28+ years are still needed to perform the majority of your project planning. Plans created in these tools are used to populate the Project Online application where you can use a few cloud-based features to manipulate this data. WBS Schedule Pro works with the client based Microsoft Project Standard and Project Professional (as it always has). It does not have an interface to Project Online but doesn’t really need one. What is Project Online Desktop Client? Project Online Desktop Client is simply the new name for the Project Professional application. WBS Schedule Pro works with all versions of Project Online Desktop Client. Project 2019 Microsoft recently released Project 2019, the upgrade to Project 2016. There are only a few new features in Project 2019. WBS Schedule Pro is fully compatible with Project 2019. In fact, Project 2019 behaves like Project 2016 internally, which means that current versions of WBS Schedule Pro can communicate with it as if it were Project 2016. No special updates are required to make WBS Schedule Pro compatible with Project 2019. If you have a version of WBS Schedule Pro that works with Project 2016, it will work with Project 2019. Microsoft Project Integration A little known fact is that WBS Schedule Pro is fully compatible with ALL versions of Microsoft Project going back to Project 98 (yes, 1998!). This includes both Project Professional and Project Standard. If you are having issues using the two tools together, most integration issues with MS Project can be resolved by following these steps: Make sure you using the latest version of WBS Schedule Pro. Select File > Check for Updates within WBS Schedule Pro to update. Start MS Project and leave it running. Start WBS Schedule Pro separately (not from within MS Project). In WBS Schedule Pro, select the Microsoft Project drop down arrow in the upper right corner and select Microsoft Project Setup. Complete the steps provided. Close MS Project and close WBS Schedule Pro. To test the integration, open MS Project, create a small project, save it and click the button in the upper left corner to create a WBS Chart. If this works, you should be all set. Using Microsoft Project Filters You can apply a filter in MS Project and create a chart in WBS Schedule Pro of this filtered data by following the steps below: Open your plan in MS Project. Click the View tab, and select a Filter to display the Tasks you want to see in WBS Schedule Pro. Click the Go to WBS, Network or Gantt Chart buttons from within MS Project to create a chart in WBS Schedule Pro of the current set of tasks. When you do this, WBS Schedule Pro creates a chart of the currently “visible” Tasks in MS Project. If it is hidden or not visible in MS Project, then it won’t appear in the WBS Schedule Pro chart. Note: This process requires you to click the buttons in MS Project to create a chart in WBS Schedule Pro. If you filter in MS Project and click the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen, it will activate WBS Schedule Pro, but it will not display the filtered tasks from MS Project. Upcoming Vendor Showcase We hope you’ll join us for our vendor showcase presentation this summer, where we’ll be featuring more in-depth information about WBS Schedule Pro, as well a demo highlighting the features of this product. (MPUG still has some openings for vendors! Get in on this opportunity by emailing advertise@mpug.com.) Want to see more? Download WBS Schedule Pro from our website at www.criticaltools.com. Visit our website for several helpful Video Tutorials, including one specific to using WBS Schedule Pro with Microsoft Project.