RationalPlan vs. Workzone

It's got its shortcomings but is still the best PM tool in my opinion

WorkZone would be a great tool for a company that develops content/ideas and has to share them with multiple people/clients. It allows for easy sharing and commenting. For a company that creates content for web, radio or television and would like to store them for presentation purposes- then you might want to look elsewhere. WorkZone was everything we needed and wanted until we started to expand. We've recommended WorkZone to a few companies and two of them are using it today. One of those clients does construction. They use WorkZone to share building schematics and ideas throughout their company and on the job site. We are working with them on a job that they are constructing and they've added us as a 'client user' to access items that are beneficial towards the ads we're creating.

• Runs on Linux and Windows.
• It Can read Microsoft Project files.
• Contains all functions needed for easy to use project planning

• Unless you have the resources to create a proprietary project management software WorkZone was the best "off the shelf" software that I could find. It is also web based so it was easy to implement.
• It is easy to use and easy to train users on how to utilize the software.
• I was specifically looking for Project Management software for marketing purposes. Many of the software that is out there has been built for larger construction and software projects that may have a lot of dependencies. These types of software are too cumbersome for marketing projects and aren't user friendly. Although you could use WorkZone for these types of projects if you wanted too.
• Like BaseCamp you have the ability to share documents and post messages but in addition, you have easy to use timeline capabilities. It was also important to be able to build different types of reports for campaigns, projects and resources.

• Duration at top level only in days (no options to change). Not so fun when running multi-year projects and trying to convert to weeks months on the fly in meetings
• Ability to customize built in reports (even if it was done outside and you had to use fields provided)
• Printing flexibility for reporting

• If a project is put on hold by the client, Workzone sends me notifications that I am approaching a deadline that is no longer applicable. There needs to be a "on hold" button.
• Sometimes it is hard to forecast a few months out with projects, so I can only use the program for weekly projections.
• In my industry, there are daily fires we have to put out per say, that were not accounted for in the program. At that point I dont have time to update the schedule, because it is a moving target.

Incentivized

Because of time constraints, our team hasn't been able to fully implement and change our existing processes. If we can get our templates set up and maybe some better export options figured out, I think it'll be a no-brainer to renew, but until then it maybe be difficult to financially justify something we're only partially using.

All the features of this software have been enhanced to meet all requirements of the modern software. For instance, the security of data handled by software has been a major concern in many organizations. Also, the effectiveness of the task accomplished using certain software has been a major concern. Both have been enhanced with Workzone.

Incentivized

Throughout the use of the WorkZone software, we never had a issue with it being unavailable. This is important, considering we wanted to access our projects and see our progress at any moment. WorkZone was always available and made constant supervision of tasks and goals easy; no excuses for not checking in on the status of a project.

I have zero complaints about the performance of WorkZone; for our organization's needs, it was a perfect tool for keeping track of various responsibilities and tasks. We never experienced a lag or down-time when using the software, and the simple interface made things exactly that from our end...simple. WorkZone is a fantastic tool for work management that never fails to perform, in my experience.

I had to ask for support once and got a response immediately.

The team at WorkZone is incredibly helpful and very willing to lend support when they can. Our team was constantly growing, and our new team members needed training every time someone cam on board. The WorkZone support staff was more than willing to ensure our new team members were completely comfortable using the software and set up for success.

The WorkZone trainers are wonderful! They offered us unlimited over-the-phone and online support, and the trainings were always informative. The WorkZone support team was willing to answer multiple questions and review sections of the training if need be. They were always accommodating, and trainings were scheduled very quickly for when our team needed them!

Implementation of WorkZone was very easy. We simply log into a portal online and begin to set up our projects. Access codes were sent very quickly to our team, so there was practically no delay once we signed the contract for our subscription. Training was scheduled quickly and was very helpful, especially as new team members joined our organization.

RationalPlan is cost-effective and allows most users to prepare and manage their schedule. The software lacks comprehensive reporting and duration changes at the top level of a project.

Workzone uses project templates and project request forms to standardize workflows and it is easy for teams to adopt. Every team member is more productive on this centralized workspace since it keeps everyone on the same page. The customer support is very responsive when it comes to solving issues or providing training to their users.

Incentivized

We are a small organization, so the need to expand our use of WorkZone was limited. I only rate it below a 10 simply because I do not have much experience with the scaleability of the product. From the previews and training sessions, it does seem that the software can easily be adjusted to accommodate a growing workload; something we may use in future, just not at this point in our organization's development.

• Helps explain the target schedule and resource estimates for cost of the project

Incentivized

• It increased employee efficiency by giving us a singular semi-automated system to keep schedules and documents.
• Our HR team did find it difficult to gather a good sense of time spent on projects to help project for future scopes of work.

Incentivized