What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for project planning, resource scheduling, and mechanical timing diagrams/charting.
It allows us to schedule projects and view issues with the schedule well before they become an actual problem that can't be corrected.
With the Multi Project version, resources can be allocated among many projects and evaluated for efficiency across all business departments.
How has it helped my organization?
RationalPlan has been very helpful in planning projects and resources through our shop and in communicating with clients on project timelines. It's dynamic software that is at least as good as the bigger named products. There are features found in RationalPlan that are not found anywhere else.
The software is logical and easy to understand and use. Changes are made quickly, and the program is graphically appealing with many color schemes to fit your tastes.
It is excellent software for project planning and at a fair price. Support is top-notch whenever help is needed.
What is most valuable?
All features found in this and other project management software are on par. One feature I really like is the ability for automatic project emails to be sent to resources notifying them of where a project plan should be. This requires no manual triggering. It's just a little setup to fully use it.
What needs improvement?
We use the desktop version of RationalPlan, and It seems some desktop software has the ability to share a document as a web view. This would be a nice feature allowing us to share our plans with clients without needing additional software. This may be something that is offered in the RationalPlan cloud plan. However, it would be nice for the desktop version to have this ability to bring it one more step ahead of the competition. As a side note, RationalPlan does have a free viewer as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for nine years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The software has never crashed or been buggy. It's been very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not run into any issues whereby I could not scale this to fit our needs.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is the best we have ever dealt with. It is very responsive and always offers a quick response.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
At a previous job, I used Microsoft Project and switched to RationalPlan in my new role when looking for a capable software comparable to MS Project. RationalPlan has met my goals very well.
How was the initial setup?
This product has a typical installation with many cross-platform solutions. I have used this mainly on Windows. That said I run Linux at home, and it runs exactly the same there as well.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the setup with in-house resources only.
What was our ROI?
We've seen a very short return on our investment. It has paid for itself almost immediately.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution offers extremely fair pricing for features similar to or better than many others.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We've looked at many, including some online versions, however, RationalPlan kept coming out on top.
What other advice do I have?
Please try RationalPlan if you have not done so previously. You will be surprised.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises