(Note: There will be another soon about free project control software)

You will have heard of and, possibly used, MSProject. This is Microsoft’s project planning tool. It allows you to enter a series of activities, describe who can do them, how long they will take, and whether they need to come in a certain order (dependencies). In other words you can use it to create a project plan.

However, there are a number of free to use project planning tools available on the Internet. Here are a few of them.

Before you choose a planning tool, consider these aspects:-

• Have you got the time to learn a new and complex piece of software?
• How complex will your project plan be?
• Will you need to work on the plan with other people?

The following tools use an Excel spreadsheet to produce the Gantt chart and the plan. This means that no extra software is required and you can share plans with others who have Excel.

XL-EasyGantt – fairly sophisticated

excel nexus - simpler and easy to use

PIPEtalk 2.0 Excel Gantt Schedule is perhaps the most complex of them all.

In our opinion, if the excel nexus spreadsheet is not good enough for your needs, then you should probably be thinking about a proper planning package like:-

OpenProj is a free open source project management planning package for your PC. Its still new, green, and a bit rough around the edges. Designed as a MSproject replacement, it is promising but, at this stage, only really suitable for open source enthusiasts who don’t mind wrestling a bit with their software. it will read files created by MSProject.

Ganttproject is another free open source alternative to MSproject. It has only a subset of the functionality of MSProject but that may be enough for most people. We have used this a few times for real and find it easy to use and quite effective. It will read files created by MSProject.

Remember, these are tools. A great pen does not make you a great writer. Great planning software does not make you a great planner. If you need advice or help with planning then please feel free to Contact Us