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About Help-U-Plan services; the Gantt Chart and its data, text-based timescales, planning, scheduling, strategy, and our privacy policy |
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About Help-U-Plan, the Workspace, the Gantt Chart, planning, scheduling, strategy, timescales, tasks, milestones, relationships, links, privacy |
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gantt chart, strategy, planning, scheduling, project management, communication, graphics, tasks, milestones, relationships, links, timescale |
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About Help-U-Plan*
Help-U-Plan could be considered a 'Simple-Simon' on-line planner/scheduler, capable of producing a plan or schedule without having to learn or own a scheduling package. Our intent is that it be easy to use, and easy to understand. It will do the necessary formatting and logic for you, behind the scenes. We also believe our graphic is superior to that commonly produced by scheduling packages.
Technically, our output graphic is a '.gif' file, a common graphic format used in a wide variety of communication programs, including Microsoft's Power Point. The graphical output is also known as a Gantt Chart, a form of representing time-dependent and inter-dependent information.
To create your own unique plan, go to the Templates page and select a blank timescale to take to the Help-U-Plan workspace. You can then add your own data to this 'empty' plan.
Or, select a plan similar to what you have in mind from the Templates page, and modify it in Help-U-Plan. It is often faster to modify an existing, common plan than to create a new one. By viewing a Template, or a common plan, you might find important activities or Milestones that could get missed in your plan.
After creating your plan within Help-U-Plan, you can print a copy on your own local printer via your browser menu. You can print in color or in black and white. We have selected colors for the graphic which will produce a distinct graphic in black and white should you want to make 20 or 30 copies of it for distribution in a meeting. There is no limit to how many copies of your plan you can make.
We simply can't think of everything by ourselves. In situations where it is important that others cooperate in accomplishing the plan, early presentation can result in valuable feedback. Also, visual sharing of the plan can help make people feel like contributors, rather than simply participants. Use Help-U-Plan's graphic to ensure that forseeable conflicts get resolved, and that your essential idea becomes workable.
*Copyright applied for. An additional copyright has been granted to a key component of the Help-U-Plan process. This component is written in Visual Basic and is called 'Plinker'. All rights are reserved.
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About the Gantt Chart To Top
The following sample of a plan represents the output of the Help-U-Plan process. It is a Gantt Chart, a graphic long-used by Project Management software to provide an overview of a project or plan of action. You will find many variations in style of the Gantt Chart. The style used by Help-U-Plan is intended for simple communication to those unfamiliar with the chart. It's symbolic representation of Tasks approximates a style known years ago as 'sticks and balls'.
The Gantt Chart has proven to be an excellent communicator. Bold, clean, and simple, the graphic contains a significant amount of information. Therein lies its power in communicating.
In its essential form, the Gantt Chart displays Milestones (events that consume no time) and Tasks (activities that consume time) against some timescale. It also shows links or relationships between these Milestones and Tasks, illustrating what needs to be accomplished before a Milestone is recognized.
The Gantt Chart is usually one of several views of data available in sophisticated and complex Project Management packages. The other views available are commonly 'Calendar' and 'Pert' (Program Evaluation and Review Technique). Among these 3 views, the Gantt Chart is generally recognized as being the most intuitive communicator of time-sensitive information.
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About Timescales To Top
The timescale is an important part of the Gantt Chart, representing the time frame in question for the plan. The timescale for the above sample plan is shown below.
The timescale is defined by several things:
1. Category of time (usually hours, minutes, days, months, years, etc.)
2. Number of columns in the timescale
3. A label for each column
Note: Your timescale labels can actually be whatever you wish them to be; not just a division of time. For example, your timescale labels could be:
This gives you flexibility in designing your Gantt Chart. You can think in terms of phases, or moons. You are not limited to formal date/time functions.
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Gantt Chart Data To Top
The important items of data in a Gantt Chart will be shown with respect to the timescale, and include the following:
1. Milestones or Events
2. Tasks or Activities
3. Relationships between Milestones and Tasks
Milestones
A Milestone is represented in our Gantt Chart by a triangle, as shown below. Its location relative to the Timescale indicates the time this event is expected to happen.
Tasks
A Task is represented by a combination of circles and bars, as shown below. The particular system of symbols we use to represent a Task is known as 'sticks and balls'. The length of the bar represents the duration of the Task in number of time periods.
Relationships
Relationships are represented by curved arrows as shown below, and indicate the type of dependency between the Tasks/Milestones. In the graphic below, the Milestone must 'happen' before the Task can begin.
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About Strategy To Top
A strategy is a collection of overall ideas; meta-plans; the infra-structure for accomplishing something.
A strategy usually includes:
1. Definition of the project, problem, or venture
2. Accumulation of a team
3. Identification of goals (perhaps a mission statement)
4. Identification of a target market, or audience
Strategy should commonly be modified as the plan progresses; as more is learned about the market, the problem, reasonable goals, etc. Strategy and planning go together, particularly when written down and communicated. We don't always see strategies and plans in print. Not all businesses succeed, either.
A strategy can be represented simply by text, or by a list of items. This could be the case if elements of the strategy are not time-dependent, or other-dependent (one element dependent on another). In cases where elements of strategy are time or other-dependent (contingent), the strategy could reasonably be shown in a Gantt chart, a graphical display of these inter-relationships (Note: Help-U-Plan's output is a Gantt Chart).
Strategy is often not spelled out in a project. Requiring high-level and difficult thinking, strategy is often avoided or taken for granted, even when the project is very important.
To not have an identified strategy, and/or not to revisit the strategy often causes projects and business ventures to fail, or to continuously labor under a competitive disadvantage. It is a reflection of inadequate planning and/or mis-recognition of current conditions.
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About Planning To Top
We all prepare for the future. This preparation can be the key to survival. We try to imagine different possible actions, and their consequences. We try to achieve the most desirable combination of consequences with the actions which appear to be required. This is our plan.
Much of the imagining and planning we do as individuals is rather chaotic. Perhaps that is why decision-making has been found to be so stressful. Often, we're not well organized. And we forget.
We forget what we were going to do and why. There is simply too much to remember and keep organized. That's why we write our plans down; our road maps, our house plans, budgets, shopping lists, and simulations. To help us think, remember, organize, and communicate.
Written plans help us accumulate our ideas about what we want to accomplish. And when working in groups, they permit us to collaborate; to work together on problems too difficult for one person alone.
We tend to think we are wise all by ourselves. But our knowledge as individuals is trivial compared to what we know collectively.
Together we can better define problems; lay out our strategy; agree on achievable goals; and determine what we should do to achieve those goals.
Once we agree on this plan, we have a mapping. An identification of where we are, where we want to go, and how we're going to get there. This is our preparation for the future.
What remains then is to perform the plan; to first 'flesh it out' with detail, and then to execute it (do it!). This detailing and tracking of plan execution has historically been known as scheduling. It is now more commonly included in the process known as project management.
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About Scheduling To Top
'Working the plan' is the process traditionally known as scheduling, now more commonly thought of as project management. It includes detailing the plan, and tracking plan execution, reflecting any necessary modifications in the schedule.
Detailing means identification of the specific activities which must be performed, the timing and relation-ships between these activities, and who is going to do what. It also includes identifying the important events, known as Milestones, in the life of the project.
Because of the complexity of many projects, computer-based scheduling software has evolved to help people organize and execute these projects. The computer is a near-perfect assistant for these Tasks. It helps us to accumulate, organize, and communicate important information. Primarily, we think, and the computer remembers.
The sample graphic above is produced from Microsoft's Project, an excellent and popular scheduling package. Use a scheduling package such as this if you need the level of detail associated with many complex projects. These software packages are not cheap, nor are they easy to learn. They are powerful.
For simpler scheduling and communication needs, Help-U-Plan may be just what you need. Being easy to use, free (except for plan storage), and accessible anywhere you have an internet connection, Help-U-Plan may be a more productive tool for you. It is also be a good place to learn the principles of scheduling, and the power of graphical representations of important activities and Milestones.
We believe you will find Help-U-Plan unexcelled in its ability to communicate high-level views of important plans and projects. You can use it for free.
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What Help-U-Plan is To Top
Help-U-Plan is about communication. The output is a Gantt Chart in the form of a '.gif' file, a common and very efficient format for graphics.
This gif file can be copied in black and white, or color, 'blown up' for chart presentations, modified in graphics packages, and attached to emails.
To prevent 'eyes glazing over' five minutes into a meeting presentation, distribute copies of your plan. See the difference a graphical presentation can make.
Use Help-U-Plan to elicit feedback and 'buy-in' concerning your plan. Find the weak spots. Get cooperation. Get your plan approved. Make your plan happen.
For simple projects, and for high-level views of complex projects, Help-U-Plan can do the trick for you. It may be all you will ever need in a scheduler.
Because Help-U-Plan is online, there is no software for you to buy and maintain. Our intent is that Help-U-Plan be easy to use, and easy to understand. It will do the necessary formatting and logic for you, behind the scenes.
Use Help-U-Plan for:
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Superior graphics
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Simplicity
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Ease of use
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Custom Timescales
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High-level views
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Economy
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Plan Templates
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On-Line use
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What Help-U-Plan Isn't To Top
Help-U-Plan does not try to compete with complicated, full-function scheduling packages like Microsoft Project. Our focus is more like 'simple to use, and simple to understand'.
For extensive and professional information on project scheduling, visit the Project Management Institute.
We do have information contrasting the important strategy, planning, and scheduling aspects of projects which may be of help to you.
Help-U-Plan does not do:
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Resource scheduling
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Extensive user-formatting
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Detailed management of projects
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Privacy
Your data, your identity, your email address, and other account information will be kept confidential. No data on users is sold or otherwise given to other parties. For your data stored on Help-U-Plan's server, a unique user name & password is assigned, so only you or persons you authorize have access to your planning data.
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© 2001-2008 Help-U-Plan Program. All rights reserved.