professional project management software for...

PROFESSIONAL PROJECTMANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FORTHE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

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� Easy to use.

� Excellent presentationcapabilities.

� Full range of features.

� Comprehensive support services.

� Used in 70% of successfulUK construction projects.*

Version 8

Creating your first project plan withAsta Powerproject is easy with arange of features designed to getyou ‘up and running’ fast.

� Start planning immediately –construction specific templates are already set-up.

� Draw tasks directly onto thechart – it works the way you do.

� Same intuitive ‘look and feel’ as a Microsoft Office application.

� Build your skills with the online tutorial.

� Get quick answers to yourquestions using the context-sensitive help.

� Fix any mistakes – multiple‘undos’ can be made even aftersaving the project.

First-time users find AstaPowerproject easy to learn and are able to produce professionallooking plans in minutes. Moreexperienced project managers use Asta Powerproject to performsophisticated project planningfunctions such as logic linking and analysis.

ASTA POWERPROJECT IS THE NUMBER ONE PROJECT

MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION

INDUSTRY. EASY TO USE, YET POWERFUL, IT HELPS

YOU DELIVER PROJECTS CONSISTENTLY ON TIME

AND WITHIN BUDGET.

Asta Development provides a comprehensive range of pre- and post-sales support services to enable customers to get themost out of Asta Powerproject.

� Accessible, expert TechnicalHelp Desk team dedicated tosolving your issues quickly – plus online technical support.

Create a basic plan and bar chart in minutes.

“THE TRAINING WE RECEIVEDWAS VERY HELPFUL ANDDIRECT – AND HAS BEENTAILORED TO MEET THE SPECIFIC NEEDS OF STAMFORD HOMES.”Brendan BlytheProduction DirectorStamford Homes

� EASY TO USE

� SIMPLE, YET POWERFUL

� COMPREHENSIVE SUPPORT SERVICES

Create multipletasks on one row – a ‘must-have’requirement formany constructionproject managers.

Call us on 01844 261700 for more information2

“I HAVE BEEN USING ASTAPOWERPROJECT SINCE ITWAS FIRST LAUNCHED. BACKIN 1988 IT WAS THE MOSTINNOVATIVE, USER-FRIENDLYSOFTWARE TOOL FOR OURMARKET AND, IN MY OPINION,IT HAS JUST GOT BETTER AND BETTER.”Neil MacLeod Planning Manager Foster and Partners

� Training courses at our fullyequipped premises as well as tailored, on-site courses –delivered by people whounderstand construction.

� Comprehensive softwaremaintenance and upgrade path to protect your investment.

� Construction-specificconsultancy services to maximise your productivity.

� Links between dependentactivities can be drawn quickly with the mouse.

� Full critical path analysis isperformed at the click of a button.

� Multiple tasks can be shown on one row, such as different floors of a building.

Tasks on the critical path are outlined in red.

Communicate your planseffectively to clients, colleaguesand contractors. Asta Powerprojecthelps you produce impressiveplans that clearly present project information.

� Everything in Asta Powerprojectcan be viewed or switched off – you can hide the critical path, float, holidays, etc.

� Create customised companystandard borders that incorporatelogos, revision numbers, keyproject dates, notes etc.

� Annotate the project plan tohighlight important tasks – no need to export plans to a separatedrawing package.

� Plans are completely scalable to any chosen size. You can alsochoose the exact position on theproject plan to force a new page to start.

� Produce first rate, high qualityoutput as electronic files or on paper.

Simply the bestoutput every time –print it on one page.

� EXCELLENT PRESENTATIONCAPABILITIES

Powerful graphing facilities help youcommunicate important information quickly.

Project managers can reportregularly on project progress andproduce ad hoc reports to supportdecision-making.

� Any data in the system can be reported on.

� Standard reports forconstruction are included.

� The built-in report generatormakes it easy to generate tabular reports.

� Bar charts, text reports, labourhistograms and cash flow graphscan be generated from reports and filtered information.

� Report on ‘planned versusactual’ costs & progress.

� Selection criteria for reports and filters can be saved in a libraryfor future use.

� Categorise tasks and resourceswith colour coding – then sort and filter the project to presentinformation in a visually striking way.

� Reports can be output in manydifferent file formats such as PDFs,HTML, MPX (the Microsoft Projectfile format) or exported to anothersystem such as Microsoft Excel.

Visit us at www.astadev.com 3

Sort information intoany desired order.

� REPORTING

“ASTA POWERPROJECT IS THE PERFECTSOLUTION TO HELP US WITH FORENSICEXAMINATIONS… THE LEGAL TEAM ALSO FIND IT EASY TO VIEW AND ANALYSE BECAUSE OF THE EXCELLENT CLEAR OUTPUTS.”Calvin Payne Associate Director Cyril Sweett

Example of atabular reportproduced by thereport generator.

Manage long-term projects easily usingup to three different date zones.

The resource breakdown structureshows ‘who’s doing what’. The red bar on the histogram shows that there are not enough bricklayers in June to complete the scheduled activities.

� SCHEDULING

� RESOURCE MANAGEMENT


Schedule projects with completeprecision using Asta Powerproject:

� Plan tasks in units from hours,days, weeks, months, years, etc.

� Show the order in which activities should occur by drawinglinks from one task to another on the bar chart.

� Finely tune a plan with featuressuch as link types, lead/lag,multiple tasks per line, multiplelinks between tasks, hammocks,link categories, critical chain, tasksplitting and task joining.

Asta Powerproject helps you planand manage your direct labour andtrade contractor levels accurately,ensuring minimal wasted effort.

� All resource types supported –labour, plant, materials etc.

� Each resource can be assignedits own specific properties – cost and income rates, work rate, availability etc.

� ‘Drag and drop’ resources to assign them to tasks.

� Produce reports that show ‘who is doing what’ – by assigningdifferent categories of direct labourand sub-contractors to activities.

� Resource the plan at thebeginning to work out the impacton preliminary costs.

“…KEEPING TRACK OF THESTAFF AND LABOUR INVOLVEDIS A KEY FACTOR IN PROJECTSUCCESS AND PROFITABILITY. WE CONDUCTED ANEXTENSIVE EVALUATION AND SELECTED ASTAPOWERPROJECT AS THE BEST SYSTEM AVAILABLE.”George Tomlinson-Howard Project Leader Information Communications and Technology NG Bailey

� Identify the right mix of labourand plant for each job – by testingdifferent combinations to work outthe most cost-effective option.

� See the combined total of labour via a resource histogram.Manipulate individual tasks tosmooth out the peaks and troughsof resource usage. Use automaticresource-levelling to find theoptimum position of tasks given acertain level of resource availability.

� Use resource modelling tosimulate the effect of increasing or decreasing resources on taskduration and gang size. See theimpact on costs and the projectend date.

� View the dependencies betweentasks using the standard linked barchart, or tabular reports – or via aprecedence network diagram withAsta Powernet, a companionproduct to Asta Powerproject.

� Accurately schedule tasks and resources with sophisticatedcalendaring features – e.g. assign different calendars to different tasks.

� Perform a full critical pathanalysis with just one click of a button – and Undo!

� Plan backwards or forwards from immovable deadlines using constraint flags.

� Control the presentation oftimescales on the bar chart withthe powerful date zone feature.

� Use summary and expandedtasks to create a tree structure andbring order and structure to a plan.

“THIS IS THE ONLY SOFTWAREAPPLICATION WHICH ALLOWS ME TO SCHEDULE MULTIPLE TASKS ON A SINGLE ROW.”Teresa King-Dillon Master Planner Lockheed Martin Space Systems CompanyMichoud Operations Louisiana, USA

To monitor the progress of yourplan, you need to record progressagainst each task. With AstaPowerproject, you can:

� Enter progress values directlyinto Asta Powerproject or providesite managers & trade contractorswith Asta Siteprogress, an easy to use tool for recording progress

Asta Powerproject combines timeand money to help you controlproject costs and accuratelyforecast cash flows.

� Create cost centres to match your company’s internalaccount codes.

� Assign monetary values to tasks as either costs or income.

� Specify costs as either fixedamounts or variable amountslinked to resource usage.

� Accurately forecast cash flow by combining time andcost/income. For example, this allows you to predict future Monthly Valuation amounts.

� Record budgeted costs againstthe original project plan with thebaseline feature, then track actualcosts as the project progresses.Generate reports showing thevariance between budget andactual costs/income. Earned value measures also available.

� Model different ‘what if’scenarios to locate the break-evenpoint and optimise cash flow. Theresults are shown on the powerful,customisable graphs.

The jagged lineshows which tasksare falling behind andwhich are ahead.

� COST MANAGEMENT


� PROGRESS AND MONITORING

A baseline is a record of a projectat a particular point in time. Youcan take as many baselines of the project (or parts of it) as youneed with Asta Powerproject. This enables you to:

� Take a baseline of the originalproject plan before work starts –as a record of what has beenagreed contractually.

� Keep a record of progress at any point in time (e.g. monthly) to provide an accurate audit trail.

� Freeze the current status of theproject – and then test out differentscenarios for getting the project‘back on track’.

� Undertake forensic investigationsto analyse where the responsibilitylies for project overruns.

� Run variance reports comparing planned vs actual data e.g. progress, costs etc.

� BASELINES

Produce graphs to show monthlycumulative costs,breakeven point,actual v. budgetedcosts and more.

against tasks via the internet.Progress received from remotesites is then automatically updated in the main plan.

� Display progress as a jagged line to highlight which tasks arefalling behind schedule and which are ahead.

� At any point in time, checkwhether you’ll meet the completiondate – and if not, investigate how to get back on track.

� Highlight when a task wascarried out using colouredprogress periods.

The jagged lineshows which tasks are fallingbehind and which are ahead. Collect progress updates from

remote sites with Asta Siteprogress

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Sharing project plans is importantin all sectors of construction.

� Clients need regular updates onprogress against key milestones.

� Trade contractors need to knowwhen they are required on site.

� Site managers need provide head office with regular progress updates.

� Head office needs to informthose in the field of any changes to the project plan.

Asta Powerproject allows you to share project plans in thefollowing ways:

Send plans as PDFs, HTML files etc� Enables third parties to viewAsta Powerproject plans withoutpurchasing any specialist software.

� Plans can be output in a varietyof file formats, including PDF,HTML, WMF, etc.

Book in/out � Enables project managers to tag specific sections of the plan to send to third parties, so theycan work effectively from the same data.

� Booking in/out can be done via email or floppy disk.

� Updates received from thirdparties can be approved beforebooking back into the master plan.

SHARE PROJECT PLANS


Asta MSP LinkA free of charge module that enables you to share AstaPowerproject plans with anyonewho uses Microsoft Project(2000/02/03). You can:

� Convert your Asta Powerprojectfile into the Microsoft Projectreadable format.

� Import Microsoft Project data into Asta Powerproject.

Data can also be exchangedbetween Microsoft Project 98 andAsta Powerproject via the MPX fileformat (a MSP 98 file format).

Asta Projectbrowser� A companion product to Asta Powerproject that enables remote project managers to create and edit a project plan via a webbrowser – with changes recordedautomatically within the AstaPowerproject master plan.

� Provides management with real-time reports on project progresswith the capability to drill-down for further detail.

� NB: Asta ProjectBrowser works in enterprise server mode only –see back cover.

� PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Asta Powerproject enables multipleand/or large-scale projects to bemanaged from a single database,with the following benefits:

� Use Project View to navigate a hierarchical structure forprogrammes, projects and sub-projects, resources, costs etc.

� Link tasks across projectsregardless of their location in the project hierarchy.

View your portfolio of projects on the bar chart.

Navigate yourproject portfoliowith ProjectView.

� Define resource dependencies and relationships between tasks,projects and programmes.

� Enable multiple users tosimultaneously access the same project data from a centraldatabase using the enterpriseversion of Asta Powerproject.

� Allows distributed progressupdates from users working on the project.

� Analyse financial impacts across multiple projects.

“WE JUDGED ASTAPOWERPROJECT TO BE THE BEST PRODUCT ON THE MARKET AND WE WILL BE USING IT ON ALLFUTURE PROJECTS.” Andrew AndersonHead of Planning and ResourcingLaing O’Rourke

Asta ProgressExpert: showscumulativeprogress versusthe baseline.

Asta Powernet:create a networkdiagram to displaythe project.


�

Asta Powernet� Create a network diagram of all tasks in a view.

� New tasks and links can beadded to the network diagram.These are reflected within the main project plan.

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS

Asta Progress Expert� Enables project managers to compare total cumulative progress against a baseline.

� Shows the extent to which theoverall project is behind/ahead of schedule. Results output as Excel graphs.

Asta Riskanalysis � Improve decision-making withAsta Riskanalysis, a decisionsupport tool based on the MonteCarlo simulation method.

� Manage risk proactively usingscenarios to evaluate deadlineslippage and cost over-runs.

� Gauge contingency amounts and acceptable risk levels at anyproject stage.

Time ChainageAsta offers two softwareapplications to help projectmanagers visualise linear project work such as build andmaintenance work on roads,railways, pipelines and tunnels.

Asta Siteprogress allows users to updateprogress against tasks using a simple ticksheet format.

Asta Siteprogress� Provides site managers, tradecontractors and remote works with a quick and easy way toupdate progress against tasks via the internet.

� Current progress. � Baseline 2 (alap).� Baseline 1 (asap). � Latest report date.

� Asta Timechainage – an entry-level product suitable for small to mid size projects of average complexity.

� Tilos – a ‘best in class’ product for managing the mostcomplex engineering projects.

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Asta Development plcKingston House Goodsons MewsWellington StreetThame, OxfordshireOX9 3BXUnited Kingdom

T +44 (0)1844 261700F +44 (0)1844 261314W www.astadev.comE [email protected]

* Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) awards, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998 …©2004 Asta Development plcAsta Powerproject is a registered trademark of Asta Development plc.All trademarks recognised. E & OE.

ASTA’S TRACK RECORD

ASTA POWERPROJECT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED OVER THE LAST 16

YEARS TO MEET THE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS OF THE CONSTRUCTION

INDUSTRY. WITH OVER 35,000 USERS, THE SOFTWARE IS WELL PROVEN

AMONGST ALL TYPES OF ORGANISATIONS IN CONSTRUCTION – FROM

CLIENTS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS TO MAIN CONTRACTORS

AND TRADE CONTRACTORS.

ASTA POWERPROJECT IS USED WIDELY ON SMALL TO MID SIZE PROJECT

AS WELL AS MAJOR PROJECTS SUCH AS THE LONDON EYE, THE EDEN

PROJECT, THE GREAT COURT AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND MANY OTHERS.

IT IS RECOGNISED AS THE NUMBER ONE PROFESSIONAL PLANNING TOOL

FOR UK CONSTRUCTION*.

Grows with your business� Asta Powerproject is designed to work as a standalone system, over aLocal or Wide Area Network or as anEnterprise system providing multipleusers with controlled real-time access to multiple projects.

Cost-effective licensing � Asta Powerproject licenses areconcurrent. This means that if youpurchase three licenses, any three users can access the software at any one time across the network from a larger group of potential users.

� TECHNICAL DETAILS

Take your licence with you� Asta Powerproject makes it easy for you to take your licence with you fromoffice to home to site. Licences can bemoved from one machine to another andloaned out for specified time periods.

Easily integrated� Asta Powerproject is an open systemand has been integrated with accounting,estimating, asset management andenterprise resource planning (ERP)systems such as COINS, Hummingbird,MIMS, Navisworks3, PeoplesoftEnterpriseOne, PlanWeaver, CMSContractor and RIB.

It can also be customised rapidly tohandle customer-specific requirements.Technologies include:

� Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

� Asta Developers' Toolkit for rapid integration (an Active-X control allowing full access to AstaPowerproject’s object model).

� Complete OLE automation interface.

� Relational database operation (uses ADO and ODBC technologies to work with most relational databases such as Oracle, SQL Server and Access).

professional project management software for...

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