The app is ok. But the developers…?
The current version of xPlan is ok, but its not without its quirks and usability issues. For example…
- Dragging and dropping tasks to reorder them isnt always intuitive, and the tasks in the Gantt screen arent numbered.
- There is NO ability to hide or add columns to any of the views. (There is an option under View in the menubar to "Show Task Names", but this doesnt seem to do anything, and isnt contextual (it doesnt change or gray out depending on what screen youre on in the app)).
- There is no way to distinguish between real days/hours, and man hours. This wouldnt be an issue if the app didnt include the ability to associate costs with tasks. But, since it does (the app gives you the ability to assigned a cost to each task by an hourly rate, the hourly rate of the assigned resource, or as a fixed cost), this becomes a real problem. For example, for projects where you need to track the duration of a task (how many days and hours from start to finish) as well as the actual cost of the resource, (a developer might spend 4 hours today, and 4 hours tomorrow working on the task), you need to be able to track man hours along with the actual duration. Otherwise, all costs will have to be calculated manually and then entered back into the task in xPlan as a "Fixed" cost (which, depending on the client, is considered really bad semantics).
- Creating a link between 2 existing tasks does not change the start date of the 2nd task, even if it starts earlier than the 1st task ends. This happens even when neither task is constrained by any previous or subsequent tasks. However, two tasks in different phases that are connected by a link will affect each other if the dates are changed. There is probably a good reason for this, but the user isnt given any queues from the user interface as to why.
- For $99, the app really should support exporting projects to the Microsoft Project MPX format. The developer explained to me in a support conversation that Microsoft doesnt necessarily support the XML format (they allow XML to be imported, but it can produce unexpected results, including errors). If the developer knows this, why wouldnt they incorporate the ability to export projects in the MPX format? Most other Mac/Project apps support this.
- Additionally, for $99, the app should REALLY support importing Microsoft Project MPP files.
Finally, the developer is just flat-out unpleasant to deal with. Their website is nicely done, and they do respond quickly to questions and emails. However, the developer really needs to (at most) reassess its internal culture, or (at least) improve the customer support experience.
I have now asked for support on three occassions, and each time the response was short and rude. In each initial response to my inquiries, the support person made no attempt to further understand the issue; they also explained in no uncertain terms that the issue was my own to deal with (and that they had plenty of other customers who never had such issues, thank you very much!), and then made no suggestions for how I might troubleshoot the issue on my own.
In my lastest request for support, I did see some improvement; their first response was the usual--a little snide, and very unhelpful. I replied back asking them not to insult me, and to please address my specific issue, instead of comparing me against the majority of users not having the same issue as me. Their second response still did not fix my problem (and continued to dismiss it altogether), but they did provide some troubleshooting steps I could try on my own.
There have been other adnX customers that have posted similar concerns about this developer in reviews of other adnX products here in the Mac App Store.
If you do decide to buy this app (and ultimately I do think it is ok--even if there are UI issues that will mess with your productivity, and there are other apps out there that have better features), you should do it with the understanding that the support culture at adnX is to berate their customers, rather than help solve their problems.
tckneisly about xPlan
