Float

Comments: Float is a product I like using, and I wish some of its features and UX elements were in the other software that I use! We use Synergist for job and project management, but Float for scheduling because it UX is so much better than Synergist's scheduler tool.

Pros: Float's user interface and logic are inspirational. They have made the activity of coordinating multiple resources on multiple projects about as easy as it can be. They have paid a lot of attention to usability, efficient use of screen real estate and simple navigation. However the killer feature is the intuitive yet clever way that searching and data navigation work. All searching and filtering is done using a single search field, which offers indexed word search on pretty much everything including tags. There is also a well-worked out protocol for handling union and intersect searches.

Cons: The only real bugbear is that any user that can enter data into the system can define new values for any field. It isn't possible to centrally control lists such as task names, clients, job descriptions etc. This means that if you have more than one person using the system, very quickly you get different versions of the same thing being defined (e.g. job roles being slightly different) which makes it difficult to analyse across records. Not a dealbreaker, but I do think it should be possible to lock down lists of values. Also it would be good if you could zoom out the view a little more - if you're dealing with more than a dozen resources/projects.

Pros: Easy, Easy, Easy! Uncluttered and extremely intuitive user interface. Basically no learning curve, even for unexperienced users. Despite its clean and tidy interface, Float is still ideal for enterprise use. It sports a very powerful team manager platform, perfect to assign and follow tasks, instantly spreading any update with team members. Automatic reports allow to keep under control time consumption.

Cons: Float run in cloud, there's no possibility to implement a self hosted solution.

Comments: I like float, but I don't know if it's worth the money... at the same time I'm terrified thinking about what I'd do without it.

Pros: I use Teamwork to manage my developers and this integration has been HUGELY helpful. I only need a 30,000 foot view on my team so I know what our availability looks like at a glance. Teamwork is super powerful, but lacks SEVERELY when it comes to showing capacity person to person. Float stepped into the middle and gave me what was missing.

Cons: Teamwork syncing is FAR from perfect. For syncing to happen projects MUST be created in Float... that means all my task templates are useless. Sure, my team can add those, but it's not ideal. Also, if you disconnect the Teamwork integration Float loses ALL memory of it. you'd essentially have to delete your projects and recreate them in Float. Also, for some reason it creates each task with a subtask and only applies the employee to the subtask. While I get that if you have multiple subtasks for a single task one might not know who is responsible for the main task... easy solution- just let me set that.

Comments: I needed a place to make calendar entries and schedules visible to PMs and consultants without having to set and manage permissions in other popular email and calendaring applications. Float fits the bill giving my entire team access to their tasks and view others. It allows the PMs to see this information as well. It also provides mobile access through a dedicated appm

Pros: I like the ability to see and control the schedules of my consultants at a glance. It's simple to use and create new entries for others. I can see where my resources are scheduled and their availability to be scheduled for additional tasks and projects. I like that I can move tasks around easily.

Cons: I don't like that I have to create a new project and task for each entry. Mostly they are the same types of tasks, but one offs can be irksome at times. It's a small inconvenience since the application meets all of my other needs.

Comments: I've been using CETA scheduling software for the last 4 years in big VFX companies and I must say that Float is not there yet but is actually getting broadly comparable. In the last 4 months that I introduced it into my new team it's proved to be quite useful to keep track of the progression of our projects. During these months I've seen that it has already improved in many areas that I'm excited to see what comes next.
I can see it can become a really powerful software.

Pros: There aren't may softwares that let you schedule a team in such an easy and organised way.
I think most softwares nowadays are too complex and make you spend more time organising tasks than actually working on them.
Float is so clear and simple you can actually use it to manage big projects without spending too much time on it.

Cons: It's getting better, but it would be very useful if we could: - Right click on a pencil and be able to copy it over into a different person.
- Book more than one person on the same project (for example if two workers are on the same project because one of them is doing a training but you don't want to charge twice for that time).
- Lately when I try to schedule more than 1 project in one day on the same person I get a message saying I can't schedule anyone for more than 24 hours) even if I'm not exceeding the 8 normal working hours. It'd be great if that could be fixed.
- It'd be good if milestones were more visible.
- I think reports should be a bit less complicated and more visual.
- It'd be really helpful if you could group projects up in folders when you go to the Projects tab as at the moment we have like... 45 different projects going on and although we color code them it's difficult to organise all of them.
-I'd like to have more than only three types of view when looking at our schedules a part from 'Days, 'Weeks' and 'Months'.
It'd be great if you could 'Archive' users as well as projects. So when a worker it's not working at the company anymore and you don't want to pay for it on Float you can kind of 'Archive' him (so you are not able to book him on anything but still you can see him on the boards so you don't loose what it's been scheduled on him.)