General Questions

1) What is the primary function of this site?
2) What is the cost of using this site?
3) Can the software be installed on my company's servers?
4) How can we be contacted?
5) Which browsers are supported?

General Functionality

6) Can multiple users work on the same project plan at the same time?
7) Do you provide task percent-complete tracking?
8) Do you provide timesheet reconciliation?
9) Are project plans viewable by everyone?
10) How can I improve screen refresh performance when working on a large project plan?

File Export

11) Can a project plan be exported to a local file?
12) When using Microsoft Internet Explorer, why does Excel not let me rename the worksheet tab?

Security

13) Is data transfer encrypted between a browser and the site?
14) What about project plans stored at the site?
15) What does "Encryption: Inactive" mean?
16) What does "Encryption: Active" mean?
17) What does "Encryption: Active Mismatch" mean?

Program Office Functionality

18) What is a program office?
19) I have added a new project. Why can't I modify it?
20) Do you support vacation/non-project days?
21) Can users have different access rights?.
22) Why are some users unable to see project cost figures?

Project Planning Functionality

23) When I add a task, why does it not show up on the Gantt chart or have a cost?
24) How are tasks, resources, assignments, etc., deleted?

General Questions

1) What is the primary function of this site? [Top]
Plan On The Net .com (TM) allows corporations to create project plans at a central web site and allows the sharing and collaborative maintenance of project plans, earned value project management and project issue tracking by multiple users and corporate partners.

2) What is the cost of using this site? [Top]
You may register and use the site with no charge. We also offer premium registration which provides additional benefits. In addition, you may also license the full software in a self host/self support mode. Please see here for more information.

3) Can the software be installed on my company's servers? [Top]
Yes, the software can be purchased, downloaded and installed on your own servers. For additional information, please see here.

4) How can we be contacted? [Top]
For questions, comments, support, feedback or suggestions, please contact us at:

5) Which browsers are supported? [Top]
We recommend Microsoft IE and Mozilla Firefox. The site should also be compatible with Opera. See other browser questions below.

General Functionality

6) Can multiple users work on the same project plan at the same time? [Top]
Yes. The system is transaction based. This means that users working from multiple remote locations will see each others changes at each screen refresh. This is ideal for distributed project teams and for corporations partnering on projects.

7) Do you provide task percent-complete tracking? [Top]
Yes. You can enter data for each assignment: Percentage complete and effort expended to date. The analysis worksheet will project expected project completion dates and costs.

8) Do you provide timesheet reconciliation? [Top]
Not currently. This is something that we are designing.

9) Are project plans viewable by everyone? [Top]
Only users within your program office can view your program office and the projects within the program office.

10) How can I improve screen refresh performance when working on a large project plan? [Top]
Use the page anchor icon on the left side of the display. This will create a push-pin on a task or resource. Only those items that are part of the anchored item will be displayed on your browser. Performance and usability will dramatically increase. You can also hide columns that you are not currently viewing; this will also speed up page display. Please see here for more detailed information.

File Export

11) Can a project plan be exported to a local file? [Top]
Yes. You can export a project plan and analysis data to a CSV (comma separated values) file which can then be imported into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. From your project home page, simply select the "Export" or "Analysis" link, setup the view that you wish to export and then select the "export current view to csv file" link.

12) When using Microsoft Internet Explorer, why does Excel not let me rename the worksheet tab? [Top]
When you export to a CSV file, your browser will prompt you to either open the file or save the file. If you select to open the file, Excel will be launched on a temporary file and this causes Excel to get confused about the name of the worksheet tab and it then will not let you rename it. Therefore, when using Internet Explorer, we recommend that you first save the file and then open the file using your worksheet application or a file browser.

Security

13) Is data transfer encrypted between a browser and the site? [Top]
Not yet. When we support SSL, data passed between a browser and our site will be encrypted.

14) What about project plans stored at the site? [Top]
If you use encrypted mode, you supply an encryption password which causes key project data to be encrypted before we store it on our database. We do not store your encryption password. If you lose your encryption password we will not be able to recover your project data.

15) What does "Encryption: Inactive" mean? [Top]
After you have logged in, at the top of each page will be an encryption status. The encryption inactive status is a reminder to you that when you logged in, a project encryption password was not used. All new project updates will be saved without encryption.

16) What does "Encryption: Active" mean? [Top]
The encryption active status is a reminder to you that when you logged in, a project encryption password was used. New project updates will be encrypted using the current project encryption password. The current encryption password may be different (purposefully or not) from prior encryption passwords, in which case different portions of a project plan will require different passwords.

17) What does "Encryption: Active Mismatch" mean? [Top]
This indicates that you have activated encryption (by using an encryption password when you logged in), but it does not decrypt previously entered project data. Either log in again with the original encryption password to work on prior projects, or only access those portions of the program office that the key decrypts, or start a new project under the encryption key.

Program Office Functionality

18) What is a program office? [Top]
When you register, you are assigned your own program office. Within your program office you may create multiple, independent projects; each project will have its own project plan, resources and tasks.

19) I have added a new project. Why can't I modify it? [Top]
By default, the project team will only have read access to new projects. You must add update access to all users that need to modify a project. This also applies to the program office administrator.

20) Do you support vacation/non-project days? [Top]
Yes. Vacation days can be customized. They can be set to apply to the whole program office and all the projects within a program office. They can also be set to be project specific. See "Program Office | Vacation Days".

21) Can users have different access rights?. [Top]
Yes. Users can be granted access on a per-project basis. All users have read access to the program office. In addition, users can be granted update access on a per-project basis; this allows a user to modify a project plan. Users can also be granted version access which allows a user to version a project plan (for example, create version 3 from version 2).

22) Why are some users unable to see project cost figures? [Top]
Project cost figures cannot be seen by users that do not have access setup to view project costs. The administrator can add these access rights from the user administration screen. See "Program Office | User Admin".

Project Planning Functionality

23) When I add a task, why does it not show up on the Gantt chart or have a cost? [Top]
A task must have at least one resource assigned (with a duration) before it shows up on the Gantt chart or before it contributes to the project cost.

24) How are tasks, resources, assignments, etc., deleted? [Top]
When in the project planning screen (modify page), each item row has a square bullet icon at the left. Selecting this icon will open a set of additional useful links, one of which is "delete". Select the delete link and the item will be logically deleted and all references to the item will be tagged on the display. When an item is logically deleted it has no effect on the project plan or cost, but will remain displayed until a "final delete" is executed. A logically deleted item can also be recovered using the "recover" link. An item that has been "finally deleted" cannot be recovered.