Graphical interfaces give power to users

Software Magazine, Nov, 1990 by Harvey A. Levine

Project management is an application area that stands to benefit from an intuitive, visual interface. The graphical user interface (GUI) can provide significant improvements in ease of use, ease of learning, functionality and flexibility. Although GUIs place increased demands on system overhead, that if offset by the package's increased usability, and thus the user's increased access to computer power.

The GUI protocol has been firmly established on the Macintosh platform, and is making significant inroads on the PC platform with both the MS-DOS and OS/2 operating systems. Similar trends are occurring in the Unix and DEC/VMS environments.

GUIs are now gaining acceptance as the preferred way for project management users to communicate with the software. Currently, there are several products on the market the utilize GUIs, and most project management vendors are now working on GUI releases.

Monica Robinette, Colorado Springs, Colo.-based regional sales manafer for Technical Economics, Inc. (TEI), Berkely, Calif., said that project managers and engineers favor the use of a mouse and the pick-and-point capability of GUI systems. TEI distributes Vue, a project management program for Digital Equipment Corp. systems.

According to Robinette, even more important is the ability to view proejct scheduling outputs in graphical formats. However, she does not endorse inputting project details node-by-node and linking them on the screen with the mouse. "Most users will prefer to have a template or model of their typical projects, and will use standard forms to input the specific project. They may then use the graphic mode to rework or tweak the model, before final acceptance."

Robinette, a former technical specialist with DEC, sees a lot of interest in the GUI for DEC platforms. However, she recognizes that all mainframe platforms are playing catch-up with the Macintosh and PC. TEI is working on a GUI version of Vue for mid-1991 release that will operate in DEC Windows.

Robinette acknowledged that GUI capability comes at a price. In general, GUI systems require more memory and run more slowly than character-based systems. Also, equipment upgrades may be required. But, she noted, the benefits of a well-designed GUI product will outweight the increased overhead.

Roger Meade, president of Scitor Corporation, Sunnyvale, Calif., sid, "The true value of a GUI in the project management application field is in the tremendous bandwith available with graphics for the intelligent synthesis of vast amounts of project data into undertandable information sets."

Scitor's GUI-based Project Scheduler 4 program runs on PC and Macintosh platforms. Meade said the major benefit of such software is its ability to take advantage of bit-mapped graphics capability. Character-based systems are severely limited in the amount of data that can be displayed.

"Bit-mapped graphics, in a system that offers multiple zoom levels, and various levels of detail and summarization, will provide the capability for each user to access to specific project information required for his or her needs," said Meade.

A popular GUI feature is the automated desktop, which allows the computer screen to emulate a traditional desktop system. Several documents on the screen may be adjacent (tiled mode), or randomly placed, with only one document fully visible (overlapping mode). These documents are called windows. In most GUIs, windows can be moved, resized, overlapped or hidden. Data can often be 'cut-and-pasted" between windows.

Another popular characteristic is the GUI's ability to create task nodes on the screen and then connect the nodes with the pointer device to depict task relationships.

There are two schools of thought on how important and realistic this capability is. The first position maintains that the project is best modeled by allowing the user to "draw" the project network on the screen. There are several systems that support this approach. Some of the earlier micro-computer-based project managers, such as Harvard Project Manager, from Software Publishing Corp., Mountain View, Calif., and MacProject, from Claris Corp., Mountain View, Calif., promoted this concept. Later on, SuperProject, from Computer Associates, Inc., Garden City, N.Y., and ViewPoint, from Computer Aided Management (CAM), Petaluma, Calif., improved on this node-connecting method.

Today, several GUI-based products provide the ability of "draw" the project on the screen. Claris' MacProject II, Scitor's Project Scheduler 4 and Microsoft's Project for Windows, from Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., are examples.

The second position support a slightly less powerful mode of creating the project model on screen, via the Gantt (or bar) chart. In this approach, the user enters the tasks as a series of line items, and can see when the tasks are scheduled against a timeline. The user has the advantage of seeing the relative timing of each task, but gives up the ability to see task relationships. There are a few programs, such as ViewPoint, that utilize a "time-scaled logic diagram" view, which provides both timing and relationship information.