Intelligent Software
Company Overview
Founded eight years ago by a professor and an entrepreneur, Intelligent Software Co. focuses its energies on developing agile project planning software that fall under the realm of APS software, also known as Advanced Planning and Scheduling systems.
Intelligent Software sells its project planning software both through partners and directly via its online store. The company emphasizes the importance of anticipating and managing change and optimizing the allocation of resources. It focuses its research and product-development efforts on improving a company's ability to plan well, thereby efficiently use resources, prevent costly over-allocation of resources and realistically schedule tasks, the vendor said.
Arquennes, Belgium
Web: planningforce.com
PlanningForce, a project planning software suite designed to enhance the entire project-planning process, was designed to limit risks, produce reliable plans, optimize workforces and profiles and select the most profitable projects.
Although risks -- illness, unplanned tasks and interruptions -- are frequent during a construction project, PlanningForce anticipates the incidence of problems based on a methodology its founders generated. This project planning software also addresses larger risks, manmade or natural, and features contingency plans that can be tapped if these risks become reality, allowing a contractor to better cope with the problems on-hand.
PlanningForce also recognizes that a company's workforce typically is its biggest asset and overhead. To maximize employees' strengths, PlanningForce qualifies and quantifies an optimal workforce based on a company's project portfolio and compares this with existing internal and external personnel. In addition, the project planning software generates and tests scenarios that match job requirements and resources, comparing internal, contractor and temporary workers. Finally, PlanningForce determines the optimal cost, based on a productivity estimate.
As part of its planning strategy, this project planning software examines how new projects compete with and complement existing ones in light of limited resources. Although a project could appear to be lucrative, if it detracts from all other projects and causes cash-flow problems, it may not be a good match for a particular contractor, according to Intelligent Software. Under the vendor's methodology, PlanningForce calculates the expected cash flows generated by existing projects; imagines and tests several planning situations if the new project is taken on; compares both cash-flow forecasts, and rejects a project if the cash-flow will, ultimately, not increase by adding a particular project. Undergoing this process helps a company focus on only the most profitable projects, leaving the less profitable tasks for competitors, the vendor said.
PlanningForce is available in both a Standard and an Express version. Standard includes all capabilities, while Express lacks financial and program management features. A Collaborative version of this project planning software is under development, with an expected launch date this summer.