JCVGantt - Good in theory but...

[bizguy72]

Hi Andrew,

I'm a trial user of both MindManager and JCVGantt Pro (Love MindManager).

I'm frustrated with JCVGantt though - the concept of real time synchronisation
with MM is great, however my experience so far:

1. Bug when JCVGantt is executed from within MindManager:

Refer to the following thread (my user name there is also 'bizguy72'):

http://forum.us.mindjet.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3438

No response from MindJet. I also raised a tech support call around the same
time (they say you can raise a support call even as a 'trial' user)...again, no response
so the lack of response for both is coming up close to a month as I type this today.

2. JCVGantt is slow:

I imported an MS Project file into MindManager. The MS Project file had approx
200 activities. Once in MM, I then fired up JCVGantt (from within MM) and copied
across all of my topics and tasks.

I had synchronisation turned on between MM and JCVGantt. When using JCVGantt,
it actually was unuseable....massive performance hit - couldn't even scroll down or
across as the CPU was just getting smashed.


I'm disappointed - as I said, I really like the idea of using both MM and JCVGantt
to start and manage projects but it's just not practical (point 2 above is the
real killer).

I know there is another third-party plugin for MM called 'Mind2Chart' so I might
give that a go but it doesn't appear to be as powerful as the MM/JCVGannt
combination (or as powerful as it should be not withstanding the above issues).

Thanks

Adam

[ajwilcox]

Hi Adam

You are not the only one waiting for a reply on a JCVGantt issue.  My Mindjet forum comments about highlighting the critical path correctly also remain unanswered both on the forum and as a support email.

I just tested MindManager / JCVGantt with a 87 topic plan.  It was okay but a little slow at times.  The first addition of resource took a 20 seconds, but thereafter it was okay.  Looking at the applications on separate screens updates where quick.  If you change task duration using the the task pane up and down arrows it can be slow.  Keying in a value is quick.

I have now loaded a 317 task project plan from MS Project. I can see it, I can make changes e.g. completeness and dragging duration on the Gantt view.  Then I increased a task duration from 7 h to 7 days.  JCVGantt did a calculation and displayed correctly.  MindManager has gone into a loop and is not responding!

I have been watching memory usage and CPU time whilst doing this.  JCVGantt only uses 20kb and not much CPU,  MindManager is using 200kb and 50% of my CPU when not responding!  I have 4gb memory and only 62% is being used.

I restarted MindManager, opened the recovered map and then saved it. It previously not saved.  JCVGantt takes a while to read the tasks.  This time I have made several alterations without MindManager crashing.  MindManager has used 139kb memory and 5% CPU on idel rising to 40% when editing (an old bug bear of mine). Perhaps saving the map after importing is the key!

Another suggestion is to close MindManager.  The start JCVGantt standalone, do your task editing, save and then open the map in MindManager.

Please tell me how you got on.

[ajwilcox]

Forgot the obvious question. Which versions of the applications are you using including the revision number?

[bizguy72]

Forgot the obvious question. Which versions of the applications are you using including the revision number?

JCVGantt Pro 3 version 3.2.2.14

MM Pro version 7.2.374

Another suggestion is to close MindManager.  The start JCVGantt standalone, do your task editing, save and then open the map in MindManager.

Yes, but this sort of defeats the purpose....one of the most attractive features of using the MM/JCVGantt combination together is the real time synchronisation between the two.

[ajwilcox]

Yes, but this sort of defeats the purpose....one of the most attractive features of using the MM/JCVGantt combination together is the real time synchronisation between the two.

I agree.

That is the same versions of JCVGantt and MindManager that I ran my tests on.