Omni group applications

[robanga]

I am in the process of making the bold move to take my staff ( about 23 people in total of a location of 150) over to the Mac. We'll do this as part of the hardware replacement cycle. Most things my IT department has figured out, office, exchange support etc.

We need decent charting and project management tools. Does anyone here have a long history with Omni applications specifically OmniPlan and OmniGraffle? I have used them as trials and like them a lot but I wonder if anyone here is using them in a heavy duty professional environment.

OmniGraffle can export to a Visio format I know. How interoperable are these applications with Microsoft Project and Visio in general?

Thanks!

 

[tersono]

I'm a long-term user of Omnigraffle, which I used for everything from network diagrams, to maps, to flowcharts. It knocks Visio into a cocked hat IMHO. However, interoperability with Visio isn't 100% - they're working on improving it for version 5 (due soon), though, and you can download a beta of v5 to try it.

Frankly, I'd suggest that downloading it and giving it a try with some sample files is probably your best bet. I've hit a few snags in the past, but it's been a while since I've had to handle Visio files (I dumped Visio completely some time ago) and compatibility has, apparently, improved considerably since then...

I've no experience with Omniplan, however, so can't help you there.

 

[onqun]

yes i want to use hat program too but it is freaking expensive are there similar ones or cheaper ones?

 

[MisterMe]

yes i want to use hat program too but it is freaking expensive are there similar ones or cheaper ones?

That program is actually two different but related programs, OmniGraffle for $99.95 and OmniGraffle Pro for $199.95. If the non-pro version is too rich for your blood, then you should probably look for a generic vector graphics application. You may want to consider VectorDesigner for $69.95.

 

[Queso]

VectorDesigner really isn't in the same league nor designed for the same purpose. OmniGraffle Pro is worth the money. I get long term Visio users marvelling at some of the things that go into my diagrams. When they find out that Visio can't do those things they always get very disappointed.

 

[exegete77]

I have read good things about ChartSmith and especially since it is LinkBack enabled (see for a List of LinkBack applications).

 

[MisterMe]

I have read good things about ChartSmith ....

Chartsmith is intended for graphing business and technical data, not for drawing diagrams.

 

[blodwyn]

We need decent charting and project management tools. Does anyone here have a long history with Omni applications specifically OmniPlan and OmniGraffle? I have used them as trials and like them a lot but I wonder if anyone here is using them in a heavy duty professional environment.

Just in case you don't know, you can brainstorm a project outline in OmniGraffle, and then open the OmniGraffle file in OmniPlan. This will create a project plan with the structure you set up in OmniGraffle. All you need to do is set the dates, dependencies, and resource assignments and you have your plan done.

In fact you can create outlines using OmniOutliner, open and edit them in OmniGraffle, and then open them in OmniPlan. The integration between the OmniGroup applications is quite good.