Hi

We are using Sciforma verion N , and Q in a few days, in the cloud version

How can we import Excel MASS update for creating one time Project

Thanks

Hi

As my company is comparing several Enterprise PM Tools I would like to get some insights about Sciforma advantages and disadvantages for Medium orgs

Thanks

Rami

Hello,

I am new to PP. I don't know if this question was asked by anyone else?

I am developer/admin for Sciforma 4.0 .  One of my requirement is to use the sciforma data in other application. I know that sciforma is packed with PostgreSQL. Here are my questions

1) Hows the data stored in database?

2) Is the db data stored in JAVA serials/regular postgresql format ??

3) Is there any open API's avilable for connecting to Sciforma DB/Data??

Thanks

Sushanth Shanthimoole

Hi,

Following your comments and questions, please find some additional information, hoping it will help you to understand Sciforma solution better:

- To set up a project manager with access to planning, time tracking and reporting facilities incurs a one-off cost of £560 if you purchase Sciforma 5 licences (annual maintenance charge of 25% providing updates and support of the tool and off-the-shelf extensions). SaaS customers can benefit from the same functionalities and service level for a monthly cost of £44. As Rebecca has already said, all ‘read only’ access is free including reporting and dashboards!

- PS8 (Project Scheduler version 8) was a stand-alone application on the market between 2000 and 2003. You could schedule, track and report in a multi-projects and multi-resources environment. But the data stored in files had to be shared on a unique file server if you wanted to share data in a multi-site context. Nevertheless users could synchronise data through a connection but this required rigourous update rules.

More and more of our customers and companies in general were needing a decentralised time tracking, a collaborative application with the ability to switch from one language to another. We thus moved to a web-based application with PSNext in 2003, with a client-server environment. No installation on the client side apart from the download of a Java applet, in order to facilitate the deployment and the release updates (cost efficient). There were three major versions of PSNext since 2003 and in 2011, PSNext was renamed Sciforma 4.0 (taking the name of the company to simplify branding). Sciforma 5 was launched in September 2012.

- Technically, PSNext and Sciforma can be used by one or several users. If you are an independant consultant or a single user, you can simply run the application on your laptop like a stand-alone application. If you are several users working together, you can run the application on a server on your premises or choose for Sciforma to host it for you.

As shown in the technical requirements below, Sciforma is IT agnostic (any database, any web server, any hosted site, any exchange integration etc.) with no large memory or space constraints. This is a major plus point for our customers as Sciforma fits in with their current environments for which they already have the skills sets.

uk_s5_fiche_technique.png

Sciforma is based on Java. This choice was made to offer a nice-looking application in addition with the core set of functionnalities. If you are a administrator, a consultant or a PMO, it's very important to pay attention to the usage but also to the look and feel for end user uptake. Sciforma recognises that this is part of the change management process and should not be underestimated.

You can webbify any software using web virtualization software like Citrix, this will keep the information confidential, within your servers and you can deploy any software that runs on your server operating system.

In this way you can have access to any software on the server according to the available licensing such as Accounting, SAP, ERP, any database, any CPM software as some users might need advanced software while many others a simple to use software such as MS Project will be enough.

My particular needs do not fits MS Project but I can visualize for day to day operations lower level managers working on several small jobs can be a perfect fit. On small projects drawing bars instead of following strict CPM rules makes sense to me. Of course after passing the learning curve on more sophisticated software I prefer to use it even for the small jobs.

You will find that at times I criticize MSP but in reality I am criticizing wrong use of it.

There is a huge place for MSP, just look at the statistics, it is the most widely used scheduling software in the world and I hope they keep it simple to fill that huge need.

Two month ago my wife and I were on vacations on the East Coast of USA, we kept in contact with our business contacts using an IPad, my wife could access the company e-mail server, company SAP databases she is granted access and could use all software available on the virtual server such as Microsoft Office. I also kept in contact with my clients and had access to MS Office on a vitual server for free, enough for my needs. Yes, you can run virtualization on an IPad, the server can be a supercomputer and you will perceive your IPad as if a supercomputer. The data is safer than if in our personal computers as corporate servers have lot of security and redundancy.

I see virtualization as the future, no need to have and pay extra cost to have multiple web server services.

As you just said "So now, like P3, PS8, which used to be obtainable for 18 MB whole installer file, now perhaps needs a lot of space, web this and web that, database this and database that.". But virtualization is different, can be done on an Ipad or even on an IPhone with a simple app, free from Citrix.

I do not buy that a single user deployment is so cumbersome that hundreds of pages are required to explain how the billing for such service will be done.

I understand ORACLE are the owners of Java so it would not surprise me if they make use of this to their advantage and eventually make it difficult to others to compete with their scheduling products. The same way Microsoft is on advantage with the development of software that cam make use of their secret functionalities on their Windows operating system. Time will tell if eventually our government protect the public against these software giants in the same way they did it at the beginning of the 20th century. An action that ended monopolies and brought prosperity to many, we need big corporations but not monopolies.

Hello Rafael,

Though you won't find it on the sciforma website, there actually used to be 2 products of Sciforma:

1. PS8 (yes, that's an actual product name!)

2. PSNext

PSNext was the 'WEB' and 'COLLABORATIVE' version with all the zing. PS8 was more like P3 - standalone, installatble, pure windows app and hell, it even came with a 45 day evaluation!! PS8 was your simple windows application. No databases needed. Honest!

The STANDALONE version aka PS8, is what a consultant would typically use. And 'big, collaborative teams' would use PSNext. In the past, that is.

Years have gone by (since Oracle took over Primavera - just to give you a time reference, no relation of Oracle to Sciforma) and the PS8 was discontinued. Shame, because it was actually one of the BEST CCPM products in the whole frickkin' world! (pardon the screaming).

Now, you only have PSNext and Sciforma 5.0. Though, I am wondering if the good old PS8 was remodelled and recoded into Sciforma 5.0 (Rebecca, some help here please?). I guess just like Oracle, Sciforma decided to 'webbify' their simple application. So now, like P3, PS8, which used to be obtainable for 18 MB whole installer file, now perhaps needs a lot of space, web this and web that, database this and database that.

One of the reasons I am still on MSP is because the professional version does not demand any outrageous requirements: gimme a database, gimme a web server, gimme a hosted site, gimme exchange integration, gimme this gimme that. It does, actually, but for the Enterprise version of MSP. The MSP professional installs and runs like a standalone app. The way project apps are meant to. (But...  *sigh!*)

My guess is that the pricing is probably too complex to be worth the effort calculating and posting it here. One of the many aspects of webbification of applications.

Of course, I have not at all looked at Sciforma 5, which 'SEEMS' (by its screenshot) to be like PS8 of yore. I only pray it does not ask for a database or webserver. If it does not, then Sciforma 5 is for you -- the consultant working alone. Otherwise if you are in a 'team and collaborative over-the-web delivery' (I just made that up) is your cup of tea, then you're in for a serious pricing effort. Which I don't think anyone will provide here because it's too much of an effort for them I guess.

Cheers,

Lord Horn

What is the cost for every off-the-shelf extension without any modification? Please provide a brief description on each extension.

25% of the licence value for Upgrades and Support of the Product and the Off-the-shelf Extensions.

We currently have the following off-the-shelf extensions : Portfolio management, Demand management, Project management, Resource Management, Change requests, Issue management, Risks, Budget management, Execution management (time-tracking, calendars) Agile, Critical Chain and in the Pipeline, NPD and Prince 2.

I invite you to download our brochure for the descriptions of each Extension:  http://www.sciforma.com/en-uk/page?id=340

What is the cost per Project Manager, per Resource Manager and per Team Members? Please provide a brief description on each role.

We commonly come across the following roles : PM (scheduling and time tracking + optionnally document management and issue management), RM (scheduling, time tracking, document management, resource allocation management), TM (time tracking), Administrator (access rights, resource table, dashboards administration), Management (dashboards).

Our licensing model is very flexible that's why it has to be calculated based on the usage.

The Gartner rates Sciforma as a 'positive player' in the PPM space and according to them, "Sciforma's pricing model is a bit unusual in the marketplace, because it is based on the purchase and consumption of tokens for the varied number and roles of end users interacting with the system over time."

If you are looking to engage with Sciforma, please feel free to contact me directly at rleadbitter@sciforma.co.uk I would be delighted to know how many users and profiles you have in order to calculate the cost of your specific licences.

In your site you mention a quarter of a million users but not on what role, maybe 10 as PM, 2 as Resource Manager and the rest as Team Members? Maybe Team Members are granted read only access? Are you counting read only users under this number? What if a user have more than a single role? 

These numbers reflect all of our customers since 1982 and yes there are a lot of them. It includes Project Scheduler (PS), PSNext and Sciforma customers but I dont have the break down per role.

@ Lord Horn - Thank you for your kind welcome and ethusiasm :o) 

@ Rafael Davila - Please find the answers to your questions below :

What is the cost of a typical stand alone user deployment?

Sciforma 5.0 is role based and the costing structure reflects this so depending upon what users do in the system the costs would vary. Read-only access is entirely free of charge though which is great as you can allow all stakeholders have access to reports. Deployment costs would depend upon whether a customer uses our off-the-shelf extensions that are pre-configured. Modifications can be made to all the extensions and costs would of course depend upon the extent of the modifications that need to be made.

Can you run a schedule without being connected to the internet or a central database?

Yes you can. Sciforma 5.0 has an off-line mode enabling you to check your project out whilst in the office and then work on it in the train for example. When you then return to the office, you can then syncrhonise your schedule.

How is the data distributed to other users that keep separate database?

Sciforma is a collaborative web based enterprise tool which means that the database is shared between uses for the most part allowing for one version of the truth. 

What is the cost for a 10 users deployment?

Again, as with your first question, it depends upon what the users want to do in the system. What are their roles? Project Managers? Resource manager? Team members?

Hope this helps - have a great afternoon 

Rebecca

Welcome, if we get a few of the quarter million users PP audience will increase and everyone will benefit.

There is room for many, there is no room for just one.

What is the cost of a typical stand alone user deployment?

Can you run a schedule without being connected to the internet or a central database?

How is the data distributed to other users that keep separate database?

What is the cost for a 10 users deployment?

Best regards,

Rafael