With FastTrack Schedule, you can customize every element of a bar style including its color, pattern, size, border, and bar labels. You can even create custom milestones from pictures and logos that relate to your project. These branded milestones will give your schedules that extra “pop” and make an impact with your audience.

To create a new milestone from an image, go to the Format menu > select Bar Style (the Format Bar Style dialog will appear).

a. Select New
b. Type: select Milestone
c. Shape: select New (Format Point dialog will appear)

d. Select Insert and locate the desired image
e. Select OK
f. In the Format Bar Style dialog, increase Size if desired
g. Select Apply

 Another great way to make your bar styles more descriptive is to add bar labels. Bar labels display task data that’s found in a column, such as the activity name, start date, finish date, or resource. Placing bar labels on or next to bars offers a different look and provides more task-related details directly in the timeline.

To apply bar labels to a bar style, go to the Format menu > select Bar Style (the Format Bar Style dialog will appear).

a. Select desired bar style
b. Go to the Schedule View Labels tab
c. Select the desired part of the bar
d. Select which column’s data you would like to appear as a label
e. Click Show
f. Click in preview window and adjust alignment of label
g. Select Apply

With custom bar styles, the possibilities are endless! To learn more about customizing bar styles, watch our FastTrack Schedule Quick Tip video “Creating custom bar styles, labels, and templates”- Mac Version | Windows version.

And be sure to check out our “200 More Bar Styles” template that’s bundled with the full and trial versions of FastTrack Schedule 10. It’s loaded with great-looking bars and milestones that you can copy and paste into your own schedules.

Consider the schedule below. There are three different projects being displayed in the Calendar view. The bar styles are carried over from the Schedule view, making it very easy to see when the different projects are taking place. FastTrack Schedule’s Calendar view is loaded with useful project details including the Parent Tree of each task, which is displayed as a bar label across the activity bar.

Some of the tasks are partially “filled” with gray, indicating the percentage of work complete on the task. Here are some tips on how to take advantage of FastTrack Schedule’s progress tracking while in the Calendar view.

1. Display % Complete as a label on the activity bar.

a. To apply this setting, Format View while in Calendar view:

i. Windows Ribbon UI – Go to the Home tab > View > click on the Format tool (right corner) 
ii. Windows Classic UI – Go to the Format menu > View
iii. Mac UI – Go to the Format menu > View

b. In the Format Calendar View dialog, go to the Bar Labels tab and click ‘Show’ for the % Complete column (select ‘Show’ in the desired order for the data to appear on the bar).

c. Select OK to apply.

2. Display only the activities for the current month. To apply a Range to control which portion of the Calendar view you are seeing:

a. Go to the Project menu/tab > Timeline Ranges > Current Month. Current Month is a dynamic range, which changes as time passes. FastTrack Schedule determines the current month based on the computer’s date and time settings.

3. Go to Print Preview to view and print your schedule as a monthly calendar.

As an AEC Software Reseller, Practical Software Solutions will offer sales and service support to FastTrack Schedule customers. Practical’s team will ensure that FastTrack Schedule is well-suited for your project management needs and integrates into your business process.

Established in 1993, Practical Software Solutions provides business management software solutions and industry expertise in accounting, manufacturing, distribution, construction, service management and professional services. Practical Software Solutions is also a Sage Timberline authorized partner and continually recognized as a leader within the Sage community for sales and service to its customers.

Connect with Practical’s team to learn how they can help. For details on AEC Software’s partnership opportunities, visit our Partner Program portal.

We’ve created two new Quick Tip videos — a Mac version and a Windows version — that walk you through the process. Check them out then visit our online gallery of project templates. Download as many as you like, they’re free.

FastTrack Schedule 10 for Mac

FastTrack Schedule 10 for Windows

For more FastTrack Schedule how-to videos, visit our Mac Quick Tip Video Tutorials page and our Windows Quick Tip Video Tutorials page.

In the schedule below, you’ll find a cost per activity breakdown. What about seeing costs over time?

Summary Graphs can be used to easily display these costs across periods of time. Data used to create Summary Graphs are always taken from column data and is distributed across the duration of the activity. Once a summary unit and operation are defined, the graph is generated.

1. To Insert a Summary Graph:

a. Go to the Insert menu, select Summary Graphs

2. Format Summary Graph dialog appears:

Define the following options:

a. Left Label – Describe the data being displayed

b. Summary Units – Units the data is summarized as (Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, etc.)

c. Data to Summarize – Select which column’s data you are summarizing

d. Summary Operation – How you want the data summarized (Count, Total, Average, etc.). When selecting the Summary Operation, there is an additional option found within the dialog for a Cumulative Summary:

e. Display As – The style of your graph (Text, Line, Histogram)

f. Show Labels – Display values within graph

As we turn the page on another great year, we’d like to thank all the FastTrackers for your continued support. We wish you a happy, healthy, and successful New Year!

In our new webcast, Presenting Your FastTrack Schedules, we demonstrate FastTrack Schedule’s amazing presentation capabilities and show you how to make an impact when presenting your project plans to clients, stakeholders, and team members.

You’ll also learn how to:

• Design elements that make your schedules pop
• Using pictures and graphics when words won’t do
• Setting up Print Preview for the best layout and selecting the best print settings
• Saving schedules as pictures and PDFs

The recorded webcast is free and available on-demand. Running time is just 20 minutes, so grab a warm cup of java, sit back, and watch how easy it is to create great looking project plans with FastTrack Schedule.

We’ve lost an amazing innovator. Steve Jobs blended creativity and technology into iconic gems that made getting things done easier and more fun. His ingenuity and passion for pushing the limits of form and function challenged competitors, inspired entrepreneurs, and changed our lives in ways that we’ll appreciate for years to come. Steve once said, “I want to put a ding in the universe.” He accomplished just that.

Like the English versions, the French versions of FastTrack Schedule 10 are fully cross-platform compatible between Windows and Mac. The Single-User and Concurrent-User versions contain the same feature set as the English versions.

Free demo versions are available directly from CESYAM.

In addition to selling FastTrack Schedule in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, CESYAM also offers comprehensive technical support and consulting services for FastTrack Schedule. For additional product information or to order the French version, please visit CESYAM online at www.cesyam.fr.

FastTrack Schedule 10 opens Microsoft Project files and exports as Microsoft Project XML. But did you know that you can set FastTrack Schedule to automatically save your projects as Microsoft Project files? Leave it up to FastTrack Schedule to do all the work!

Not only is this a time saver, but it’s extremely helpful when it comes to creating corporate templates or streamlining processes. Most importantly, it takes out unnecessary steps or expected user know how when collaborating with team members using Microsoft Project.

Follow these simple steps:

1. Select Application Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac).

To locate on the Windows or Mac versions:

Windows
Ribbon: Go to the File menu or Application Button and select Application Options.
Classic: Go to the Tool menu and select Application Options.

Mac
Go to the FastTrack Schedule 10 menu and select Preferences.

2. Select the Save tab.

3. Under Additional Save Options, select the first radio button “Always save an additional file of the following type.”

This will provide you with four options to choose from. To always save a copy of your schedule as a Microsoft Project compatible file, we recommend choosing the Microsoft Project XML (.xml) option.  For versions of Microsoft Project that do not support the XML file format, you can select Microsoft Project Exchange (.mpx) as an alternative.

4. If you are unsure of the Microsoft Project file format being supported or working with Mindjet MindManager (.mmap) or iCalendar (.ics), you may want to consider letting FastTrack Schedule make the selection for you. By choosing the second radio button, “Always save an additional file of same type as originally opened,” FastTrack Schedule will dynamically save the appropriate file type.

5. Once you’ve made your selection, click OK.

6. Upon the first save of your schedule, FastTrack Schedule will prompt you for a location to save the file. Choose the location that is easiest for you to remember and access.  It is a good idea to create a folder that is only for your project schedules (such as My Schedule Files).

7. Once the folder is created, both your FastTrack Schedule (.fts) and Microsoft Project (.xml) files will be saved into this location.