Planview Daptiv Reviews

Resource management is a valuable feature of this product.

The only marked improvement was in resource management. Changepoint allowed us to model resource request/assignment workflow in our large PS organization.

The timesheet app is outdated. Web portal functionality is lagging behind in other features.

I have used this solution for around 16 months, i.e., from November 2014 through March 2016.

I did not encounter any stability issues.

The technical support is good, but not great.

We switched solutions due to the corporate mandate. The previous solution that we were using was Projector PSA; it was overall a superior product.

The setup was complex. It took us around 18 months from start-to-finish.

Do not go with perpetual licensed solution!

As I mentioned earlier, it was a corporate mandate, so did not evaluate other options.

You should check on ownership situation. CP was in the middle of spinning out of Compuware when we implemented it. Thus, there were many questions about the future, new direction, etc.

The most valuable features are resource allocation and capacity planning.

The user interface is quirky and does not always conform to the expected Microsoft UI standards. Several areas of the product use Silverlight technology. This will be replaced in a future version of the product, but that is taking some time.

Here is an example of the user interface:

To change the value in a drop-down list box, you cannot simply click on the down arrow and choose a new value. You must use a backspace to clear the current value, then press enter to refresh the full list, and then choose the new value. And this is not consistent throughout the product. 

In some cases, the listbox works in this way, and in other places in the product, it does not.

We have been using this solution since 2013.

I don’t know any details about scalability. However, we have Changepoint deployed at a number of sites worldwide, with about 1,000 users.

I was not part of the negotiations. I do know that the licenses for people with project manager and other advanced permissions are more costly than for those who only enter time. We needed more people to have the project manager and additional permissions licenses than Changepoint initially estimated.

It is important to have a Changepoint expert/consultant to assist with the initial setup. You need to know a lot of details about how fields function so you will know how to choose the configuration settings.

Dashboard, reporting, capacity vs. demand, time sheets

Reporting of IT capacity available for first time, time sheets available for first time.

I don't work at the company anymore where we deployed this, but would say there's too much work that has to go into the configuration up front and for the first 6 months to 1 year after. That costs time, money, and resources. Not a very advanced tool. Seems interface-wise to be behind the times. Also, every time you want to engage upon improvements you have to re-engage the vendor and eat up more time and money. The security is not very robust, and the vendor did not seem to have a detailed handle on the infrastructure information, root cause of system slowness, etc.

11 months

System slowness, Configured incorrectly as well. I was not on the original deployment. I was brought in to improve what the first deployment messed up. Missed the real process requirements and configuration thereof.

Yes

Yes

Customer Service: 6 out of 10. Hard to get a hold of anyone with urgency, root cause analysis, leadership, etc.Technical Support: 6 out of 10. We had to figure a lot of things out ourselves, and to have stellar hands-on service cost more money, which is not the case with other tools from what I understand and recall.

Very complex. Had to be totally configured.

Initially, on the first deployment, the vendor and the company did the implementation. We had to redo it. Had to bring in another contractor, re-engage the vendor, etc.

Get a firm grasp on the cost to implement, support, etc. since you will have to configure it yourself. Also, to have stellar service you will have to pay more.

<ul> <li>Portfolio View (built from a top down perspective to support senior management reporting)</li> <li>Excellent reporting</li> <li>Resource Allocation/Capacity Planning function</li> </ul>

I implemented for a large client of mine and saw them quickly get up and running and leverage Daptiv to help them manage their IT demand from their internal customers. But putting in Daptiv's PPM tool they were able to in a very short period of time:

1. Show all projects (demand) in their portfolio -- in-progress and backlog -- by organizational unit
2. Show how many hours they were spending by project vs. "keep the lights on" efforts and
3. Provide better estimates of when new projects potentially could be started by measuring resource allocation and capacity

Would always like to see improvement in the Resource Allocation and Capacity Planning features -- these are the areas that can / will give the greatest ROI so improvement would always be welcomed. Easier to work with, more "what if" capabilities (looking at not just in-progress projects but adding in backlog projects) and even stronger reporting would be welcome. This same feedback applies to all of the PPM tools in the SaaS based leadership Magic Quadrant.

Approximately 2 years

Nothing major -- just normal learning curve issues

None

Not to date

Limited unless you purchase additional support hours.

Yes, switched for greater features/functionality.

I found it to be relatively easy to configure and roll-out.

Did most internally but did use some additional hours by an implementation partner (who was excellent).

Yes -- AtTask, Innotas, Instantis

Like any other software package -- phase your implementation. Start small and build -- give the users time to fully adopt the features -- but have a set schedule (implement quickly with features rolled out every 60 days). Don't assume that the users can pick it up on their own -- train the users -- success depends not on them just knowing how to do something in the PPM -- you also might need to provide good project management training too.