With the conventional and proven VARCHART XGantt approach, the default loading cycle starts with the first InsertNodeRecord (DataRecordCollection.Add) and ends with Endloading. When new data are added to the application, this methodology first removes all existing internal structures like groupings, sorting or summary bar calculations that are based on the previous data set. In the second step, these internal structures are rebuilt on the basis of the enhanced data. Meeting the demands of many NETRONIC customers, this methodology was especially optimized for loading large data amounts into complex Gantt structures such as loading data into an empty Gantt chart for the first time.

Decision cycles get shorter and planning and scheduling applications increasingly depend on (intraday) actual data. Hence the question of low latency becomes more and more important for our customers. In such volatile environments, the removal and rebuilding of the complete Gantt structures may not always be the most suitable way. Thus we decided to complement the conventional data loading methodology with an approach that is optimized towards rapidly feeding in only a few incremental data.

The VARCHART XGantt property PartialLoadThreshold lets the user define a threshold for the number of incremental data up to which the VARCHART XGantt will be created in performance optimized partial updates. When new data are added to the Gantt chart, the system automatically performs either an optimized partial update for smaller quantities or a full update for larger quantities. The optimal threshold value depends on the customer-specific Gantt chart implementation, the complexity of the Gantt functionality, and the number of nodes already loaded and still to be added. For further information see the XGantt manual or look up the Tips&Tricks on our website.

The PartialLoadThreshold property has already been used by NETRONIC’s customer Steria Benelux SA, who runs a very volatile scheduling application with relevant low latency requirements. Antoine Roelens, Project Lead, summarizes his experiences: “We already started to work with the performance-optimized XGantt and we are glad with the results. We realized performance increases by a factor 10. This is a quantum leap.”

The property lets VARCHART XGantt cope even with the most challenging requirements in terms of performance: On the one hand, the control allows for the quick loading of huge data volumes when the Gantt chart is initialized, at the same time, however, it can also handle rapid data feeds and updates.

If you don’t use the current build of VARCHART XGantt 4.4, get it here.

The post Tips and Tricks: VARCHART XGantt Performance Increase by Partial Load appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

This year, we decided to participate in the growth initiative for established companies, and submitted a completely new business plan positioning NETRONIC as The Gantt Company. We clearly focus on interactive data visualization with Gantt diagrams, and started to develop new propositions for new market segments. These are supposed to fuel the company’s future growth. The first example of such a new value proposition is the Visual Production Scheduler for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, which we released in February.

Recently we learned, that we are nominated as one of the Top8 growth plan submissions in this contest, and that we are invited to an in-depth jury discussion. The finalists presentation event will take place early June in the city hall of Aachen, and all finalists will be introduced with a short company movie. Hence, we today had the pleasure welcoming a professional film crew making some great video shots in our offices. Here are some “making of” impressions:

The post The Gantt Company: We are nominated for our growth plan! appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

STK Scheduler Online Viewer Built with VARCHART JGantt

Orbit Logic recently announced the release of STK Scheduler Online Viewer using NETRONIC’s VARCHART JGantt.  STK Scheduler Online Viewer is a web application for the secure dissemination of schedules generated by STK Scheduler, an add-on module for Systems Tool Kit (STK) software developed by Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI).  STK Scheduler Online Viewer users login through a web page to explore details of available schedules in table, Gantt or 3D animation views.  A wiki-like interface allows the user to drill down for more detailed information on scheduled tasks and resources.

“STK Scheduler Online Viewer is a natural evolution from the desktop version of STK Scheduler,” stated Alex Herz, President of Orbit Logic. ”The new web-based viewer allows people throughout an organization to see the latest mission plans and schedules using their web browser.  Plus, the simple, intuitive web interface eliminates the need for user training.”

STK Scheduler provides flexible resource modeling, configurable constraint implementation, and task definition for any type of space system scheduling challenge. Complex satellite system scheduling problems can be defined in minutes and solved in seconds using STK Scheduler.  These schedules can now be shared via STK Scheduler Online Viewer.  STK Scheduler Online administrators can define and maintain authorized user lists to control access to schedules.  Administrators can also customize STK Scheduler Online pages with program-specific news, images, and announcements.

Orbit Logic chose Netronics JGantt for STK Scheduler Online Viewer in large part due to Orbit Logic’s experience with Netronics Gantt tool for the STK Scheduler desktop application.  Plus, NETRONIC’s VARCHART JGantt was the only Java based tool with all the necessary features including zoom, multiple label locations, ability to edit directly from the Gantt, configurable colors, expand/collapse capability, precision to one second, and multiple nodes per row.  The web version provides similar capability to the desktop version with a more modern look and feel.

Orbit Logic (www.orbitlogic.com) is a leader in mission planning and scheduling solutions for aerospace and geospatial intelligence. Orbit Logic’s operationally proven COTS products – STK Scheduler, Collection Planning & Analysis Workstation (CPAW), web-based Collection Feasibility Tool (CFT), UAV Planner, and Sibyl Satellite Tasking mobile app – create better plans faster with fewer resources and less risk for all mission phases. Orbit Logic software maintenance and engineering services are available to support, configure, customize, and integrate these tools to provide turn-key operational solutions for your mission.

About the author

In 2012, Ms. Herz changed her role with Orbit Logic from Founder-Owner and member of the Board of Directors to full-time employee and Chief Operating Officer.  Ms. Herz has a strong background in software product development in a variety of industries and platforms.  Ms. Herz’ aerospace background includes application development for Space Shuttle Payload Operations at Johnson Space Center, systems engineering and test for L3 Storm Control Systems’ Command and Control Software, and ground system engineering and test for the Astrium-built Intelsat X.  Ms. Herz has worked outside of aerospace as QA Manager for Rosetta Stone and QA Director at Blackboard covering web and mobile applications.  Ms. Herz received a bachelor of science degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.

The post Guest Blog: Aerospace and Geospatial Intelligence and Scheduling appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

VARCHART JGantt List of enhancements

• Each time scale section may now have a color scheme and a font of its own (see screenshot below)
• If the line color of a horizontal grid line was set to be a dynamic color, to each group an individual grouping line can be assigned that allows for a color, a line thickness or a line type of its own.
• The new property DrawingPriorityComparator allows to define the drawing sequence of the nodes of a group row if their group layout is of the type GROUP_ROWLAYOUT_SINGLE

VARCHART JGantt List of bug fixes

• Several errors could occur with the event OnPhantomModify that is triggered in drag&drop actions.
• Problems were eliminated that could occur during scrolling on the Java Runtime Engine 1.7.

For more information, please visit our VARCHART JGantt site.

The post VARCHART JGantt 3.0 Service Release 7 appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

NETRONIC Software GmbH, a leading supplier of interactive Gantt chart software today announces the release of the Visual Production Scheduler for the role-tailored client versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. With this add-in, NETRONIC closes a gap in the versions 2013 and 2009R2 of Microsoft Dynamics NAV by supplying a fully integrated, interactive graphical scheduling board. Manufacturing users of Microsoft Dynamics NAV can improve the quality of their short-term production planning by applying the add-in. Version 1.0 of the Visual Production Scheduler for Microsoft Dynamics NAV is available as of today. It will be sold globally by Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners. NETRONIC will present the Visual Production Scheduler at its booth (hall 5, A21) at CeBIT.

The role-tailored versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV (2013 and 2009R2) do not have any integrated scheduling board although this kind of visualization has been proven in time-centric scheduling processes and had been included in a basic form in previous versions of Dynamics NAV. As this former production scheduler had been developed on the basis of NETRONIC’s Gantt chart component VARCHART XGantt, NETRONIC decided to close the gap in the latest Dynamics NAV version by developing own Gantt chart add-ins.

The now released product – called Visual Production Scheduler – enables Microsoft Dynamics NAV users to improve their production scheduling quality. This is achieved by visualizing production orders, due dates and capacity needs at one glance, and by providing planners with the ability to interactively change all these parameters. This kind of transparency alongside with the immediate visual scheduling interactions result in an improved capacity utilization and hence in stronger delivery dates commitments. Users can work with the Visual Production Scheduler in an intuitive fashion so that they merely require any kind of special training.

The Visual Production Scheduler is entirely based on the .NET framework and initially concentrates on data from the production module. The add-in is implemented as a Microsoft Dynamics NAV page, which allows integration in real-time. The drag drop functionality enables rapid scheduling actions. Data-driven visualization provides optical warnings in case intended scheduling changes would create any conflict. The Visual Production Scheduler comes with multiple scheduling views and comprehensive print functionality.

Dr. Martin Karlowitsch, Managing Director of NETRONIC, comments on the product release:

“The Visual Production Scheduler for Dynamics NAV is a consequent and logical enhancement of NETRONIC’s product portfolio and business model. Thanks to our leading Gantt chart components VARCHART XGantt and VARCHART JGantt, we have unprecedented experience in the development of interactive Gantt chart software. This experience had been collected and grown during decades, and is now applied to achieve a graphical value creation for users of Dynamics NAV. We interviewed more than 50 Dynamics NAV partners and customers when developing the Visual Production Scheduler as this is the first important step in providing various interactive Gantt chart add-ins for Microsoft Dynamics NAV.”

The Visual Production Scheduler is available as of today (28 February 2013). Users of Microsoft Dynamics NAV can purchase the Visual Production Scheduler through their local Microsoft Dynamics NAV VARs. NETRONIC will present the Visual Production Scheduler at its CeBIT booth in hall 5 stand A21 in the period from March 5 to March 9 2013 in Hannover (Germany).

Market quotes on the Visual Production Scheduler

Gunter Strickert, ERP Consultant, Consens-4-you:

„The predecessor version of the Production Scheduler was – in all the years until 2008 – a part of the standard delivery of the former Navision and later Dynamics NAV ERP solution. Hence, I am glad that this functionality is now also available for the users of the most current Dynamics NAV 2013 version. There is an immediate value created for the users by the Visual Production Scheduler.”

Kevin Ameche, Vice President, Wolcott Group:

„ I started working with a development demo version. The Visual Production Scheduler combines intuitivism and value creation especially for SMB manufacturing companies. I am excited that this is now available for my Dynamics NAV customers.”

Bent Korsgaard, Managing Director, NAVEKSA A/S:

“If you want to plan your short to mid-term production processes, you clearly need visualization. However, with planning data, you can’t stop at visualizing it. You need to make it touchable, and easily changeable by the planner. Preferably in a fashion that you have an intelligent visualization that guides the planner. This is exactly what the Visual Production Scheduler does.”

The post Visual Production Scheduler for Microsoft Dynamics NAV released appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

VARCHART XGantt: list of enhancements

• Layers that – due to their definition – were not allowed to move can now also not change their position when the whole node is moved. So moving the node will not produce a modification of the layer’s dates.

VARCHART XGantt: list of fixed bugs

• New font styles (such as „light“) were not properly processed.
• The row properties of a selected group were not set back when selecting a different group.
• When run on Windows 8 the color picker on the property pages remained invisible.
• A drag&drop action between two XGantt instances could produce error 2 or lead to an unexpected end of program.
• Although the group option “modifications enabled” had been switched off, double-clicking on a group title triggered the event “VcGroupModified”.
• Bars could be identified between the table and the diagram, i.e. beyond the Gantt graph limits.
• When invoking VcGantt.IdentifyObject, an unexpected end of program could occur.
• When invoking VcGantt.IdentifyObject after an OnObjectDrawEvent, the program could come to a halt.
• Invoking VcPrinter.CombiningControlsEnabled could entail errors.
• After adding a new dataset, drawing errors could occur in the print preview.
• Restrictions in the start date of a layer were ignored when the layer was moved.
• Tooltips of a size longer than 1.024 characters were clipped.
• After a drag&drop action the errors 11 or 453 could occur, also an unexpected end of program.
• Both in the top and bottom row of the layer annotation a character was missing.
• When during a drag&drop action the mouse moved in and out of the target instance for a couple of times, error 152 could occur.
• The node phantom ignored the value of „TimeUnitsPerStep“ when the duration of a node was extended.
• When dragging the right end of a node, an unexpected end of program could occur.
• The call VcTableFormatCollection. FormatByIndex() did not work properly.
• Setting LinkAppearances to „invisible“ took too long.
• Calendars were ignored by the “ScheduleProject” method.
• When moving a node, the information window displayed wrong values.
• When invoking VcGantt.SaveAsEx, links of composed node IDs were not stored properly.
• Memory leaks occurred in tool tips programmed in C++.
• When a node with a layer restriction was moved, the layer restriction was ignored.
• When moving a layer that had a restriction, the layer acted in a wrong way.
• When setting layer properties, performance problems could occur.
• Modifying the time scale resolution could lead to error 351 Class 2200.
• When at runtime a layer annotation was defined that would use a color map for the text color, error 174 could occur.
• When printing several XGantt instances simultaneously, errors could occur.
• The horizontal scrollbar of the diagram section was displayed erroneously, when the calendar was modified at runtime and the time scale had been set to “collapsed”.
• After downsizing, time scale ribbons could display wrong values.

The post Service Release of VARCHART XGantt 4.4 appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

VARCHART XNet: Enhancements

• A new event „OnGiveFeedbackForNodeCreating“ has been implemented for adding nodes.

VARCHART XNet: Bug fixes

• On certain downsizing zooming levels no space had been left to the external framing of  adjacent nodes.
• Performance problems could occur when setting or retrieving the VcPrinter object.

VARCHART XTree: Enhancements

• No enhancements in this release

VARCHART XTree: Bug fixes

• No bugfixes in this release

The post Service Release of VARCHART XNet and XTree appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

Background: VARCHART XGantt and Microsoft Dynamics NAV

The role-tailored versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV (2013 and 2009 R2) lack any integrated interactive Gantt chart capability. This is worth mentioning as these kind of charts play a proven role in many time-oriented scheduling processes. This lack becomes even more notable as the Classic Client versions of Dynamics NAV provided interactive Gantt chart functionality at least in the manufacturing module. The “old” two Gantt chart views (production order view and ressource view) are known as Production Schedule. This original Production Schedule had been built on the basis of our Gantt chart control VARCHART XGantt.

Announcing the Visual Production Scheduler Add-in for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Hence, we decided to develop a Visual Production Scheduler add-in for the role-tailored versions of Dynamics NAV. The first version of the product will be available in February this year. Today, we are happy to announce that a sneak preview of this version is available on our youtube channel.

Please enjoy watching the preview of the Visual Production Scheduler add-in for Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

If you have any kind of question, please feel free to reach out to us at any time. This is especially true for Dynamics NAV VARs who are interested in getting a demo version. Talk to us! We will jointly figure us how we can best help you NOW to serve your customers with interactive visual production scheduling functionality.

In addition to this, you can get some more information about the Visual Production Scheduler add-in on our website.

The post Sneak Preview: Visual Production Scheduler Add-in for Microsoft Dynamics NAV appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

List of Enhancements in VARCHART JGantt 3.0 – SR 6

• One or several vertical line grids can now be set to time scale sections . For this, two new properties have been implemented to the JGantt class: VertLineGridsEx and SectionVertLineGridsEx

List of Fixed Bugs in VARCHART JGantt 3.0 – SR 6

• When table rows were moved interactively in vertical direction, it could happen that  succeedingly vertical scrolling did not work anymore.
• Modifications of the page preview:
  • The time section of Print Nodes Range Only now is rounded up or down precisely to a day.
  • Up to this build, the day of the end date was not displayed. Now, this day is displayed  completely up to its end (24:00 h).
• Modifications of the DiagramControlBar:
  • If no change of the DiagramZoomFactor was triggered by clicking in the resize combo box or on the 1:1 button, the display will remain as it is without rebuilding the screen

The post VARCHART JGantt 3.0 – Service Release 6 available appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.

Looking at the overall activity and blog news flow, I was actually quite impressed on what the team managed to achieve. As pictures typically say more than 1,000 words, here is a timeline-centric visualization of our 2012 Gantt chart software blog year. Enjoy watching, and let us know which post you liked most.

The post Gantt Chart Software Blog: Reviewing 2012 appeared first on Gantt Software Blog.