The success of HMS Software is due, in large part, to the software system Open Plan, a project management software package developed in Houston, Texas, by Welcom Software Technology. For the last 5 years, HMS has had the exclusive distribution rights for this product for all of Canada.

"We discovered this package five years ago" explains Chris Vandersluis, "when Philips Electronics gave us a mandate to find a project management system that worked for them. They had switched their software four times in as many years. Now, they have been using Open Plan for the last five years without difficulty."

Since this time, companies as prestigious as Pratt & Whitney, Canadair, SNC, Hydro Québec, Lavalin, Paramax, Tecsult and many others have added themselves to the list of clients of HMS Software. "For managing large engineering projects such as LG2 and the maintenance of the CF18 for example, companies are using Open Plan" adds Don Gillis proudly.

Better yet, after comparative tests done by users, this project management software was chosen as the best both by PC Magazine and PC Week, two bibles of the computer industry. Nevertheless, those who have had to shop to find a good project management package, know that there are a number of them on the market (between 60 and 70). What does it take to get and to hold the attention of the biggest names in the Quebec engineering and international computer industries? The answer is in a few powerful points.

A Flexible Software package

First of all, Open Plan is, without a doubt, the most flexible project management software package on the market today. Effectively, Open Plan is a package with an open architecture. This is to say, that it can be used as it is or adapted precisely to a custom requirement not just for a company but also for each engineering or construction project. Open Plan works with dBASE III, the most powerful and most popular database in the world (8 million users currently). Aside from that, what is extraordinary in an industry where all means are being taken to protect itself from pirates, the users of Open Plan have access to the source code of the program itself, and can modify it at will to adapt to their particular needs.

Chris Vandersluis gives SNC as an example of a company that has integrated part of Open Plan into its own automated project management system. Users at the James Bay Energy Company (JBEC) translated from english to french the main menus and commands of the software as well as some reports and all this because of access to the source code. According to the philosophy of HMS, "It shouldn't be up to the company to adapt to the software. It should be up to the software to adapt to the company's way of doing business." It is this that Open Plan with it's open architeture allows one to do that is the main difference with other products offered in the market.

Micro-Computers and Performance

Another important characteristic of Open Plan is that it was designed to work as well in a micro-computer environment as a mini. Available in IBM, Macintosh and VAX versions, this software (whose retail price is approximately $6,000) is therefore affordable for engineering firms which are more modest in size.

"With the savings of time and money generated by a automated project management system which is high performance and low cost, mid-size firms can quickly amortize their investment and offer a better service which allows them to go after more ambitious projects." believes Donald Gillis.

In the performance category, it must be noted that the capacities of Open Plan are very impressionable. This software can deal with an incredible volume of data: up to 32,000 activities per project and 300 resources per activity. Also, up to 256 work calendars can be used simultaneously and can be applied to activities and both human and material resources. On an IBM PC-AT for example, Open Plan can calculate 1000 activities un less than a minute and a half.

Another important characteristic of Open Plan are the 60 standard reports available in the form of tables, graphics, cost curves, histograms etc. They can be displayed directly to the screen or can be produced by a printer or plotter. Beyond that the report generator operates with 7 selection criteria and 10 levels of sort. Finally, if this vast selection is not enough, it always possible to design your own reports.

Concerning control of costs and delays, the actual progression of the project can be compared to the original plan. Thanks to a system of windows, it is possible to consult up to 11 activities at the same time. To save time, one can copy a part of a project and apply it to another to create a simulation. Open Plan can work in a local area network and the latest version even allows data to be exchanged with large systems (mainframe).

Research and Development and After-Sales Support

Open Plan is constantly being updated by the staff at Welcom Software Technology. These improvements are available to the users who have signed a service contract with HMS Software. Besides that, HMS Software organizes a conference of the canadian Open Plan Users League twice a year. This year, the events will be open to the more than 500 Canadian users (there are more than 5,000 users currently around the world). "The users are invited to share their personal experiences and to meet other people in their industry who are using such a flexible piece of software" explains Donald Gillis.

The Montreal company also distributes a range of software all for the management of engineering projects. This range includes, among others, Opera, a package to do risk analysis through simulation, Opmist, which is for regular and emergency maintenance management of one or more sites, and Cobra, a software for performance measurement.

HMS Software also offers numerous other services including complete training in either english or french for new users and a technical support service for its clients matched with an electronic bulletin board.