Float

Beautifully simple and easy to use

Comments: Float is a product I like using, and I wish some of its features and UX elements were in the other software that I use! We use Synergist for job and project management, but Float for scheduling because it UX is so much better than Synergist's scheduler tool.

Pros:

Float's user interface and logic are inspirational. They have made the activity of coordinating multiple resources on multiple projects about as easy as it can be. They have paid a lot of attention to usability, efficient use of screen real estate and simple navigation. However the killer feature is the intuitive yet clever way that searching and data navigation work. All searching and filtering is done using a single search field, which offers indexed word search on pretty much everything including tags. There is also a well-worked out protocol for handling union and intersect searches.

Cons:

The only real bugbear is that any user that can enter data into the system can define new values for any field. It isn't possible to centrally control lists such as task names, clients, job descriptions etc. This means that if you have more than one person using the system, very quickly you get different versions of the same thing being defined (e.g. job roles being slightly different) which makes it difficult to analyse across records. Not a dealbreaker, but I do think it should be possible to lock down lists of values. Also it would be good if you could zoom out the view a little more - if you're dealing with more than a dozen resources/projects.

Great tool!

Comments: Overall we love to use float. We especially like the time logging features.

Pros:

The interface has a great overview. Adding projects and tasks is intuitive and the colours make every tasks and project stand out. Logging time is really easy. We were not interested in a "log-per-minute" type of application but rather one where you can just log bigger blocks. Float helped us plan and log our time better.

Cons:

Planning a project is not super extensive. Float has some tools but the tools are a bit limited. The time tracking feature is the feature we use the most, it is a shame that is not available separately.

Good

Pros:

I am very satisfied to work with float . It is really programmer friendly.

Cons:

I think it is enough to work with but may can also add some new features

Great value. Lots of potential

Comments: I've been using CETA scheduling software for the last 4 years in big VFX companies and I must say that Float is not there yet but is actually getting broadly comparable. In the last 4 months that I introduced it into my new team it's proved to be quite useful to keep track of the progression of our projects. During these months I've seen that it has already improved in many areas that I'm excited to see what comes next.
I can see it can become a really powerful software.

Pros:

There aren't may softwares that let you schedule a team in such an easy and organised way. I think most softwares nowadays are too complex and make you spend more time organising tasks than actually working on them. Float is so clear and simple you can actually use it to manage big projects without spending too much time on it.

Cons:

It's getting better, but it would be very useful if we could: - Right click on a pencil and be able to copy it over into a different person. - Book more than one person on the same project (for example if two workers are on the same project because one of them is doing a training but you don't want to charge twice for that time). - Lately when I try to schedule more than 1 project in one day on the same person I get a message saying I can't schedule anyone for more than 24 hours) even if I'm not exceeding the 8 normal working hours. It'd be great if that could be fixed. - It'd be good if milestones were more visible. - I think reports should be a bit less complicated and more visual. - It'd be really helpful if you could group projects up in folders when you go to the Projects tab as at the moment we have like... 45 different projects going on and although we color code them it's difficult to organise all of them. -I'd like to have more than only three types of view when looking at our schedules a part from 'Days, 'Weeks' and 'Months'. It'd be great if you could 'Archive' users as well as projects. So when a worker it's not working at the company anymore and you don't want to pay for it on Float you can kind of 'Archive' him (so you are not able to book him on anything but still you can see him on the boards so you don't loose what it's been scheduled on him.)

Alternatives Considered: ShotGrid, monday.com and Asana

Reasons for Choosing Float: Monday has too many tools that you don't really get to use when scheduling. It also doesn't have an overview of projects as clear as the one Float has.

Switched From: monday.com

Reasons for Switching to Float: Its the closes to CETA software that we could find. It's good value for the price it offers and it's very intuitive and flexible.

impressive tool

Comments: the software has had a very positive impact especially on the typical issues that arise from working-at-home

Pros:

Software is brilliant at indicating future capacity and workload so potential issues are visible before they arise and can be neutralised. Changes are very easy to make. Minimal time requried to learn software and adjust to differences between other tools.

Cons:

Multiple formats for tasks were initially confusing but easily resolved., No other major negatives