Introduction
Seavus Project Viewer is a complete viewer for Microsoft Project files that supports cooperation in projects where stakeholders need to view and share project information. It is a fast, lightweight standalone application that reads the native .mpp file format and does not require a previous installation of Microsoft Project on the user's computer.
This guide is the technical overview of the 3.0 generation for OS X: what it opens, what it shows, and the detailed feature list behind the manual.
Who uses it
Users of Microsoft Project plans fall into two groups: those who create and modify plans, such as the project manager, and those who only need to review and analyze the information in previously prepared plans.
Seavus Project Viewer satisfies the second group, the viewers, with a complete set of views and additional features for reviewing and analyzing project information. Keeping a competitive price while offering complete features reduces license costs, and lets people who were fed project information through file exports or printed plans work directly with the same information as the rest of the project.
The viewers
- Team members — responsible for day-to-day activities scheduled in one or more projects they are assigned to, who need to look frequently at their assignments and follow the project schedule
- Executives — responsible for one or more projects, such as a department or a region, who need visibility into all of them to determine status and confirm the work aligns with strategic goals
- External project stakeholders — vendors, distributors, suppliers, subcontractors and customers, working outside the project owner's organization, who need to review their assignments or follow the overall status
Analysis in the guide shows that the number of viewers is much greater than the number of authors of project plans.
Supported file format
The viewer reads the .mpp file format, the native format for Microsoft Project, saved in these versions:
- Microsoft Project 2016
- Microsoft Project 2013
- Microsoft Project 2010
- Microsoft Project 2007
Microsoft Project 2016
The 2016 edition supports viewing, analyzing and printing project files created in Microsoft Project 2016, in addition to all previous versions from Microsoft Project 2007 onward. The user sees the same visual effects as in Microsoft Project 2016: the new Gantt bar styles for auto-scheduled and manually scheduled tasks, the inactive task style, and the bar style colours and fonts.
Mac OS X
The viewer supports the latest version of Mac OS X at the time of writing, 10.11 “El Capitan”, in addition to 10.10 “Yosemite” and 10.9 “Mavericks”.
Supported views
The following standard views, available by default in Microsoft Project, are supported:
- Gantt Chart
- Task Sheet
- Resource Sheet
- Team Planner
The presentation of the views fully matches Microsoft Project, so every stakeholder sees the project information as the project manager sees it.
Graphical reports
The viewer adds visual reports and dashboards for reading the health of the plan. Team members can check upcoming tasks, which tasks are behind schedule, and information about the critical tasks; team leads and stakeholders can look at task and resource costs against the budget, and follow the project status through the burndown reports.
The categories and reports implemented:
- Dashboard — Cost Overview, Project Overview, Upcoming Task, Work Overview
- Resources — Resource Overview
- Cost — Cost Overruns, Resource Cost Overview, Task Cost Overview
Opening XML files
Project managers can save a plan in a format other than .mpp. One such format is XML, which lets them publish project information to web pages or corporate intranets, or send the same file by email to team members. The viewer recognises the .xml format, opens the plan and displays all details as in the original Microsoft Project plan.
Tables and filters
All standard task and resource tables and filters available by default in Microsoft Project are supported. The viewer also lets the user make their own filters with the AutoFilter functionality.
Performance
The application is lightweight and does not require a lot of memory, with these characteristics when opening .mpp files:
- Files up to 1 MB in less than 3 seconds
- Files up to 10 MB in less than 20 seconds
It supports large .mpp files up to 10 GB. Actual limits and speed depend on the computer's configuration, and out-of-memory errors may occur before the listed limits are reached.
The guide's platform note for these figures names Windows Vista through Windows 8.1, a leftover from the Windows edition. The System Requirements document is the authority on supported platforms.
Improved relationship with customers
If a user has a problem with the software, they can email Seavus support directly from the application or start a chat with a support officer. Users can also send proposals, suggestions or comments on new features from a dialog form inside the application.
Detailed feature list
General features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Application type | A stand-alone desktop application that does not require a previous installation of Microsoft Project |
| Supported file format | MPP (native Microsoft Project format, saved in Project 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016); XML |
| User interface | Similar to Microsoft Office Project 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 |
| Views | Task: Gantt Chart, Task Sheet. Resource: Resource Sheet, Team Planner |
| Tables | Task: Entry, Summary, Cost, Usage, Work. Resource: Entry, Summary, Cost, Usage, Work |
| Filters | Task: All Tasks, Active Tasks, Completed Tasks, Critical, In Progress Tasks, Incomplete Tasks, Late Tasks, Milestones, Summary Tasks, Task Starting Soon, Tasks Due This Week, Unstarted Tasks, Upcoming Milestones |
| Printing | Complete printing support with print preview and page setup: orientation, scaling (adjust to N% normal size, or fit to N pages wide by M pages tall), paper size; print header and footer, print the ID column on all pages |
| Outlining | Show the outline symbol and number, and choose an outline level to expand or hide the tasks at that level |
| Sorting | Task: by Start Date, Finish Date, Priority, Cost, ID. Resource: by Cost, Name, ID |
| Zoom and sizing | Zoom in and out, and Zoom To for a resolution in days, weeks or months, or the whole project. Any table, including the timeline header, can be resized by dragging the row, column or tier separator |
| Information dialogs | Project Information (and Project Statistics), Task Information (including summary tasks, inserted projects and recurring tasks), Resource Information |
| Shared resource pools | Complete support for projects using shared resource pools |
| Master projects and external tasks | Complete support for master projects containing inserted projects, and for subprojects with external dependencies |
| Online help | An extensive help manual integrated with the application, with reference information, overviews and best-use scenarios |
Gantt Chart views
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Supported views | Gantt Chart; any custom-created Gantt Chart views |
| Tables | All task tables |
| Filters | All task filters |
| Layout options | All layout options, and for the active view: link style, bar date format, “Always roll up Gantt bars”, “Hide rollup bars when summary expanded” |
| Bar styles and formatting | All bar styles options, and the specific formatting for each particular bar |
| Text styles and formatting | Font options for the different text styles, and the specific formatting for each row, column or cell |
| Timescale formatting | All timescale options and formatting, including one, two or three tiers and non-working time settings; any of the timescale options can be changed for the active view |
| Gridlines formatting | All gridlines formatting options |
Task Sheet views
The standard Task Sheet view, and any custom-created Task Sheet views, with all task tables, all task filters, complete text style and gridline formatting.
Resource Sheet views
The standard Resource Sheet view, and any custom-created Resource Sheet views, with all resource tables, all resource filters, complete text style and gridline formatting.
Graphical reports
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Supported view | A view created by Seavus for the reports |
| Reports | Dashboards (Cost Overview, Project Overview, Upcoming Tasks, Work Overview); Resources (Resource Overview); Costs (Cost Overruns, Task Cost Overview, Resource Cost Overview) |
| Available charts | Bars (Clustered, Stacked, 100% Stacked); Columns (Clustered, Stacked, 100% Stacked); Line (Line, Stacked Line, 100% Stacked Line); Line with Markers (and stacked variants); Pie (Pie, Pie of Pie, Bar of Pie, Doughnut); Area (Area, Stacked Area, 100% Stacked Area); Radar (Radar, Radar with Markers, Filled Radar) |
| Chart elements | Axis, Axis Title, Chart Title, Data Labels, Data Table, Gridlines, Legend |
| Bar styles | Only the predefined bar style |
| Filters | Task and resource filters, as in the report categories |
| Groups | Not used |
| Sort | Task: by Start Date, Finish Date, Priority, Cost, ID. Resource: by Cost, Name, ID |
| Zoom | Zoom in and out |
| Reset Reports | Only the predefined text style |
Fields
Task fields: % Complete, % Work Complete, Active, Actual Cost, Actual Duration, Actual Finish, Actual Overtime Cost, Actual Overtime Work, Actual Start, Actual Work, Baseline Cost, Baseline Finish, Baseline Start, Baseline Work, Constraint Date, Constraint Type, Contact, Cost, Cost Variance, Cost1–10, Critical, Date1–10, Deadline, Duration, Duration1–10, Effort Driven, Finish, Finish1–10, Fixed Cost, Flag1–20, GUID, Hyperlink, Hyperlink Address, Hyperlink SubAddress, ID, Indicators, Milestone, Name, Notes, Number1–20, Objects, Outline Code1–10, Outline Level, Outline Number, Overtime Cost, Overtime Work, Predecessors, Priority, Project, Recurring, Regular Work, Remaining Cost, Remaining Overtime Cost, Remaining Overtime Work, Remaining Work, Resource Group, Resource Initials, Resource Names, Resource Type, Rollup, Scheduled Duration, Scheduled Finish, Scheduled Start, Start, Start1–10, Status, Stop, Successors, Summary, Task Mode, Text1–30, Type, Unique ID, WBS, Work.
Resource fields: % Work Complete, Accrue At, Actual Cost, Actual Finish, Actual Overtime Cost, Actual Overtime Work, Actual Start, Actual Work, Base Calendar, Baseline Cost, Baseline Work, Budget, Cost, Cost1–10, Cost Per Use, Cost Variance, Date1–10, Duration1–10, Email Address, Flag1–20, Group, GUID, Hyperlink, Hyperlink Address, Hyperlink SubAddress, ID, Initials, Material Label, Max. Units, Name, Notes, Number1–20, Overtime Cost, Overtime Rate, Overtime Work, Regular Work, Remaining Cost, Remaining Overtime Cost, Remaining Overtime Work, Remaining Work, Standard Rate, Start, Start1–10, Task Outline Code, Text1–30, Unique ID, Work.
Language
English (default), German, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese (Brazil) and Chinese (Simplified).
System requirements
Supported platforms
- Mac OS X 10.11 “El Capitan”
- Mac OS X 10.10 “Yosemite”
- Mac OS X 10.9 “Mavericks”
Hardware requirements
- An Intel Pentium II or Pentium-grade processor, a Celeron processor or an Athlon processor
- A minimum of 512 MB of RAM, with more recommended
- 50 MB of disk space
- A Super VGA display, with the screen resolution set to at least 800 × 600