Insights

PMA Technologies held its 8th Annual NetPoint and GPM Conference in Austin, TX, on March 1–2, 2018, at the JW Marriott Hotel. Current and prospective NetPoint users gathered for training, to discuss best practices, and to share knowledge on the planning and scheduling software. The conference was organized to connect with these individuals, provide scheduling best practices, and communicate the software’s benefits and ever-improving features.

Since its commercial release in 2008, NetPoint has been invaluable for individuals seeking a powerful and collaborative planning tool in the project management sector. Guided by industry professionals, attendees explored, discovered, and harnessed project planning and scheduling skills. The event was open to all project planners, schedulers, students, and faculty currently using NetPoint as well as those new to NetPoint.

This year’s program began Thursday morning with NetPoint training hosted by Tim Mather, PMP (PMA Technologies) followed by best practices for exchanging information between NetPoint and Primavera P6 presented by Vivek Puri, PhD, PMP. After lunch, Mike Brown, PMP, gave an informative presentation on Schedule MD’s top five metrics for measuring schedule reliability. Sergio Ponce de Leon concluded the day’s activities with training on the new features in NetPoint version 5.3 including the new header and footer function.

Friday morning, the keynote presentation entitled, “Better Algorithms to Schedule By,” by Dr. Gui Ponce de Leon, PE, PMP, LEED AP, demonstrated the power of NetPoint and GPM algorithms to improve the planning and scheduling process. Eric Sylvestre and Ryan Donaldson, from Facca Inc., followed with, “Scheduling for Success, Managing Schedules on all Levels,” demonstrating how a general contractor is using NetPoint for scheduling at different activity levels. Dax Ponce de Leon, PMP, LEED AP, finished the morning session, with an exposition of NetPoint’s interactive and graphical interface as a tool used to assess the planning and scheduling skills of prospective new employees.

Following lunch, University of Michigan graduates Jay Makwana and Shreyas Mishra presented their research project that compares and contrasts Schedule MD and Acumen Fuse for measuring schedule reliability.

Jaime Sobrino, PMP, LEED AP, AIA, VMA, (PMA) and Gail Sutton-Pauling (John Knox Village) spoke on their experiences of using NetPoint to communicate and forecast a master project plan for development of the John Knox Village in south Florida.

PMA’s Eric Lowther PMP, LEED AP, and Mike Brown, PMP, presented, “Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In with NetPoint” to further discuss the importance of interactive planning and communication for stakeholder buy-in and project success.