14 Key Benefits of Costbars Project Pipeline Scheduler for Portfolio Management

Innovative Insights into Project Portfolios
Costbars provides advanced tools for project prioritization and selection, offering clear visibility into in-flight projects and the upcoming pipeline. This empowers PPM practitioners to make informed, strategic go/kill decisions, a core requirement for effective portfolio management.

Comprehensive Project Pipeline Visibility
Gain a one-row-per-project view of the entire portfolio pipeline, displaying configurable data points like cost, hours, schedule, priority, and risk. This clarity addresses the PPM challenge of poor visibility, enabling quick analysis and oversight.

Visual Decision-Making with Drag-and-Drop Interface
The intuitive graphical interface allows users to visualize and adjust the project pipeline, risks, and issues on a timeline using simple drag-and-drop gestures. This enhances decision-making speed and usability, critical for dynamic portfolio adjustments.

Real-Time Resource Demand Tracking
Link projects with predecessors and dependencies to schedule and adjust resource demand in real time as projects shift or terminate. This tackles inefficient resource planning, a key PPM pain point, ensuring optimal allocation.

Cloud Data Analysis Dashboard with Pubsets
Access a cloud-based dashboard with pre-built graphs, line charts, pie charts, bubble charts, and tabular reports. The Pubset feature enables secure, configurable report sharing, supporting data-driven decisions and stakeholder communication.

Spreadsheet-Based Data Entry with Pre-Populated Templates
Eliminate tedious web forms with spreadsheet templates (compatible with Excel and Open Office Calc) pre-loaded with portfolios, projects, tasks, resources, risks, and issues. These sync seamlessly with Costbars, streamlining data entry and management—a major time-saver for PPM practitioners.

Integrated PPM and Resource Scheduling
Built on the Timebars Resource Scheduler engine, Costbars combines robust scheduling with PPM-specific metadata (e.g., strategic drivers), enhancing portfolio analytics and decision-making beyond basic resource management.

Enhanced Productivity with Intuitive Features
Boost productivity through a unique drag-and-drop project linking interface, spreadsheet sync, and resource demand calculator. These features streamline workflows, reducing the overwhelm of manual processes.

Strategic Decision Support with Local Analytics
Leverage integrated local dashboard analytics tailored for go/kill decisions, using PPM-specific data points and strategic drivers. This provides deeper insights for aligning projects with organizational goals.

High Security with TLS Encryption
Benefit from end-to-end TLS (HTTPS) encryption for login and app usage, with no data stored on servers. This ensures secure data handling, a critical concern for organizations managing sensitive project information.

Customizable Portfolio Pipeline Reports
The Portfolio tab in spreadsheet templates pulls only specified field data, allowing tailored reports with corporate data. This flexibility supports strategic oversight and reporting customization.

Powerful Data Analytics Engine
A built-in analytics engine enhances custom charts and provides deeper insights into project and portfolio performance, going beyond standard reporting for advanced PPM needs.

Seamless Switching Between Tools
Transition effortlessly between Timebars and Costbars with a single license, maintaining data continuity. This flexibility reduces friction for users managing both resource and portfolio tasks.

Consistent User Interface Across Tools
Enjoy a familiar scheduling engine and UI shared with Timebars, reducing the learning curve and improving usability across resource and portfolio management functions.