Customer Reviews

Franklin Covey Plan Plus Software

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

Summary: I am torn between giving this two and three stars. Given all the "one star" ratings, which I think are too harsh, I'm giving this three stars, but really, I think of it as 2.5 stars. It's not something I can recommend, yet I use it, and it's the best implementation yet of the Franklin Covey system. But it is plagued by quality control problems, and you can run into problems that range from minor usability issues, to crashes, and even minor damage to your Outlook data file.

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I've been a huge fan of the Franklin system since before it was Franklin-Covey. I have searched for years for a good electronic implementation of it, and have even worked hard to try to get Outlook to mimic some of its features.

The PlanPlus for Outlook add-on actually comes very close to fully implementing the FC system within Outlook, which is extremely convenient, as it integrates all your contacts, email, tasks, etc. in one environment. But as other reviewers have stated - and as I have personally experienced over years and years of using different versions of FC software - software quality is NOT something they understand. It's very frustrating.

In my case, I don't even try to get the Palm conduits to work, and using Outlook 2003, I run into various issues ranging from the occasional outright crash, to Outlook "disabling" the FC software after it crashes on quitting (extremely common), to serial number "key" problems, and more. PlanPlus definitely is doing lots of stuff behind the scenes to Outlook when it installs, and given their penchant for writing poor software, this is scary, and can result in some extremely nasty problems. You do NOT like to see Outlook launch, warn you that the file was not properly closed, and then start rebuilding it. So far, I haven't seen any clear data loss, but it scares me, and that's one of the big three no-no's of software design ("Do not frighten the user!").

All that being said, when it DOES work, it's actually a darned good implementation of the Franklin-Covey system. I like having the FC system of symbols for task management, and the task organizer is fair for managing daily vs master tasks, prioritizing, etc. By integrating with Outlook and automatically carrying forward uncompleted tasks, it eliminates much of the need for touching every task every day. There are some shortcomings - for instance, you can't select multiple tasks and perform a mass action - but I don't find they get in the way too much.

Some of FC's weekly capabilities, such as the Project Compass and Projects windows, are intriguing, and I actually have used their weekly approach (versus the "daily" approach of just tasks). But for the most part, their implementations are tantalizing for what they could be, and fall short of being truly workable as designed today.

I have a hard time recommending this software, but if you are a dyed-in-the-wool Franklin-Covey fan, and are willing to put up with the bugs (and a sort of Russian Roulette game when you install it, as you might be the unlucky one who has REAL problems), it's worth looking at. There is a demo version available from their web site, but if you install it, realize that uninstalling it completely may be difficult, although I personally have had no problems after uninstalling it on various machines.

I keep hoping that someday they'll get it right, and this is the closest they have come so far. They develop at an astoundingly slow pace, however, so don't hold your breath waiting for the next revision!

..Chris..

I initially installed Plan Plus with no difficulties. After 10 minutes or so of 'playing around' to get to know it better, Outlook 2002 crashed with a message regarding Plan Plus and Add-in manager. After that it didn't work at all. I tried first to "repair" it, lwhich didn't work, and then uninstalled it, but the reinstall failed as well. I then tried to reach Franklin via the on-line chat, but after 15-20 minutes of waiting I gave up. I then sent Franklin an email, summarizing all the steps I had taken, as well as Outlook messages, but they never responded.

My take is that Frankling does not consider robust software nor customer support to be either Urgent or Important.

Steven Yarnell

I don't think very highly of Outlook to begin with, so perhaps the Franklin development staff had their work cut out for them, but regardless, this has got to be one of the worst interfaces for creating and prioritizing tasks I've ever seen. Want to create a task for tomorrow? You can't just select the day and create a task. You have to create it for today, then go to the Quick Prioritize screen or open the task and then change the date. Want to reprioritize a group of "B" tasks to "A" tasks (since they are all "B" by default")? You can't select multiple tasks in the Quick Prioritize screen and drag them to the "A" column. You have to do one at a time. There's plenty more annoying things like this.

The PlanPlus Home screen is not bad, but it takes forever to come up sometimes (and I have a 3.06GHz machine with 1GB RAM), and if you use Outlook in offline mode, you'll eventually see a glaring bug as you click through messages in your inbox (something about the offline folder file being in use by the maximum number of applications - brilliant).

I love the Franklin method but I'm sorry to say that this software is a waste of time.

In case anyone else, like myself, had liked the concept of this software but found the 1.0.x versions too unstable to use, allow me to present you with the following news. I installed the 2.0 trial, and it is not any better. I installed FranklinCovey Plan Plus 2.0 atop a completely fresh, never-before-used Outlook 2003 and Outlook now runs for about 30 seconds before crashing. I did not bother to contact support to see if there are any resolvable issues; these problems are OK with open source products that are still under development, but for retail price, I expect software that works.

Like its predecessors, 2.0 also fails to uninstall completely, leaving behind its menus and other nonsense after it's supposedly removed itself from your system.

Please, Franklin Covey, get it right next time before releasing it. If it worked, you'd sell enough additional copies to more than cover the additional development and testing expenses.

I purchased PLAN PLUS because the description sounded wonderful. The program was billed as the successor to Franklin Planner for Microsoft Outlook. Installing the program resulted in a loss of all my Outlook data. Also, there were numerous script errors and the software would not work. The Goals Section was dated December 1999. I used on-line live help several times. At one point, I received a phone call for assistance from Franklin Covey. We were able to locate the missing Outlook data files, but the wait for service typically exceeded fifteen minutes. A couple of times, I was told that help was not available. Outlook, Plan Plus, and Internet Explorer were re-installed and repaired without success. I hope the problem is addressed so I may receive an update for my computer.

Like most other reviews, I wish I had read before buying.

I was told by a colleague that Plan Plus would slow down my computer; but liked FC paper planning, so bought anyway.

BIG mistake.

I purchase 2.0 and then upgraded to 3.0 in January. I guess I'm the sucker that was born twice.

Pro's:

1. FC paper planning process on computer

2. Weekly review/planning process

3. Included daily and weekly quotes

Con's:

Everything else; seriously.

-Stability: Crashes routinely.

-Speed: (or lack thereof... extremely slow)

In short, makes computer extremely unstable, extremely slow to open and respond to simple tasks, and is a memory hog (~30K-50k mb while running).

And I have a decent computer; Dell Inspirion with 512mb and Pentium 4 2.2ghz processor.

RECOMMENDATION: Save your money; unless you own FC stock.

I have been a FC user for several years... Paper (Monarch), Palm, and Addon to Outlook... I was dissappointed when the original addon no longer worked for my new version of Outlook(2002). I purchased Plan Plus and like the concept of the planplus home where everything on one page. First problem I noticed, I could not print to priprinted pages correctly... In the old version I had an option to print to priprinted pages or I could print to blank pages.(strike 1).

I use Exchange server 5.5 and have several hundred e-mails per day... after processing several e-mails in plan plus home I get an error saying my ost file in use by maximum applications, please close some applications to continue. (does not happen while precessing mail from my inbox) (strike 2).

The print preview pain in plan plus home suddenly stopped showing any previews... Repair did not fix... I had to uninstall and reinstall to fix this problem, but 4 days later the problem came back. (strike 3)... All this time I am on the phone or chatting with support... every time they say level 2 will call me back later in the day of the next day... I am still waiting for the call back... come to find out, they only have one level 2 guy and he must be swamped... It is a shame when a time and task management company such as Franklin Covey does not return phone calls, rolls out products premature and does not spend the resources or create the plan to adaquately support the product. Other than that I have no complaints... Franklin Covey management I hope you are reading these comments and do something about it before you loose all your supporters... BTW, I hated to pay for Outlook addon to find it did not work in Outlook XP, then have to pay again to get Plan Plus... Will I have to pay again when the new version of Outlook comes out later in 2003?...

Read the marketing info, talked to Franklin Covey, they assured me the software was working well unlike all their other releases, No problems they said, bug list is very short. Hence, I purchased the software. It is the worst software I ever installed. It took me two weeks to get installed, it wrecked by database, Outlook does not work correctly after the installation, sync-ing with Palm does not work, cannot move tasks to other days, even the uninstall does not work correctly. Please!! save yourself weeks of pain and problems; do not get this software, there are many other good products on the market. Franklin Covey has grossly misrepresented this software; I have never seen a company release a piece of software so far from complete. I guess they need money for the third quarter.

I wish they has a zero star rating, one is way too high for this product

Can't agree enough with the other reviews. Running Windows 2000 and Outlook 2000, Pocket PC and a Palm 505. I really like the way the software works in general, but it is incapable of functioning properly with HotSync. Somebody actually charges money for this?

The product looks like it has not been tested adequately and rushed to the market. Daily record from my palm was not saved after a synchronization on the PC. Worse, a task without a reminder in Outlook ended up being a task with a reminder in my palm and the reminder for the task could not be turned off - FC reminder screen was not responsive, so I had an alarm and buzzer that would not stop. After a soft reset, the alarm and buzzer came back on the only way to stop it was using a hard reset and losing all my data.

I hope they release a patch very quickly to fix these bugs. I would recommend folks not wasting money until the problems are fixed