Open Forum

Hi Everyone!

I plan the schedule of exhibition at my institution and right now I create our schedule manually in Excel, but it's a tedious process. I have been looking into software options, but haven't been able to find anything that fits what I'm looking for. I've looked at event scheduling software and moving to a gantt chart, but none if it really does the trick. I need to be able to create a multiyear calendar with multiple spaces each being independently booked, but I should be able to do a quick glance and see all bookings in all spaces across several years. Does anyone have any software suggestions or tricks to scheduling that they can share? 

I appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

------------------------------
Alexandra Krueger
Manager of Museum Affairs
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
------------------------------

We are in the same boat and use Excel for our exhibition schedule. As frustrating as it is to format, it's the only thing we've found that works. I also generate production schedules for all of our graphic design/publications projects in Excel. Currently, there's a different worksheet for each project, which makes it difficult for me to visualize my weekly schedule across multiple projects (or the schedules of our graphic design team). We use Basecamp for project tracking, but I would love to have a master schedule of projects with projected vs. actual dates. I've tried some of the other options you've mentioned for production schedules also, and nothing yet is quite right. I'm equally hopeful one of our colleagues will have some solutions in mind.

------------------------------
Wallace Joiner
Managing Editor
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Nashville, TN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-26-2017 11:10 AM
From: Alexandra Krueger
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

Hi Everyone!

I plan the schedule of exhibition at my institution and right now I create our schedule manually in Excel, but it's a tedious process. I have been looking into software options, but haven't been able to find anything that fits what I'm looking for. I've looked at event scheduling software and moving to a gantt chart, but none if it really does the trick. I need to be able to create a multiyear calendar with multiple spaces each being independently booked, but I should be able to do a quick glance and see all bookings in all spaces across several years. Does anyone have any software suggestions or tricks to scheduling that they can share? 

I appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

------------------------------
Alexandra Krueger
Manager of Museum Affairs
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
------------------------------

You should check out FastTrack Schedule 10 for your production schedules. It's like MS Project but it runs dual platform. You can consolidate all your different schedules to see where there are critical overlaps. Very easy to use.

------------------------------
Markus Dohner
Lead designer
Markus Dohner Exhibition Design
md@markusdohner.com
Chicago, IL USA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2017 10:28 AM
From: Wallace Joiner
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

We are in the same boat and use Excel for our exhibition schedule. As frustrating as it is to format, it's the only thing we've found that works. I also generate production schedules for all of our graphic design/publications projects in Excel. Currently, there's a different worksheet for each project, which makes it difficult for me to visualize my weekly schedule across multiple projects (or the schedules of our graphic design team). We use Basecamp for project tracking, but I would love to have a master schedule of projects with projected vs. actual dates. I've tried some of the other options you've mentioned for production schedules also, and nothing yet is quite right. I'm equally hopeful one of our colleagues will have some solutions in mind.

------------------------------
Wallace Joiner
Managing Editor
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Nashville, TN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-26-2017 11:10 AM
From: Alexandra Krueger
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

Hi Everyone!

I plan the schedule of exhibition at my institution and right now I create our schedule manually in Excel, but it's a tedious process. I have been looking into software options, but haven't been able to find anything that fits what I'm looking for. I've looked at event scheduling software and moving to a gantt chart, but none if it really does the trick. I need to be able to create a multiyear calendar with multiple spaces each being independently booked, but I should be able to do a quick glance and see all bookings in all spaces across several years. Does anyone have any software suggestions or tricks to scheduling that they can share? 

I appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

------------------------------
Alexandra Krueger
Manager of Museum Affairs
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
------------------------------

You might also look into Project Merlin, for Mac and iOS platforms.  It works like MS Project and can both open and be saved as MS Project files, so it can be used as a dual platform product.  Merlin Project - Project Management for Mac and iPhone .

------------------------------
Barbara Punt
President
Punt Consulting Group
Redondo Beach CA
javascript:AddSignatureVariable('barbara@puntconsulting.com');
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2017 10:28 AM
From: Wallace Joiner
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

We are in the same boat and use Excel for our exhibition schedule. As frustrating as it is to format, it's the only thing we've found that works. I also generate production schedules for all of our graphic design/publications projects in Excel. Currently, there's a different worksheet for each project, which makes it difficult for me to visualize my weekly schedule across multiple projects (or the schedules of our graphic design team). We use Basecamp for project tracking, but I would love to have a master schedule of projects with projected vs. actual dates. I've tried some of the other options you've mentioned for production schedules also, and nothing yet is quite right. I'm equally hopeful one of our colleagues will have some solutions in mind.

------------------------------
Wallace Joiner
Managing Editor
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Nashville, TN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-26-2017 11:10 AM
From: Alexandra Krueger
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

Hi Everyone!

I plan the schedule of exhibition at my institution and right now I create our schedule manually in Excel, but it's a tedious process. I have been looking into software options, but haven't been able to find anything that fits what I'm looking for. I've looked at event scheduling software and moving to a gantt chart, but none if it really does the trick. I need to be able to create a multiyear calendar with multiple spaces each being independently booked, but I should be able to do a quick glance and see all bookings in all spaces across several years. Does anyone have any software suggestions or tricks to scheduling that they can share? 

I appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

------------------------------
Alexandra Krueger
Manager of Museum Affairs
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
------------------------------

Hi.

Currently, I am scheduling our exhibits work for the next three years. I have found the most success using Teamwork. It is not hard to figure out and allows easy communication to the rest of your team. I run the basic free version of it. You are allowed 2 projects with this, so I broke it into changing exhibits and everything else. There is a calendar feature that will break time down by hours, if needed. You can set access to the information when it comes to adding work and even setup automatic reminders for tasks.

------------------------------
Dawn Farkas Prasad
Exhibit Designer, graphics
Natural History Museum of Utah - University of Utah
Salt Lake City UT
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-26-2017 11:10 AM
From: Alexandra Krueger
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

Hi Everyone!

I plan the schedule of exhibition at my institution and right now I create our schedule manually in Excel, but it's a tedious process. I have been looking into software options, but haven't been able to find anything that fits what I'm looking for. I've looked at event scheduling software and moving to a gantt chart, but none if it really does the trick. I need to be able to create a multiyear calendar with multiple spaces each being independently booked, but I should be able to do a quick glance and see all bookings in all spaces across several years. Does anyone have any software suggestions or tricks to scheduling that they can share? 

I appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

------------------------------
Alexandra Krueger
Manager of Museum Affairs
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
------------------------------

We are a small accredited museum that is just starting to expand our exhibitions program to larger and more complex exhibitions. Is there a software we can use that is free? Or relatively inexpensive? I might be able to buy something that is a one time fee, but I can't take on any annual fees.

------------------------------
Angie Barry
Curator of Exhibitions and Collections
Gadsden Arts Center & Museum
Quincy FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-26-2017 11:10 AM
From: Alexandra Krueger
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

Hi Everyone!

I plan the schedule of exhibition at my institution and right now I create our schedule manually in Excel, but it's a tedious process. I have been looking into software options, but haven't been able to find anything that fits what I'm looking for. I've looked at event scheduling software and moving to a gantt chart, but none if it really does the trick. I need to be able to create a multiyear calendar with multiple spaces each being independently booked, but I should be able to do a quick glance and see all bookings in all spaces across several years. Does anyone have any software suggestions or tricks to scheduling that they can share? 

I appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

------------------------------
Alexandra Krueger
Manager of Museum Affairs
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
------------------------------

I'm surprised a Gantt chart didn't work. Is it because it doesn't go multiple years? Our exhibits person recently used SmartSheet.  It has a free trial period if anyone needs to try it first. https://www.smartsheet.com/

------------------------------
Jennifer Van Haaften
Assistant Director
Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Madison WI
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-31-2017 10:23 AM
From: Angie Barry
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

We are a small accredited museum that is just starting to expand our exhibitions program to larger and more complex exhibitions. Is there a software we can use that is free? Or relatively inexpensive? I might be able to buy something that is a one time fee, but I can't take on any annual fees.

------------------------------
Angie Barry
Curator of Exhibitions and Collections
Gadsden Arts Center & Museum
Quincy FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-26-2017 11:10 AM
From: Alexandra Krueger
Subject: Exhibition Scheduling Software

Hi Everyone!

I plan the schedule of exhibition at my institution and right now I create our schedule manually in Excel, but it's a tedious process. I have been looking into software options, but haven't been able to find anything that fits what I'm looking for. I've looked at event scheduling software and moving to a gantt chart, but none if it really does the trick. I need to be able to create a multiyear calendar with multiple spaces each being independently booked, but I should be able to do a quick glance and see all bookings in all spaces across several years. Does anyone have any software suggestions or tricks to scheduling that they can share? 

I appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

------------------------------
Alexandra Krueger
Manager of Museum Affairs
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
------------------------------