OLYMPIA, Wash., Sept. 15, 2006 -- Olympia-based design firm Business Arts announced today the release of ProjectSheet(R), TaskSheet(TM), and TopSheet(TM) -- three new software products designed to help people schedule and manage projects more easily.

The Excel(R)-based tools are designed to be simple and intuitive, enabling busy professionals, and those new to creating project schedules, to use them quickly with minimal training.

Says co-founder Chris Barnes, "It's surprising how many people still create schedules by hand because they think it's easier than dealing with project management software. Our simple yet powerful products solve real-world scheduling problems quickly and easily."

The Business Arts software also offers advantages for people working in restrictive network environments: no installation is required, the files do not contain macros, do not trigger security alerts, and users are able to take advantage of Microsoft(R) Office's built-in collaboration tools.

"In many organizations, getting approval to buy or install new software can be a time-consuming hassle," explained Barnes. "We designed our tools so that someone needing to plan a project can purchase an affordable product, download it right away, and quickly create and share an automated project schedule."

Co-founder Robert Guillou, a Stanford Certified Project Manager (SCPM) and PMI-certified Project Management Professional (PMP), added that "It's always been a challenge to find planning tools that are simple and effective enough to be embraced by diverse project teams. Our products specifically address that challenge and provide an important new alternative to more complicated solutions."

ProjectSheet, originally released in June 2005, is a powerful planning tool that enables users to create a project schedule in minutes. Offering space for 40 distinct activities, ProjectSheet can plan forward from a start date or backward from a finish date, automatically adjusting the entire schedule as dates and tasks change. Users can group or link activities, identify activities that exceed specified targets, print schedules or a chart for easy sharing, and record actual dates as projects progress.

TaskSheet features similar planning capabilities and an expanded interface that handles up to 200 tasks. TaskSheet is ideal for intricate projects, or for managers who prefer a granular planning approach.

TopSheet, created for those who oversee multiple projects, integrates with ProjectSheet and/or TaskSheet to provide a summary of up to 40 project schedules. At a glance, users can determine which projects are on track and which are overdue. Sorting and printing functions make it easy to create custom up-to-date reports.

Business Arts products are available for purchase at http://www.BusinessArts.com.

About Business Arts

Business Arts is a privately held company based in Olympia, Washington, with a satellite office in Palo Alto, California. In addition to providing high-end communication and design services, Business Arts entered the software market with its premier product in June 2005, adding two new products in summer 2006 to create an Excel(R)-based suite of project planning tools.

Chris Barnes
    800-560-1285
    Media@BusinessArts.com
    http://www.BusinessArts.com