News and thoughts from CS Odessa, maker of the ConceptDraw product line: ConceptDraw PRO, ConceptDraw PROJECT and ConceptDraw MINDMAP.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Why Pay Double?? ConceptDraw Offers Cross-Platform Licenses for Mac and PC, at No Extra Charge.

ConceptDraw Products provide one a choice.
Choice is important.  No one wants to be told that their options are limited.  “Soup or salad?”  “Coffee or tea?”  “Mac or PC?”  We find that many users want the best of both worlds.  And while this usually only applies to computer choice when they’re talking to us, the point stands.  These days, many people use both Mac and PC—whether out of preference or necessity.  At CS Odessa, we believe you should be able to use whichever system you choose, or both.

For those who use Mac and PC, we feel that your software should not penalize you. All ConceptDraw licenses are cross-platform.  Customers should not have to pay double to use our software they way they want to use it.  The file formats of ConceptDraw products are exactly the same for the Mac and PC, so there are never any issues with interoperability.

Mac or PC?  ConceptDraw is the only choice you have to make.

Monday, July 25, 2011

ConceptDraw MINDMAP v7 Provides Multi-Monitor Support

Do you use multiple monitors with your computer set up? ConceptDraw MINDMAP v7 supports multiple displays, which allows you to easily view maps side by side.  This is especially helpful for working with projects.  It is even possible to move content from one map to another—just drag and drop.  Copying and pasting data between maps also works seamlessly.  Looking for a way to increase your productivity even further?  Try using ConceptDraw MINDMAP with your multi-display set up!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Set, Track and Communicate Goals using Crystal Mapping

As part of our strategy to provide our customers with a one stop shop of visually based office productivity tools, we recently announced a new global alliance with Crystal Mapping.

Crystal Mapping online and desktop software enables you to plan your goals so that you have a clear, joined up plan of what you need to achieve and how to achieve it. You can use it for setting your own personal development goals in your business and professional life; for setting team goals for individuals and projects and for visualising your own and your team’s training and learning goals.

The Crystal Mapping process of Think it, Map it, See it, Do it will show you how to establish clear and precise objectives and how to use the map to track and communicate progress along the way. The map will enable you attach content and supporting information and comes as both a desktop solution and as an online application to meet your professional and personal needs.

Crystal Mapping is a major strategic addition to our product line up and if it’s a way of setting and tracking goals you need – Crystal Mapping is the solution. To read more about this exciting new product click here.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Share ConceptDraw PROJECT Files With MS Project Users

From ConceptDraw Solution Browser you are able to add
solutions from the ConceptDraw Solution Park.  Project Exchange
 is one of the newer ones to be added to the CD Solution Park.
Are you looking for flexibility in how you can share project files.  ConceptDraw PROJECT, available for Mac and PC, can import and export files to MS PROJECT (XML) file format.  This helps all team members with their requirements to share data, making you and your team more productive.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

CS Odessa Announces that ConceptDraw PROJECT v6 now has the ability to import and export Microsoft Project files


ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 can
import and export MS Project files.

CS Odessa announces that ConceptDraw PROJECT v6 now has the ability to import and export Microsoft Project XML files, with new PROJECT EXCHANGE. Because of this ability to exchange data between ConceptDraw PROJECT and MS Project; users have increased flexibility on how to exchange project information with all members of the project team. The exchange of project data across different project applications keeps everyone informed and allows for quality collaboration among team members, as well as 3rd parties that have involvement in your project.


The ability to exchange project information is key to a project’s success. ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 has the ability to save to a MS Project XML file format so that ConceptDraw PROJECT files can be shared with users of MS Project (2003, 2007, and 2010) as well as any other project management tools that can accurately import MS Project xml file format. This allows users of ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 and ConceptDraw Office 2 (contains ConceptDraw PROJECT 6) to generate project content that can be shared with all team members.

Project participants also have the ability to import MS Project files into ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 and ConceptDraw Office 2. This gives users an excellent alternative on the way they manage projects, and assists in the interoperability of project information between team members who have Macintosh and PC computers.


The ability to exchange data between ConceptDraw Office and MS Project is a big plus for project members because they can then use the other the other project tools that are part of ConceptDraw Office. As an example, ConceptDraw MINDMAP 7, part of ConceptDraw Office 2, can be used as a project front- end to brainstorm, build processes, identify contingencies and organize information for presentations to brief team members and stakeholders. The PROJECT EXCHANGE can be found in the CS Odessa ConceptDraw Solution Park.


CS Odessa provides a range of professional project software tools that assist you during every stage of your project. ConceptDraw Office uses powerful ConceptDraw INGYRE2 technology to make all tasks as easy as pushing a few buttons. The top to bottom integration of ConceptDraw Office, which includes the innovative standalone ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 product, are valuable tools to help Project Managers work towards their organization’s success.

In addition, CS Odessa also provides many project management solution add-ins that can be downloaded from ConceptDraw Solution Park. The combination of ConceptDraw Product and ConceptDraw Solution Park, from CS Odessa makes for an unbeatable value in project management software tools.


Monday, February 28, 2011

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

ConceptDraw MindWave Integrates With SAP® StreamWork™


SAP StreamWork has three pricing models
1) Basic Edition  - free account,
2) Professional Edition, & 3) Enterprise
Edition - "On Premise" solution
Clear, concise, comprehensive, collaborative communications creates commodious comprehension in corporate culture. Yes, collaboration between individuals, teams and groups is paramount to success in our fast paced environment we live in. Ambiguous communications between individuals causes problems. The newspaper reporter's mantra of who, what, where, when and how is critical today in understanding one’s job.

The great clarifier of work communications is the “meeting”. In the recent past the issue with meetings was that as teams become more dispersed the cost of meetings increased. The cost of communication became prohibitive. Enter today an effective economic solution that works for everyone from the small business person to the large corporation. SAP StreamWork is a cloud-based collaborative decision-making solution that brings together people, information and structure to help teams solve problems, brainstorm, collect feedback, build consensus and/or drive decisions. SAP StreamWork provides a reliable, safe and secure collaboration backbone that is accessible to anyone. Teams are free to meet, share documents and take decisions based on team contributions.

ConceptDraw MindWave used in conjunction with SAP StreamWork provides a great mind mapping tool that collects, organizes and presents meeting content. By using ConceptDraw MindWave and ConceptDraw Office (a powerful suite of products including ConceptDraw MINDMAP, ConceptDraw PROJECT, and ConceptDraw PRO), with SAP StreamWork, teams can visualize the process of collaborative decision making, and quickly transition from planning to implementation.

Information on ConceptDraw MindWave can be found on the ConceptDraw product site and the SAP EchoHub site.