DPlan is a Project Value Intelligence system. Not another planner. Not another Gantt renderer. An intelligence layer that sits on top of your plan and continuously answers one question: is this project actually succeeding?
DPlan computes a live Value Score across Schedule, Cost, Quality and Output. It tracks your Business Objectives, Goals, Risks, Issues, and Decisions — all in one place, assessed in real time against actual project performance. It detects the shadow dependencies your team forgot to draw. It triggers risk alerts before anyone notices the problem. It scores every milestone for decision-readiness — and tells you exactly where your plan stopped matching reality.
No other system connects business outcomes to execution data in real time like this. And all of it runs offline, in your browser, with your data never leaving your device. No account, no cost, no catch.
These aren't features bolted on — they're the intelligence layer that turns a plan into a living diagnostic:
| Feature | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Forecast Engine & Consequence Card | Rate-ratio pace analysis per task. Click the forecast badge → full impact card: pace bars, milestone shifts with dates, cost cascade, resource lock-up, recovery scenarios, velocity sparkline. Learn more → |
| What-If Simulator | Drag a progress or duration slider and see live system-wide impact in under 25ms — milestone dates shift, costs change, SPI moves, downstream forecasts ripple. |
| Position × Momentum Health | Two independent observables — where the task IS vs where it's HEADING. Catches "looks fine but stalling" and "at risk but recovering" — invisible to single-dimension tools. |
| Ghost Bars & Drift Halos | Gantt bars show projected slip as translucent extensions. Drift halos glow amber/red when pace decelerates — before any deadline is missed. |
| Micro-Friction (Haptic Drag) | Dragging a critical-path task rightward feels physically heavier proportional to downstream blast radius. Your hand learns the project topology. |
| Project Pulse Strip | Always-visible bar showing delay cost burning, tasks at risk, SPI, and hidden divergence signals. One-click Critical Signal Mode filters to only problem tasks. |
| Shadow Dependency Inference | 5 detectors find hidden task relationships from progress patterns — with confidence scoring and time decay. Learn more → |
| 7-Layer Decision Panel | Milestone risk scoring with CPM, delay/impact/tier classification, trajectory hysteresis, recovery advisor. Learn more → |
| Project Value Score | Multi-domain performance (schedule/cost/quality/output) with industry presets and RAG status. Learn more → |
| Auto Risk Triggers (14 types) | Configurable thresholds that auto-evaluate when the view opens — schedule, budget, resource alerts. Learn more → |
| Drift Score | Quantifies the gap between your planned dependencies and actual execution flow as a single percentage. |
| Blocker → Issue Linking | Comments flagged as blockers auto-surface in the issue tracker with pulsing badge on task rows. |
| Client-Facing Export | One-click clean export that hides costs, notes, and comments — perfect for stakeholder presentations. |
| Project Journal Export | Diary-style HTML with phase chapters, dated note entries, and project stats bar. |
| WBS Tree View | Visual work breakdown tree with pan/zoom, overlay modes, and SVG connectors. |
| Morning Brief Board | Risk-aware kanban with enriched task variance detection and urgency scoring. |
| Due-Date Countdown Badges | Color-coded urgency badges on every task row for instant visual priority. |
On top of the intelligence layer, DPlan also has every core planning feature you'd expect: Metro-style ribbon toolbar, interactive SVG Gantt timeline, CPM auto-scheduling, task dependencies (FS/SS/FF/SF with lag), resource and cost tracking (Person / Equipment / Material), Earned Value Management (EVM), a live dashboard, calendar view, baseline comparison, 16 project templates, filters, and export to Excel, PDF, HTML, PNG, MS Project XML, iCal, Jira CSV, and the native .dplan format.
Everything runs in the browser using localStorage for persistence. There is no login, no cloud sync, and no data ever leaves your machine unless you explicitly export a file.
The very top of the window shows the project name (click to rename), a save indicator dot (green = saved, amber = unsaved changes), and quick-access icons for undo, redo, and the help panel.
The ribbon is organised into five tabs. Each tab reveals a context-appropriate set of action buttons:
| Tab | What you find here |
|---|---|
| HOME | Add Task, Add Milestone, Add Summary/Phase, indent/outdent, move up/down, delete row, zoom controls, today-jump button. |
| INSERT | Insert Task Above, Insert Milestone, Insert Summary Phase, duplicate selected row, paste from clipboard. |
| VIEW | Timeline zoom (Day / Week / Month / Quarter), toggle Critical Path highlight, toggle Baseline overlay, toggle Dashboard, toggle Calendar, toggle Resource panel, theme switcher (Light / Auto / Dark). |
| SCHEDULE | Auto Schedule (runs CPM), Set Baseline, Clear Baseline, constraint selector for selected task. |
| EXPORT | Save .dplan file, Open .dplan file, Export Excel, Export PDF, Export HTML, Export PNG, Portfolio Export. |
The task table on the left lists every task, milestone, and summary phase in outline order. Columns include: row number, type icon, task name, start date, end date, duration, progress (%), status, priority, assignee, and cost (if cost tracking is enabled). Column widths are fixed; scroll horizontally if your screen is narrow.
Click any row to select it. Double-click (or press Enter) to open the Task Editor panel on the right.
The right portion of the screen is the Gantt timeline. Horizontal bars represent task duration. The timeline header shows date labels scaled to the current zoom level. A red vertical line marks today.
Opens to the right (or in a floating panel) when you double-click a row or press Enter. All task properties live here: name, type, dates, duration, constraint, progress, status, priority, assignee, resources, dependencies, notes, recurring settings, and cost fields.
Toggled from the VIEW tab. The Dashboard and Calendar open as full-area overlays. The Resource manager opens as a side panel. Only one overlay is shown at a time.
When you open DPlan in a fresh browser, a blank project is already waiting. Click the project name in the title bar and type your project name (e.g., Website Redesign Q3). Press Enter to confirm. DPlan auto-saves to localStorage immediately.
To open an existing project from a .dplan file, go to EXPORT → Open .dplan and select your file.
Click HOME → Add Task (or press T) to insert a new task row. Type the task name and press Tab to move to the start date field. Enter a start date, then a duration (e.g., 5 for 5 working days).
To group tasks under a phase, first add a Summary Phase with HOME → Add Summary, then add tasks below it and use Indent (Tab while the row is selected in the table) to nest them underneath. Summary rows automatically roll up dates and progress from their children.
Add a milestone with HOME → Add Milestone. Milestones have zero duration and appear as diamonds on the Gantt.
Double-click any task to open the Task Editor. Scroll to the Dependencies section. Type a predecessor task's name or ID into the search field and select it from the dropdown. By default this creates a Finish-to-Start dependency with zero lag.
To add lag (a waiting period), enter a positive number in the lag field. To add lead (overlap), enter a negative number. Press Enter or click Add.
Dependency arrows immediately appear on the Gantt. See Dependencies for full detail.
Once your tasks and dependencies are in place, click SCHEDULE → Auto Schedule. DPlan performs a Critical Path Method (CPM) pass: it topologically sorts the task network, propagates start and end dates forward from each predecessor, respects any constraints you've set, and recalculates all summary durations.
After scheduling, enable the Critical Path highlight (VIEW → Critical Path) to see which tasks have zero float. These are the tasks that directly control your project finish date.
DPlan saves automatically to localStorage on every change. The save indicator in the title bar turns green within a second of any edit.
For a durable, portable backup, go to EXPORT → Save .dplan. This downloads a JSON file to your Downloads folder. Keep this file in version control or a shared drive so teammates can open the same plan.
The most useful shortcuts while working in the task table:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| T | Add new Task |
| M | Add new Milestone |
| S | Add new Summary / Phase |
| Enter | Open Task Editor for selected row |
| Delete / Backspace | Delete selected row |
| Tab | Indent selected row (make child of row above) |
| Shift+Tab | Outdent selected row |
| Alt+↑ | Move row up |
| Alt+↓ | Move row down |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo (up to 50 steps) |
| Ctrl+Y | Redo |
| Ctrl+S | Save .dplan file |
| Escape | Close Task Editor / dismiss popup |
| + / - | Zoom timeline in / out |
| Home | Jump timeline to project start |
| End | Jump timeline to today |
See the full list in Keyboard Shortcuts.
DPlan stores your active project in the browser's localStorage under the key dplan_project. The undo/redo history stack is kept in memory only and is lost when you close or refresh the tab.
There is no server, no account, and no network request of any kind during normal use. Your project data never leaves your browser unless you explicitly export a file.
DPlan is a fully offline, client-side application. All computation — scheduling, cost calculations, PDF rendering, PNG export — happens locally in your browser using JavaScript and the browser's built-in APIs (Canvas, SVG, Blob). No analytics, no telemetry, no fonts loaded from CDNs at runtime. Once the page is loaded, you can disconnect from the internet and all features continue to work normally.