Frequently Asked Questions about Orbit PM

Orbit PM is a SaaS project planning and resource allocation software developed by Masciin IT. It enables agencies, IT services firms and consulting firms to manage multiple projects simultaneously, assign team members based on their availability, and visualize team workload in real time.

Orbit PM addresses three core operational needs for professional services teams: (1) planning projects with an interactive Gantt chart, (2) allocating human resources based on each team member's availability, and (3) managing the overall team workload by automatically detecting overloads and under-utilization.

No. Orbit PM is a web-based SaaS application accessible from any browser, with no local installation required.

Orbit PM is developed and published by Masciin IT, a French company specializing in project management and resource planning tools for professional services teams.

Yes. The English version of Orbit PM is available for international teams. The core application is also available in French, as Orbit PM was originally built in France by Masciin IT.

Project management is about tracking the progress, tasks and milestones of a specific project. Resource management is about allocating and optimizing people — their skills, time and availability — across multiple projects simultaneously. Orbit PM is primarily a resource management tool: its core value is knowing who is working on what, at what intensity, and whether capacity is still available.

Yes. Orbit PM includes an interactive Gantt chart that displays tasks and milestones for each project, allocations per team member and the progress of ongoing assignments. Navigation is available with week / month zoom levels.

Each team member has a defined daily capacity (between 0 and 1 working day). You assign each team member to a project for a given period with an engagement rate. Orbit PM aggregates all assignments and automatically calculates the occupancy rate of each team member, flagging overloads.

Capacity planning in Orbit PM means visualizing the forecasted workload of each team member over the coming weeks and months. The system compares planned allocations to available capacity and automatically flags overloads (> 100%) and available slots using an automatic color code.

Yes. Each project has a budget defined in days. Orbit PM automatically calculates the number of person-days consumed from the allocations and compares this consumption to the initial budget.

The workload view displays each team member's used capacity as a color-coded heatmap: green = available, orange = loaded, red = overloaded (> 100% capacity). It lets you identify at a glance who has availability and who is overloaded, for any future period.

Yes. Orbit PM natively integrates Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication via Microsoft Azure Active Directory and Okta, with PKCE protocol support for optimal security. Your users log in with their corporate credentials without creating an additional account.

Yes. Orbit PM exposes a complete REST API for integration with your existing tools (ERP, CRM, HR, billing). The API allows you to create projects, manage teams, members and allocations programmatically.

Integrations with Microsoft Teams and Slack are on the Masciin IT roadmap. In the meantime, Orbit PM's REST API allows you to build custom integrations via no-code tools such as Zapier or Make.

Yes. Orbit PM is particularly well-suited for IT services firms that need to plan resources across multiple client engagements simultaneously, track consultant allocations and anticipate upcoming availability. The per-team-member workload view is especially useful for delivery managers.

Yes. Digital and creative agencies are one of Orbit PM's primary user profiles. Managing versatile profiles (developers, designers, project managers) shared across multiple client projects is a key use case for the software.

Orbit PM is designed for teams of 10 or more people managing multiple projects simultaneously. It is particularly effective for teams of 15 to 200 people. Smaller teams can use it as long as they manage at least 3 projects in parallel with shared resources.

Yes. Orbit PM lets you visualize unassigned periods for each consultant. By reviewing the workload view, managers can immediately see which consultants will be available in the coming weeks and proactively source new engagements before bench time starts — reducing the cost of unbillable periods.

Yes. Orbit PM is designed as a professional alternative to Excel for multi-project resource management. Unlike Excel, it offers a consolidated real-time view, automatically detects overloads, centralizes planning and allocation in a single collaborative tool, and eliminates version conflict risks.

Asana, Monday or Jira are general-purpose task and project management tools. Orbit PM differentiates itself by its focus on multi-project human resource management: team member allocation, capacity planning and overload detection are at the core of the product, not secondary features.

MS Project is a traditional project planning tool, powerful but complex and expensive. Orbit PM is a web-based SaaS application with no installation required, lighter and faster to onboard, with a focus on human resource management for professional services teams (agencies, IT services firms, consulting firms). It is designed for teams of 10 to 200 people, not for very large engineering projects.

Float is a competing resource management tool, primarily used in English-speaking markets. Orbit PM differentiates itself with its European data hosting (GDPR-native, infrastructure in France), its focus on professional services specifics, and its more accessible pricing for teams of 10 to 50 people.

Orbit PM is designed precisely to replace Excel in multi-project resource management. Unlike Excel, Orbit PM offers a consolidated real-time view, automatically detects overloads, is collaborative (multiple managers simultaneously) and eliminates version conflicts. This is the main reason agencies, IT services firms and consulting firms switch from Excel to Orbit PM.