Every function, in every plan

What MBN Projects actually does

No feature gating between tiers. A Freelance licence at £50 unlocks exactly the same application as a 10-seat Medium Teams licence — you are only ever paying for seats. Everything below runs 100% offline on Microsoft Windows 11.

MBN Projects — Main Table
MBN Projects main table view on Windows 11
Main Table. Fourteen views across the top of every project. Groups, rollups, filters and 24 column types in one grid.

The 7-day free trial — exactly what you get

The trial is time-limited and volume-limited. It is not a crippled demo — every view, all 24 column types, PDF export and the document writer are fully usable. The caps are:

2 projectsMaximum of two projects during the trial.
1 automationOne active automation rule.
No .mbnproj import/exportProject backup files are licence-only, so the trial cannot be used as a one-off migration tool.

Unlimited items and rows. No card required to start. These limits are enforced in the application core, not just hidden in the interface. Enter a licence key and every cap lifts instantly — your trial projects carry straight over.

Fourteen views over one set of data

Switch view without duplicating anything. Change a date in the table and the Gantt, calendar, workload and dashboard all move with it.

Main TableGrouped, sortable, filterable rows with rollups per group.
KanbanDrag cards between status columns.
Timeline / GanttDependencies, critical path, drag to reschedule.
CalendarMonth and week views by any date column.
WorkloadCapacity heat map with resource levelling.
DashboardFully customisable widget canvas.
PortfolioEvery project combined into one health view.
ContactsClient and supplier directory per project.
RAIDRisks, assumptions, issues, dependencies, decisions.
BaselinesSnapshot the plan, then track variance and drift.
MapPlot located rows geographically.
Document WriterBuild documents that read live project data.
Activity LogFull audit trail of every change.
AutomationsRule-based triggers and actions.
MBN Projects — Table with groups & rollups
Grouped table with SUM and AVG rollups
Table with groups & rollups. Group by phase and every group carries its own totals — SUM of hours, AVG rate, total cost, % done.
MBN Projects — Board
MBN Projects board with automations in the sidebar
Board. Phases, owners, statuses and priorities with the workspace sidebar — automations and activity log one click away.

All 24 column types

Every column type is available in every plan, on every project, with no add-ons.

TextFree text, inline edit
Long TextMulti-line notes with expand
StatusColoured workflow labels
PriorityRanked urgency flags
NumbersUnits, decimals, SUM/AVG rollups
DateCalendar picker, overdue flags
TimelineStart/finish bars, drag to reschedule
PeopleAssign from team roster
TagsMulti-select coloured tags
DropdownCustom single-select lists
CheckboxTick-box completion
Progress% complete with bar
RatingStar scoring
FormulaSpreadsheet expressions over columns
LinkClickable URLs with labels
EmailMailto links
PhoneClick-to-dial numbers
LocationAddress + 7 map providers
FilesAttach documents to any row
DependencyPredecessor links driving the critical path
World ClockPer-row time zone display
Time TrackingStart/stop timer and logged hours
MirrorLive reflection of another column
CreatedAutomatic creation timestamp
MBN Projects — Column types in use
Table showing owner, status, priority, timeline, cost, progress columns
Column types in use. Owner, status, priority, timeline, due date, estimated hours, rate, cost, progress, tags, files and dependencies — on one board.

Export a branded PDF project plan

Produce a client-ready project plan without leaving the application and without a subscription to a reporting tool. The exporter renders the real plan — groups, phases, timelines, costs, owners and progress — into a clean, paginated document.

  • Built-in live preview. See the exact document before you commit a single page — no export-open-close-adjust loop.
  • Choose what goes in. Pick views, columns, groups and date ranges per export.
  • Fixed-width column layout so wide tables stay readable and never bleed off the page.
  • Your logo and colours on the cover and running headers.
  • CSV export too, for anything that needs to land in Excel.

Customisable dashboards

Dashboards are a canvas, not a fixed template. Add the widgets you care about, size them, arrange them, and point them at one project or the whole portfolio.

  • Project health, % complete, done vs overdue, due in 7 days
  • Status breakdown and progress by project
  • Velocity and items-completed trends
  • Open risks and issues pulled from the RAID register
  • Workload and capacity summaries
  • Save different dashboards for different audiences
MBN Projects — Portfolio dashboard
Customisable portfolio dashboard showing project health widgets
Portfolio dashboard. Every project combined into one health view — overdue work first, then progress, status breakdown, velocity and open RAID entries.

Built-in document builder

A proper document writer inside the app that reads live data from your projects — so a status report, scope document or client update is generated from the plan, not retyped from it.

Reads from your projects

Insert real items, dates, owners, costs, progress and RAID entries. Re-open the document later and the figures reflect the current plan.

Templates you control

Build reusable document templates for status reports, scope statements, meeting notes, handovers and close-out reports.

Export to PDF

Same branded, paginated PDF pipeline as the project plan export — with the same live preview before you export.

Automations that run locally

Rule-based automations with no cloud connector, no webhook quota and no per-run billing. Everything executes on your machine, instantly.

  • Triggers — status changes, date arrives, item created, field edited, due date passes
  • Actions — set a status, assign a person, move group, set a date, update a field, log an entry
  • Conditions so a rule only fires when it should
  • Enable, disable and audit every rule from one panel

Trial: one active automation. Any licence: unlimited.

Portfolio view

Step above individual projects and see the whole book of work in one place — ideal when you are running six clients at once and need to know what is slipping.

  • All projects combined into a single health rollup
  • Overdue work surfaced first, then progress
  • Per-project progress bars and status mix
  • Cross-project workload so you can see who is over capacity everywhere, not just on one job
  • Click any project to drop straight into it

Planning depth you would expect from enterprise tools

Critical path & dependencies

Link predecessors, let the scheduler compute the critical chain, and see slack on parallel branches. Cycles are reported, never hung.

Baselines & variance

Snapshot the approved plan, then track start and finish drift per item — on plan, slipped, pulled in, added or removed.

Earned value

Cost and schedule performance from the hours, rates and progress already in your columns.

Workload & resource levelling

Weekly capacity per person, overload detection and levelling suggestions driven by the team roster.

RAID register

Risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies and decisions with impact × likelihood severity scoring, mitigations, owners and review dates.

Formulas

Spreadsheet-style expressions across columns — arithmetic, conditionals and text functions, recalculated live.

MBN Projects — Baselines & variance
Baseline variance table showing start and finish drift
Baselines & variance. Baseline vs current start and finish for every item, with drift called out as on plan, slipped or pulled in.
MBN Projects — Workload & resource levelling
Workload view with team roster and capacity
Workload & resource levelling. Team roster drives capacity: weekly hours, time zone and colour per person, feeding overload detection and levelling.
MBN Projects — RAID register
RAID register with severity scoring
RAID register. Impact × likelihood gives a severity score, with mitigation, owner and review date on every entry.

Export and import — you own the file

Your work is never held hostage. A whole project packages into a single portable .mbnproj file you can archive, move to a new PC, or hand to a colleague.

  • Export project — complete bundle including attachments
  • Import project — restore or transfer in one step
  • PDF for plans, reports and documents
  • CSV for spreadsheet analysis
  • Import archives are validated on the way in — malformed or unsafe file paths are refused

Trial: .mbnproj import/export is licence-only. PDF and CSV export work during the trial.

Activity log & full audit trail

Every change is recorded locally — what changed, from what value to what value, and when. Invaluable when a client asks why a date moved.

  • Chronological log per project
  • Previous and new values retained
  • Recycle bin for deleted items, with restore
  • Permanent erase that clears rows, search index and audit history, then compacts the database

Because the log retains previous values, a permanent-erase function is built in for genuine data-deletion requests. See the privacy notice.

Ten built-in themes

Light, dark, warm, cool and a dedicated high-contrast option. Every theme is applied across the entire application — all fourteen views, every dialog, the document writer and the PDF preview — not just the sidebar. Switch instantly with Ctrl + T, or from Settings › Appearance.

MBN GreenThe signature light theme.
MidnightDeep dark, brand green accents.
NebulaViolet and cyan, high energy.
SunsetWarm amber through to rose.
OceanCool blues, calm and clean.
High ContrastMaximum legibility, accessibility-first.
GraphiteNeutral dark with amber highlights.
SandWarm paper tones, easy on the eye.
PlumRich purple, low glare.
NordicMuted Scandinavian light.

Your choice is remembered per device. Text and background pairings across all ten themes are checked against WCAG AA contrast ratios, so the interface stays readable in bright offices and dim rooms alike. The High Contrast theme is there for users who need it.

Fully offline, and engineered to prove it

This is not "offline mode". There is no account, no sync service and no server. The application makes zero outbound network connections in normal use.

No telemetry

No analytics, no crash reporting to us, no usage tracking. Nothing about your projects leaves the machine.

One optional connection

Only when you click Check for updates does it fetch a small version file. Manual only — nothing on startup, no polling.

Offline activation

Licence keys are cryptographically signed and verified on-device. No activation server to go down or phone home.

Your file, your disk

Data lives in a local database on your PC. Back it up with your own routine or export a portable project bundle.

Hardened by design

Strict content security policy, parameterised database access throughout, no unsafe code, and archive imports guarded against path traversal.

Works on a plane

Full functionality with the network adapter switched off — including PDF export and the document writer.

Try the whole thing for 7 days

Two projects, one automation, everything else unlocked. No card required.