I haven't looked at Sciforma in several years, but when last I did, both it and its Scitor PS predecessors were very nice products. Out-of-the-box, I definitely think it is a better product than MS Project. Of course, so too were Microplanner and several other competitors in that market niche.
However, comparing any other standalone to MS Project is a bit deceiving, as the market size of MS Project dictates that there are a VAST number of add-ons written and marketed for MS Project that are not available to the users of other software. That means that a product like Sciforma has to do all its own development, and where it doesn't there will be deficiencies.
A fundamental one is in the CPM computation algorithm. Now, MSP certainly has its deficiencies in this field, too -- think about the failure to allow two dependency relationships (SS and FF) between two tasks! But that is something for which there is a simple workaround through milestones. However, and please correct me if I am wrong, whereas there is an add-on (from Sumatra.com) to MSP that computes critical path drag, Sciforma does not currently calculate drag.
Now, it's easy to say that this is not a big deal, as the only other package (as far as I know) currently available that does compute drag is Spider Project -- Asta, Open Plan, etc. currently do not. I remember 25 years ago when I worked for the company that made Qwiknet Professional, we made light of the fact that it didn't compute free float. Well, it should have, and our competitors made us bleed purple because of that deficiency.
But critical path drag is NOT free float! First, free float is, like total float, OFF the critical path, and second, the vast majority of PM software users don't even know what free float is, what its implications are, and how to compute it! (They should, but they don't.)
Conversely, and as the name implies, critical path drag is a metric that is ALWAYS on the critical path. And if you will pardon my saying so, although the calculations are related, drag is therefore more -- um -- critical than either free OR total float. To claim that a software package does critical path method if it does not compute the critical path drag is close to false advertising ("Our spreadsheet software has great functionality, only it doesn't compute multiplication!"), and will be some day soon.
Just to give you an idea, here is the abstract for a presentation [1] (EVM-1389) being given this coming June in Washington D.C. at the Annual Meeting of AACE International (Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering [2]):
(EVM-1389) Critical Path Drag Cost for Corrective Action Development
Primary Author: Ms Leah V Zimmerman CCC EVP PSP Green Manor Group LLC
Abstract: Project Managers design corrective action plans by careful consideration of alternative approaches, often this process lacks a quantitative and disciplined method. Identification and focus on the project schedule activities that provide the greatest reward for the corrective action can improve the chances of the project meeting the technical objectives on time and within budget. The concepts of critical path drag, resource elasticity, expected monetary value and technical debt will be explored and explained. A quantitatively driven, corrective action decision-tree and process model will be proposed and the use of the model will be explored to improve project outcomes through better corrective action plans.
I have never met nor spoken to this person, though I'd like to and hope to in the future! But the fact is that someone whom I've never met is speaking at a D.C. Annual Meeting that will undoubtedly be attended by hundreds or thousands of Department of Defense cost engineers. The presentation is in the Earned value management track, on the subject of "critical path drag, resource elasticity, expected monetary value and technical debt" . This all indicates not only that these TPC topics are now "out there" in the PM community, but also that people are recognizing their importance and extending them not only to cost (which drag cost already does) but also to EVM.
I've been pushing the rock up this hill for many years now. Needless to say, I'm pleased...
Vladimir, I don't know if Spider was planning to have a presence at that meeting, but you might want to consider it...
Fraternally in project management,
Steve the Bajan