[Randallw]

If you click on planets in the menu bar, or press F4, you get a list of all the planets. You can then choose planets that are empty or breathable. you can even select such planets to send a colony vessel if you have the right one nearby. ALso if you Right click on the glaxy map in the bottom right corner and then left click a particular system you can place notes. Perhaps when you build a converter you can note when it was built and when you check a year later will now it is finished, although I think it should give you a message when it has finished converting, I've never made much use of converters. There is a lot of micromanagement, but that's pretty much what the whole game is about. I think one of the complaints about Moo3 on this forum is that it expected the computer to do most of the work for you and then it didn't do a very good job.

Edit: you can from Empire status (the big crown, or F11) select ministers to do your work. I've never made use of them myself and I hear the AI is bad.