Project management

Project management software is helpful when you find the right application and the right way to access the application. The Web is now the standard way for flexibility.

Features of good general purpose project management software

• Web based
• Email reporting
• Time reporting
• Invoicing
• Choice of database
• Programming language
• HTML and PDF creation
• Bug tracking
• Source code version control
• Gantt charts
• No licence restrictions

Web based

Web based software is accessible from anywhere and can be installed anywhere, making Web based software the choice when people add data or view reports from more than one location.

Web based applications are a disadvantage where broadband access is expensive or unreliable. In those situations you could look for an application you can run locally then synchronise to a central location.

If there is only one person using the application, you could use a local application with the data backed up to a central server in case your local computer breaks.

Access from Android and similar smartphones completes the access list with the choice of Web pages formatted for the smaller screen or the creation of special access applications. The iPhone has less Web access, compared to Android, and is more dependent on special applications.

web2project is an example of a modern open Web based application so you can access it anywhere you can find an Internet connection. All the software is free, open source, and works on almost every useful operating system, giving you the freedom to install it anywhere including your own computer. There are no restrictions on the way you access it or the way you use it. When you choose this type of software, you have incredible freedom. The next step is to find the right open Web based application with the features you need for your projects.

Email reporting

Email reporting of problems and status updates is a great feature when you open a bug tracker to the world.

Time reporting

Time reporting is critical when you have a team working on several projects, supporting existing projects, and working to a set of deadlines. You want a simple Javascript Web services based time recorder similar to Storm and dotProject.

Invoicing

Invoicing is another important area when working on multiple projects and receiving progress payments. You want very good invoicing or a link to external invoicing systems.

Choice of database

Choice of database is important when you want to access the data using other applications. MySQL is the most common with the MySQL INNODB used for transactions. PostgreSQL is the database you use for big databases. SQLite is a tiny database used for local data and often built into applications.

Programming language

The programming language is important when you or a team member know a programming language and you want an enhancement. You can then look at developing the enhancement and contributing the enhancement back to the application development community.

HTML and PDF creation

HTML and PDF creation is a common requirement to create reports that can be emailed. A good content management system has that facility. Drupal is an example with the Print add-on module. Storm is based on Drupal and can automatically use Print for HTML to PDF or HTML to email. Some non Drupal applications have a similar facility built in or as an add-on module.

Bug tracking

Bug tracking is useful when you are developing applications or are installing application and are reporting the errors back to the application developers. Bug tracking mechanisms can also be used to gather notes and ideas from all project participants, particularly people who are not allowed to update project plans or documentation.

Source code version control

Source code version control is useful when developing applications. Several of the applications listed on this page connect to the popular and widely used Subversion. Git is the most popular of the new version control systems. If you do not yet have a version control system and are considering that for your next project after installing a project management system, look for Git support.

Gantt charts

Gantt charts are one of the things shown first in project management software and are important for reporting project plans. Most project management falls down after several projects start and each project status falls out of date. When you work on more than one project at a time, you really want to start at the other end to plan how individuals can report their own time and status. You then look at how your Gantt charts can be automatically updated with the user data.

No licence restrictions

Proprietary software stops you doing what you want. You pay for what you need now then are stuck with what they choose to give you in the future. You are stuck with the operating systems they choose. When you want to move the application from one computer to another, you may have to buy a whole new license for the software.

Free software may remove the licensing cost but does not open up the software for change.

Open source software is available in a form where you or an application developer can move the software to a new operating system and add any features you need.

Some applications in more detail

The following articles should help you select the right application.

• Feng Office
  

  Read more about Feng Office...

• Mantis Bug Tracker
  

  Read more about Mantis Bug Tracker...

• Mind mapping
  

  Read more about Mind mapping...

• web2project
  

  Read more about web2project...

Other applications and services

Achievo

Download Achievo from www.achievo.org.

Calligra Plan

Calligra Plan is the new name for KPlato. If you use Linux, you have heard of GNOME (what everyone uses) and the alternative, KDE. If you use KDE you might use KOffice. KOffice is now Calligra Suite. The project management component of KOffice was renamed from KPlato to Calligra Plan. Calligra Plan is not Web based and does not connect to anything.

Calligra Plan is still KPlato in the Ubuntu Software Centre. Version 1:2.3.3 is a 64 MegaByte download and uses 241 MB on disk before you start building plans. Part of the bloat is having to download and install half of KDE to work in a Gnome environment. The screenshots look nice but I will not waste my time trying another KDE application under Gnome.

Codendi

Codendi is build by Xerox and the community. There is a community edition and a commercial edition with the commercial edition built by a subsidiary of Xerox. Support and training is also available from licensed resellers. The underlying programming language is PHP, making contributions from Web developers easy. Download the community edition from www.codendi.com.

Codendi is aimed at application development, at ALM, Application Lifecycle Management. There are connections to Subversion and Eclipse. There are special features for the Scrum style of application development. Look at Codendi if you use Eclipse or Scrum.

Collabtive

The Collabtive Web site describes Collabtive as cloud based groupware. It uses PHP, MySQL, and Javascript. You can connect through Web services. There is no documentation and the demo is not in English. You are stuck with downloading and testing. Download from collabtive.o-dyn.de.

Collabtive has plugins that cost money. Four of the plugins are what I consider essential and should be in the base product. Collectively they cost €136.

Dolibarr

Dolibarr is ERP and CRM with no time management. You would use Dolibarr for the contract management, shipping management, and the invoicing side of project management but not ticketing or time recording. It uses PHP, MySQL, and Javascript. There is a start on documentation but not enough to hand Dolibarr to a user without extensive training. There is a limited range of add-on modules and some cost money, creating a real barrier to trying out the full range of modules. I cannot find a reason to recommend Dolibarr and there are reasons to not use it. Download from www.dolibarr.org.

-2 -1 for limited documentation. -1 for modules that have no free trial.

dotProject

A few years ago dotProject was the best open source Web based project management application. There was a sponsored and professionally written user manual. web2project is based on version 2 of dotProject but web2project does not have the extensive range of add on modules. Now dotProject and the documentation is out of date in some areas. Download from www.dotproject.net.

Version 3 of dotProject will be based on the Zend framework. The work on version 3 appears to be so slow that it might as well be stalled. I suspect they should have added parts of Zend framework to their current release and made the change evolutionary instead of revolutionary. Zend add to the confusion by rewriting the Zend framework at the same time.

January 2011: An update to version 2.1.5. Development might be slow but it is still active.

+2 ( +1 for the long history of development leading to many features. +1 for the many add-on modules. +1 for the professional documentation. -1 for the documentation being out of date. The total is +2. )

EGroupware

EGroupware branched off phpGroupWare several years ago. Recently the Projects module was rewritten as an extensive project management application and is definately worth a look. Download from www.egroupware.org.

Endeavour Agile ALM

The Endeavour Agile ALM is written in Java and aimed at managing Java program development. Java makes small simple projects big and complicated. You then have to use big complicated systems to manage the big complicated projects.

Feng Office

Feng Office is an online office suite with some items useful for project management. If your project plans and specifications are documents to be uploaded, you could upload them to Feng Office then use Feng Office to track tasks and time. You have to battle through the sales pitch for the commercial hosted version to get the open source community version of Feng Office from www.fengoffice.com.

GanttProject

GanttProject is an open source alternative to Microsoft Project for the desktop. GanttProject also has a Web interface for presentation. The big advantage of ganttProject is the ability to import from and export to Microsoft Project. Download GanttProject from www.ganttproject.biz.

GanttProject is written in Java which many be an advantage if you happen to be a Java developer. The documentation says GanttProject use a lot of outside libraries with different licences and requirements. I suspect learning to enhance GanttProject will be painful.

Launchpad

Launchpad is a set of tools for managing part of a software development and support project. You use Launchpad in conjunction with a source control system. Download the components of Launchpad from launchpad.net/launchpad-project.

MantisBT

MantisBT is a bug tracker and can connect to other components of application development including version control systems. Mantis has excellent support for opening and managing tickets using email. Download from www.mantisbt.org.

NavalPlan

NavalPlan is written in Java making it difficult and expensive to work on changes.

phpGroupWare

EGroupware branched off from phpGroupWare several years ago and you might like to compare the two. phpGroupWare looks limited by comparison when you look at the documentation. Download phpGroupWare from www.phpgroupware.org.

PHProjekt

PHProjekt has a long history of development and is up there with dotProject for features. PHProjekt appears to have the better development roadmap for 2011. One thing planned for 2011 is to let you perform all activities from a smartphone, either a modern Android or an old iPhone. Download from phprojekt.com.

Planner

Planner is the GNOME equivalent of Calligra Plan. You install Planner from your Linux software update application including Ubuntu Software Centre. The Ubuntu version is a 3 MB download and uses 8 MB when installed. the Web site is live.gnome.org/Planner. Version 0.14.4 was released in April 2009 and there appears to be no further updates. Planner is the only software listed in the Ubuntu software Centre when you search for Gantt.

project-open

project-open is weird. project-open call their application ]project-open[ or ]po[. ]po[ requires the AOLserver. Nobody uses the AOLserver. AOL purchased Netscape at a time when some people used the Netscape Web server. Everyone dumped the Netscape server when AOL took over. ]po[ must be the last application in the world to use AOLserver.

ProjectPier

ProjectPier, from www.projectpier.org, looks seriously good when reading the documentation. it requires PHP 5.2, or later, and MySQL with InnoDB.

Redmine

If you write programs using Ruby, Redmine might be a viable project management tool because Redmin is written in Ruby on Rails. Download from www.redmine.org/.

Storm

If you use Drupal, the Storm add-on module is a good choice for task tracking and time recording. There are also add-on modules for Strom to extend functionality. Download Storm from drupal.org/project/storm.

TaskJuggler

TaskJuggler is written in C for KDE on Linux and makes reports available to the Web through custom code. The only thing TaskJuggler does is maintain a Gantt chart and some reports. It does not fit in with anything else.

There is a future version, TJ3, in progress with time recording but it is written in Ruby and will probably take a long time to convert. TaskJuggler is not a good choice now and the rewrite will still be below average as a choice.

Trac

If you write programs using Python, Trac might be a viable bug tracker project management tool because Trac is written in Python and you can enhance the code to fit your requirements. Download Trac from trac.edgewall.org and let me know your experience.

Lots of people choose Trac for their bug tracker and, from their comments, the main attraction is the built in Wiki. When you have a bug tracker and wiki neatly tied together, you can easily convert bug reports and solutions to documentation. Trac can also synchronise with the Mercurial and Subversion version control systems.

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is a subscription based service with no option to install it on your own servers. You can use it free for one project which might be enough to test it when you work one a small number of large projects. The charge is based on the number of projects and, for my work, I would have to go straight to the US$80/month service to get enough projects. Then I would need the $15/month invoice add on plus the $15/month CRM which is per user so multiply by the number of users. There are a bunch of other add-ons I would need and, combined, they double the cost. Most of the Zoho options are already in my Drupal Web sites for free. If you could buy some of the Zoho applications and add them to your existing Web applications, Zoho might make sense. If you use obsolete Web technology, Zoho might be easier than upgrading your Web site to a modern Content Management System than plugging in free open add-on modules.