23 Aralık 2009

Microsoft Project Dosyalarını Online açın - project.to

Screenshot of MS Project ProgramWhile there are free viewers available for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Microsoft does not provide an official viewer for Microsoft Project (.mpp) files. That means if you don’t have the Project program installed on your computer, you can’t read any of those project plans lying in your mailbox.

There’s however an excellent option now that will let you view and print Project files in the browser itself without requiring MS Project. It’s called projec.to.

Microsoft Project Viewer

To open a project file without installing Microsoft Project, just sign-up for a free plan at projec.to and upload your .mpp (or .mpt template) file. The service will then render your project plan in a browser based Flash-viewer from where you can not only view the plan but also print it or even embed it in external web pages using Flash.

The service offers both free and paid plans but if you opt for the free option, any MS Project file (or Template) that you upload onto projec.to will be public by default.

You can of course delete files immediate after viewing them online but if your projects plans contain something extremely confidential, it may be a good idea to go with one of the paid plans that start at $5/month and allow private viewing.

05 Aralık 2009

Comparison of Online Project Management Apps

Whether you are looking to organize your personal life at home or to collaborate on a team project with your coworkers, here are some of the best web-based project management software that can help you stay organized and on top of your work.

All online project management apps discussed here offer introductory free accounts so you can use them at home or school as well without requiring any budget. And since they are online apps, you can successfully manage your projects, tasks and deadlines from virtually any computer.

1. Basecamp | Keep up with what needs to be done on your project

Basecamp from 37Signals attempts to keep you focused on the tasks at hand with its task-centric interface. The main dashboard shows all the upcoming tasks and milestones of all of your projects organized by date.

Basecamp - personal dashboard Basecamp - Message Board
Basecamp - Tasks List Basecamp - project overview

While creating to-do lists, you can assign individual items to any of the team members or everyone. There’s a message board associated with every project where you can share project updates or even post questions without having to email anyone – it’s just like an online message board but accessible only to your internal team who’s part of that project.

Basecamp offers wiki-style Writeboards for collaborative writing. Project members can additionally chat with the group through Campfire which is like a web-based instant messaging tool that also save a chat transcript for reference later.

Basecamp offers a free account for 1 project with unlimited users but you cannot add documents and other files to the project. For additional projects and features, upgrades are available starting at $12/month. There’s no learning curve involved.

2. Goplan | Know how long you’ve spent on each task

Goplan is a task-orientated project management tool that provides a discussion board, calendar, document storage (with file versioning), timesheets, tasks and tickets (e.g. for bug tracking and resolution).

Goplan - Track Time Goplan - Stop Timer
Goplan - Timesheet Goplan - Tasks List

One of the very unique features of Goplan is that it lets you easily track the time you spend on different tasks. It works like this. When working on a particular task (or a ticket), you can start the timer inside Goplan (the clock icon) and update your status so that everyone in the team is aware of what you are working on. When you stop the timer, this gets recorded automatically in your time sheet.

When creating new tasks and tickets inside Goplan, you can attach documents and other files to the project. And if you have team members who aren’t part of the project, they can still add tickets to the project by simple emailing a note to a specific email address.

Goplan offers more projects with the free plan than most other project management apps. The free plan provides 3 projects for 2 users, and 100Mb of online storage space for your files. Upgrades are available starting at $10/month for additional projects, users, and storage.

3. Soshiku | Manage your school or college assignments

soshiku - home pageSoshiku is aimed primarily at high school and college students to help them keep track of all pending assignments and other school work.

The home page shows all of the assignments that are due today, as well as upcoming events and assignments for the full week. You can invite partners (or your classmates) and collaborate on class assignments within Soshiku itself. You can also attach files up to 50 MB in size with assignments.

Although other project management products can be useful for students, Soshiku is designed specifically for students with no extra features and it’s completely free (supported by ads).

4. Harvest | Track Time and Money spent on projects

With Harvest, you can easily track time spent on a task using the web interface or through dedicated desktop widgets available for Mac and PC. Harvest offers integration with Basecamp, so you can use Harvest’s time tracking features along with the other project management features found in Basecamp.

If you are freelancer who’s using Harvest to track the time spent on a project, you can use the same tool to directly produce invoices for your clients for your time and other expenses. Once an invoice is created, the invoice dashboard keeps track of all open, past due, and recently paid invoices.

Harvest offers a free account for one user with up to 2 projects, 4 clients, and unlimited invoicing, and then offers upgrades with unlimited projects and additional users and features starting at $12/month.

twitter like interface 4a. Co-op | Know what team members are doing right now

Co-op helps you track updates from everyone in the team inside a Twitter style interface. Team members can post anything in their status updates and it is visible to the entire team. The best part is that co-op includes built-in time tracking from Harvest (discussed above) so everyone know what you have been working on and for how long.

5. DeskAway | Know how your project is going with graphs and reports

If you want to keep track of your projects with graphs and reports, DeskAway could be a good service for you. DeskAway supports tasks, milestones, calendar, time sheets and file sharing. You can email all members of the project using DeskAway itself and the messages are also archived in a central location.

DeskAway - Tasks DeskAway - Project Overview DeskAway - Dashboard

DeskAway offers detailed reports and graphs showing information about completed, overdue, and upcoming deadlines, as well as graphs showing your overall progress on various projects. You can also create an internal blog with DeskAway for team members.

DeskAway offers a free account for up to 3 active projects, 5 users, and 25MB of file storage but without support for issue tracking. You may upgrade starting at $10/month for accounts with more features including additional users, storage space and deskmail (a feature that lets you manage tasks via email).

6. Zoho Projects | Stay connected in a group project with social networking

There are quite a few things that set Zoho Projects apart from competition. For instance, if you already have your project plan created inside Microsoft Project, you can import the file into Zoho Projects and easily make that switch from desktop to web based apps.

Zoho Projects - Dashboard Zoho Projects - Tasks and Milestones Zoho Projects - calendar

Like most other Zoho services, you can log into Zoho Projects using your existing Google Account or Yahoo! credentials. Zoho Project is integrated with Google Docs so you can attach documents with your projects that are already on Google Docs. And like other online project management apps, Zoho Projects too offers an iCal feed of the project calendar so you can track milestones, tasks, etc. in Google Calendar or even Outlook.

With Zoho Projects, you can add tasks and milestones to a project, and communicate with your team through wikis, built-in chat, and forums (or message board). Each forum has a unique email address so you can post replies to forums posts via a simple email message.

The free version of Zoho Projects will let you create a single project with 1 wiki and 100 MB of file storage. The premium version of Zoho Projects offers support for timesheets, invoices and additional projects at $12/month.

Project Management 2.0

11 Ekim 2009

Evden çalışanlar için 10 faydalı Proje Yönetimi Aracı

Project2Manage

This online project management system that allows you to stay up-to-date on task and connect with your team. It provides with a huge list of features including messages, to-do lists, reminders, file management, iCal support etc. It enables you to add unlimited clients and users to each project. You can also create documents using its Spot2Jot feature and then share it with all your connections.

Smartsheet

Another useful tool for online task management for individuals and teams. It allows you to track and manage work in familiar smartsheet and calendar views. You can also upload files, track discussions, and share online with co-workers, clients, contractors, vendors etc. Using smartsheet you can set reminders and receive notifications when things change, generate filtered reports across all the work you manage and instantly find anything you’re tracking using search.

No Kahuna

This simple project management and issue-tracking platform is ideal for small medium businesses. It is an easy-to-use tool for basic project management and ticket tracking that allows you to set up your project(s), refine/distribute tasks and track them until completion. Its features include task and activity tracking and collaboration tools.

activeCollab

Another project management and collaboration tool that lets you set up a collaboration area right on your website. It provides a platform for planning, progress tracking and communication with your team and clients until projects are done. Its excellent features include printing and exporting, time tracking, calendar and schedule functionality, ticket management and milestones.

Zoho Projects

This feature rich project management tool allows you to keep your projects organized with milestones, set dependencies for tasks, assign ownership and set priorities. It also provides project and time tracking features to monitors tasks and log time spent on the project. You can store your files and documents in one place, tag your files, keep track of the changes with the version history.

Springloops

This is a unique source code management tool specially created for web development teams. It allows you to code in parallel and share code changes with teammates, back-up the previous version and give instant previews. You can also deploy your web projects automatically after committing new changes or on request. Using basecamp integration you can import projects and keep everyone informed about development progress of others.

TeamworkPM

This online project management tool helps you in managing your projects, teams and clients instantly. It also allows you to collaborate with clients while sharing ideas, information, notes, files and more. With TeamworkPM you can also create task lists, schedule milestones, add messages, track time, upload files, manage people/clients, and get email integration providing you with up-to-the-minute reports, alerts and reminders.

5pm

It is an intuitive web based project management tool that lets you manage tasks and projects all at one place. It works as a central location for project and task management, team collaboration, time tracking, reporting and more. You can share notes and files with clients and generate various reports, print them out or export to CSV (a popular format supported by many applications, including Excel).

Goplan

This project management tool allows you to manage multiple projects at once. You can easily track project progress through task management, calendaring, note sharing and issue tracking. It also allows you to connect with clients and team members using its chat feature. Use RSS feeds and sync the Goplan calendar to your iCal, Outlook or phone to stay on top of dates and tasks.

Project360

Another useful project management tool to assign tasks, set deadlines, get updates, arrange meetings, view your calendar, track work hours etc. It lets you work with your team, communicate with clients, send messages, share files, organize workgroups, and more. Additional features include time tracker, messages, Gantt chart, discussion board, and project templates.

You can also experience LimeExchange’s project management tools like issue tracker and project kickoff checklist to carry out your project successfully on LimeExchange. We welcome your feedback and suggestion as always.

Gantter – The Ultimate Free Creative Project Management Tool

calendarpenFor the most part, I’m a very task oriented and “to-do list” sort of guy. At work I’m able to manage the many projects and even small tasks that I’m responsible for through Microsoft Project – which is, in my humble opinion, one of the most powerful project and task management applications available for desktop PCs.

The problem is that most home users of moderate means can’t usually afford the Office package that includes Microsoft Project. The majority of home computer users will have the standard office package, such as the 2007 Home and Student edition which has Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.

However, at home I also have a number of involved and complicated projects that I’m trying to manage, as does my wife and if you have any teenage kids at home – project management software could help them tremendously with managing their time between homework, school projects, sport events and everything else life dishes out upon a vibrant and busy family. I am very pleased to present a shockingly free and very creative online project management tool called Gantter.

Free Creative Project Management Software Just By Typing a URL

Here’s what blew me away. I’m accustomed to testing dozens of free applications every month, and most of the time you need to at least provide an email address or some other way to identify yourself. Surprisingly, when you first visit the Gantter website, you’ll see yourself instantly staring at what looks like Microsoft Project. The website itself is the application, and once you visit it, you can instantly start creating your own project management file.

proj1

For me, such a creative way to use a project management application is like a dream come true. You can create a Microsoft Project compatible file for any project that you’ve got going on. This application lets you save those files (or even PDF exports) onto your USB flash drive. Later, when you want to make changes to your project, just go to any computer, pop in your USB drive and visit Gantter, where you can open that file and modify it however you wish.

It doesn’t matter whether the computer you’re using has MS Project or not. And if you already use MS Project at work? Even better – now you can take your work anywhere with you and edit those MS Project files remotely, whether you’re working on a computer at an Internet Cafe, a library or anywhere else.

I decided that I would finally start writing that novel that I’ve always wanted to get started on but couldn’t because these MakeUseOf article deadlines keep getting in the way – so why not work on my novel while I’m working on a MakeUseOf article? My first step was to create my task list for the novel project.

proj2

Creating the task list is fast and easy, but the real power of this online application is where you set the predecessors (the work you need to get done before you can start on that task). Just like in MS Project, Gantter automatically schedules out all of your work based on what you need to do and when you need to do it. All you need to think about is one task at a time.

For example, here I’ve clicked on setting up the predecessor for writing the second chapter, which I can start doing the moment the first chapter is done (I don’t need to finish revising the first before I get started on the second.)

proj3

Also, on this screen you can add additional notes for this task, as well as assign resources that you’ve configured in the “resources” section of the application. Gantter takes all of this information that you feed it and generates a nice, clear schedule (Gantt chart) for you off to the right side of the screen.

proj4

Exploring the software a bit, it’s apparent that this isn’t some cheap, fly-by-night web app – this is a well thought out and very well programmed online application that works fast and efficiently throughout my testing on Firefox and Internet Explorer. The features are many, as you can see from my drilling through the menus.

proj5

Saving and Accessing Your Projects

So, what do you do when you’re done planning out your project and you want to save the file? Obviously, you can’t store the data in your account, because you don’t have an account. If you pretend that this application is just like any other desktop application you use, then the answer is simple – just click save!

That’s the beauty of Gantter – it’s like you’re using a desktop application even though you’re using your Internet browser. You can either save the file or export it to MS Project. Saving downloads your file as a “project.xml” file, which you can access later from this same website.

Copy the XML file to your USB drive, and later when you come back to the website (no matter where you are in the world), just click File -> Open and you’ll be able to browse to your USB drive and open up your saved XML file.

proj6

Simple. Easy. Convenient. Those are the three words I think about when I use this awesome online application. No sign-up required, no download required and no money required. The application was written by Volodymyr Mazepa, a Ukraine-based IT project manager – one IT manager who clearly knows his stuff. I encourage anyone who uses this application to click on Help -> About and send Volodymyr a hearty thank-you for his excellent work and for offering us this high-quality online application at no cost, a very rare act of kindness these days.

Do you have any online project management apps that you prefer? What do you think of Gantter? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

11 Ağustos 2009

Bilgisayar Destekli planlama örnek projesi (Kopru Insaati)

Murat Kuruoğlunun hazırladığı bilgisayar destekli planlamsı yapılmış örnek köprü projesi

10 Ağustos 2009

Proje Yönetimi Sunumu

Aselsan'da 2002 yılında Elif BAKTIR(Mikrodalga ve Sistem Teknolojileri Grubu) tarafından verilen Proje Yönetimi seminer notları - pdf

E-Öğrenme Projelerinde Proje Yönetimi Süreçleri - pdf

E-öğrenme projelerinin başarısı için, projelere öğretim sistemleri tasarımının yanı sıra, proje yönetimi bakış açısından da bakılması gereklidir. Teknoloji ve pedagoji arasındaki bağlantıların iyi anlaşılabilmesinin kritik olduğu e-öğrenme projelerinde, kurumsal analiz, kaynak ve risk planlaması, proje zaman planlaması, kontrol ve gözden geçirme faaliyetleri gibi farklı proje yönetim aşamalarının nasıl hayata geçirilebileceği de büyük önem taşımaktadır. Bu makalede, proje yönetim süreçlerinin e-öğrenmeye özgü farklılaşan kısımları ve bu süreçlerde yaşanabilecek zorluklar dile getirilmiş ve e-öğrenme projelerinin etkin yönetimi için, yaşanılan deneyimlerden yola çıkılarak öneriler sunulmuştur.

15 Mart 2009

Free Project Management Handbook

Project Shrink Linear Edition version 0.1 (PDF)

Version 0.1 contains:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Project Sociology
Chapter 3: Social Groups
Chapter 4: Flexible Mind
Chapter 5: Complex Adaptive Systems
Chapter 6: Social Networks And Game Theory
Chapter 7: OODA: Individuals Interacting
Chapter 8: Resilience
Chapter 9: Panarchy: Complexity On Mulitiple Levels
Chapter 10: Adaption In Projects

Download Project Shrink Linear Edition version 0.1 (PDF)

01 Mart 2009

Review of the Open Source Software: OpenGoo

Review of the Open Source Software OpenGoo

Proje Tipleri

Tip 1: Kendinden emin projeler

En iyi proje tipi. Tüm paydaşlar ne istediği bilmekte, ne yapılacağı tam olarak bilinmektedir. Örneğin bir ev inşaatı.

Tip 2: Macera projeleri

Paydaşlar ne istediklerini bilmekte nasıl başaracaklarını bilmemektedirler. Örneğin Ay'a adam göndermek

Tip 3: Ya tutarsa projeleri

Paydaşlar işin nasıl yapılacağını bilmekte fakat sonuçlar çok net olmamaktadır. Ör. film çekmek

Tip 4: Kısmet, bakalım ne olacak projeleri

Burada paydaşlar hem tam olarak ne istediklerini bilmemekte hem de sonucun ne olacağı kestirilememektedir. Örneğin 6 sigma

27 Şubat 2009

Wideman Comparative Glossary of Project Management Terms v3.1

Wideman Comparative Glossary of Project Management Terms v3.1

PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition Changes

By Cyndi Snyder Stackpole

A lot of people are wondering what is going to change with the PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition. There is not that much that will change with regards to the content. There are a few additions and deletions to processes, but mostly of the work was done in making the standard internally consistent. We wanted the chapters to feel more cohesive as if one person wrote the standard instead of a group of people. In addition to internal consistency, our charter required that the PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition be aligned with The Standard for Program Management – Second Edition and The Standard for Portfolio Management – Second Edition. We accomplished that by having one person architect and lay out chapters 1 and 2 across all three standards so that they are in agreement. This is not to say that they are identical, but the chapter structure is aligned and the content is not contradictory. There are several figures and tables that are identical across the standards to keep a consistent message when talking about the relationship between the standards.

Another step in making the standard consistent is that all process names are now in the same verb-noun format. And the inputs and outputs have a similar sequence. For example, for those processes that have enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets as an input, we have listed these as the last inputs and have listed some examples that might apply. We have sequenced common outputs such as change requests, project management plan updates and project document updates. Like the common inputs, we have included examples of plans and documents that might be updated.

The concept of project documents is new to the PMBOK® Guide – Fourth Edition. The project management plan contains plans and baselines that are used to plan and control the project. However, there are many other documents that project managers use to help carry out the project. These are called out specifically as project documents. Examples include issue logs, duration estimates, resource requirements, change logs, etc. While not part of the project management plan, they are important tools used to keep projects on track.

In addition to clarifying the difference between the project management plan and project documents we also made a more definitive distinction between contents in the project charter and the project scope statement. The charter contains more information, but it is at a high level. The scope statement does not progressively elaborate as much of the information. It does elaborate some information, but it also contains separate information such as the project boundaries.

We have lumped together the change request, corrective action, preventive action and defect repair grouping into one heading called change requests. Where appropriate we distinguish the type of change request such as a preventive or corrective action and provide examples that might be relevant.

A final change to the inputs and outputs is that we did not have the project management plan as an input to any planning processes. While understanding that planning takes place throughout the project and that the planning project group is not a phase, we felt it would be clearer to have the specific planning process outputs as inputs to developing the project management plan and not the other way around. However, in the executing and monitoring and controlling process groups the project management plan is a key input, and the specific components are listed under the project management plan. For example, the cost performance baseline is an element of the project management plan and an input to the Control Costs process. The input is listed as the project management plan with a notation that the element in the project management plan is the cost performance baseline. This approach brings a cohesive and consistent approach to the processes across the document.

A final note change in the look of the Fourth Edition is the graphics. The figures that showed the data flow at the start of each chapter in the Third Edition were a great addition. The Fourth Edition has expanded on that concept. The figures at the beginning of the chapter have been deleted, but they have been replaced with a data flow diagram for each process. The data flow diagram shows where the inputs come from and where the outputs go to. These figures help emphasize the process orientation of the PMBOK® Guide.

Specific Changes in the Chapters

As mentioned above, our architect designed chapters 1 and 2 to align with The Standard for Program Management – Second Edition and The Standard for Portfolio Management – Second Edition. Therefore much of the structure of the first two chapters has changed.

In Chapter 1 - Introduction we are providing an overview of project management and how it fits with programs, portfolios, organizations and operations. One of the major changes is that the PMBOK® Guide no longer mentions the triple constraint of scope, schedule and cost. Instead it discusses how project managers must balance the constraints of scope, quality, schedule, budget, resources and risk.

Chapter 2 - Project Life Cycle and Organizations did not undergo major changes, but there is an expanded coverage of the project life cycle and project phases. There is also more in depth information on types of project stakeholders.

Chapter 3 - Project Management Processes for a Project is the first place the process descriptions are introduced. The text describing the processes has been edited down so that, for the most part, only the one sentence process description is used to introduce the process. This same process description is in the knowledge area chapter in the beginning of the chapter and as the first sentence of the process itself.

Chapter 4 - Project Integration Management went from seven processes to six. The Develop Preliminary Scope Statement process was eliminated. We felt that this could be addressed with the Define Scope process through the concept of progressive elaboration. The other change is the description of the project management plan as described above.

Chapter 5 - Project Scope Management moved the discussion of the scope management plan to the introduction, following the approach of the schedule management plan and the cost management plan in chapters 6 and 7 respectively. There is a new process called Collect Requirements. The main outputs of this process are a requirements management plan (part of the project management plan), a requirements traceability matrix and requirements documentation. In addition, more emphasis is place on the scope baseline comprised of the project scope statement, the WBS and the WBS dictionary.

Chapter 6 - Project Time Management eliminated the discussion of the arrow diagramming method as a technique for activity sequencing. We also aligned the information on three point estimating with cost estimating so that the content is similar.

Chapter 7 - Project Cost Management includes the three point estimating as mentioned above and added the technique of a to-complete performance index (TCPI) to the Control Cost process. The inputs and outputs for Control Scope, Control Schedule and Control Cost are more aligned than in the Third Edition.

Chapter 8 - Project Quality Management provides additional graphs and charts to demonstrate some of the concepts. There is more discussion on the cost of quality and upper and lower specification limits are introduced. The term quality baseline has been eliminated.

Chapter 9 - Project Human Resources Management added significant coverage of interpersonal skills in the Develop Project Team and Manage Project Team processes. Expanded coverage of the stages of team building, conflict management, leadership, influencing and decision making was introduced. The Manage Project Team process was moved from monitoring and controlling to the executing process group.

Chapter 10 - Project Communications Management added a new process in the initiating process group, Identify Stakeholders. The major outputs include a stakeholder register and stakeholder management strategy. The Third Edition process of Manage Stakeholders was changed to Manage Stakeholder Expectations and moved from monitoring and controlling to the executing process group.

Chapter 11 - Project Risk Management had very few changes.

Chapter 12 - Project Procurement Management consolidated six processes into four. The four processes are: Plan Procurements, Conduct Procurements, Administer Procurements and Close Procurements. The concept of teaming agreements is introduced.

The Fourth Edition has a new appendix on interpersonal skills. There was information that we felt was important to managing a project, but was not consistent with the intent of a standard. Therefore we included a brief overview of the following interpersonal skills:

  • Leadership
  • Team building
  • Motivation
  • Communication
  • Influencing
  • Decision making
  • Political and cultural awareness
  • Negotiation

That pretty much summarizes the changes. In closing I want to say that the whole experience of leading this update was quite extraordinary. The very best part about it was the opportunity to work with great people from across the globe. The content contributors essentially updated the content in about 4 months. The rest of the time various teams were planning, doing quality reviews, editing, exposing, commenting, adjudicating and all those other necessary steps in publishing a standard. I am very grateful for the opportunity and I hope that this Fourth Edition contributes to the profession.

13 Şubat 2009

Project Management + Mechanical Turk? Smartsheet Looks Awesome

smartsheetlogo.jpgWhy didn't we think of this? Project management startup Smartsheet released a new core feature this week - integration of Amazon's outsourcing service Mechanical Turk. The Smartsheet interface will now let you set up Turk research jobs that thousands of anonymous workers around the world will split up and perform quickly for a very low price.

In the example the company provides on its product page, the user publishes a series of small work orders for research on the names and profiles of top CEOs around the country. That kind of drudgery would take hours to perform, but with Mechanical Turk it can be done on the cheap, quickly.

The Smartsheet interface for Mechanical Turk looks good to us, though we must admit that we're not regular users of the service. This sounds like a great idea, though, and we'll be excited to see if it works well for people. Far too much of the work on Mechanical Turk is for publishing spam - so putting that energy to legitimate business uses is a great idea. There's a whole lot of untapped potential there. The possible applications of bulk human labor in information work are many and are just starting to be explored.

Smartsheetscreen3.jpg

How should a person feel about the Turks though? We admit that we were a little concerned at first; the last thing we want is to use some creepy neo-colonial crap like ODesk.com, which sends customers hourly webcam photos and screenshots of their contracted overseas labor in action, usually with their eyes flared with surprise at the intrusion.

Mechanical Turk seems different though. There appears to be a real art to using it well, and that is one thing that concerns us about the viability of Smartsheet's product.