26 Nisan 2010

Project Management - 5 Review - Part 1

Tenrox Project Management Software

This application has a complete set of features unlike any other. You can go digging through its various interfaces and dashboards without getting a headache, all thanks to its well-structured creation.

Standout features:

  • easy-to-use project planning tool
  • the project plans are interchangeable with Microsoft Project files
  • excellent time tracking, cost accounting and billing features.

Resources management

Create a perfect team using the resource search function. Find the most appropriate, qualified and available individuals to complete different tasks. As soon as the project manager publishes the project plan, every member of your team can see their assigned tasks. In return, they can report an estimated time to complete their assigned tasks. This information will be used along with the plan to report on the cost and schedule variances. Tag your time entries as capitalized, charge-back, billable, R&D and other similar attributes. Also you can report n capitalized project time and billable versus non billable time and access profitability and productivity with various project cost/revenue analysis reports.

Project management

A great advantage is that you can manage your projects offline, so you can share your plan with your team once it’s finished. Publish, check-in and check-out are some excellent features that help team members to collaborate on the plan.

Ease of use

You can’t go wrong with this software! Although it has a very complex structure, anyone can handle it, even someone that doesn’t know what project management is.

Overall

From all the software management applications, this one is probably one of the best. It’s easy to use, brings a lot of features and it’s at a reasonable price.

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Microsoft Project

This application is the flagship for any other similar software, because most of the project management software can integrate files with it, either by importing or exporting them into your preferred application. This feature lessens the learning of different software, since there are many professionals who are already familiar with Microsoft Project.

Standout features

  • Import/export Feature
  • Effective management of project schedules
  • Enables you to quickly become productive
  • Able to build professional charts and diagrams

Resources Management

Microsoft Project enables an easy management of both adding and managing your resources, essential for any effective project management. Easily create slots and assign them tasks as you would fill some data in a spreadsheet. Optimize efficiency by assigning tasks to the right resource: Microsoft Project allows you to keep info about your employees (such as skill sets and resumes).

Project Management

Microsoft Project doesn’t provide many features, but it holds the necessary tools to effectively manage any project. A practical tool is the expand-and-contract feature, that allows you to easily browse through your project and get a better overall view without scrolling through hundreds of tasks and milestones.

The scheduling feature includes calendars for a day-by-day breakdown of tasks, timelines for an overall view of the project, and events for specific milestones within the calendar.

But the interactive Gantt chart makes it easy to comprehend. You can update your project and easily adjust it right on the graph!

Up-to-date reports are available in Microsoft Project, so you can keep track of statistics, financial status and employees work loads.

Ease of use

Microsoft Project focuses on four points in project management: Task, resource, Track and Report. You can easily navigate through them and you can find any info you need with just a click.

The spreadsheet-like interface allows you to input data using your keyboard. Add tasks, milestones, dates and resource assignments quickly without having to click into every field.

The interactive Gantt chart is really handy to easily update the progress of your tasks, changing their dates or their completing order.

Overall

Microsoft Project provides the necessary tools needed to assign tasks, manage resources and complete the project on schedule within the budget limits. Also you can integrate your work into mostly any project management software.

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Project KickStart

Project KickStart is a project management software that can easily integrate with other software like Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, MS Word, Microsoft Prokect, WBS Cart and MindManager. It is very useful for basic project planning, but does not provide many features like resources management.

Standout Features

  • Six-step plan creation wizard
  • QA process
  • Free sample projects

Resources Management

KickStart has a user-friendly interface with tabs for every aspect of a project, except the resources tab. A “People” tab is included, but it’s not even close to an effective management tool.

Project Management

KickStart offers a very simple UI, organized in tabs. The wizard just walks you through the project plan: picking goals, assign tasks and dates and show obstacles that could prevent the project’s smooth flow.

After running through all the tabs, you can keep track and edit your project in the resulting Gantt chart.

Ease of use

Very easy to install, easy to navigate and visually pleasing, KickStart is a very good tool. It simply runs your through the entire management plan and it provides an excellent comprehension and overall view.

Overall

Project KickStart is a great tool for smaller projects that probably have a single project manager, and does not require much collaboration with other managers or with a CEO.

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MindView 3 Business

MindView has a spreadsheet-like layout, so you can easily add, edit or delete tasks without clicking each cell. A very useful feature that sets it apart from other software is the MindMap option: you can see your project in brainstorming bubbles and see how tasks are related to milestones.

Standout Features

  • Brainstorming
  • Multimedia
  • Calculation

Resources Management

It’s easy to add or remove human resources with just a click. Easily import resources directly from Microsoft Outlook or add them from your tasks list. Just be careful when you add resources, MindView does not allow you to make groups or sort them by skills or departments.

Project Management

MindView includes the standard project management elements: Tasks, Calendars and Budgeting, but it lacks recurring tasks and auto notifications to check the project progress.

The strength of this application lies in its different views of the project: tasks list, Gantt chart, mind map, timeline and outline. This allows a better overall view and the interactive map allows manual data input without opening the task list.

Ease of use

MindView has a very low learning curve. It simply leads you directly to a new project or existing ones. The spreadsheet-like task list and interactive Gantt charts allow you to easily update your project info.

Overall

Easy to learn, MindView offers a view through its different visual options that allows any user to comprehend rapidly his project’s work-flow. Although it does not provide many features, you can easily and effectively complete any management plan.

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Genius project for Domino

Genius project is a high-functioning project management software that can be use by both experienced computer users and beginners alike.

Standout features

  • User-friendly user interface
  • Complex charts
  • Budget planning dashboard
  • Auto E-mail notification

Resources Management

The complex and detailed dashboards, charts and sets of views allow you to have a good idea of resource assignments. Easily make adjustments or substitutions as you see fit. Properly assign staff for your tasks using the matrix planning. Assigning tasks to the right person is no longer a laborious issue with the resource search function. With this tool, you can perform a quick search for potential members and you can diminish their number by sets of skills or availability. You can gather up the perfect team in a very short amount of time!

Project Management

This application provides extensive offerings in dashboards and reporting, risk and change management, document management, demand management, invoicing, cost and budget managing, project tracking, time and expense tracking, planning and project portfolio management.

Ease of use

Although it has a lot of functions explained in hundreds of pages, it’s easy to comprehend. There are no confusing or disorienting features at all.

Overall

Genius project offers a complete set of features needed for a thorough, in-depth management planning.

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26 Ocak 2010

Thinklinkr – Come Together To Think, Outline and Collaborate In Real Time

Thinklinkr-ThumbThe web has been about doing away with distances. Web 2.0 also has been a lot about doing everything in real time. What’s real time, you may ask? Twitter, is real time I would say. Real time is when an action draws an immediate response. When something gets on the web and is received by someone almost instantaneously, that’s real time.

Web apps also have gone real time. There’s no more of mailing across and update and waiting for the response to flow in. Now, collaborative tools allow two or more people to work on the same web space.

It’s akin to sitting across the desk and thrashing out ideas over a cup of coffee – and it is how people can collaborate in real time.

Thinklinkr is another species in the new breed of collaborative web applications. With cloud based computing, the breed of collaborative web-based apps is crowding together. From online meet-ups involving huge projects to simple things as To-do lists or even sharing a screen session, collaboration tools are the new way.

Thinklinkr is not as complex as online project management tools. It is more in the line of OmniOutliner (paid) which is a Mac software or the web-based LooseStitch.

So, just to outline the three facets of Thinklinkr…

  • It is web based.
  • It is an outliner.
  • It is fully collaborative.

Thinklinkr as an outliner

Thinklinkr01

For those who have come in late, the application of an ‘outliner’ follows from the word – outline. An outliner is a program that allows us to arrange data into distinct chunks or sections or main headings and sub-points. Outliners allow data to be ordered and organized. Think of it as the first thoughts…the first idea of a plan or just a plain step by step of things you want to do. You can use an Outliner app for jotting down, brainstorming, or GTD.

Thinklinkr’s data organization features cover all that.

Thinklinkr02

Using Thinklinkr, you can easily create outlines, indent and outdent them. With a mouse click you can collapse or expand the outlines. Drag and drop operations are all supported for easy reorganization of your data. A host of keyboard shortcuts may goad you to become a keyboard ninja and a hotshot outliner.

Thinklinkr03

Advanced features like importing-exporting outlines to other Outliner apps as Text/HTML/Word/OPML files is great for flexibility.

Thinklinkr04

View revision history of your outlines (using a slick slider) or just delete them for a tighter library.

Thinklinkr05

The automatic save feature of Thinklinkr speeds up the outlining tasks as any data entered gets saved to the Thinklinkr servers.

Thinklinkr as a group or team tool

The usefulness of an Outliner increases manifold when you want to use it to collaborate in real time. In Thinklinkr, you can invite other team members as editors or simply as viewers to share the current outline. Editors can of course, make changes themselves which gets reflected in real time. Viewers can share any Thinklinkr project but they cannot make any changes themselves. Notification emails keeps the team updated on what’s happening in their Thinklinkr outlines.

Thinklinkr06

The collaboration tool gets enhanced by the live chat service. All logged in team members can collaborate and chat in real time. An avatar next to the outline entry is the signpost to who’s contributing to the outlines in real time.

Thinklinkr07

Will you be on Thinklinkr?

As a simple online Outliner application, Thinklinkr covers the basics. It is fast and free of glitches. For the first-time Outliner app user, the use of shortcuts to speed up the process is also easily accessible. You just need to press the little icon on the bottom bar to toggle the Keyboard Shortcuts screen. The screencast video help does all the explaining to the guy who has just signed up. Last but not the least – the chat service in Thinklinkr rounds off the real time collaboration experience.

This is just version 0.9.18. So more features surely will come in. The wish list includes more team management tools and a feature to attach external documents to the outlines. Also, for a collaborative environment, I believe the program shouldn’t stop at just outlines but should help the team to monitor the actionable steps taken on specific outlines.

Online collaboration and brainstorming apps are stirring up the cloud like never before. The free version of LooseStitch is already there. The new ThinkFold is also on the starting blocks with a beta.

Do you use a web-based outliner like Thinklinkr or prefer the desktop variant to collaborate in real time? Let us know your favorite tool for the job.

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

3 Flexible Project Management Apps for the Mac

OmniPlan

OmniPlan from OmniGroup — one of the brightest minds in Mac productivity applications — includes an intuitive user interface with customizable views.

Task management in OmniPlan takes an outline approach, which is good for users who aren’t full-time project managers. From the outline view, you can track the costs associated with your tasks (resource cost, task cost and total); view task constraints and dependencies; and create milestones that represent completion points in your project.

I came to OmniPlan for my own project management needs because I was looking for a reasonably lightweight project management application and was already using OmniFocus, OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner Pro. One worry I did have was that I work with clients standardized on Microsoft Project, but OmniPlan can import and export MS Project files, and looking at my projects I saw most schedules were saved as PDF before they were distributed to the project team anyway, which took my worry off the table.

OmniPlan costs $149.95 for a single license (a free trial is available).

SharedPlan Pro

SharedPlan Pro from SharedPlan offers a project sketching tool (with network diagramming) and an online project editor with additional views, including Gantt chart and resource views. It also includes some more complex project management features including reports, analysis tools and management tools, offering flexibility as to how you can slice, dice and otherwise present project data.

You can easily overlook version management of project schedules, but Shared Plan includes version management features enabling you to compare previous project versions and check historical information.

SharedPlan Pro is available for Mac, Windows and Linux and costs $99.95/user (free trial available). A free iPhone application is also available.

Merlin2

Merlin2 is another strong Mac project management offering that includes several views of project data, including Activities, a comprehensive Gantt chart, Netplan, Resources and Utilization.

The Merlin2 Library is a source for project-specific information. You can drag and drop information from the library to any of your active projects. Out of the box, the library contains a range of documents and activities for general projects. You also have the option to customize the library to meet your respective project needs.

Merlin2 costs $210, with a free trial available. There is also an iPhone application available.

05 Ocak 2010

Project Management Tools and Templates Directory


Checklists and templates
bulletCardboard Checklists (tm) "These checklists are a tool for helping you focus attention on the critical aspects of your project at the different stages of its lifecycle."
bulletMethods123.com a Project Management Methodology which provides you with all of the documents,processes, tools, templates and methods required in order to succeed as a Project Manager. These tools are an integral part of the Method123 project lifecycle. 12 Templates free!
bulletProgramControl.com makes available for download preformatted and customized templates for managing a wide range of projects. Templates include renovation, systems integration, network implementation, software validation, etc.
bulletProject Management Productivity Checklist
bulletProjectSmart
bulletSample Project Charter
bulletSmartDraw Easily Create Gantt Charts and PERT Charts for Project Management in Minutes—Download It Free!
bullet[pdf] What Every Project Manager Should Know and Do
bullettools: Project Management checklists and templates
bulletProject Management Tools Reviews
bulletProject Management on the Fly
bulletProject Management Software (Oracle's White Paper Library)
bulletProject Management Tools for Linux
bulletProject Management Tools Recap
bulletRepresentative Project Management Tools (Software Magazine) pros, cons, conclusions
bulletWeb-based Project Management Project Meets Portal
bulletMethods & Tools - the free PDF and HTML e-newsletter for software engineering and application development professionals
bulletWeb based Project Management Software Directory Directory of web-based software for project management, bug tracking, timesheet and payroll, help desk and call center, calendar and scheduling.
bulletMainstream
bulletMicrosoft Project
bulletCritical Software WBS & Pert Graphing
bulletWBS Chart Pro Create and display your Microsoft Project plans quickly and easily using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) chart.
bulletMicrosoft Project 2003 Homepage
bulletTrial Microsoft Project CD
bulletTools for Project Managers
bulletThe Project Map: your roadmap to project management
bulletMicrosoft 2003 Industry Templates
bulletProject 2003: Which Offering is Right for You?
bulletMSProject.com
bulletMicrosoft Project MVP Page This is the place for information on all versions of Microsoft Project.
bulletMicrosoft Project - Tutorials (Penn State)
bulletMS Project Users Group
bulletSteelray provides a simple and easy way to view and communicate Microsoft Project information over the web.
bulletWoody's Project Watch Newletters
bulletScitor PS Suite™ PS8, Project Communicator 3, PSI (SAP interface)
bulletSuperProject 5.0 has been discontinued
bulletSureTrak Project Manager (from Primervera)
bulletTurboProject
bulletCAN-PLAN (FREE) Project Management Software
bulletRational Concepts web-based project management tools
bulletProject Schedulers
bulletPlan & Progress Tracker based on Microsoft Excel
bulletFastTrack Schedule 8.0
bulletMilestones
bulletProject Kickstart
bulletVisio
bulletConceptDraw Project Easily Create Gantt Charts and PERT Charts for Project Management!
bulletOracle Project Management Tools
bulletThe Oracle E-Business Suite Projects family of applications bridges operations and corporate finance so you can manage the full lifecycle of every project.
bulletLinux/Unix Project Management Tools
bulletAchievo.org Makes use of open standards and protocols (free)
bulletAMS Realtime Projects for Linux
bulletBSCW Version 4
bulletCall Center, Bug Tracking and Project Management Tools for Linux
bulletEPIware is an off-the-shelf Internet application that provides affordable project and document management solutions for individuals, organizations, and companies
bulletFUTURe is project management software written in Java. It is a single user planning tool/Netscape applet with automatic leveling, Gantt Chart, Pert Charts, Resource charts, Todo lists, Calendars, and Day and Year planners.
bulletKplato (PLAnning TOol)
bulletKSH/CGI Events Calendar
bulletOpenProject Project Management Software for Linux
bulletOPENSCHED project scheduling software for Linux
bulletOpen Source Development Network - Project Management
bulletMr Project
bulletPMTool
bulletProject Management Tools that run on Linux from Linux Online!
bulletProjector 1.0
bulletPyGantt reads a project description from a xml formatted file and outputs a html Gantt diagram.
bulletSourceForge.Net
bulletTeamSCOPE is Team Software for Collaborative Project Environments, a web-based collaboration tool and is designed to be installed under Debian GNU/Linux.
bulletToutDoux is a project manager for GNOME
bulletXPlan is tool for project planning and scheduling. It is very similar in idea and concept to MS Project
bulletProject Management Programs - High-End
bulletITI ProjectView is web enabled Project Management software for the Engineering, Manufacturing, Medical, and Construction industries.
bulletOpen Plan
bulletProfessional's Helper
bulletProject InVision delivers the leading IT Services Automation solution,
offering end-to-end lifecycle management for portfolio analysis, program management, and production support.
bulletPrimavera Project and Portfolio Management Products
bulletProject Management Software for for Apple Computers
bulletApple Project Management Tools
bulletnew2.gif (284 bytes) Goldenseal, from Turtle Creek Software www.turtlesoft.com, is integrated accounting software, business management, estimating and project management software for Macintosh and Windows computers. Goldenseal helps you to run the business side of your small business. It uses "real world" accounts and transactions, which makes it easy to learn, and easy to use.
bulletProject Management Tools used with Microsoft Outlook
bulletMicrosoft Project 2003 Homepage
bulletOpen Plan
bulletProject Kickstart
bulletAutomation Centre project collaboration software solutions for today's leading email platforms - TrackerOffice® for Microsoft Outlook/ Exchange
bulletSales & Project Tracking (Portal Software)
bulletVAKCER Project Tracker 2.1
bulletSlipstick site A number of tools that enhance Outlook by providing connections to Exchange Server Public Folders, databases and other project and business process management applications. Some help desk applications included.
bulletProject Management Tools used with Lotus Notes
bulletAutomation Centre offers project collaboration software solutions Tracker Suite® Lotus Notes/ Domino.
bulletProject Management Software for Palm Pilot and PDA's
bulletProSera
bulletPunchlist
bulletAlso see PDA section under StartWright's Mobile Computing page
bulletProject Management Software - Critical Chain Software
bulletnew2.gif (284 bytes) Realization The Next Generation of Project Management Software™. Realization provides
the only multi-project management software that acknowledges the uncertain
reality of projects. Instead of using critical path approach, our software
runs on a Critical Chain Engine™.
bulletRisk Management
bulletRiskyProject - Project Risk Management Software A project planning, quantitative risk analysis, and performance measurement software that project managers can use to plan and implement project with multiple risks and uncertainties.
bulletWeb-based Project Management (Also see StartWright's Team Groupware page)
bullet@View "Your virtual project center"
bulletAxista.com XCOLLA >> Intuitive project management software for team collaboration
bulletBPS Corporation BPS Project™ is a completely web based project management solution, ideal for dynamic, real world projects. BPS Project™ brings all project participants together in a live, collaborative environment. BPS Project™ has the unique ability to unify and visualize the status and impact of all key deliverables in your organization at the strategic and portfolio level. BPS Project™ is perfect for virtual or distributed teams who need access to documents, schedules and project status.
bulletBricsnet ProjectCenter "a secure environment for project collaboration via the Internet"
bulletBusiness Engine Network is a fully integrated, project, resource and budget management suite
bulletCitadon's Collaborative Project Management Tools ProjectNet, ProjectNet Process, ProjectNet L.T.
bulleteProject - Project Management Software eProject is the leader in web-based project management.
bulletEntry.projects v2.7 "an easy to use high speed web-based collaborative project management software solution designed for professional services organizations"
bulleteRealize™ provides a Web based service to organize business operations online. It offers executives and managers a simple means to align people, projects and key activities according to the results needed. It allows everyone to understand how they fit in, how things are progressing and what issues need attention. Unlike costly enterprise software that focuses on technical management and complex methodologies, eRealize focuses on results as it helps organize and manage the effort required to realize business objectives.
bulletFX-Project - Projekt-Management Projekt-Management im Internet
bulletGRAN PM is an open source/gated source web-based project management software, which unites in a single product a task management system, a bug tracking software and employee timesheet tracking.
bullet icTracker is a compact, easy-to-learn, web-based project management software that helps any business or work group define projects, assign tasks and sub-tasks, streamline work flow, communicate among team members, assure accountability, track problems, store documents, manage important links, keep records, and generate reports.
bulletIdeaWeavers
bulletInfowit Creative Manager "the only project management solution built exclusively for creative and design firms. Customizable and modular, Infowit adapts to your business: Estimating, Tracking, Client Review, Assets, Prospecting, and more!
bulletiTeamWork "a free Web-based project-management tool for anyone who needs to manage multiple projects or teams".
bulletIT Square SquareWorks Project Management Tools
bulletMediaLot Project Management Tools
bulletNexPrise
bulletOfficeTool
bulletOnLinePM.com
bulletonProject.com "an Internet workspace that allows you to share and manage information associated with projects and their related tasks"
bulletOur Project Web services for Project Management
bulletPlan On The Net.com browser based tool
bulletPlanPack "it's easy and free"
bulletPowerSteering "Web-enable the collaborative work and management of your extended enterprise.
bulletProject Desk is an online project and task management tool which provides a
virtual workspace to communicate effectively between team members located
globally and locally.
bulletProject NUCLEUS - Web based project collaboration, control and management solution; executive dashboards
bulletprojectplace.com a professional application service where project
participants collaborate; a virtual office
bulletProjux provides the tools to streamline the business administration behind project work. Generate invoices and reports, track time and expenses,
and establish contracts quickly through the collaborative online application.
bulletRationalConcepts
bulletProj-Net A virtual project office (VPO) for collaboration and communication
bulletI-Schedule Web-Based Planning & Resource Management
bulletI-Cost Web-Based Cost Management
bulletRemote Collaboration Tool (RCT)
bulletSAME-PAGE.COM Online Project Management Software, Task Management And Issue Reporting Tools
bulletspeeDEV is a complete Web-based environment, designed to allow all the
participants in a Software Project to participate and exchange information about the Project.
bulletSuperProject/Net 1.1 Web based Project Management
a companion product to SuperProject and is an Internet/Intranet-enabled project management tool
bulletTeamCenter
bulletTrabaJunto is a collaboration tool for advertising agencies with online asset management and project management features. This groupware works as an intranet & extranet, allowing teams to communicate and coordinate activities in real time.
bulletTWikitm a flexible, powerful, and easy to use Web-based collaboration platform
bulletVertabase "puts all the tools for effective project management in one place. It is powerful enough for executives and managers, and user-friendly for rapid adoption by an entire organization."
bulletWebProject "provides enterprise project management support for distributed organizations"
bulletWorking Together, Apart The Web as Project Infrastructure
bulletWorkSolv "available only on a monthly subscription
basis, allows project teams, subcontractors and clients to access project
plans via Web browsers and wireless Palm connections"
bulletYZ Project Manager
bulletGoalScreen "The graphic interface for working with goals"
bulletCost Estimation
bulletCost Xpert "highly flexible, easy to use and well priced cost estimation tool that takes the guesswork out of cost and schedule estimations"
bulletOther Tools
bulletMindjet used to brainstorm during initial project planning; quickly capture and organize ideas and information using an interface that is both easy to use and to understand; and concisely communicate even very complex information using a non-text-intensive visual format.
bulletTRUEreq offers a collaborative workspace for specifying and launching new products. It helps geographically dispersed constituents—product managers, project managers, designers, contract developers, marketing and sales executives, purchasing managers, ad agencies, PR firms, QA managers, and patent attorneys—compress time and increase accountability. TRUEreq's easy-to-use Web-based approach and economic pricing model make it easy for companies to easily get started. Currently we are offering 3 free full featured user licenses. This gives the managers the ability to experience for themselves the power of TRUEreq.
bulletProject Management - Germany / Projektmanagement - Deutschland
bulletTampier Software - Systemhaus für Projektmanagement A system house for project management with many years of experience (since 1985) as well as the sales and maintenance of program products (ACOS PLUS.1, ACOS WEB, ACOS Compact, Ado x, Sygate Firewall, Sygate Office network, Sygate Home network, Pop Connect)