Help me find a good online project management system
December 7, 2009 3:18 PM Subscribe
What is a good online project management system?
I'm trying to find an online project management system that will work for our organizations. We have a LOT of volunteers helping out on committees for various things, and different areas of our organization have projects that need to be completed by these volunteer committees.
I'm looking for something super simple, as the people who will be using it most likely won't be techno-savy, and I don't want extra clutter to make it more confusing.
I need:
To be able to have priorities
Have specific people assigned to projects and that will be notified of changes
A way to include time and money estimates
A way to update the progress
A way to tag/organize projects for different areas within our organization
A way to "hold" projects, IE for when funding isn't yet available, or to say that the project is waiting on someone, something, or another project
I don't need to track time spent on a project.
I just want a way to manage a large number of projects, and to communicate what's going on with a large number of people.
Online is a must, free would be great, but I'm willing to pay for great functionality.
What can you recommend, what have you used, what do you like/hate and why?
I'm trying to find an online project management system that will work for our organizations. We have a LOT of volunteers helping out on committees for various things, and different areas of our organization have projects that need to be completed by these volunteer committees.
I'm looking for something super simple, as the people who will be using it most likely won't be techno-savy, and I don't want extra clutter to make it more confusing.
I need:
To be able to have priorities
Have specific people assigned to projects and that will be notified of changes
A way to include time and money estimates
A way to update the progress
A way to tag/organize projects for different areas within our organization
A way to "hold" projects, IE for when funding isn't yet available, or to say that the project is waiting on someone, something, or another project
I don't need to track time spent on a project.
I just want a way to manage a large number of projects, and to communicate what's going on with a large number of people.
Online is a must, free would be great, but I'm willing to pay for great functionality.
What can you recommend, what have you used, what do you like/hate and why?
*sorry about the self-link*
My company developed Open Atrium, an alternative to Basecamp, etc., after using Basecamp for a while. You would need to set up some kind of cheap hosting and install it yourself, but it's very easy to use and install, and I think it meets all of your needs pretty well. And, obviously, it's open source, so it's free to use and customize.
posted by tmcw at 3:40 PM on December 7, 2009 [4 favorites]
My company developed Open Atrium, an alternative to Basecamp, etc., after using Basecamp for a while. You would need to set up some kind of cheap hosting and install it yourself, but it's very easy to use and install, and I think it meets all of your needs pretty well. And, obviously, it's open source, so it's free to use and customize.
posted by tmcw at 3:40 PM on December 7, 2009 [4 favorites]
Aww, you didn't need to self link, I was just coming in here to say how much I love Open Atrium...
posted by advicepig at 4:00 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by advicepig at 4:00 PM on December 7, 2009
Its brand new, but Google Wave is free and exists to act exactly as you're describing.
posted by macrowave at 11:55 PM on December 7, 2009
posted by macrowave at 11:55 PM on December 7, 2009
If you happen to have a webserver with php/mysql you could try the free version of ActiveCollab -- although the commercial version is the only one thats properly maintained now.
I've tried it and liked its ease of use, but i cant compare it to basecamp since i never tried the latter, which i hear is more or less the standard these days.
posted by 3mendo at 3:08 AM on December 8, 2009
I've tried it and liked its ease of use, but i cant compare it to basecamp since i never tried the latter, which i hear is more or less the standard these days.
posted by 3mendo at 3:08 AM on December 8, 2009
Thanks for the self-link, tmcw - that looks like it would fit my bill too!
posted by Sutekh at 4:37 AM on December 8, 2009
posted by Sutekh at 4:37 AM on December 8, 2009
I use Teamwork PM because I hate Basecamp (I think it's ugly and find the guys unfriendly) and am very happy.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:57 AM on December 8, 2009
posted by DarlingBri at 6:57 AM on December 8, 2009
Other opensource alternatives: ProjectPier, Redmine.
None of these are as simple as Basecamp which I subscribed to for about a year and a half. I wasn't fully satisfied, but it did the job. In the end I wasn't using it as much as I should have been so I gave it the flick.
There are plenty of players in the market, it's really a case of trial and error to find a system that suits you - good luck!
posted by simplesharps at 3:13 PM on December 8, 2009
None of these are as simple as Basecamp which I subscribed to for about a year and a half. I wasn't fully satisfied, but it did the job. In the end I wasn't using it as much as I should have been so I gave it the flick.
There are plenty of players in the market, it's really a case of trial and error to find a system that suits you - good luck!
posted by simplesharps at 3:13 PM on December 8, 2009
Opengoo is pretty cool.
* Priorities? Check.
* Have specific people assigned to projects? Check.
* and that will be notified of changes? Check
* A way to include time and money estimates? Um ... Time for sure, not sure about money.
* A way to update the progress? Check.
* A way to tag/organize projects for different areas within our organization? Check. (Via Opengoo's workspaces, or via tags, or both.)
* A way to "hold" projects, IE for when funding isn't yet available, or to say that the project is waiting on someone, something, or another project? Check - at the very least, by creating a milestone and setting its due date to way in the future, or perhaps by having a "Pending" workspace where you hold any projects that aren't ready to go yet.
* I don't need to track time spent on a project. ... But Opengoo does that, should you ever need it.
* I just want a way to manage a large number of projects, and to communicate what's going on with a large number of people. Check.
* Online is a must - Check.
* free would be great - Check.
Note - it would probably need to be installed on your own server (internal or shared hosting server or whatever). It would, however, then be online and available to anyone you gave a login to.
posted by kristi at 10:25 AM on December 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
* Priorities? Check.
* Have specific people assigned to projects? Check.
* and that will be notified of changes? Check
* A way to include time and money estimates? Um ... Time for sure, not sure about money.
* A way to update the progress? Check.
* A way to tag/organize projects for different areas within our organization? Check. (Via Opengoo's workspaces, or via tags, or both.)
* A way to "hold" projects, IE for when funding isn't yet available, or to say that the project is waiting on someone, something, or another project? Check - at the very least, by creating a milestone and setting its due date to way in the future, or perhaps by having a "Pending" workspace where you hold any projects that aren't ready to go yet.
* I don't need to track time spent on a project. ... But Opengoo does that, should you ever need it.
* I just want a way to manage a large number of projects, and to communicate what's going on with a large number of people. Check.
* Online is a must - Check.
* free would be great - Check.
Note - it would probably need to be installed on your own server (internal or shared hosting server or whatever). It would, however, then be online and available to anyone you gave a login to.
posted by kristi at 10:25 AM on December 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
Take a look at Intervals. It's a web-based project management app with extensive task and time tracking capabilities. Our web design/dev agency built it to handle workflow issues similar to your own. You'll have to excuse the fancy charts, though ;)
posted by johnjreeve at 2:09 PM on December 11, 2009
posted by johnjreeve at 2:09 PM on December 11, 2009
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posted by peripatew at 3:20 PM on December 7, 2009