Project management software

Draft

Definition

• “Project management software is a term covering many types of software, including scheduling, resource allocation, collaboration software, communication and documentation systems, which are used to deal with the complexity of large projects.” (Wikipedia: Project-management software retrieved, 17:17, 15 September 2006 (MEST))

See also project management.

Technologies

Types

(some of these come combined)

• Planning and scheduling tools help to organize a project in terms of work-packages assigned to people and milestones to reach. (the essence of project management in the "classic" formal sense). These tools also include various information/monitoring tools like task lists for people, progress reporting etc.
• Ticketing applications assign tasks to people and can monitor progress. This can be combined with calendaring software.
• Help desk applications are similar.
• Groupware applications that include task management tools.
• Learning management systems include student management tools like homework management or progress metering regarding course materials to study.
• Environments for agile methods, e.g. collaborative writing tools like wikis or blogs.

Related tools

• Group Decision Support Systems
• ...

In education

There are 2 big categories of usage:

• To scaffold and monitor project-oriented learning designs and in particular what we called project-methodology-based learning
• To manage educational technology projects, as part of an instructional design method.

Links

General links

• Wikipedia: Project-management software

• Project Manager's Homepage (see the links section)

• Michael Greer's list of PM, ID, and ID/PM References

• DMOZ entries

Software packages

• List of project management software (Wikipedia).

• Project Management Software Directory at Infogoal's Project Management center.

Open source and/or free Desktop

• Planner (Linux)

Open source and/or free web-based applications

• PHProjekt (Web-based). PHProjekt is a modular application for the coordination of group activities and to share informations and document via intranet and Internet. Components of PHProjekt: Group calendar, project management, time card system, file management, contact manager, mail client and 9 other modules.
• dotProject is a volunteer supported Project Management application.
• Achievo
• Keystone is web-based ticketing system for keeping track of tasks and other items within a small to medium sized work group. (Free for less than 10 users).
• Tutos is a tool to manage the organizational needs of small groups, teams, departments ...
• eGroupWare is a free enterprise ready groupware software (contacts, appointments, todos, ProjectManager, TimeSheet, Workflow engine etc.)