Project Management Tools Meenakshi Lakshmikanthan 04/19/2010

Project Goals Survey the current, most widely used software project management tools. (Minimum 9 tools) Provide comparison studies between the different tools.

Tools Overview 1. Microsoft Project 2. Scrum (Team Foundation Server) 3. Open Office 4. Basecamp 5. Kforge 6. Central Desktop 7. Fogbugz 8. Lighthouse 9. Iwork 10. OpenProj

Metrics Identification Factors Tool must provide clear and tangible project status information about project schedule and cost. Using the tool, the project manager must be able to identify root causes for schedule slippage such as under-estimates for work or late delivery of vendor product or additional complexity. The tools should act like a system which drives data collection, tracking tasks and the actuals and facilitating collaboration with all the people that are part of the project. Tools facilitating visual data like charts, graphs. Tools that blend well in all environments and the ones that integrate with other products. Finally, cost of the product is an important metric which might influence its usage and popularity.

Metrics Installation  Does the tool require installation???? If so, how easy or difficult it is to install. Documentation  Availability of a formal documentation to provide help when needed.  Metrics  Excellent, Good Platform Independence  Is the tool platform independent? Ease of Use  How easy is the tool to work with?  Metrics  Easy, Moderate Collaborative  Is the tool designed to help people involved in a common task to achieve their goals?

Metrics Open Source  Is the open source or proprietary Visual Representation  Gantt Charts, PERT Charts etc. Scheduling  Can resource be shuffled between a variety of possible tasks based on time constraints and factors. Issue Tracking System  Does it help to manage and maintain a list of issues. Resource Management  Does the tool aid in efficient and effective deployment for an organization's resources when they are needed Cost  Pricing factors.

Tools Analysis Install or sign up for the tool. Review the tutorials that help go about the tool. Explore the tool by playing around with the different features and plug ins available. Test with multiple projects and multiple resources. Collect inputs from various people using the tools in real time.

Analysis In a broad sense, there are can be two approaches to project management  High Level Management Typical attributes include each project's total expected cost, consumption of resources,expected timeline and schedule of investment, risk analysis, inter-dependencies with other projects etc.  Low Level Management Typical attributes include monitoring the ongoing project activities, identify corrective actions to address issues; controlling the processes so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner.

Analysis High Level Management Tools  Microsoft Project  OpenProj  Open Office.  Iwork suite Low Level Management Tools  Basecamp  Lighthouse  Central Desktop  Kforge  Fogbugz  Scrum

ToolsInstallationDocumentation Platform Independent Ease of Use MS Project YesExcellentNo Moderate Open Office YesGoodNo Easy OpenProj YesExcellentNo Moderate Iwork YesExcellentNo Moderate Lighthouse NoExcellent Yes Easy Central Desktop NoExcellentYes Easy Scrum YesExcellentYes Moderate Fogbugz NoExcellentYes Easy Basecamp NoExcellentYes Easy Kforge NoExcellentYes Moderate

Tools Collabor ative Open SourceSchedulin Issue Tracking Resource ManageVisuals Cost (Free?) Microsoft Project No YesNoYes No Open Office NoYesNo YesYes (Free) OpenProj NoYes NoYes Yes (Free) Iwork No YesNoYes No Lighthouse YesNoYes NoYesNo Central Desktop YesNoYes NoYesNo Scrum YesNoYes No Fogbugz YesNoYes NoYesNo Basecamp YesNoYesNo Kforge Yes NoYesYes (Free)

Results Open Proj seems to have a slight edge over other high level management tools.  It is Free  Open Source. Low Level management tools are more or less similar.  Scrum fares well. (Agile Methodologies)  Central Desktop fares well. (Web Based)

Milestones TasksDue DatesActuals Phase 1Tools Identification02/19/2010 Phase 2Research and explore the tools identified. 03/25/201003/27/2010 Phase 3Come up with the results of the analysis and comparison study and present it in a report. 04/10/201004/24/2010

Demo Central Desktop  Web Based Low Level Management tool.  Manage Projects  Manage Your Team Online  Set-up Projects, a Wiki, Intranet, or Extranet in < 15 minutes  Access All Your Files & Tasks, Anytime from Anywhere  Find, Share, Store & Collaborate on Documents & Files  Manage Task Lists, Milestones, & Project Reports  Track Time or Review Department Calendars Online  Keep All Your Information in One Place.

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Questions and Suggestions!!!!!