Group Project Tools Ahmad Alnafoosi, Kathy Drew, Doug Schultz

What is a Group Project Tool? Group Project Tool where schedule, to-do, milestone, documents and some synchronous and asynchronous communication features are provided.

Over View These tools are used to plan and track the progress of a project with the collaboration of multiple contributors. Some are simpler to use than others in ease of use. The provide some “core” functionalities and some “Support” functionalities. The core functionality includes dash board, tasks (todo), synchronous communication (chat, web presentation, etc…), asynchronous communications, (Blogs, forums, messages), data access repository (file sharing), calendar and time tracking (not in goplan). Basecamp seems to be geared toward light to medium web use since it only present core functionality. GoPlan present more medium to high web use of the website. Zoho is created for high usage of web site and collaboration for virtual teams.

Specifics Ahmad will demo Basecamp Software Kathy will demo GoPan Doug will demo Zoho

Considerations When considering a project management system, things to keep in mind are: Budget available Feature Requirements –Administrative Control –Team Size –Document Storage –File Sharing Capabilities –Activity Timeline/Calendar of Events –Time Tracking –Types of Team Discussions

Class Acces to Demo For Basecamp use: –User : student1 to student30 (30 users) –Password:

Base Camp Software Team Project Tools

BaseCamp Software Basecamp is an online project management and collaboration tool Free plan is available but does not have all the collaboration functionality (file sharing, time tacking and secure login) Paid Plans can be demoed before purchasing BC can support multiple projects Can provide an overview for to do tasks of multiple projects Can provide an overview for calendar of multiple projects

Plans Available

Basecamp Features All Plans Multiple Projects (starting with 1 on free plan) Multiple Users Per project (unlimited Users) Easy to Use Tabs for Navigation Community and Support Forum –Announcements, Bug reports, Feature requests –Tips and tricks, developers, general discussion To-do by Category Sub Tasks (item with in a To-do) Activity Time Line lists all events Notes Files can be viewed by all team members Tickets (documentation of issues) available , RSS feeds and global iCalendar available for notifications

Basecamp Features Paid Plans Milestone (Calendar) –tracks tasks Chat Administrator controls –Users and Profiles

Collaboration Tools Jointly Authored Pages –Message Board –Shared List Information Access –Shared File Repository –RSS Resource Planning –Scheduling Resources –Scheduling Tasks –Shared Calendars

Ease Of Use Upper right of first page contains a drop down –My Dashboard for: Listing/Adding Projects Setting Account Info Viewing Subscription –List of Projects Lists all of your projects Choose PM440 Demo –Tabs allow navigation through all features

Tabs Dashboard –Home:Lists projects and tasks –Activity Time Line –Users and Profiles –Project Settings To-dos –View (edit and delete based on profile) –Add Notes (allows file attachments) Milestones –New Event –View –Event List Messages –New Messages –Add comments. White Board –Where text can be collaborated on. Chat

Other Stuff Other setting like permissions, colors, logo and photos. It has a nice feature where you can search the whole project for specific text. Provide templates for different projects. Has RSS and iCALENDAR features.

Take A Test Drive BaseCamp: created 30 accounts from student1- student30 Password:

Goplan

Team Project Tool GoPlan is an online project management and collaboration tool GoPlan is an online project management and collaboration tool Free Plan is available (with many features) Free Plan is available (with many features) Paid Plans can be demoed before purchasing Paid Plans can be demoed before purchasing

Plans Available Unlimited $100/month Professional $50/month Startup $20/month Personal $10/monthFree Projects at onceUnlimited (*) Users per projectUnlimited 84 Storage space25 GB6 GB1.5 GB300 MB15 MB User permissionsIncluded N/A Calendar and ChatIncluded N/A 256-bit SSLIncluded N/A

GoPlan Features All Plans Multiple Projects (starting with 2 on free plan) Multiple Projects (starting with 2 on free plan) Multiple Users Per project (starting with 4 on free plan) Multiple Users Per project (starting with 4 on free plan) Easy to Use Tabs for Navigation Easy to Use Tabs for Navigation Community and Support Forum Community and Support Forum Announcements, Bug reports, Feature requests Announcements, Bug reports, Feature requests Tips and tricks, developers, general discussion Tips and tricks, developers, general discussion Tasks by Category Tasks by Category Sub Tasks Sub Tasks Activity Time Line lists all events Activity Time Line lists all events Notes and File Attachments Notes and File Attachments Files can be viewed by all team members Files can be viewed by all team members Tickets (documentation of issues) available Tickets (documentation of issues) available and RSS feeds available for notifications and RSS feeds available for notifications

GoPlan Features Paid Plans Calendar Calendar tracks tasks tracks tasks Chat Chat Administrator controls Administrator controls Users and Profiles Users and Profiles

Collaboration Tools Jointly Authored Pages Jointly Authored Pages Chat Room Chat Room Shared List Shared List Information Access Information Access Shared File Repository Shared File Repository Blog Blog RSS RSS Resource Planning Resource Planning Scheduling Resources Scheduling Resources Scheduling Tasks Scheduling Tasks Shared Calendars Shared Calendars

Ease of Use Upper right of first page contains a drop down Upper right of first page contains a drop down My Dashboard for: My Dashboard for: Listing/Adding Projects Listing/Adding Projects Setting Account Info Setting Account Info Viewing Subscription Viewing Subscription List of Projects List of Projects Lists all of your projects Lists all of your projects Choose PM440 Demo Choose PM440 Demo Tabs allow navigation through all features Tabs allow navigation through all features

Tabs Dashboard Dashboard Home:Lists projects and tasks Home:Lists projects and tasks Activity Time Line Activity Time Line Users and Profiles Users and Profiles Project Settings Project Settings Notes Notes View (edit and delete based on profile) View (edit and delete based on profile) Add Notes (allows file attachments) Add Notes (allows file attachments) Blog Blog Calendar Calendar New Event New Event View View Event List Event List

Tabs (continued) Tickets Tickets New New All All Unassigned Unassigned Individual Individual Closed Closed Tasks Tasks New New Category Category Task List Task List Files Files List List Upload (Attached Files ( version control) Upload (Attached Files ( version control) Chat Chat

Take a Test Drive Password: demodemo Password: demodemo

Zoho Projects

Team Project Tool Zoho Projects is an online project management and collaboration tool Zoho Projects is an online project management and collaboration tool Free Plan is available Free Plan is available

Plans Available

Zoho Features All Plans Number of projects depends on plan ranging from 1 with the free plan to unlimited with the Enterprise plan Number of projects depends on plan ranging from 1 with the free plan to unlimited with the Enterprise plan All plans allow for unlimited number of users All plans allow for unlimited number of users Very easy to use web user interface Very easy to use web user interface Account and Project-specific Forums Account and Project-specific Forums Feedback tab and help options Feedback tab and help options Tasks by Category Tasks by Category Sub Tasks Sub Tasks Activity Time Line lists all events Activity Time Line lists all events Calendar tab Calendar tab Ability to log time Ability to log time Schedule project meetings Schedule project meetings Notes and File Attachments as well as ability to create spreadsheets and documents using other Zoho products Notes and File Attachments as well as ability to create spreadsheets and documents using other Zoho products Files can be viewed by all team members Files can be viewed by all team members feeds available for notifications of tasks, meetings, and user administration feeds available for notifications of tasks, meetings, and user administration Export tasks, log sheets Export tasks, log sheets Create reports Create reports Quick create tab for common tool functions Quick create tab for common tool functions

Zoho Projects Paid Plans Additional Features Track More Projects Track More Projects Get more online storage Get more online storage SSL Support SSL Support

Collaboration Tools Jointly Authored Pages Jointly Authored Pages Ability to create forum discussion topics and add comments Ability to create forum discussion topics and add comments Information Access Information Access Shared File Repository with version control Shared File Repository with version control Forum (blog) Forum (blog) RSS is not available RSS is not available Limited Resource Planning Limited Resource Planning Shared Project Calendars Shared Project Calendars Task and resource scheduling does not provide a way to determine resource availability Task and resource scheduling does not provide a way to determine resource availability

Ease of Use Quick Create function in upper right corner provides ability to perform common tool functions Quick Create function in upper right corner provides ability to perform common tool functions Tabs for all functions provides simple, intuitive workflow Tabs for all functions provides simple, intuitive workflow Dashboard Dashboard Projects in top left frame Projects in top left frame Lists all open projects for the user Lists all open projects for the user Archived Projects Archived Projects Users in bottom left frame Users in bottom left frame Lists of users Lists of users Add new users Add new users

Tabs Dashboard Dashboard Week Ahead Week Ahead Recent Documents Recent Documents Recent Forum Posts Recent Forum Posts Recent Forum Comments Recent Forum Comments Latest Project Activity Latest Project Activity Tasks & Milestones Tasks & Milestones New Milestone New Milestone New Task List New Task List New Task New Task Export Export Calendar Calendar Month view Month view Filters for milestones, tasks, and meetings Filters for milestones, tasks, and meetings

Tabs (continued) Meetings Meetings Schedule new meetings Schedule new meetings View Upcoming Meetings View Upcoming Meetings Elapsed Meetings Elapsed Meetings Documents Documents Upload Documents and Spreadsheets Upload Documents and Spreadsheets Create documents using Zoho Writer Create documents using Zoho Writer Create spreadsheets using Zoho Sheet Create spreadsheets using Zoho Sheet Timesheet Timesheet Log time by task Log time by task Add notes to the Timesheet Add notes to the Timesheet Log time as billable or non-billable Log time as billable or non-billable Reports Reports Task List Task List Milestones Milestones Task Graph (Gantt Chart) Task Graph (Gantt Chart) Forums Forums Add forum topics Add forum topics Add forum topic comments Add forum topic comments Notify users of the topics and comments Notify users of the topics and comments Users Users Add users with roles of manager, client, employee, or contractor Add users with roles of manager, client, employee, or contractor Assign users to projects Assign users to projects