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Project managers are busy managing. They handle a vast array of tasks from planning to completion. This is a challenge, even difficult at times. However, in some ways they even feel happy: the market offers so many management services that it is more difficult to choose the tool itself, rather than direct management.

Those who have come across projects have probably heard and even used the popular MS Project program. The realities are such that even the popular and widespread software does not always meet the needs. The reasons are different: too difficult to understand, ineffective, high cost, lack of necessary functionality, etc. In such cases, managers are looking for an alternative to MS Project. Fortunately, finding such an alternative is not problematic.

The article will focus on the online Gantt chart GanttPRO as an effective analogue of MS Project. And that's why we say it.

Fast and easy registration

What scares the user away from the software? The initial steps are registration. If you are forced to fill in the fields with information that you consider insignificant or redundant, you are unlikely to continue your acquaintance with the product.

To register in our analogue MS Project, there is no need to enter a work email or telephone number, company name and size. To register, you need to use your mailbox or a Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn account. It's enough. Then you immediately start scheduling and managing tasks in the MS Project alternative.

Intuitive interface

Acquaintance with the interface occurs immediately after registration. Everyone has their own idea of ​​how everything should look. But what really matters to most is simplicity and intuitiveness... MS Project users know how difficult it is to figure it out. This will take time.

Our MS Project counterpart is how to work in a comfortable work chair after an uncomfortable chair in a meeting room. This is the feeling when everything is comfortable and familiar. For this, managers fell in love with the alternative to MS Project.

To understand the analogue of Microsoft Project, the user needs literally a few minutes. The buttons, options and the Gantt chart itself look nice, and the functionality is intuitive.

Easy to use

Would you like to use an application that is powerful yet easy to use? If you have worked with MS Project, you know that this program is not the easiest one. You can get confused in it. But ease of use is the key to widespread adoption: how easier setup and functionality, the more users will choose the service for work.

In the analogue of Microsoft Project, you and your team work right away, even the first time you use it.

What does this simplicity imply? You can easily find the necessary functions, no "What is this function", etc. You will intuitively find everything you need in management in this analogue of MS Project. Set dependencies between tasks, drag and drop them, set milestones, critical path, view change history, restore previous versions- a few clicks and these functions are already in use.

All your actions on one screen

When working on a project, everything should be at hand. Not somewhere in another option, button, or screen.

In our alternative to MS Project, the manager has everything on one screen. Tasks, forecasts, resources, steps, changes and the people who made them - all in one place right in front of you.

Convenient team collaboration

Collaboration in MS Project is tricky. To take full advantage of the functions, project participants need to purchase a license.

In our alternative, teamwork is comfortable. You leave comments, attach files, invite members, view the history of changes in real time - the opportunities for interaction are vast.

For example, when a change is made, a corresponding instant alert appears in the right upper corner screen. Thus, the manager and the team will always be aware of the activity.

Export to popular formats includingPNG image

Managers need charts anytime, anywhere. The reasons are different: to have complete control over the processes, to be able to show everyone in a meeting or to include in a presentation for participants. In this case, the export function helps.

Both tools have this feature... GanttPRO, being an alternative to MS Project, exports in 4 popular formats: XLSX, PNG, PDF or XML. And all this in one click.

You can also include your Gantt chart in a presentation or any other multimedia file. As a result, your clients and team are always aware of progress.

Easy import from popular formats with a wide range of options

Have you already started managing in MS Project, but would like to continue in another service? In our analogue, you can easily import an already started chart from .mpp format... This is convenient: you import without losing data, and then continue working.

This is not all. Import to GanttPRO is also possible from formats .xlsx, .xls and .csv.

Detailed information you will learn how to import a Gantt chart from MS Project and Excel from this video.

Note: Import is possible in two tools. At this point, we emphasize on ease and convenience.

Our MS Project counterpart makes it easy to share your plan with anyone. You grant different access rights - view or view and edit. No licenses or any other complicated steps - just enter your email or use the link.

At any time, you can close access to the diagram in two ways: by pressing OFF or "Generate a new link". In this case, the diagram will no longer be available using the previous link.

Ability to save your templates

There are ready-made templates in two tools. However, in our alternative to MS Project, you can save your templates as well.

For example, you are managing a project or have already finished it. That said, your template turned out to be so successful that you decide to use it for future diagrams as well. Save it in one click and use it any other time.

Change history

Chances are, you and your team have done something wrong repeatedly. In our MS Project alternative, you can view the entire history of changes made by you and your team. Review the history of actions and events, find the moment where the mistake was made, and restore that version of the project before the mistake or wrong action was committed. You are in complete control of all work.

Compatible withMac

MS Project, being a Microsoft product, does not run on a competing company's operating system. However, when managing a project, it is important that everyone has access to it and can work on it at any time.

GanttPRO - an analogue of MS Project for Mac - makes it possible to work on a project from any operating system, be it Windows, Mac or Linux.

Free plan

In our analogue MS Project, you can create charts in the free version. Besides, paid plans offered for more low prices in comparison with the product from Microsoft.

General table

Let's summarize the above in one table.

Alternative selection criteriaMS Project: free functionality

In our analogue, you can choose free and paid plans. MS Project is a paid product. The only thing free offer- this is trial version... Of course, in this case, you will not be able to create a solid project.

Free functionalityGanttPRO include:

  • All the classic features of the Gantt chart;
  • 1 active project with 1 active user;
  • Automatic scheduling;
  • Critical path;
  • Working days and hours;
  • Templates.

GanttPRO- alternativeMS Project

GanttPRO has become an effective analogue of MS Project. Already 190,000 managers use it. At the same time, 210,000 charts were created.

By the way, we have not listed all the capabilities of the tool so that you can explore them yourself.

What is your opinion ofGanttPRO? Share with us 🙂

Undoubtedly, third party services it's hard to compete with Microsoft Project, at least because of its total prevalence and impressive functionality. In order to stay afloat and be in demand, alternative services must necessarily offer convenient mechanisms for integration with the "main" means of project accounting. Integration of cloud tools with MS Project can be realized different ways... On the one hand, these are means of import and export, and on the other hand, it can be, for example, two-way synchronization.

Let's see what we have as alternatives to the MS product.

appeared on the market relatively recently, but immediately became a real rival for all other web services. The main difference of the application is the rapid development of the service functionality and the introduction of various features. The current capabilities of Zilicus PM have grown significantly from the early beta (released late last year). The current version 5.1, which was released recently, is distinguished by new opportunities for conducting collective meetings on projects, integrations with Google docs, an advanced set of tools for organizing and managing resources.

Zilicus PM is a powerful market product and clearly not an outsider. The only drawback of the web service is its somewhat confusing interface.

Identifying the winners

Each of the cloud-based tools reviewed has its own advantages. However, in terms of advanced integration with MS Project, only two products are still leaders: Zoho Projects and Basecamp. Both use plugins for two-way synchronization, are highly flexible, and offer businesses numerous settings for solving various tasks in MS Project.

Please note that the Basecamp IntelliGantt plugin is not a product of 37Signals, so you will have to pay another $ 69 for it on top of subscription fee for Basecamp. The Zoho Projects plugin for integration with MS Office is completely free, and the plugin for working with Sharepoint is shareware.

What project services do you or your colleagues use, dear readers?

Who should you take a close look at on the Russian market? We know Megaplan. Are there any alternatives?

Modern management is unthinkable without planning and monitoring the implementation of large projects, therefore the article will present programs designed to help in the development of projects and monitoring the implementation of large projects. More recently, this kind of software was very expensive, sometimes the price of some products exceeded several thousand dollars. And now there are open source and free project management programs, which in functionality are very close to their commercial counterparts. They allow you to establish dependencies between jobs, divide a task into several subtasks and find out which of them can be performed in parallel, and are also able to control the use of resources. Moreover, some of these programs support the mode teamwork.
Below is the literature on the PMI PMBOK standard methodology.


Or download the free PMI Guide PMBOK - Project Management Body of Knowledge.

For those who need more serious project management tools, dozens of commercial programs have been developed that cost from two hundred to several thousand dollars. At the same time, the GanttProject program, being completely free, has already come close to its commercial counterparts in functionality.
GanttProject is designed to create timetables and track project progress using Gantt charts and applied resources. Moreover, it is assumed that the user is at least roughly familiar with such planning methods. If not, then you should first look at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart) or read the relevant literature.
GanttProject makes it possible to create a tree of tasks for a project, allocate a certain amount of time for each of them and assign human resources to it. The program contains the names of the performers and their contact details.
You can then establish dependencies between the individual tasks. For example, the “Erect a Wall” task will not start until the “Laying the Foundation” task is completed, etc. Based on all the data, GanttProject generates graphical representation project in the form of a Gantt chart for displaying tasks and a chart of resource use.
Of course, the resulting diagrams can be modified, printed, and PDF and HTML reports generated. Moreover, the program can exchange data with Microsoft Project (in MP and XML formats) and spreadsheet programs. This makes GanttProject compatible not only with the flagship of the industry, but also with other similar programs, since in most cases they tend to support imports in the Microsoft Project format. For example, I was able to open a project developed in GanttProject in another program, no less powerful - Open Workbench.
In general, there are quite a few commercial and open programs for project management. Some are more functional, others just look better. What are the advantages of GanttProject over commercial packages?
Decent (and ever-growing) feature set. It can be considered optimal for most users, because research shows that 80% Microsoft users Project uses no more than 20% of its functions.
Ease of learning. You don't need extensive tutorials to work with GanttProject. If the user has an understanding of the goals of the project, phases of execution, tasks and their dependencies, then in a matter of hours he will become an expert on GanttProject. The developers did not leave him a single chance to come to a standstill - the standard delivery of GanttProject includes an excellent reference book and a very illustrative example of the "Building a House" project.
Price. Commercial project management software isn't cheap, and GanttProject is free for any application. Perhaps, only the program for the use of which developers are willing to pay money can be cheaper than GanttProject.
Cross-platform. GanttProject is written in Java language and works under Windows control, Linux, Mac OS X and other systems where Java is supported.
Open source. Everyone can modify GanttProject according to their needs, implement new functions and add specialized reporting.
Localization. Most of the program (with the exception of the user manual and a few tips of the day) has been translated into Russian. By the way, some of the translated advice pleases with the utmost simplicity of presentation, for example: "The diagram can be dragged with the mouse to the left and to the right."

OpenProj is a free analogue of MS Project

Like GanttProject, OpenProj is written in Java and runs on any hardware / software platform, including Windows, Linux, and Mac. It looks, perhaps, even more powerful thanks to the rich arsenal of tools for project analysis. It includes not only Gantt charts, but also network charts (PERT), earned work and resources used (WBS and RBS), and actual costs (Earned Value). The developers are positioning OpenProj as a full-fledged replacement for Microsoft Project and other commercial analogues.
Projity distributes OpenProj completely free and open source. Apparently, the personal program OpenProj is used as an "umbrella brand" for the more powerful Project on Demand (POD) system, designed for teamwork on projects. Both systems are built on the same source code base, which is why OpenProj has such remarkable analytical abilities.
OpenProj is popular with specialists all over the world - after the first release of the program, over 150 thousand copies were copied from the developers' site in a few weeks. And this is not surprising, because OpenProj is a really powerful project management system. It has been translated into many languages, including Russian, and can work with Microsoft Project and Gnome Planner files. The developers claim that the transition to OpenProj will not take much time and effort, but in practice things are a little different.
So, in terms of usability, OpenProj is clearly inferior to other programs - there are no help files or examples in the standard package. In terms of external design, it vaguely resembles MS Project, but big buttons for switching project display modes in the left panel are made so clumsy that it feels like working with outdated version... Yes, MS Project projects open in OpenProj just fine, but importing data from other programs is no longer so reliable. For example, it was not possible to open a project created in Gnome Planner.
Nevertheless, many experts agree that OpenProj is the most worthy alternative commercial applications. For example, Michael Shuttleworth, the "helmsman" of Ubuntu, considers it one of the key packages for desktop Linux. Top managers of other well-known distributions, Mandriva and SUSE, are of the same opinion.

Open Workbench is a free project management program for Windows

Open Workbench is another great project management solution. It is a fairly powerful program, which is functionally close to commercial products. However, it has significant drawbacks. So, it only works in Windows system, has no translation into Russian and the last release dates back to December 2005. And yet it is one of the most beautiful and convenient programs in this review. It is easy to open projects made in GanttProject and exported to MS Project XML, however, then minor corrections are still required.
The program is distinguished by careful use of screen space. A single window, divided into frames, contains a task tree, a Gantt chart and a list of human resources. On the left side of the window, there are preset viewing modes, and you can also create your own.
I must say that Open Workbench is a very flexible and easy-to-learn tool. With a basic knowledge of English, it is not difficult to quickly learn how to work in this program. Its standard distribution includes an extensive help system, and the site contains examples and a user manual in MS Word and Adobe Acrobat formats.

Gnome Planner - Gnome Office component for project management

The Gnome Planner developers are also taking their time to release new versions of their project management system. The last of them, to work under Windows, was compiled at the end of 2006. In terms of capabilities, Gnome Planner is at the level of GanttProject, but functions a little faster. To use Gnome Planner for Windows, you need to install the GTK + library, which is available, for example, from the GIMP for Windows site. When this program is running on Windows, it has the same limitations as other applications written in GTK +. For example, the copy paste and replace functions have to be used via context menu mouse or application menu system.

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Office suite

To work with documents on a computer, you can use not only the familiar Microsoft Office but also, for example, LibreOffice. The latter program supports most of the popular operating systems, including GNU / Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The main components of LibreOffice are word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creation and vector editor.

Burning and copying discs

ImgBurn is a freeware CD and DVD burning program similar to Nero Burning ROM. The program supports all the most popular image formats and, among other things, can record Audio CD, DVD Video.

Archiver

Archivers are software for compressing files. Paid WinRAR can be easily replaced with free 7-Zip. The latter has a high speed of compression and extraction, supports setting a password for the archive, works with all popular file formats.

Music editor

Supports all the necessary functions for sound processing, has a set of filters and works with a large number of formats. This is one of the best free music editors which could replace Adobe Audition and WaveLab.

Text recognising

The pluses of the free analogue of ABBYY FineReader include good quality text recognition; unlimited downloads; work with 70 languages; recognition of text containing several languages ​​at once; lack of registration. Free Online OCR recognizes almost all popular formats you need (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, etc.). The result can be obtained as plain text(Txt) document Microsoft Word(DOC) and Adobe PDF Acrobat.

Dictionary

One of the best electronic dictionaries with open source code... It allows you not only to translate words, but also to voice them. There is also a function to scan the highlighted word. Additional dictionaries can be connected to the program, thereby expanding its capabilities.

Mail client

For working with e-mail, it is convenient to use free program Thunderbird. It has a convenient and intuitive clear interface, is considered an excellent analogue The bat! and other paid mail clients... Thunderbird works well for both home and work.

Firewall

Comodo Firewall is a free personal firewall by Comodo for Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Program features: proactive protection, protection against Internet attacks, buffer overflow protection, protection against unauthorized access, protection of important system files, attack detection ret2libc and broken / bad SEH chain detection.

Vector editor

Inkscape is a free editor vector graphics, is similar in functionality to Adobe illustrator and CorelDraw. The program supports elements such as selection, scaling, filling, airbrush, various standard shapes. Inkscape works with SVG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF and other popular formats.

Layout

With Scribus, you can typeset layouts and books from publishers. The program supports the functions of professional systems: color adjustment, including CMYK-format, support for most image formats (TIFF, JPEG and Adobe photoshop), support for vector formats, support for TrueType, Type 1 and OpenType fonts. Paid analogues Scribus - QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign.

3D editor

With 3D editors, you can create models, animations, and even entire films. Blender is one of the most feature-rich free 3D editors that rivals the popular 3ds Max. Blender's list of features includes lighting, structuring, materials, animation, shaders, embedded Python, morphing.

SERGEY YAREMCHUK, automation engineer. Author of over 800 articles and 4 books. V " System Administrator»Is published from the first issue. Interests: network technologies, information protection, free operating systems

Alternatives to MS Project.
Trying popular open source solutions

In any company, you cannot do without a tool that allows you to optimally allocate time, tasks, available funds and correctly set up business processes.

You can, of course, keep all plans in mind or mark the process on paper, independently tracking progress, but this method can only be suitable for relatively small organizations and projects.

The most advertised and therefore well-known project management product is Microsoft Project, which comes in two configurations - Standard and Professional. Standard Edition - A single-user edition designed for small projects where the manager does not need funds working together and coordination of activities. The Professional version is an enterprise version that supports joint project and resource management with the ability to connect to Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Project Web Access 2007. Both versions of MS Project are unreasonably expensive ($ 600 and $ 1000, respectively), so we will try to find a replacement for them.

It should be noted that planning tools are available in most solutions. group work(GroupWare). For example, eGroupWare has a ProjectManager module and a calendar. The project created by ProjectManager has all the necessary attributes: category, priority, start / end date, access, list of participants, budget, Gantt charts and other data. Group-Office has a similar module. This solution has a free version distributed with source texts under the AGPL license. And also in Open-Xchange and some others. There is a project management module even in some CRMs, for example Project Management in SugarCRM. Next, we will focus on specialized solutions.

OpenProj

Serena Software offers two product options: a paid POD (Projects On Demand), provided as a service (SaaS, Software as a Service), which has collaboration functions on a project, and a free OpenProj designed for personal use and is an analogue of the single-user MS Project Standard. Both use the same codebase, so the basic features and principles of their work are basically the same, and the exchange of saved projects is also possible. Price paid subscription POD is $ 20 per month, which is not much, given that the implementation of the service does not require an additional purchase of hardware and OS, which will also cost a certain amount. Free version OpenProj is included with Star Office sold in Europe. According to the project statistics, OpenProj has been downloaded more than 1.250 million times, which is an excellent indicator.

Figure 3. Projects On Demand from Serena Software

OpenProj is written in Java and can be run on any platform for which there is a JRE (Java Runtime Environment). Developers offer installation packages for Windows, Linux (rpm and deb available) and Mac. System requirements are not stated by the developers, but experience shows that it is enough to run minimum requirements presented to the OS. The OpenProj interface is localized and looks like MS Project, although the design looks a little outdated. But the possibilities are quite large. Gantt charts, hexagrams and tables are available in OpenProj showing the resources involved in the project, free resources, network diagrams, charts of earned work and used resources, predecessor and successor tasks, as well as actual costs. A number of reports are available - by project, resources, tasks and performers.

Only tips (Tips) are supplied from the documentation, if necessary, you can get online help. The project website has a section with unfinished documentation in Russian. Although the program is structured logically, therefore, a user who has experience with such solutions or understands the process will easily figure out the creation of a project.

Importantly, OpenProj supports import Microsoft files Project up to 2007 and other products in which it is possible to save projects in .mpp, .xml and .mpx, including Gnome Planner. Export is possible to XML compatible with MS Project 2003 and native format (.pod). Export to PDF is only available in commercial POD.

OpenWorkbench

The beginning of this project dates back to 1984, then it was called "Project Workbench". Sometime after CA acquired Niko in 2005, which owned the rights to this product, the code became available and the project was renamed OpenWorkbench. At first, OpenWorkbench was released as betaware, now it is distributed under a freeware license. Positioned as an open source alternative to Microsoft Project for use on personal computer... For an additional fee, an additional module Clarity Schedule Connect is available, which allows you to store projects on a centralized base with the ability to work together. Written in Java, but only distributed for Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. The interface is translated into English, French and German. Although it is possible to independently localize tables in the project.

In OW, the project is based on the capabilities of the resource, multiplied by the number of hours required to solve the problem. This is how it differs from MS Project and some other solutions, in which the calculation is based on the required execution time, and not on the potential capabilities of the organization. Therefore, the areas of application of these products may differ. If, for example, you need to calculate how long it takes 2 people to complete a certain job, OW is more convenient here. And if the task is to set up the network by a certain day and calculate how many people are required, then MP is better optimized for this. Although you can specify a fixed due date in the OW project settings. Given that in most cases it is resources that are limited, OW is suitable for most small and medium-sized businesses.

It is possible to create dependencies between project tasks and between projects, subprojects, automatic creation of a schedule, WBS, Gantt charts, PERT and CPM, several methods of tracking the progress of the process, cost calculation. The data output can be changed depending on the nature of the project.

It is possible to import and export both to a file of its own format (.rmp), and to an XML file that can be opened in other programs that support this data type.

You probably won't be able to learn how to work with OpenWorkbench on the fly. A 301-page user manual (in English) is available on the project website to help you get started.

GanttProject

GanttProject is a free cross-platform project management program for Gantt chart. The source code is available under the GNU GPL license, it supports work on Windows, Linux and MacOSX. The project represents a tree of tasks for which a certain amount of time is allocated and the executor is assigned. Links are established between tasks. All this is displayed using Gantt and PERT charts, the declared work on the CPM (Critical Path Method) has not yet been completed. For convenience, additional data (coordinator, date, task name, assigned resources) can be displayed on the diagram. Implemented highlighting of a person's employment (an ordinary person, overwhelmed with work, underworking and vacation days) and the progress of tasks (has not changed, ahead and lagging). It is possible to set custom fields in tasks. The interface of the program is localized and, one might say, standard, so there should be no problems with mastering it. The principle is simple: first, an empty task is created, which is displayed on the chart, then the properties window is called and edited. A person is meant as a resource. While creating account a new person is given a name, role, phone number, email address and vacation days. By default, two roles can be set - "coordinator" and "indefinite", but in the program settings you can set any number of roles.

For compatibility with third-party projects, the MPXJ () library is used. But of the five formats supported by this library, only one is implemented in GanttProject - MS Project Exchange (MPX). In addition, there is the ability to export and import files, projects in txt and XML format. XML files exported from OpenProj and OpenWorkbench could not be opened in GanttProject.

Another important feature of GanttProject is the ability to upload and save a project file to FTP, which allows multiple users to open a document at once. However, editing collisions will have to be resolved manually. Also GanttProject can be used for offline editing of projects for] project-open [(more on that later).

The previous programs were designed for individual use and are analogous to MS Project Standard, followed by more serious solutions.

DotProject

DotProject (formerly dotmarketing.org) is a very powerful web-based project management solution. The capabilities are large enough to allow a manager to manage projects, tasks, and resources across multiple companies. In the program list, you can enter data about customers, manufacturers, suppliers, consultants and other participants and resources of the project. It is noteworthy that the address of anyone can be specified up to a point on Google Maps. The menu allows you to quickly select tasks and projects that meet certain conditions. Gantt charts are available. A multilevel access scheme has been implemented, each user in his workspace also receives information about all tasks and projects in which he participates in the form of a To Do list and a calendar (events and tasks). Forums, file sharing via the web interface are supported (the program requires php.ini to be allowed to upload files up to 32 MB). The system of applications (tickets) allows the participant to send a message to the administration.

The modular architecture makes it possible to expand the functionality, some of the modules are included in the standard delivery, and it is enough to activate them. The rest of the modules are available at the address, there are also interface localization packages, among which there is a Russian one. An alternative package containing Russian language files for version 2.1.x is available at. You can independently translate menu items using the Translation Management item. The interface is easy to rebuild to suit your needs, the delivery includes three themes that you can use as a basis.

DotProject is written in PHP, information is written to the database. Recommended platform for work is Linux or other UNIX-like operating system with Apache 1.3.27, PHP 4.2+ and MySQL. It is specifically noted that MySQL is fully supported. Although PostgreSQL, iBase, Informix can be used as a DBMS, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, SQLite, Sybase and some others. During installation, the script displays a recommendation to use Linux:

dotProject is usually tested on Linux first and will always have better support for Linux than other operating systems.

Installing DotProject is straightforward and is done in a manner typical of PHP solutions. The settings for his work and project management are also not very complex.

Project.net

Highly functional, relatively easy to manage, but difficult to install, enterprise-level product, distributed under a dual license. The organization of the workspace is based on the Project Workspace, which is a display of a real project in a virtual environment. Many features have been implemented - projects, tasks, shared calendar (with iCalendar support), document exchange with version tracking, discussion groups and a messaging forum, repeatable processes, materials, cost control and other components. Projects are grouped by business unit to form a portfolio. Each project has an associated WiKi documenting task information and a blog posting status. By default, information within a Project Workspace is only available to its members, but other users can also be allowed access.

The leader can set, view and track tasks for the entire team, with real-time control of implementation. Information on current tasks is displayed to individual users. Several types of reports have been implemented, and the necessary information can also be obtained in the form of task schedules and Gantt charts. The creation of projects is simplified through the use of templates, which describe all the basic settings. Successful projects can then be used as a template. Implemented various kinds of notifications about the status of the project, the appearance new task including on e-mail... All settings are made via the web interface. Currently, only the English version is available, but some local data such as dates, currencies and calendar is displayed depending on the browser settings.

It is possible to import and export projects to an XML file compatible with MS Project.

Apache Tomcat or WebLogic, Apache or IIS web server, only Oracle Database are used as the application server. Role-based multi-level access is implemented, authentication via LDAP / Active Directory is supported. I would also like to note the good documentation of the project.

Redmine

Redmine is one of best apps for project management and task control, built using web technologies. Several projects are supported simultaneously, each of which has its own settings. When creating a project, the available modules are selected - "Tasks", "Files", "Time Tracking", "Documents", Wiki, "Forum" and so on. Two dozen additional modules are available on the project's website, allowing you to calculate the budget, blog, charts, graphs, chat and much more. Standard has a flexible task tracking system with Gantt charts and a calendar. Diagrams can be exported to PDF or PNG, but Russian symbols are displayed incorrectly (rfpdf editing is required). All fields in the tables of tasks, projects, users are customizable, if necessary, you can remove or add additional fields. Appearance easily modified with themes or CSS editing. Implemented news feeds and email alerts. Implemented task management via mail messages. In the settings, you can specify several SMTP servers for different groups. Users can register on their own, with automatic activation, activation by mail or manually by the administrator. LDAP support has been implemented. A user can have different access levels in different projects. Projects have a public status, that is, they can be visible to everyone or be closed. Several simple reports - by users, types of tasks, types of activities, and so on. Version control systems are supported - SVN, CVS, Git, Mercurial, Bazaar and Darcs. Separate repositories are connected to projects.

The interface is translated into several languages, there is Russian in the list. Redmine is written in Ruby and can be run on any system (UNIX / Linux, MacOSX, Windows) for which Apache, Subversion, Ruby, Rails and some other optional components are available. MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite can be used as a DBMS. The project only offers sources via svn, the installation instructions are short enough following its recommendations in step by step, we get finished system... Ready-made packages for most systems (Linux, Windows, Mac and Solaris) can be found on the BitNami website, and an image for VMware is also available here.

Achievo

Another project management manager built using web technologies.

The strengths of Achievo are time logging, various reports and statistics showing who is doing what, when and. All this in Achievo is more than enough. Any number of projects, assignments, events, organizations and participants are supported. Linking tasks to projects, control over the received tasks, a convenient calendar and scheduler. The creation of recurring events is provided. For projects, statistics for any period are available, a Gantt chart, a reminder for urgent matters. An explanation can be added to the time spent. The creation of projects and tasks is simplified by templates, and projects are categorized as well. It is possible to exchange documents, control payments, create companies. User information can be stored in vCard format. Implemented several levels of access to Achievo. The user is mapped to several categories - Functionlevel (manager, director, programmer, etc.), Department (department), he can be a manager, have an administrator or security officer profile. In the settings there is useful function- tracking the birthdays of all participants. Export of reports to a CSV file has been implemented.

The interface is localized, it is quite easy to learn how to work with Achievo.

Achievo is written in PHP, to install it you need a traditional bundle - a web server with PHP and MySQL support. It is possible to work with PostgreSQL and Oracle, but the developers recommend MySQL. The installation process is standard for this kind of application.

Other solutions

As you can see, contrary to popular belief, free solutions that can replace Microsoft Project, in fact, there are, and the choice is very large. Of those projects that have already been tried, the review did not make it into the review:

] project-open [ (http://www.project-open.org) - rather confusing application built on OpenACS (Open Architecture Community System).

Streber (http://www.streber-pm.org) is a simple and straightforward solution that is still in the initial development stage (current version 0.0902), while the basic functionality is implemented. So, Streber has no this moment calendar, reports, Gantt charts.

ClockingIt (http://www.clockingit.com) - interesting solution with a nice interface that supports Ajax, Drag`n`drop, so the control is similar to working with a desktop application. Unfortunately, the interface has not yet been translated into Russian. The peculiarity of ClockingIt is that all actions are organized around the task, the project only groups them, acting as a kind of shortcut. That is, all tasks, files, and so on are at the same level, belonging to a project is just one of the properties. Distributed under the free MIT / X Consortium License. Moreover, it is not necessary to install your server, the project suggests using its site.

Gnome Planner (http://live.gnome.org/Planner) is one of the Gnome Office components designed to manage projects, tasks, resources, track resources, control using Gantt charts. Quite simple and convenient. Supports import of MS Project XML projects, normally opens XML created in OpenWorkbench. The result can be exported to HTML. Gnome Planner is available in the repositories of most * nix distributions. On the project site, in addition to the source code, there is an assembly for Windows.

It is rather difficult to choose a winner. Different properties win in different situations, so in any case, you will have to find a solution for yourself.

I like dotProject and Redmine, which have the right functionality and are easy to install and use. Among the solutions intended for personal use, I would like to highlight OpenProj and GanttProject.

Application

Terms

Gantt chart- A common type of horizontal diagram that is used to illustrate the plan, schedule or task structure of a project. The task is usually shown on the left side, the field at the top corresponds to the date. Vertical line drawn along current date, will correspond to the progress of the task. In addition to the timing of the tasks, the diagram also displays the relationships between tasks. Designed by Henry L. Gantt in 1910.

Network Schedule (PERT, Program Evaluation and Review Technique)- a diagram showing the dependencies between the tasks of the project.

Critical Path Method (CPM)- sequence of tasks from the beginning of the project to its end, taking into account their relationship. Critical tasks have the least flexibility for planning and have a direct impact on the timing of the project.

Http://openproj.org http://www.project.net/open_source.htm.

  • The site of the Redmine project is http://www.redmine.org.
  • Setup files Redmine - http://bitnami.org/stack/redmine.
  • Achievo project website - http://achievo.org.
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