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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Microsoft Project
Scrum (Team Foundation Server)
Open Office
Basecamp
Kforge
Central Desktop
Fogbugz
Lighthouse
Iwork
OpenProj
Metrics Identification Factors



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
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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


Visual Representation

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Does it help to manage and maintain a list of issues.
Resource Management

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Can resource be shuffled between a variety of possible tasks based on time
constraints and factors.
Issue Tracking System

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Gantt Charts, PERT Charts etc.
Scheduling

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Is the open source or proprietary
Does the tool aid in efficient and effective deployment for an organization's
resources when they are needed
Cost

Pricing factors.
Tools Analysis



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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

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
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
Tools
Installation
Documentation
Platform
Independent
MS Project
Yes
Excellent
No
Moderate
Open Office
Yes
Good
No
Easy
OpenProj
Yes
Excellent
No
Moderate
Iwork
Yes
Excellent
No
Moderate
Lighthouse
No
Excellent
Yes
Easy
Central Desktop
No
Excellent
Yes
Easy
Scrum
Yes
Excellent
Yes
Moderate
Fogbugz
No
Excellent
Yes
Easy
Basecamp
No
Excellent
Yes
Easy
Kforge
No
Excellent
Yes
Moderate
Ease of Use
Collabor
ative
Open
Source
Issue
Schedulin Tracking
Resource
Manage
Visuals
Cost
(Free?)
Microsoft
Project
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Open Office
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes (Free)
OpenProj
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (Free)
Iwork
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Lighthouse
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Central
Desktop
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Scrum
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Fogbugz
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Basecamp
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Kforge
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes (Free)
Tools
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
Milestones
Tasks
Due Dates
Actuals
Phase 1
Tools Identification
02/19/2010
02/19/2010
Phase 2
Research and
explore the tools
identified.
03/25/2010
03/27/2010
Phase 3
Come up with the
results of the
analysis and
comparison study
and present it in a
report.
04/10/2010
04/24/2010
Demo

Central Desktop
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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.

http://www.centraldesktop.com/lmeenakshi
/testproject/
Questions and Suggestions!!!!!