2.9 GlassCubes
The major benefits of a hosted CRM solution such as glasscubes
include low initial and support cost—Web based CRM eliminates the
need for deploying clients and backend software—along with the
elimination of complicated initial setup, configuration, data migration
and integration.
2.10 KPlato
KPlato is a project management application. It is intended for managing
moderately large projects with multiple resources. It is focused on the
planning and scheduling of projects. Also KPlato is a cross-platform
project management application and a member of the KOffice suite. It
creates Gantt charts, which represent project schedules. KPlato is
designed to manage moderately large projects with multiple resources.
2.11 Prowork Flow
Proworkflow is a web based management tool to manage tasks and
schedules in projects. Being a web based application, it helps project
members who are situated at external locations. It easily creates tasks
with allocated times and a start and end date. This information is used to
create a highlight timelines that display resource allocation. Effective
time tracking and additional export to PDF, CSV and XML are pluses.
2.12 Zoho Project
Zoho Projects is a team collaboration and project management
application that allows teams to plan, track and collaborate on big
projects.
2.13 SmartSheet
Smartsheet is a software project management tool with main features
that include online project management collaboration, file sharing
features, Smartsheet's intuitive spreadsheet-like applications is used
broadly to track and manage diverse types of work including: team
projects and task lists, customer information, sales pipelines, event
schedules, and business processes.
2.14 Microsoft Project 2003
It is a robust project management tool with the right blend of usability,
power, and flexibility all of which help to manage projects more
efficiently and effectively. The main features are staying informed and
controlling project work, schedules, and finances, keeping project teams
aligned, and creating more productivity through integration with
familiar Microsoft Office system programs, powerful reporting, guided
planning, and flexible tools.
2.15 Planner Suite
Planner is the GNOME project management tool. This includes features
like: define the project, define general working times, list the tasks in
the project, organize tasks into phases, schedule tasks, link to or attach
more task information, identify risks to the project, Gantt chart, task
view, resource usage view, cross-platform, earned value analysis, multi
currency support, integration with accounting systems, report generator,
and resource allocation.
2.16 Microsoft Project
A tool that helps to create project planning and real-times and scheduled
times for finishing projects. It assists project managers in developing
plans, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing budgets
and analyzing workloads.
2.17 OpenProj
OpenProj is an open source project management software intended as a
complete desktop replacement for Microsoft Project, being able to open
existing native Project files. OpenProj runs on the Java Platform,
allowing it to run on a variety of different operating systems.
2.18 Planner Suite
Planner Suite is an open source project management software intended
as a complete desktop replacement for Microsoft Project, being able to
open existing native Project files. It includes features such as WBS
Scheduling, Gantt Schedule, Time and progress tracking, Utilization
optimization, Portfolio overview, Resource allocation, Document
management, Cost estimation, Expense management, Authorization,
Invoicing, Earned Value and reports.
2.19 Project.Net
It develops project collaboration applications using Internet
technologies, and builds and deploys a collaboration engine for use by
public and private web-based exchanges.
2.20 MicroPlanner X-Pert
It is a project management software package. X-Pert is geared to
producing CPM (critical path method) and PERT (path evaluation
review techniques) schedules for major, long-term projects.
3. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
As seen from the preceeding sections, there are many kinds of project
management appliances, be they open-source or proprietary, that help
project managers in some way. Some of these are more oriented
towards software project managers, whereas others are generic by
nature and can be used in almost any sector.
The chart in this section compares on the next page 20 project
management tools side-by-side on a feature basis. Features to be
compared have been selected by the authors according to significance.
The first 3 and last 2 columns in the table are not features, but rather
filters describing the software's operation base and license, respectively.
The leading proprietary products in the comparison chart are @Task,
Clarizen and Gemini with @Task supporting 12 out of 13 features
listed. Obviously, the price tag rises as more features are added into a
package. Most of these products are web-based and provide services to
their customers online. The trend indicates that project management and
the online collaboration sector are moving in more evolving direction.
Leading open-source products in the comparison chart appear t
o be
GanttProject and OpenProj. Being of an open-source nature adds to the
already available functionality of these products. Proprietary products
usually provide an API (Application Programming Interface) for
developers but in open-source products, the ability to control,
customize, and enhance every aspect of a project management tool is
valuable. A project manager who enhances this product with other
features will, therefore, be more likely to succeed since project manager
has acquired a software package for free that helps him in project
management tasks. The important thing to consider, when deciding
between among all these tools, is what features are needed in the project
to be undertaken. As it can be seen from the comparison chart, there is
an overwhelming number of features that can be included in a software
package. Since pricing changes for some packages or set of features, all
project managers should choose the tool that has the optimal set of
features for optimal expected utility within projects. For example, a
project may not have clients; i.e., it may be off-the-shelf rather than
bespoke, so the project manager probably does not need a tool that
provides workspaces that allow collaboration between the client and
suppliers. Another point is that a project may not be big in size;
consequently, many of the features listed may not be needed to begin
with. All these and other factors should be evaluated carefully by the
project manager to select the best tool in the management of the project.
Presently, the agile project management approach is becoming popular
and the framework of Scrum activities, XP’s feedback and
communication are used for the management processes in Agile project
management [4].
Table 1: Software Project Management Tools Comparative Perspective
ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes
May 2013 Volume 38 Number 3
DOI: 10.1145/2464526.2464537
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2464526.2464537