OpenProj - Free Project Management Software
Tuesday December 2, 2008
There haven't been really good options available for project managers looking for inexpensive alternatives for Microsoft Project.
OpenProj promises to change that. OpenProj is not only inexpensive, but it is free, and it is open source. It runs on Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems. It provides a complete replacement of Microsoft Project and can open Microsoft Project files.
OpenProj uses an advanced scheduling engine, provides Gantt charts, network diagrams, WBS charts, RBS charts, and more. Translations exist for Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Russian, Portugese, and Swedish.
Download files are available here. Ubuntu users download the debian package (.deb) and follow the instructions for quick and easy installation.
Comments
I found a Project Management Software which Shares Microsoft Project schedules with team. Includes Project Portfolio Management, Issue Tracking, Risk Management, Timesheet Management, Document Management, Calendar Management, Forums, Reports and Project Dashboard.
A better hosted Project Management software that suits my EPM needs is called valleyspeak project server, which I found at http://www.valleyspeak.com. One of the main reasons why I like the software is the fact that I could continue to work in Microsoft Project 2007 while sharing my Microsoft Project plans with my teams.
ValleySpeak Project Server is a centralized project management software for Small and Medium Businesses which allows them to publish, control and execute projects in real time, while continuing to use Microsoft Project 2007.
Because it is a hosted service, I did not have to buy expensive software or deal with installation and maintenance headaches. The functionality that I have with valleyspeak to manage my geographically dispersed teams works well for me. We also evaluated Basecamp and some other solutions but were not impressed.
I would like to share about Planning Force http://www.planningforce.com/ which has custom features and it is the tool that we use here in our organization. Check out their trial version if interested…
Why exactly is this software better than other MS Project Alternatives? I’m interested, as we too offer a web-based pm tool. Wrike.com is not free, but it’s affordable and it has several unique features, like transparent email integration, selective views, and multi-project capabilities. Thousands of our users love Wrike’s email integration and call it a “killer feature”, because it tremendously helps to get software used in your team, helping to break the most important problem with project management tools – the fact that information often bypasses them in emails. It would be really great to find out your expert opinion about the tool, as well as get an answer to my first question