Project Management Software

Posted by tammyking

on 1 Nov 2007 10:37 AM

We are a fairly small nonprofit with a large number for resources (contractors/consultants) on multiple projects. We're investigating purchasing project management software and I've read the thread from a few years back but was wondering if anyone had suggestions or experience they'd like to share pertaining to software they currently use. One important factor is Mac compatibility as we use both PC & Mac in our office. My co-worker has done some preliminary research and has narrowed it down to the following: MSProject, At Task, Quick Base, VertaBase, AutoTask, and Kick Start. Thanks for your input, Ursula Lobacz

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Posted by MeganKeane

on 5 Nov 2007 10:11 AM

Hi Ursula--

We had a recent discussion on KickStart, MS Project & some project management software, which you might also want to check out.

Best,

Megan

Megan Keane

Follow me on Twitter: @penguinasana or connect with me on my website.

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Posted by MeganKeane

on 5 Nov 2007 12:44 PM

Hi Ursula--

Hopefully others will also be able to weigh in with their experience with some of the products you mentioned. However, I also just noticed that we also have a new article on the subject of project management, which you might find useful.

Best,

Megan

Megan Keane

Follow me on Twitter: @penguinasana or connect with me on my website.

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Posted by wcook

on 5 Nov 2007 12:54 PM

Megan beat me to it, but yes, you should check out Idealware's article Six Views of Project-Management Software on TechSoup, which discusses popular project-management features and where to find them.

senior editor, TechSoup

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Posted by jasonking

on 5 Nov 2007 4:59 PM

A useful article but it has one factual error. Basecamp does include the ability to set deadlines. It calls them 'milestones'.

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Posted by Sasha

on 5 Nov 2007 5:12 PM

I've used Basecamp and like it. I haven't used any other project management software, so can't compare it to others, but did find Basecamp easy to jump right into and understand.

Best wishes,

________________________
Sasha Daucus
www.FundRaiserSoftware.com
www.FundRaiserBasic.com
Volunteer TechSoup Moderator

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Posted by LauraQuinn

on 6 Nov 2007 11:39 AM

To Jason's point about the ability to set deadlines, Basecamp does allow you to attach a date to a milestone, but a milestone and a task are two different things. You can affiliate a task with a milestone within Basecamp, or use the list of milestones to manage your tasks instead of the task list (with somewhat less functionality), but a project manager who is used to rigorously managing start and end dates for each task (as per a traditional project management approach) would likely find these to be annoying workarounds.

More here

Laura Quinn
Idealware

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Posted by isaacgarcia

on 6 Nov 2007 11:39 AM

One detail that was missing was that Central Desktop offers 50% Discounts to Non-Profits, Education and Faith-Based Organizations.

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Posted by tammyking

on 6 Nov 2007 1:53 PM

Thanks for all the helpful information you guys provided. I have a question about MS Project that maybe someone can answer. The concern that my co-workers have is that we may not get the technical support from Microsoft if we purchase Project through TechSoup. We are already having difficulty finding a warm body at Microsoft to discuss our questions about the SW, so what if we buy it and need some help? Any thoughts?

Ursula

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Posted by nhr2000

on 7 Nov 2007 4:14 AM

Laura, thanks for highlighting this topic. I am planning to do a Nten Webinar on how nonprofits can more effectively use project management techniques.

Regards, NHR

Norman H. Reiss, MBA, PMP
nhr@usa.net

Enabling Nonprofit Organizations to Create
& Implement Online Fundraising Strategies
http://nhr.vox.com

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Posted by MeganKeane

on 7 Nov 2007 9:37 AM

Hi Ursula--

I know that buying Microsoft Project with TechSoup Stock does not include a service contract. However, I have found that Microsoft has an extensive amount of info./troubleshooting on their Website, which I've found some answers with. This forum is also another resource for software questions.

Best,

Megan

Megan Keane

Follow me on Twitter: @penguinasana or connect with me on my website.

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Posted by wcook

on 8 Nov 2007 9:09 AM

You may also want to check out TechSoup's Microsoft Project Resource Page, which includes links to sites where you can find support for Project -- including to a blog dedicated to Microsoft Project.

Hope that helps!

senior editor, TechSoup

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Posted by shipley.c

on 12 Nov 2007 10:09 AM

It may be a little late to chime in, but we've adopted Basecamp - we find the web-accessibility and the ease of collaboration with others is superior to MS Project. We used to use an open source product called dot project, but it was a little clunky in comparison.

Chris Shipley
Nutmeg Consulting

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Posted by tlyczko

on 23 Jan 2008 11:07 AM

Have a look at:

1. ActiveCollab, www.activecollab.com, alternative to Basecamp

2. OpenProj, http://openproj.org/, alternative to Project

3. OpenWorkbench, http://www.openworkbench.org/

Avoid things with Gantt charts if you can, these charts can make things tooooooo complicated.

Also see osalt.com for open source alternatives to all the big name software products.

HTH Tom

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Posted by shipley.c

on 24 Jan 2008 9:41 AM

I don't see why you'd say that a gantt chart is too complicated. Its a pretty useful representation of where you are in a project and where you should be in the near future.

Chris Shipley
Nutmeg Consulting

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