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Vertabase is an online task/budget management tool that appears to be designed for one business to manage projects for multiple client. The interface is horrible. The screen is split in the middle using frames and as such you find yourself continually scrolling up and down to see the contents of the work frame, which is in the bottom half of the screen. Another issue is the system’s use of pop-up scripts to add information such as tasks. These scripts are blocked by most browsers and create confusion for users. In addition, after four attempts I gave up trying to add tasks as it just wouldn’t take. The third issue is with the menus, three are visible at the same time: global, project and sub-project - most confusing. And all of this for what is a very limited project features set: document management (one level of folders and versioning), task management, and reporting. Globally you have timesheets and other reporting options but very little for those actually trying to work on a project.

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DeskAway is very well done. It is probably the best I’ve seen so far for my requirements. The drawback is that it is only available as a hosted solution and I’m worried about data security.

The design is clean, well laid out and results in a highly intuitive system. Help notes and videos are available in each section should you get stuck. Features offered by project are: milestones, tasks, issues, timesheet, document management, collaborative documents, team directory, forum and reports.

Milestones, tasks and issues all work well. The document management section allows for the creation of one level of folders, versioning, meta data (description) and comments. Simple but well done. The forum feature however is a little over simplistic, with no text editors and no possibility for attachments. The blog is in the main section and is independant of projects - a great pity as it works well. Most project features give you the possibility to alert team members via email when something changes.

As well as a blog the main section also contains global and personal contact lists, team members for all projects, site search and a personal calender.

I’m very tempted by this system but worried about security and longevity. I’d also like to tweak a few things, which obviously can’t be done with a hosted, standard solution.

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Kiwi Manager is an online project management tool available hosted or self-hosted. It appears to be designed for graphic/marketing agencies. Features within projects are: document management, approvals, forum, mockup, task manager and tickets.

From the word go the system confused me. It opens to the projects page, where there are a list of ongoing projects and in tabs the projects at different stages of development. I was lost for a bit… Once I worked out how to get into a project the various features were laid out in tabs (standard layout that works well.) I first played around with the document management feature. It took me nearly five minutes to work out how to add a new file/folder. The system isn’t very intuitive. In addition, the system is too techy. Eg. Folder and file names cannot have spaces, when uploading documents you are asked if you wish to place them in root, file directory, etc. I stopped testing at this point as I could see myself fielding too many calls from confused users…next!

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OPM Creator is a bare bones online project management tool. I really liked its simple layout and no frills design. Features include: document management, tasks, timeline, Gantt, Email (messaging) and forum. The level of functionality is pretty good. I struggled with a couple of things that were not very intuitive and I still don’t know how to add new users, but that aside it a great little tool for small projects.

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Project 360 is a nice looking application and is well laid out. The division between general admin and project management creates no confusion. The features list is good: tasks, document management, team/workgroup, milestones, calender, time sheet and ideas/forum. Its a pity that the features themselves are so limited: the document management tool does not allow for folder creation or tags; and in the ideas/forum section it is only possible to add a one line comment and there is no reply feature.

Project 360 is only available as a hosted application.

Moving on… 

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First of all my congratulation to the team behind WebAsyst. It is a lovely example of what Web 2.0 applications should be like. Ajax is used sensibly, the design is clean and clear, and the stripped down applications have just about the right level of functionality.

WebAsyst is however a little lost. It doesn’t seem to know what it is yet but once it finds its direction then watch out! The full version currently contains document management, contact lists, project management (tasks), notes, photo manager, email client, issue tracker, a collaborative writing tool and an e-commerce tool….whew!! These are also available as stand-alone modules and I cannot stress enough how well these things are written. Where the full version falls down is the interaction between them. In my case I’m looking to tie together the projects (task lists) with files, issues, contacts, collaborative writing and two applications that they haven’t yet got (blog and forum). They have however made a start by linking individual projects to specific project folders within the document management section. Lets hope this is a sign of things to come. Without a doubt this is one to watch. The other upside is that a very reasonably priced self-hosted version is available.

Well done guys and girls! Spread the word!!!

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Proworkflow is available as a hosted or self-hosted solution. It is the most professional offering that I’ve seen to date. It is orientated to a business managing multiple client projects and focuses mainly on task/time/budget management. There is no forum, blog or document management area. It is not at all orientated towards online collaboration. It is nicely done though and the company offers customisation services.

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Clexosis is as close as I’ve got so far to finding a system that matches my requirements. It is available as a hosted of self-hosted solution and is aimed at PMEs. I found the system to be laid out in a logical way and the options to add/remove elements from the home page and hide elements on the main menu were nice touches. Each project gets the following tools: tasks and billing management, a forum and a document management tool. Tasks are handled well and can be reviewed in a number of ways (Gantt, by calender, etc.). The forum is simple but effective. The best tool here is the document management section, which allows for the creation of folders at multiple levels, uploading of one or many documents (included uploading and automatic unzipping of ZIP files) and the listing of web addresses within folders. Access control settings can be applied to individual documents and folders. Drawbacks are that there is no visible folder structure so one is obliged to navigate via the rather small breadcrumb trail and there is no versioning. 

I had trouble working out the permissions for users. In the end I decided that there were only two levels: Project Manager/Manager and Client. This was a stopper for me as Project Managers could do too much and clients too little. Once again it a system designed for one business to manage multiple client projects. If this is what you are after then I’d give it a whirl. 

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I had a very quick test run of the eStudio tool. I know that looks are not everything, but it has a very 1990s techy developed feel to it. This is also reflected in the page layouts and forms that reminded me of PHPAdmin… The overal result is poor and will send the average manager running in the opposite direction. However, projects are easy to set up and in reality the system is fairly easy to use. It lacks functionality however, certainly for document management (no versioning, no folder creation) and milestones (which can’t be assigned dates). It has a few simple but useful collaboration features such as chat, forums, etc. The drawback is that these are at the parent level when they should be at the project level. This one isn’t for me…next!

PS. eStudio is offered as a hosted or self-hosted solution (you really have to dig around the web site for the latter, called eStudio Fortress.)

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Teamwork is offered as a hosted or self-hosted project management tool. The interface is poorly layed out and not very intuitive. It took me over ten minutes to work out how to create a project and then I only managed to do that by going back to the opening splash screen. The tool mainly seems to be orientated to task management. There is no forum or blog. There is a calender and document repository. The latter has limited functionality with no folder creation option and no version history. Gave up at this point… 

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