Project Management Software

[Elfman]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any tips on a good software system for Project Management, particularly in a church arts-team context.

We really need to get a handle on things like video project timelines, worship service creative element designs and brainstorming, etc. We'd like to have something that can integrate with Outlook and generate visual project timelines as well as being able to assign elements to people and track progress.

I've seen a few like MindManager and Microsoft's Project, but wanted to see if anyone else has a solution that might work better for this particular niche.

Thanks for any info!

[cmchamp]

Here's a list of opensource recources

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openproj/
http://mastersinprojectmanagement.or...ment-apps.html
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/open-s...-software.html
http://www.cio.com.au/article/318425...watch/#closeme
http://www.project.net/
http://freelanceswitch.com/product-r...agement-tools/

I've not used any of them, but thought it might be helpful to have something to look at.

[Elfman]

Hmmm, thanks I'll look into those!
Anyone using basecamp? (basecamphq.com)

[joeblack3k]

You can try RationalPlan. I do not think there are specific products for this niche. At least I did not hear about one.

Do you really have that specific needs so that to search for a dedicated application? I guess no software vendor would create such a specialized application because the niche is quite small...

[dmot]

Project Management is a well defined discipline so I think you'll need to determine what specific methodology or model (Agile, Waterfall, Prince2, etc.) of project management you are going to use and go from there. My gut reaction is that you will spend more time trying to use the project software than on the project itself. In most church settings you are really just looking for something to keep you organized and you are better off just using whatever tools you like to do that.

[Elfman]

Yes, it's more for organization and workload visualization, really. Honestly, we need to hire a part-time weekend video manager but that's not understood by anyone who makes those decisions. So, all video creation/series packages/animations/interviews/event video/etc get lumped in with weekend IMAG/3-camera directing/Media Shout projection/DVD mastering, packaging, duplication/etc. hehe (Single site, about 2,000 attendance, sat and sun services) It's wearing me out.

Anyway, as the projects pile up, I'm needing as much help keeping on top of things and help with inter-team project communication and sharing of proofs, edits and the like. I've been looking into BaseCamp - will report what if anything wins me over.

Thanks, all!

[greg4god]

I have used basecamp for the past 3 years working for a web development company.

Admittedly, never really used the time tracking/scheduling, mainly for keeping files, messages and ToDo task lists (used Harvest App for time tracking).

It was really nice for collaborating on things, assigning tasks, being able to comment/question tasks, store files. (ie, we could give a client access to BC, and set certain threads to only be available to them, while still having others that are private only, and also nice to be able to give clients "proofs" of designs right in there, where comments could be tracked.

If you are looking to save a little money and have you own website space, there is an open source "mimic" of BC, which I have seen used, http://www.projectpier.org/ takes a little to get used to, but definitely not the same cost as BC.

-Greg