Awhile back I implemented a project management system called Project Pier to better assist my clients . Now that I am building a team together for design, programming and SEO activities, I felt I needed more of a robust system.
Why: Project Pier did require some recoding to implement functions such as email notifications and time management. I was able to modify it to get it to work, but advanced functions I still could not figure out. After further research on the Project Pier developers board, it was very apparent to me this software had limitations in this particular area. In addition, I didn’t like the look/feel for subprojects.
The most comprehensive list for project management systems I’ve found online is Wikipidia’s article: List of Project Management systems. After testing several other open source platforms such as dot project, eGroupware…. I decided to select Open Goo. According to the Wikipedia’s article, Open Goo is a project management, collaborative software, issues tracking system, project portfolio, resource management, document management, and work management software. After reviewing their website, it seemed like they had a strong community of developers….so I decided to give it a try.
The install: Just like most PHP driven applications, once the SQL database was installed it was a piece of cake. No hang ups on the install which I was pleasantly pleased.
The interface:
After installing, I really loved how all of the projects could be now categorized by project and sub project. The biggest difference I noticed was Open Goo has a “workspace” feel. Each new project has it’s own workspace where you can create unique calendars, project lists, and documentation.
For tasks, I loved the function where people can add comments, log time. or attach a related document. It has become very handy to keep everything consolidated and centralized. I was also pleased that there was no need to recode for email notifications on tasks since this function was already built in.
The only problem I did find with this system is the reporting tools are a bit weak. But I am at least able to pull a time spent report for any projects which is all I need at this time. I hope that in the future they can build other reports such as open tasks, list of due dates etc. . From what I’ve read on the developers boards, this is an issue they are addressing for future releases.
My conclusion: So far, I’ve been happy with Open Goo. My team members found it very easy to navigation and update. It did not require recoding and the development seems to be active and involved which is always key for an open source software.
Kimberly at greenseedwebdesign.com
To learn more: Please visit http://opengoo.com or visit a demo at http://demo.opengoo.org/.
I would love to hear other people’s experience. What have you liked or disliked about this platform?
