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Low Budget Project Management Tools

Archived in Free, Downloads, Project Management | No Comments

One of the problems small businesses face is deployment of good software for MANAGING their own internal work-flow. We’ve been lucky enough to experiment with a couple of the major commercial PROJECT MANAGEMENT packages — and admittedly they are slick — but we’ve also been faced with the challenge of supplying low cost alternatives to businesses that require functionality, but need to do so on a restricted budget.

How can a company not invest in such a basic tool, you ask? Many businesses today are barely doing such work, let alone at scale or using collaborative tools. And small, young businesses may not always have the up-front capital in the short term to invest in those tools that would improve their PROJECT MANAGEMENT in the long term.

We have made use of one particular open source package that is available for FREE and installs on a basic web server setup, even low cost hosting packages already maintained by many small businesses. The package is dotproject, and is available for download FREE from the link provided.

The package boasts the following goals, as stated on their site:

  • Clean, simple and consistent user interface;
  • PROJECT MANAGEMENT functionality - not another CMS, groupware environment or all things to all people collaboration tool, but a PROJECT MANAGEMENT environment;
  • Open source / open access / FREE usage.

And we agree, that from our experience installing and training clients to maximize their collaborative PLANNING using a web-based, open-source solution such as dotproject they can improve work-flow and increase profits. Many of our clients continue to use the dotproject software even after a commercial package would become economically feasible.

Note: We have NO AFFILIATION with this software or it’s developers. We provide this review because we have made use of a product that we think is well-developed and extremely useful, and we would like to show our appreciation and support.

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Project Management - Drawing a Procurement Map (2.08) >> This is part two point zero eight of a multi-part article on project management. This part outlines some of the basic concepts of project INITIATION, and defines them as a term of reference for future articles. Before you can select external suppliers for

Project Management - Planning (2.0)

Archived in Business, Planning, Project Management | 1 Comment

This is part two point zero of a multi-part article on PROJECT MANAGEMENT. This part outlines some of the basic concepts of project PLANNING, and defines them as a term of reference for future articles.

2.01 : Your Overview - Whole Project Mapping

PLANNING begins with an overview of the work required and resources demanded by the project itself. A set of general timelines and schedules can act as an invaluable resource when project work begins. Making sure deadlines are met and resources are properly allocated relies on a comprehensive project plan that a project manager can understand and interpret along the way.

2.02 : Drawing a Financial Map

A budget might seem (in the best case) obvious or (in the worst case) immutable, but understanding how monetary resources are allocated throughout your project can help you stay within costs and acquire the greatest benefit from the outcomes. Every expense, including human resources, administration, equipment, materials, and other costs should be itemized and accounted for through the development of a strong financial plan. Knowing a cost break-down solidifies the total project cost.

2.03 : Drawing a Resource Map

Human labour, equipment, and materials are needed at the right place and at the right TIME. Inefficient PLANNING can lead to wasted TIME and money, and can result in idle staff, higher overheads, and storage problems. Work through a resource plan to help identify and schedule the resources required to complete the project, tying resources to specific times and activities.

2.04 : Drawing a RISK Map

Locating and understanding as many of the potential risks as possible, as early as possible is critical to achieving success. Finding the RISK in your project – and all projects invariably contain some level of RISK – is managed through rating a likelihood, impact, and priority of those risks and balancing that with a set of actions to prevent or reduce the impact of occurrence. PLANNING for risks ahead of TIME can dramatically increase your chance for success and reduce RISK by a measurably large quantity.

2.05 : Drawing a Communications Map

Understanding your audience is the key to a good communications plan. Whether that audience is customers, partners, users, suppliers, or other stakeholders, knowing who they are and how to effectively send them the right message is a more challenging task than many can foresee. Building a strong communications plan will help you to understand the information needs of your audience and build those needs into timelines and BUDGETS to deliver your message and ensure the success of your project.

2.06 : Drawing a Quality Map

Quality, by it’s very nature, is a tough thing to measure. How to define quality in your project and then how to measure it can be even more difficult without some kind of measurement tool. A quality map will help you define a set of criteria and standards that can break down the process of measuring quality, helping you to quantify, control, and assure a high level of quality on your project.

2.07 : Drawing an Acceptance Map

Whomever your target customer – whether a larger project, an approval board, or an unknown market – you need understand the scope of project acceptance. The project deliverables need to be defined and mapped so the project as a whole is on track and on schedule. Develop a set of milestones, criteria, and set review points to lead your target customer into full acceptance.

2.08 : Drawing a Procurement Map

Before you can select external suppliers for goods and services needed for a successful project, you need to understand and plan the what, the why and the how of acquiring those project elements. Outsourcing parts of any project is usually unavoidable, so mapping out what needs to be outsourced, a reason for outsourcing, and the process for outsourcing any and all of those elements is part of a larger set of goals. These goals include the tender management process, the requests processes, and the contractual stages. (See subsections below…)

2.08.01 : Mapping the Tender Management Process
2.08.02 : Your Statement of Work
2.08.03 : Your Request for Information
2.08.04 Your Request for Proposal (RFP)
2.08.05 : Your Supplier Contract
2.08.06 : Your Tender Register

2.09 : Stage Review - PLANNING

Knowing the status of the project — such as: is the project on schedule, are expenses and BUDGETS in line, how is staffing and human resources, what is the state of deliverables, what is state of risks, and are other issues arising from the project PLANNING — is vital for success. Working through the review of your project is important on a daily basis, but conducting a thorough phase review at each stage of the process can eliminate unexpected surprises later.

Popularity: 83% [?]

Read more posts by Brad K (About the Author)

del.icio.us Digg it Earthlink Furl iFeedReaders ma.gnolia Maple.nu Netvouz Netscape RawSugar reddit Scuttle Shadows Simpy Spurl StumbleUpon Wink Yahoo MyWeb

Posts that might have similar content:

The Haddow Press Project Management System >> The Haddow Press Experiment is currently constructing a project management system document spread across this site. This entry will be the primary START page for those documents, linked from the sidebar at all times. Look for updates as we work through

Low Budget Project Management Tools >> One of the problems small businesses face is deployment of good software for managing their own internal work-flow. We've been lucky enough to experiment with a couple of the major commercial project management packages -- and admittedly they are slick -- but

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