Project teamware

Project management, like most computerized applications, can be made more affordable and accessible to non-technical staff through simple, convenient Web browsers. That's the rationale behind Web-based project management applications, which can help popularize project management and distribute it through all levels of an organization and beyond the four walls to partners, stakeholders— even customers.

While some long-time project management software vendors such as Microsoft and Welcom added Web options years ago, an entirely new category of a few dozen purely Web-based applications has risen, often specializing in “creative” projects such as marketing campaigns and new product development, that are managed easily with remote teams and already have migrated toward the Internet. Professional services automation (PSA) for consultants and other knowledge workers and customer relationship management (CRM) are other hot niches targeted by enterprise-class Web applications from Changepoint, Exigen, OpenAir and numerous others.

But other, more generic products can be used for nearly any project, a fact that traditional project management users such as construction companies and manufacturers are exploiting to save money and build far-flung, sometimes multinational teams. I looked for three with cross-industry appeal, large corporate customers and strong project management tools. AtTask, eProject, and Project.net are among those on a short list that fit the bill.

I tried them for a few days, working through sample projects and a small real-world project of mine that I tried (not always successfully) to load and map from Microsoft^® Project 2002. I was on the lookout for professional-class project management tools such as hyperlinked Gantt charts, especially robust project budgets, resource-planning views and other financial screens. I also wanted to see how varied and easy to use were the team-oriented communication tools, such as portals, e-mail notifications and document sharing, that are the real added value of Web-based project management.

AtTask's relatively sparse user interface fronts a wealth of project and portfolio data, including detailed financials and resource-allocation tools.

All three products, like their more niche-y counterparts, greet you with a portal view that presents links to all the primary navigation tools, such as discussion groups, projects and news, on a single page. Groupware tools at heart, they emphasize schedules, calendars, reports, forms and personal task lists, and don't overwhelm you with data. For that, you need to drill down underneath to find the more traditional project management tools. When I did so, I found interesting variations in the three products' concepts of project management, including the extent of support for portfolio management (PfM).

AtTask 3.0

AtTask Inc. says some customers deploy its 100-percent Java-based software to replace, not simply complement, legacy tools from the likes of Microsoft and Niku. Enterprises' information technology departments can customize AtTask more readily, taking advantage of its unique security features (such as extensive, rules-based permission levels and support for network directories such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or LDAP) to potentially tie thousands of team members together in (pun intended) a worldwide web. Like eProject, it can run from on-site Web servers or off-site at the vendor's hosting site. AtTask says many customers first try the latter ASP (application service provider) option before committing to running AtTask in-house.

AtTask 3.0

* Application Service Provider (ASP) means software runs on vendor's site, and customer pays subscription fee for access via Web browser.

AtTask has the cleanest, easiest to read Gantt chart (though eProject's is comparable) and does the best job of fitting mission-critical information on one screen, something Microsoft Project should try. Its financial screens also are the most detailed.

Unfortunately, AtTask is the only one of the three that doesn't easily import Microsoft Project files, though you can move data over by first saving Project files in Extensible Markup Language (XML). I don't agree with AtTask's decision to remove a Help option from inside the software, referring you instead to the support link on the Web site. On the whole, though, AtTask has the most power and ease of use.

eProject Enterprise 5.0

With a potent combination of a clean, businesslike look and decent complement of serious PfM and project management tools, eProject is my close second choice behind AtTask for a Web-based tool that might appeal to project professionals. Its Microsoft Project import is the easiest—just click on the Project file in a directory window. Views are easiest to control: You can choose either a project or portfolio view, and financials are easily accessed by running Workspace Reports, which work like a reporting tool for databases, taking a few seconds to load, run and display. But it shouldn't take this long to get to project data that the other programs place a click or two away, and I would like it to be more detailed. On the plus side, eProject says its database objects are programmable, making it easy to customize, integrate and track data in various reporting environments.

eProject Enterprise 5.0

eProject seems to emphasize a dashboard view more than the others, with calendar, task and document icons always accessible from a toolbar. Its primary metaphor is the schedule, and it puts them all together to create the strongest offering for team collaboration.

Project.net 7.6

Project.net prides itself on its product's internationalization support (such as multiple languages, local terminology and time zones) and the customizability of the user interface. The software has three main views, or workspaces: Personal (essentially a standard portal page); Business (which groups projects by business unit, department, etc.); and Project (a summary of key project activities, documents and news). The newest version adds resource-management tools that let you quickly spot over-allocated resources. The idea is project execution, not just scheduling, which is what Project.net claims Microsoft Project and some Web-based competitors are all about. Project.net cannot directly import Microsoft Project database (.MPP) files but can quickly arrive at the same result if you first save your Project files in database (.MPD) format.

Project.net is the only tool in this roundup that isn't available in ASP form, though the company says most customers are satisfied with its affordability. Still, at $450 per user plus a 20-percent annual maintenance fee, it appears slightly more expensive than the others and offers less in features and ease of use, which is why I rate it only an average value.

Project.net 7.6

Project.net has the “loudest” look of the three (AtTask and eProject are more sober and businesslike), and I found it slightly harder to find things in its portals, though its click-through access to project files is the most simple and direct of the three. The project management tools are substantial, though a bit less deep, in my view (it doesn't yet have time sheets, for example). But Project.net does have the most PfM tools, including detailed scorecards and financial graphs. I particularly like the format of its stoplight portfolio summary (red for critical, green for on track and so on) and arrows that show status trends.

Roundup

Of the three, AtTask probably will be the most comfortable for professional project managers. It has more of the scheduling, resource-management and analytical tools needed to manage a project and presents them in the most intuitive way.

That said, I'm not convinced that these programs have sufficient two-way integration with other project management tools, including Microsoft Project, to become everyday tools for experienced project managers. In that way, they are more like groupware than project management tools, which is why the vendors need to work harder to integrate with legacy project management applications. PM

David E. Essex is a freelance journalist specializing in information technology.