Project Management Methods And Tools

1. Project Management Method For OSS Technical

Implementation

To manage and control the OSS implementations in the Public

Sector, Project Management methodologies and tools are highly

recommended.

The objective of this section is to provide an indication of key

functionalities of a tool for the management, tracking and

measurement of OSS project implementation as well as

suggested tools which may serve the said purposes.

We suggest that the following key functionalities/ components

be considered for the OSS project implementation tool(s) for

management, tracking and measurement:

• Project Definition Report

• Project Plan

• Project Control Book

• Roles And Responsibilities

• Progress Tracking And Reporting Process

• Deliverable Management And Acceptance Process

• Issue Management Process

• Action Management Process

• Risk Management

1

• Change Management Process

• Communications Process

• Subcontractor Management Process (Outsourced function)

• Financial Estimates / Business Case

• Assumptions, Dependencies And Constraints

• Success Measurements

• Quality And Assurance

• Closing The Project

• Standards And Conventions

Project Definition Report (PDR)

The PDR is an overview of the project. It sets the project bounds

and establishes what the project will and will not do. It presents

a structured view of the project and its supporting processes

that can be reviewed and approved by management. It also

provides a baseline view of the project against which changes

can be identified, planned, agreed to and managed. As changes

are made, the PDR document should also be updated. The PDR

should be initiated at the start of the project and finalized and

approved as quickly as possible.

The Components of a PDR are:

• Background and summary of the project

• Project objectives

• Project deliverables

• Key Milestones

2

• Key resource requirements

• Assumptions

• Risks

• Constraints

• Interrelated projects (dependencies)

Project Plan

Planning is critical to the success of any project. The purpose of

planning is to:

• Confirm the objectives are feasible;

• Show how the objectives will be achieved;

• Confirm the work products and the bounds of the work;

• Obtain a detailed understanding of the work to be done;

• Define the total effort;

• Specify the resources, skills, and people needed;

• Identify dependencies within or beyond the project;

• Provide a basis for tracking, reporting, and managing

progress; and

• Provide a basis for commitment to the project.

There are many different plans that can be built to represent

one part or one aspect of a project. Examples of plans that

mostly contribute to and support the overall plan are Risk

Mitigation plan, Activity plan or task plan, Resource plan, Test

and integration plan, Operations and support plan.

3

In developing the project plan, the Work Breakdown Structure

(WBS) is key. The Work Breakdown Structure is a product

oriented family tree of hardware, software, services, data and

work tasks that completely define the project. All aspects of the

WBS must be completed for the project to be complete.

It is also a deliverable oriented grouping of project elements to

organise and define the total scope of the project; work not in

the WBS is outside the scope of the project.

Why is one created? It is the dominant prerequisite for

successfully integrating & controlling the total project by

assisting in:

• Completing the schedule;

• Developing the cost estimate;

• Developing the risk management plan;

• Focuses attention on project objectives;

• Clarifies responsibilities;

• Encourages detailed planning and documentation;

• Identifies specific work packages for estimating and

assigning work and

• Helps build the project team.

4

Project Control Book

The Project Control Book (PCB) is a notebook, file, or electronic

equivalent, containing complete project information. It is the

authoritative source for project information including project

deliverables. It is managed by the Project Manager or Project

Control Office (PCO). The Project Control Book consists of

volumes covering the various administrative aspects of the

project. These include:

• Standards and Procedures;

• Organisation and People;

• Planning and Estimating;

• Work Breakdown Structure;

• Progress Tracking;

• Progress Reviewing;

• Progress Reporting;

• Risk Management;

• Change Management;

• Issue Management;

• Action Management;

• Quality Management;

• Correspondence;

• Base Information;

• Finance Management;

• Contract Management;

• Billing and Accounts Payable information and

• Supplier Management.

5

The Project Control Book is updated continuously throughout

the life of the project.

The Project Manager needs to define the standards, conventions

and processes for document control. Some of these points

related to formatting, version standards and conventions, as

well as the rules on who submits documents to the project office

and when they should be submitted needs to be defined and

communicated.

Roles And Responsibilities

A clear understanding of roles and responsibilities on a project

is critical to the functioning and ultimate success of the project.

Key roles and their associated responsibilities found within a

project include:

Project Sponsor

The senior executive who is the principal project stakeholder,

and who has made the commitment and has the authority to

resolve major project issues, approve project expenditures,

plans and organisation, and who is ultimately responsible for

delivering the business objective to the enterprise.

Project Steering Committee

This group should be comprised of senior representatives from

the various areas of the client that will be impacted by the

project. This group provides overall direction strategic direction

to the project. It has the authority to initiate, continue and

6

terminate the project as well as to make decisions and take

appropriate actions to resolve project issues.

Project Executive

The Project Executive has delegated responsibility from the

Steering Committee to provide ongoing management direction to

and control of the project. The Project Executive is ultimately

responsible for the success of the project.

Project Manager

The Project Manager provides overall management to the project

and directs the activities of the project team members on a day

to day basis. If the project is large or complex, there may be

several project managers each with a specific area of

responsibility. Typically, each of these project managers would

have their own team and each would report to the Project

Executive. Where a project has multiple project managers, one

of them will be designated as having Project Management Office

or consolidation responsibilities. Prime responsibilities of the

Project Manager include:

• Establishing project work plans, estimates, and schedule;

• Establishing project training and staffing requirements;

• Conducting project planning and project status meetings;

• Presenting plans and status to executive management;

• Make decisions on project related risks, actions and

issues;

• Tracking and reporting project progress on:

Cost;

Schedule;

Products.

7

Preparing project status reports;

• Establishing and administering the change control

procedure;

• Reviewing and approving project change requests;

• Preparing and making presentations at project reviews;

• Establishing standards with vendors / contractors, if work

product guidelines are not specified in the contract;

Manage and Interface with the project office and

Reporting hours expended on assigned tasks and making

reasonable estimates to complete each week for assigned

tasks that have been started.

Business Representatives

Business representatives have the responsibility to ensure that

the relevant interests of their particular business unit are

appropriately represented to the project. These responsibilities

include:

• Provide or validate input to the business case;

• Provide or validate business requirements;

• Support project activities which require business

involvement (e.g. creation or validation of test scripts,

supporting user testing) and

• Support user acceptance of deliverables.

8

Other

Other roles as required, such as that of subcontractors, need to

be clearly defined and agreed to.

Project Organisation Chart

When the project organisation and the roles are defined, they

should be communicated both within the project as well as to

stakeholders. This would include documentation such as

project organisation charts. This information would be

considered to be living documents and should be updated as

required.

Progress Tracking & Reporting Process

There are generally multiple levels of staff and management that

need to participate in Progress Tracking and Reporting

meetings. These would include:

- Project teams or sub teams;

- Project Managers;

- Project Executive;

- Project Sponsor and

- Steering Committee.

• This is the basis by which management has access to the

project and by which the project has access to management, so

it should be considered as one of the most critical aspects of

any project;

• Management participation is critical; if attendance or

attention is a problem it should be addressed immediately;

9

• The Progress Tracking and Reporting documents and

templates should be tailored for the specific audience to ensure

the appropriate message is delivered; and

• The process should be implemented at the very beginning of

the project and continued regularly throughout the project until

completion.

The objectives of this project management procedure are:

• To raise management awareness of the status of the project

relative to the plan (including schedule, cost, deliverable);

• To raise management awareness of risks, actions, issues and

changes impacting the project;

• To give management an opportunity to ask questions to

better understand the project as well as provide direction to the

project team and

• To communicate project status, actions, issues, and changes

impacting the project to other project members and

stakeholders.

• During project startup, Progress Tracking and Reporting

review requirements should be determined. Criteria would

include the project structure (e.g. existence of a Steering

Committee, Project Executive; existence of project sub teams,

etc.). Report templates should be customised to meet the

requirements of the particular reviews. Ongoing reviews should

be scheduled. Status reports need to be prepared and

distributed, preferably in advance, and minutes of the reviews

produced and distributed.

10

Deliverable Management & Acceptance Process

• Deliverables are the most important currency of a project;

as such, their control and management is critically

important to the success of the project;

• Ensure that there is agreement and understanding of

what the deliverables are, who will approve and the basis for

approval as early in the project as possible;

• The status of deliverables is one of the key metrics for

Progress Tracking and Reporting and

• Ideally, vendor deliverables should tie directly back to the

contract / SOW.

The objectives of this project management procedure are:

• To ensure that deliverables and associated approvers are

clearly identified in the plan and that deliverable acceptance

criteria is clearly defined and communicated in advance of

the creation of the deliverable;

• To make sure that the deliverable validation is making

progress;

• To make sure that problems and delays with the review

and approval of deliverables per the plan are highlighted

and resolved and

• To provide a defined process for managing the tracking

and acceptance of deliverables.

11

The process starts with the development of the project plan and

the identification of all deliverables which will require formal

approval. A form identifying the purpose of the deliverable, the

approver and the criteria by which the deliverable will be

approved is created in advance of the development of the

deliverable. A log of all deliverables is created and used to

manage the process as deliverables proceed through their cycle.

It focuses on monitoring progress of the validation, identifying

delays or problems with deliverable approval which may impact

the plan.

Issues are raised where necessary in order to better understand

the causes for concern and activities will be launched with the

aim of bringing the deliverable(s) into full compliance with the

deliverable acceptance criteria.

Issue Management Process

• Most issues start as risks; addressing risks is generally

easier than resolving issues;

• An issue is an event that has already occurred and has a

projected impact on the project scope, schedule or budget;

• Issues should be addressed as early as possible in the

project; generally, the longer an issue is left unresolved, the

more difficult it is to resolve;

• Each issue will need some action(s) to be taken to effect a

resolution (such as further investigation );

• Responsibility for addressing Issues must be assigned

along with an estimated resolution date and

12

• Issues must be tracked and reported through to

resolution.

The objectives of this project management process are:

• To identify issues as early as possible;

• To ensure that all issues are communicated to the

project stakeholders;

• To allow the impact of all issues to be understood,

documented and managed;

• To provide a process to facilitate the tracking and

resolution of issues as expediently as possible and

• To maintain a log of all open and resolved issues.

When issues are identified, they need to be assigned to an

individual who will be responsible for: assessing the impact of

the issue, engaging the appropriate parties to resolve and,

where appropriate, escalate to resolve.

Action Management Process

• An action is an activity, generally unplanned, which needs

to be assigned and tracked through to completion and

• Actions arise at any point in the project; they can be

incorporated into the project plan or managed outside of it

through the Project Management process.

The objectives of this project management process are:

13

• To identify actions as they arise and assign them to the

appropriate person;

• To ensure that all actions are communicated to the

relevant stakeholders;

• To allow the impact of all actions to be understood,

documented and managed;

• To provide a process to facilitate the tracking and

resolution of actions as expediently as possible and

• To maintain a log of all open and resolved actions.

When actions are identified, they need to be assigned to an

individual who will be responsible for addressing it. Based on

the particulars of the action, there may be need to: assess the

impact of the action, engage other parties to resolve and, where

appropriate, escalate to resolve.

Risk Management

Risks are predicted events that might happen in the future and

may impact the project;

Risks should be identified and quantified before they happen,

and the consequences mitigated or avoided by preventative

actions;

Provision can be made in the project plans should this event

unavoidably occur and

Each risk will need some action to be taken and will need to be

continually monitored.

The objectives of this project management process are:

14

• To identify risks as they arise and assign them to the

appropriate person;

• To allow the impact of all risks to be understood,

documented and managed including development of risk

mitigating actions;

• To ensure that all risks are communicated to the

relevant stakeholders;

• To provide a process to facilitate the tracking,

management and, if appropriate, resolution of risks as

expediently as possible and

• To maintain a log of all open and resolved risks.

When risks are identified, they need to be assigned to an

individual who will be responsible for: assessing the impact of

the risk; developing a risk mitigating plan or action, as

appropriate; engage appropriate parties to resolve and, where

appropriate, escalate to resolve.

Change Management Process

• Changes are inevitable in every project, and so it is

essential to implement a change control process early in the

project to allow changes to be managed;

• A critical aspect of managing changes is communication

whereby all stakeholders input can be considered in

assessing the impact and deciding whether or not to accept

the change;

• The result of the decision should be communicated to all

relevant stakeholders so that the plans of the various parts

of the project can be kept in step and

15

• Typically, any changes will impact the scope, schedule

and / or resources.

The objectives of this project management process are:

• To manage each request for change, in order to keep

the scope of the project under control with full

traceability;

• To provide a means for including in the plan any

milestones, deliverables and / or activities which are

missing;

• To allow the impact of all changes to be understood,

documented and managed;

• To make sure each request for change is assessed by

key project stakeholders;

• To make sure each assessed Change Request is

disposed of (accepted, rejected or deferred) by the

appropriate authority;

• To maintain a log of all proposed changes;

• To enable the orderly implementation of each accepted

change and

• To enable changes to SOWs or contracts as

appropriate.

Summary of the process is as follows:

• Change control should be introduced early in the project;

• Determine how changes are to be introduced and

processed as part of the project plan;

16

• Use an appropriate change request (e.g. small or large) to

document any proposed changes;

• Ensure that changes are assessed and approved in writing

by authorised persons and

• Update the baseline and all appropriate documentation

after the change is approved.

Communications Process

• Effective, timely, ongoing communications are one of the

key criteria for a successful project;

• This includes communications about the project, within

the Project team itself, throughout the project hierarchy (e.g.

including Project Executive, Steering Committee and

Sponsor) as well as to the client stakeholder community;

• There are a wide variety of communication vehicles which

can be used in a project (e.g. meetings, websites, newsletters,

etc.), including use of other project management processes

(e.g. Progress Tracking & Reporting, Change Management);

• A Communications strategy should be developed using

those vehicles that are most effective in communicating the

appropriate information to the defined target audience; and

• Communications are bilateral in nature, so a

communication strategy must include vehicles that solicit

and provide input from stakeholders to the project team.

The objectives of this project management process are:

17

To ensure that a communications strategy and plan which

incorporate the total project are developed, approved and

implemented;

To ensure that project stakeholders have a clear understanding

of how communications will work on the project and ensure that

they feel their interests will be adequately addressed through

these communications;

To ensure that information is disseminated to the appropriate

audiences at the appropriate times, starting at project inception

and continuing through until project completion and

Communications should be unambiguous, clearly understood,

and provide the opportunity for further dialog.

A communication strategy and plan should be developed at the

beginning of the project to define what information about the

project needs to be communicated to whom and by whom, on

what frequency and by what method. The communication plan

would identify the particular vehicles to be used (indicating why

they are chosen); identify who the particular communication

should come from and go to; identify the types of information

that need to be communicated (as well as received from the

audiences) and the timing or frequency of the communication.

This communication plan needs to be communicated to all

target audiences so there is a clear, common understanding of

what will happen.

Subcontractor Management Process (Outsourced Function)

If subcontractors play a key role in the project, success of the

project will generally depend on how well they perform and that

18

is usually a function of how well the contract is written and how

well they are managed to the contract;

Ensure that both vendor and the client have a clear

understanding of the vendor contract and SOW and measure

them to it;

If possible, tie compensation to clearly defined contract based

deliverables or milestones. Avoid payment for level of effort and

Effective, timely communications are critical to success.

• The objective of the subcontractor management process is

to ensure that all products and deliverables to be supplied

under contract for integration into the total solution are

delivered on time and according to the Statement of Work.

• Effective management of a subcontractor during a project

is a critical element in the overall success of any project. To

ensure success, it is essential that both parties understand

exactly what is being contracted for, and that they agree with

any changes that occur during contract negotiations.

Financial Estimates / Business Case

While not mandatory, development of a business case to

support the project is always advisable. The primary

dependency on whether to create one, or to what level it should

be created (e.g. calculation of TCO and ROI etc) is the corporate

environment and / or expectations of management. Projected

costs and benefits should be based on information received from

the project stakeholders and finance. The final business case

must be supported by these groups.

19

Costs to be considered are those costs which will be incurred as

part of the project or due to the project. In a business case these

would include:

- Resource – staff on the project;

- External resources (e.g. consultants / vendors);

- Overhead costs;

- Consumables and other materials (e.g. supplies);

- Licenses, maintenance fees (e.g. software); and

- Capital expenditures (e.g. hardware).

Benefits to be considered in a business case should be clearly

related to the project as an expected outcome or result. They

can be either quantifiable or non quantifiable in nature. They

can also include benefits realized or costs avoided. They would

include:

- Resource savings or avoidance;

- Business opportunities:

- Revenue increase or avoidance of decrease;

- Market share increase or avoidance of loss and

- Cost savings or avoidance, including capital expenditures.

- Customer satisfaction.

Assumptions, Dependencies And Constraints

Assumptions

Assumptions made should be clearly identified, described and

communicated. A brief description of the effect if the

assumption is invalid should be made. There should be a clear

20

statement of who has reviewed and validated these

assumptions.

Dependencies

Project Managers should identify any dependencies that they

have with other teams or organisations either within the project

or external to the project. This description should include an

indication of the impact of the dependency not being met. It

should also indicate what commitment has been received from

the provider and where the commitment is documented.

Dependencies should be clearly identified and tracked in the MS

Project Plan.

Constraints

Project Managers should provide a brief description of

constraints which they have and any actions they are taking to

address these. This description should include an assessment of

the impact to the project of these constraints and the risks

which they represent.

Success Measurements

Success Criteria

For various components of the project, criteria by which

success, approval or completion can be established will need to

be defined. This would include criteria for establishing when

testing has been successful as well as when a deliverable can be

approved. Such criteria should be established and

communicated well in advance of when they will be used for

evaluative purposes.

21

Completion Criteria

During the project startup, the criteria by which it will be

determined that the project is successfully completed should be

identified and agreed to. This should include identifying who

will make the decision that the project has been successfully

completed.

Quality and Assurance

Quality Reviews

The benefits of 'getting it right first time' are well documented.

Failure to deliver a product that conforms to requirements

results in schedule and cost overruns. Quality reviews for each

work product, for example, a product or a set of branch office

procedures, should be scheduled as tasks as part of the overall

project plan.

Quality reviews can take two forms:

Walkthroughs or inspections of a work product and

Independent reviews where the work product or process is

independently examined

The reviewers can vary according to the timing and significance

of the reviews. They can be peers, more senior members of the

project team, end users, or technical specialists outside the

project.

22

Assurance Reviews

Assurance reviews provide an independent assessment of key

project metrics to provide the project sponsor with an objective

evaluation of whether there should be concerns that the project

will meet its objectives. Such reviews should be scheduled as

part of the overall project plan. The Project Manager or the

Project Sponsor can also request reviews at any time in

response to specific situations.

Closing the Project

Project closeout is necessary to ensure that:

- The business / sponsor formally accepts the project as being

complete based on the criteria which was specified in the

project startup;

- Project records are completed;

- All subcontractor commitments are met;

- Essential project documentation is retained;

- A lessons learned document is prepared and

- A project closeout plan should be included in the Project

Control Book (PCB).

Standards And Conventions

There are significant benefits to the organisation if all projects

within a program and all components within a project use the

same standards and conventions when creating documents.

This will help to provide a common “look and feel” within and

across projects and will help to ensure that all projects or

23

components address key requirements or activities in a common

fashion.

The client should assess various models and documents

provided to it and customize as appropriate to ensure the

optimum fit between the needs of the client and the structure

and rigor of the proposed standards.

24

2. Project Management Tools

The following are an indication of suggested tools which may

serve the purpose of management, tracking and measurement of

OSS project implementation:

• MS Project

• Project Hub

• Other OSS Tools

MS Project Tool

MS Project is the most commonly used tool for the development

of the project schedule. This, in turn, is used to manage and

report project status. The MS Project plan is based on a

hierarchical work breakdown structure. It supports a number of

project aspects including:

• Assigning resources to tasks;

• Determining resource problems and imbalances;

• Identification of the project critical path;

• Displaying a project timeline and

• Linking project dependencies.

When the project plan has been reviewed and approved by the

appropriate level of management, typically the Steering

Committee, it is formally baselined. It is the baseline plan which

is then the basis against which progress status is measured.

MS Project provides a number of views into the project plan. The

most frequently used one is the GANTT chart which provides a

graphical timeline depiction of the selected tasks, deliverables,

25

milestones etc. More specific views can be defined through the

use of filters (e.g. click on Project, then Sort or Filtered …)

MS Project can be used as a tool to track actual performance.

There are a large number of techniques and ways MS Project

can support this. These range from application of “earned value”

concepts to simpler approaches based on inputted percentages

complete. The key is to understand what data and views are

appropriate for the size and type of project and what

information is required by management to ensure that the

project is appropriately controlled.

The Project Manager has the responsibility to update the project

plan based on approved changes communicated through the

Change Management process.

ProjectHub Tool

ProjectHub is an Internet enabled, web based application for

Enterprise Project Planning and Control. ProjectHub can

function by itself or it can be used in conjunction with other

“market standard” project management tools, such as

Primavera and Microsoft Project. Together with its ability to

work with Primavera and Microsoft Project, ProjectHub is able to

bring project teams together with its Project Collaboration

features, for up to the minute cross-project analysis and issue

management. ProjectHub’s extensive web based integration

transforms decision-making into a rich and interactive

collaborative and conducive environment.

26

Overview of ProjectHub:

• Plan and schedule projects

• Update and keep track of progress of projects

• Track the action items from start to resolution

• Secure all your information within the ProjectHub system

• Access all your information from virtually any PC with an

Internet connection

• Store and manage all documents

• Track accesses and changes to documents through an audit

trail

• Add comments and changes to your documents while

collaborating with partners over the Internet/Intranet

• Route documents for action through the document routing

system

• Schedule for meetings and other events through the online

calendaring system

• Receive e-mail alerts for all system related events such as

appointments and document updates

• Automatically capture and record minutes of meetings and

action items

• Receive customised and up to date reports on project health

• Manage project exceptions such as issues, risks and change

requests through the Management Log

• Monitor each contract’s deliveries through the Contracts

Log

ProjectHub’s Homepage and Main Dashboard provide

customised project information, as well as Project shortcuts,

action item alerts and other system information. In a glance,

27

project managers may instantly view progress information in

graphical formats. This feature assists upper management in

the identification and resolution of problem areas within their

project structure.

Multiple groups could be created for managing the users’ access

ability for various information inside Project Hub.

Provides a platform for the project initiator or project manager

to create new projects, enter the project related information and

invites teammates to the project.

Project Manager is allowed to create unlimited security groups

to manage the teammate’s access.

The various modules that enable project management are listed

below:

Work Break Down Structures – WBS

Allows the project manager to define the project’s work in terms

of deliverables & the process phases relevant to the

project/organisation The WBS is fully compliant with the Project

Management Institute (PMI) Standards. The WBS can be

synchronized to import from Microsoft Project and Primavera

Enterprise Project Planner or export to Primavera Enterprise.

Activities

The individual activities are managed through an Activity Form

that allows project participants to create, edit, delete and

update progress and resource usage add comments and

relevant information. The individual activity tabs allow project

28

managers to drill down to details about individual activities.

ProjectHub provides two ways to view and update the activities,

either via the Gantt/Bar chart or in a spreadsheet format.

Project Information

Project Information allows all information pertaining to a project

to be kept at a central location, which eases the process of

review by top management.

Information such as contractors, consultant, project owner, and

some project description and scope are stored within this

module.

Document Management System

Projects generate large amounts of time sensitive and dynamic

data. ProjectHub’s repository, DMS, allows the entire project

team to deposit all documents in a central location for easy

access and archival. ProjectHub’s DMS features include audit

trails, version/change management, quota and role based

privileges.

In addition, all actions such as uploading new files, deleting

files and so on will be logged in the document history for

auditing purposes. This provides another layer of security to the

DMS.

WorkFlow

Today's organisational environments are characterized by

uncertain requirements and rapid and continuous change. In

order to effectively support activities in such contexts, workflow

29

systems must be able to respond effectively when deviations

from the "ideal" process occur during process execution. The

workflow engine provides the solution to fulfill these

requirements. The workflow engine can be configured to handle

various business rules such as an approving system in an

organisation.

Exception Management

ProjectHub allows project members to record project issues and

track corrective actions.

Discussion boards

Discussion Boards may be used as web based support Centres

to allow people to document and track issues from discovery

through resolution. Filters/Search Capability by Forum/Topic,

Author and Date. This allows users to filter information based

on specific requirements such as dates and subject.

Organisers

The Project Organiser tool allows users to manage time driven

information such as meetings, deadlines, alerts and milestones.

The Calendar integrates with the ProjectHub Scheduler to filter

important ‘date driven’ information.

The Company Organiser allows project team members to check

the availability of other team members prior to arranging a

meeting. It also allows immediate bookings of conference room

and the relevant equipment through the provided link.

The system is also able to send e-mails to project team members

as reminders of project meetings or other deadlines.

30

Conference Room Booking

Conference Room Booking can be accessed by clicking My

Company\Conference Room on the navigation bar.

Conference Room Booking is deisgned to allow users to make

conference room reservation. This could reduce the time spent

in hunting for conference room.

Reports

ProjectHub provides the option to integrate with most of the

mainstream report generator tools such as Crystal Report and

Elixir Report to provide the ultimate flexibility to the users in

maintaining and modifying reports as requirements changes in

the business environment.

Project publisher provides a place to publish a project status by

pictorial representation.

Personal Workspace

The Personal Organiser tool allows users to manage time driven

information such as meetings, deadlines, alerts and Milestones.

The Calendar integrates with the ProjectHub Scheduler to filter

important ‘date driven’ information.

Personal Document acts as a personal file server that allows

user to deposit and easily access documents.

31

Other PM OSS Tools

Some of the other available tools are as listed below:

• A specific PM tool under OSS of which details are

available at http://mrproject.codefactory.se/

• MrProject is a project planning, scheduling and tracking

tool for the GNOME Desktop aiming to act as a better

replacement than available proprietary tools. MrProject is

part of GNOME Office, a productivity suite composed of

entirely free software, integrated with the GNOME Desktop.

The main features are Gantt chart for tracking of tasks,

Task view for managing tasks and all related properties,

Resource view for managing the resources, Custom

properties for adding more information than MrProject

supports natively, GNOME 2 enabled and others.

• Other Potential OSS Project Management Tools are:

DotProject

NetOffice

PhpCollab

Work Project

Memoranda

ZenTrack

Phpaga

PMTool

Java Enterprise Teamwork

WebCollab

Xoopstage

Groupware PHProjekt

32

It is recommended that the above OSS tools be evaluated, in

order to ascertain the completeness of functionality required, as

detailed in the above sections, as per the best practices and

guidelines stipulated above.

33