Project Management is methodical approach for structuring of a series of tasks and the schedule associated with those tasks, to achieve an outcome. Project Management is required for ensuring that the product is delivered to the customer on time and within budget. It facilitates the project manager to create deliverables faster and more efficiently. Many tools are available today to manage projects and related tasks. Read ahead…

dotProject is one of the tools to manage projects and that is easy to set up and get running. Task allotment and management is a critical component of any project management tool, and it is something that the dotProject does reasonably well.

dotProject: Overview and Benefits

dotProject is a PHP Web-based project management application licensed under GNU General Public License (GPL) (http://dotProject.net/). It aims to provide the project manager with a tool to manage tasks, schedules, communication and sharing thereby helping to manage the day-to-day activities of project progression. As it is an online project management application we only need a browser and either intranet or internet access. It provides Clean, simple and consistent user interface. The basic information about the project is first created and then the tasks related to the project are created. Tasks are assigned to team members and have a tracked status, priority and due date. Project data and tasks are stored in the database. In a nutshell, the dotProject helps to keep track of the day-to-day developments of the project and helps to measure the progress of the project again on a day-to-day basis

Features:

It has comprehensive feature set and its modular architecture allows further addition of extra modules. Salient features of dotProject based solution are:

  • User Management

A simple feature, for tracking user activity, adding users, and managing users. User sessions showing date last logged in as well as other information is available.

  • Project Listing

Lists of projects are broken down by what state they are in, such as all projects, proposed, planning, in progress, on hold, complete, template, archived, not defined. You can quickly move from tab to tab to view the state of the projects.

  • File Repository

The file repository is a central place to store project documents. They can be viewed from the central repository or from the project they are stored under.

  • Hierarchical Task List

Tasks are organised in a hierarchy, not just arbitrarily listed. This is a very useful feature. Tasks can be dependent on other tasks. Users can log time against a task directly in the system, giving a project manager a good synopsis of progress to date.

  • Dynamic tasks

dotProject also allows users to create something called dynamic tasks, which takes their start, completion, and duration from the child tasks that are related to them.

  • To Do List

It shows list of pending tasks and is very handy feature for keep track of tasks.

  • Calendar

The calendar has several display options, including a three-month mini calendar view, a day view, week view, and a comprehensive month view.

  • Resource Based Permission

The permissions system in versions 2.0 and above is role-based. It is granular, meaning there are many variations that can be used to specify access to the areas you want and prevent access.

  • Gantt Charts and Visual Cues

Gantt Charts and Visual Cues are incorporated into dotProject to make it easier to visualise projects. Project and task status is highlighted using color coding.

  • System Admin

All the system administration features, including system configuration are incorporated in this module.

Some Features which are currently not available in dotProject but will be made available in the future releases are as follows:

  • Time logging module allowing team members to show when they were actively working, although this is a common feature on most other tools;
  • Lack of Resource Management: being able to assign resources and manage project time-lines including vacation time, holidays, sick days etc.
  • Lack of Effective Timeline Management: Ability to have parent/child tasks, dependencies for any combination of parent/child tasks that automatically updates timelines as needed
  • It doesn't have advanced features such as Resource Leveling, Critical Path Management, or Pert Charts. These are acknowledged weaknesses that are likely to be addressed in the next release.

Technology

Technology used in the software uses the JavaScript and PHP as its Programming Language. It takes the Database support from MySQL. It can be implemented both in Windows and Linux environment.

Some of the Implementation in NIC includes Ministry of Water Resources Ayush, Ministry of Health, Dept. of Telecommunications, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), e-Governance Division (Integrated with IntraGOV framework

dotProject web application can be successfully adapted to all kinds of businesses for a better project management solution including the aspects of planning, tracking and controlling of the tasks. Department projects can be tracked with the dotProject modules, which is built-in. It can be customized to meet the department's needs. Project management using dotProject software can facilitate monitoring and managing of projects, tasks of divisions and departments to achieve timely delivery of products and meet deadlines.