Open Source Project Management
There are many project management software packages on the market. Some are relatively simple, like Microsoft Project. Others are enterprise-class packages that can handle multiple simultaneous projects in multiple locations and even multiple languages. The latter can cost many thousands of dollars. But if you need enterprise-class project management software and you're on a tight budget, you can get it in open source project management software.
Open source software is a "movement" to make sophisticated, reliable software available free of charge. The whole idea is to provide competition to proprietary software that helps keep prices under control. There is an open source alternative for almost every software need, including open source project management software.
TaskJuggler (www.taskjuggler.org) is a popular open source project management tool. It's a downloadable package that your can run on Linux, Unix, Windows, or Mac OS systems. TaskJuggler covers the complete spectrum of project management tasks from the first idea to the completion of the project. It assists you during project scoping, resource assignment, cost and revenue planing, risk and communication management. It includes an optimizing scheduler that replaces GANTT charts and a resources optimizing module. Its flexible "use what you need" approach accommodates simple to large projects, and newer project management methodologies such as Agile or Extreme Programming.
Dotproject (www.dotproject.net) is another popular open source project management program. It's been developed by many volunteers and tech support can be had free of charge from a large community of worldwide users. Dotproject is a Web-based application that runs on a server and is accessed via a Web browser. It supports tasks, scheduling, communication, and sharing of documents or ideas through real-time collaboration. It is useful for small projects or large, distributed projects. It is flexible enough to accommodate construction, software development, home remodeling, or just about any type of project.
Codendi (www.codendi.com) is an open source project manager designed specifically for software development projects. It is offered by Xerox Corp., which makes money by selling support, customization, and system integration services to users of the free Codendi open source project management software.
ProjectPier (www.projectpier.org) is a self-hosted Web-based project management application written in PHP, which makes it highly portable to many types of Web servers. Its strength is collaboration between team members. Of course, it handles the complete range of project management functions from project planning, activity development, scheduling, supplier sourcing, etc.