MALAYSIAN PUBLIC SECTOR OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE (OSS) PROGRAMME BENCHMARKING / COMPARISON REPORT PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

Transcription

1 MALAYSIAN PUBLIC SECTOR OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE (OSS) PROGRAMME BENCHMARKING / COMPARISON REPORT PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS NOVEMBER 2009

2 Copyright The Government of Malaysia retains the copyright of this document.

3 Table of Contents SECTION 1 : INTRODUCTION...1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...2 INTRODUCTION...2 SECTION 2 : DESCRIPTION OF EVALUATION METHODS (METHODOLOGY)...3 PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION...4 SECTION 3 : BENCHMARKING / EVALUATION REPORT...5 EVALUATION ACTIVITIES...6 COMPARISON OF FEATURES...6 SECTION 4 : CONCLUSIONS...8 CONCLUSIONS...9 SECTION 5 : SUMMARY AND REFERENCES...10 SUMMARY...11 REFERENCES...11 SECTION 6 : APPENDICES...12

4 SECTION 1 : INTRODUCTION

5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is closely related to and sometimes conflated with programme management. To plan, organize and manage resources, a software application is often useful to enable overall project effectiveness. INTRODUCTION This document is intended to help managers, project managers and users to select an open source project management tool. Two tools were selected for evaluation, i.e. OpenProj which offers Linux, Unix, Mac OS/X and Windows versions; and Open Workbench which is only available for Windows. Open Workbench was evaluated using Windows XP; OpenProj using Ubuntu Page 2

6 SECTION 2 : DESCRIPTION OF EVALUATION METHODS (METHODOLOGY)

7 PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION This document compares two project management software applications to aid with the selection of a suitable tool to meet project management requirements. Open Workbench Creates projects, populates them with tasks, creates internal and external task dependencies and resources. Data can be imported, e.g. tasks from other projects. Projects can be viewed in a variety of ways, including spreadsheet views using Gantt charts and in Critical Path Method (CPM) Network views. Open Workbench provides standard views which users can use as is or modify to meet their needs. OpenProj Contains Gantt Charts, Network Diagrams (PERT Charts), Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) & Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) Charts, Earned Value costing, Multi-Project Portfolio management, and Advanced Multi-Project Reporting. Projects using other software applications can also be opened with OpenProj. Page 4

8 SECTION 3 : BENCHMARKING / EVALUATION REPORT

9 EVALUATION ACTIVITIES The evaluation of OpenProj.org and OpenWorkbench was conducted on the same hardware specifications as listed below: Processor : Pentium(R) Dual Core CPU 3.20GHz Architecture : i386 Memory : 1MB RAM HDD : 60GB Operating System : Ubuntu 9.04 COMPARISON OF FEATURES Features Open Workbench OpenProj Category Open source project management solution Open source project management solution Developed by Applied Business Technology, Corporation (ABT) Serena Software Inc. Platforms Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista & Windows 7 Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista & Windows 7, Mac OS/X, Unix and Linux System Requirements Sun's Java Runtime Engine Java 2 Standard Edition Runtime Environment Size: 7.15MB Size: 20.69MB License Computer Associated International, Inc. Common Public Attribution License ( CA ) Version 1.0 (CPAL) Functions Gantt, CPM Network, WBS, Filters and Gantt, Network (PERT), Resources, Sorts WBS, RBS, Report, Task Usage, Resource Usage Resource Scheduling Based on duration. Changes can be made without affecting surrounding resources Plan Scheduling The schedule will move only when the Plan scheduling can be in Gantt and Page 6

10 Auto Schedule function is active, allowing for completely manual scheduling if desired later user can change it to WBS, RBS or others Baseline Business Rules Baseline information is validated through business rules. For example, baseline finish must be after baseline start, daily baseline work must add up to total baseline work A baseline is a snapshot of project's schedule at a given time. It is a good idea to always save project's baseline before it begins. This is the initial plan and project's progress can be monitored by comparing current status to baseline plan Views Supports deploying standard views of information to Open Workbench clients. Also can share views which do not overwrite the user's personal views Can be seen in standard view (Gantt, Network, Resources, WBS, RBS, Reports) and also in Task Usage, Resource Usage Role or Resource Replacement When a role or resource is replaced, the work estimates are maintained The resource pool automatically contains all users of Project On Demand (POD), so when new POD is declared, user will appear in the resource pool automatically Accessing Multiple Master plans may be created ad-hoc or Project Plans predefined. Opening a master plan automatically opens subordinate plans. Resources can be assigned in subprojects and are recognized across projects The Multi-project feature can be used to decompose large and complex projects into efficiently manageable smaller sub-projects which are owned by respective Project Managers/Functional leads Reports Reports show a list of all projects with the possibility of filtering, changing the columns displayed, sorting, and grouping by columns Reports show in variance analysis in schedule format Gantt Gantt view shows all Projects in Gantt Chart format Calendar Support scheduling works on holidays. For each resource, the date through which actual are posted is tracked. All remaining work for that resource is scheduled after that date, so it is not possible to schedule remaining work for a resource occurring in the past Support scheduling works on holidays. Used to define the working days and times for Resources, Projects and Tasks. Tasks will be scheduled only when there is working time available on the calendar or calendars that apply. Working calendar can choose either Standard, 24 Hours or Night Shift. Save format.rmp and.xml.pod and.xml Conclusion Each is a suitable alternative for project management requirements Page 7

11 SECTION 4 : CONCLUSIONS

12 CONCLUSIONS Based on comparisons between Open Workbench and OpenProj, we concluded that Open Workbench and OpenProj are both similar in features. The major difference between both tools is the available support platforms. Users can easily install OpenProj Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac OS/X. Files can exchanged across platforms easily as long as.xml format is used. Open Workbench can only be used on Windows platform. The only difference between Open Workbench and OpenProj is the interface. All other features are similar. From this comparison, we concluded that: 1. Both are easy to handle 2. Functions and features of both are easy to understand 3. Both have similar features for planning, organising and managing 4. Both have same view functions, i.e. Gannt, WBS, RBS, Task Usage 5. Both have extensive project reporting capabilities Prepared by: Norasnida Rusalan, OSCC MAMPU Page 9

13 SECTION 5 : SUMMARY AND REFERENCES

14 SUMMARY From the evaluation, we can say that both project management software applications can help users to manage their projects efficiently and effectively. Users do not have to spend considerable time learning either because the functions are similar and available. REFERENCES Page 11

15 SECTION 6 : APPENDICES

16 APPENDIX A Example of OpenProj interfaces Diagram1: After installation, they will ask for accept the license Diagram2: After accept the license, they will ask you address to send new updates Page 13

17 Diagram3: Tip of the day will appear averytime you open your OpenProj Diagram4: You can choose to create a new project or open the previous project Page 14

18 Diagram5: insert the detail for new project Diagram6: OpenProj interface Page 15

19 Diagram7: Example of OpenProj project Diagram8: Example of report OpenProj project Page 16

20 Diagram9: Example of calendar OpenProj project Diagram10: Save as project in OpenProj Page 17

21 APPENDIX B Example of Open Workbench interfaces Diagram11: After installation, they will direct to the Open Workbench interface Diagram12: Tip og the Day in Open Workbench Page 18

22 Diagram13: Example of Open Workbench interface Diagram14: Calendar in Open Workbench Page 19

23 Diagram15: Example of report in variance analysis Diagram16: Save format Page 20