How does project tools compare to other solutions like PHProjekt?

[Alfa1]

What are the advantages of Project tools over other solutions like PHProjekt?

[requiem2d]

"Project tools" isn't necessarily a project management tool it seems, more like a bug, support, tracking system. If you want to run a medium sized project (or even small) you're better off with an open source project mgmt tool. Was kind of disappointed in that respect.

[Dilly]

Well for starters, vBulletin can spell project.

[Bluestrike2]

Well for starters, vBulletin can spell project.

Its in German....

[Dilly]

It was a joke.

[Alfa1]

After initial trial of both I must say that Jelsoft's project tools is much faster working than PHProjekt. Though PHProjekt has more features, I prefer PT as I assume that it will get more development in time.

[columbusgeek]

I like the fact that vB can manage 2 or 3 differnet tasks within itself.

A forum, a support system and a project management system.

It's good to keep it all on one system for people who are not too web savvy. i.e. my clients.

[Alfa1]

ProjectFork 2.1 beta has been released. This Joomla integrated Project Tools shows a lot of new features. I am posting this to give an example of where vbulltin Project Tools is positioned, in comparison to competing products. New & additional functionality list:

High priority features

General improvements/features

Allow sending Emails in HTML
Add item link to Email
Make email messages configurable
Add option to use Content Editor for comments
Make the Framework completely portable/callable from within another extension
Allow loading of Joomla Modules in PF panel positions
Misc. adjustments in the framework
Add "Edit" link to panels if the user is allowed to edit panels.
Add Version info within Projectfork
Add "Home" button to the navigation when hiding the joomla template

Calendar

Invite/add users to event

Tasks

Allow for multiple users assigned per task
Add new field for custom status/nature of the task.
Basic time tracking
Add option to hide certain tasks from eg. clients
Quicklink to mark all tasks in a milestone as completed
Option to hide empty milestones

Projects

Add option to invite/add users per dropdown-list
Add option to allow non-members/visitors to access/browse the entire Project
Add field to manually set the project start date
Latest topics panel in details view
Latest posts panel in details view
Latest files panel in details view

File manager

Add option to hide certain items from eg. clients

Users

Add option to invite/add users per dropdown-list
New global Access level for project members

Groups

New global group for project members

Control panel

Latest topics panel
Latest posts panel
Latest files panel

"Nice to have" features



General: Automated update system
Projects: Allow grouping of projects into categories
Projects: Print/PDF
Tasks: Upload files from within a task
Tasks: Print/PDF
Filemanager: Print/PDF
Board: Upload files from within the board

[Alfa1]

PHProjekt 6 has been released. I am posting this to give an example of where vbulltin Project Tools is positioned, in comparison to competing products. Features include:

New features:



For Users:

intuitive operation
focus on project management features
use of web 2.0 features (AJAX)
interactive gantt chart
live search
tagging
inplace-editing for all modules
inheritable permissions
timecard with drag'n'drop assignment of projects
create new modules with a few mouse clicks


For Administrators:

use WYSIWYG-module designer to create new modules
consistent management of users, groups and roles
multilingual support
support for different timezones


For Developers:

objectoriented architecture following the ZF-Coding standard (http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/coding-standard.html)
Zend Framework (http://framework.zend.com/) and Dojo (http://www.dojotoolkit.org/) allow rapid development of new features
modern architecture and design patterns:

MVC
ActiveRecord


complete sourcecode is documented in phpdoc
frontend & backend can be used or replaced separately (JSON-RPC)
great parts of the sourcecode are covered with unittests
published under the LGPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html)



Existing features:

General:
- Modular Structure
- Accessible mode
- Different stages of privileges
- Protocols: XML, SOAP, webDAV, ldap, ical/vcal
- Supports over 38 languages
- Skins
- SOX compliant by history tracking and soft delete - Supports mysql, postgres, sqlite, firebird, oracle, ms-sql, db2
- API to include other applications
- Complex filter management
- Guided installation, update and configuration
- Prepared for big amount of users or data records
- module designer to adapt own workflow

Projects
- List of projects with tree structure
- Subprojects with unlimited depth
- Includes phases, milestones etc.
- Considers project dependencies
- Basic data: start/end, leader, participants, budget etc.
- View related notes, files, tasks, events, tickets
- Statistics results: who worked on which project
- Timeline/Gantt diagram of all projects
- Cost management
- Budget controlling

Time card system
- Quickbuttons for 'start' and 'end' in the main screen
- Several bookings each day
- Optional manual inserts x days backwards
- Assign working hours to several projects
- Monthly overview with summary
- Booking working time directly on record (task, tickets)

Contact manager
- Hierarchical structure of contacts
- Teams, companies and organisations as submodule
- Import/export contacts in different formats ...
- ... even multiple times by pattern recognition
- keep contacts personal or open to the group
- Table view of all project members
- sort by all categories up and down
- View all related notes, projects, files, tasks
- filter system

Calendar
- Single mode: views for day, week, month and full list
- Group mode: view schedules of several users together
- Insert events into the schedule of other users
- Create profiles for frequently used groups
- Repeat events: each day, week, month or year
- Assign a comment, contact or project to an event
- Keep an event private or allow to publish
- Start and end time of an event clickable
- reserve resources (e.g. rooms) for events
- SMS or email reminder
- print each view

Chat
- view members who are online
- Save actual discussion in a file
Forum
- View threads in tree structure
- n elements per page
- filter system
- print postings

Request tracker
- aka known as help desk or trouble ticket system
- Customer adds request on special page
- optional sets due time
- searchable knowledge base of solved requests
- automatic confirmation by mail
- automatic or manual assignment to users
- List- and Form view
- Sort- and Filter functions
- Define a request as a sub-project
- Assign work time to request (for later billing)

Mail client
- pop3 or imap access
- send and receive mails
- ascii or html format, attachments
- supports several accounts
- rules to assign mails to folders
- display mails in tree structure with folders
- Fax and SMS support

Files
- files, intranet links and directories
- tree structure with folders
- restricted access system for each file
- table view of all group related documents
- Filter for large file lists
- sort by all categories
- upload section

Notes
- Save your personal memos and thoughts
- Quick overview on all notes, edit function
- assign a contact or project to a note
- Keep a note private or open to the group
- Copy or mail to another user
- Full text search

Bookmarks
- Bookmark list for a quick access to important URL's
- editor to insert new bookmarks
- check for double entries

Voting system
- select individual persons for a vote
- Editor to create the voting
- Up to the three answers possible (single or multiple)
- Table view of all actual and past votings

Administration
- access by password only for admin
- Manage group, users, projects, resources, timecards
- check for dead links in bookmarks
- delete old threads from the forum
- miscelleanous

Todo list
- quick insert of short memos
- user with chief status assigns todos to others
- list view with delete option

Reminder
- Small window that shows the actual events
- Additional option: alert box reminds you before an event

Search System
- full text search in single module or ..
- complete site search


and more ...