18.204 project management software for Mac

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 204.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 07:21:48 +0100
         From: Jennifer Vinopal <jennifer.vinopal_at_nyu.edu>
         Subject: Summary: Project management software for Mac

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me with suggestions for project management
software for the mac. We've decided to go with FastTrack. A summary of
responses and my comments follow:

          David recommended FastTrack (http://www.aecsoftware.com/). He said
that he had used "the Web-based PHProject for a while (www.phprojekt.com)
but found it too clunky and stopped using it." He also added "We tried MS
Project but had trouble with the learning curve, plus I can't stand having
to run a major program under Virtual PC."
          Both David and Nicola suggested BaseCamp, which is a web-based
commercial product (http://www.basecamphq.com/). Nicola says: "One project
is free as a demo - more costs money, but I've been using it, and I'd say
it's worth it."
          Lisa wrote: "To be brutally honest, there really isn't anything
"to write home about." I've usually ended up using a collection of
different products for different parts of the management."
          Fred recommended a product called Near Time Flow, which is more
for project collaboration but includes some project management features:
http://www.near-time.com/

Here are some of the products that I tested plus comments:
- FastTrack Schedule (http://www.aecsoftware.com/):
a bit of a learning curve, but once you've got it, it's pretty simple to
use. Enough fields for all our data. Columns are customizable so you can
see as much or as little as you like on the screen. Won't import our
MSProject mpp files, but we will use an intermediary program to change mpp
to mpx, which opens fine in FastTrack.

- PMX (http://www.jtechsoftworks.com/):
while it looked pretty good, I had trouble keeping my tasks and subtasks
organized the way I wanted them, plus I had some trouble allocating
resources and keeping start/end dates straight.

- Intellisys (http://www.webintellisys.com/):
While it seems to do basically what we'd want it to do, the thing that I
really hate about this one is the GUI, and the fact that the software
displays all your projects in the same window. *Way* too confusing to look at.

- ConceptDraw Project
(http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/project/main.php): Easy to use, but
too simplistic for our needs.

- Though Basecamp was recommended I didn't try it because it would become
too costly over time for a subscription for just two of us.

Best regards,
Jennifer
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Jennifer Vinopal / jennifer.vinopal_at_nyu.edu
~ Librarian for French & Italian Language and Literature
~ Services Manager, Studio for Digital Projects and Research
~ Project Manager, Digital Library Team
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Received on Fri Sep 10 2004 - 04:36:19 EDT