Review of dotProject

DotProject is an open source software program. It allows for project managers to plan and monitor their projects online. Because it is free, it  aims to serve individuals, small businesses, non profit organizations and more - with its project management features. The development team is built from a group of volunteers world-wide.

DotProject operates as a web-based project management system. In this program you can track projects, tasks, resources and scheduling information. The features of dotProject include:

• The ability to back up the dotProject database
• The ability to track dates and sort tasks by date
• The ability to track contact information - and assign contacts to various projects
• Gantt chart creation
• Produce quality reports
• Invoice clients based upon task logs
• Import information form Microsoft Project
• Use Timesheets for time tracking
• Search dotProject for pertinent information
• Manage both human and non-human resources
• Keep track of changes with the "history" function
• Keep project files together, with the project
• Use forums to track issues and collaborate with other team members

The fact that dotProject is open source, web-based software means that it is more secure than an on site software package would be. It is also free, which makes the program an excellent choice for freelancers, independent contractors, start-up businesses and small businesses. One thing to note is that the program is finicky when registering - at the time of writing this article, certain e-mail domain names were not compatible with dotProject, including gmail.

DotProject is for you if you enjoy free, open source programs for project management. The interface takes some getting used to, but once I cruised around in the program for a little bit, it worked smoothly. It is also a great program if you want to be part of a project management software development project. If you would like to make suggestions for improvement, this is one place to do it. One user commented that she uses the program to track all of the information for house sales, and another uses it for house related projects - decorating, organizing,etc. DotProject really is what you make of it. It is a versatile program that can perform most of the functions of other competing softwares.