]project-open[ V3.2 Integrates With GanttProject to form OSS Business Application Stack

BARCELONA, Spain, May 9th -- The ]project-open[ development team is proud to announce the release of version V3.2. of its project management and project collaboration application. ]po[ is currently ranked #65 at SourceForge.net with >100,000 downloads.

The main feature of the new version is an integration with GanttProject, the no. #1 open-source project management application. Together, the two applications form an integrated open-source based application stack covering the complete project cycle for IT departments and IT companies from definition and planning to execution, tracking and invoicing.

"]project-open[ and GanttProject together form the first one-stop solution to managing project organizations." says Frank Bergmann, founder of ]project-open[. "I believe that application stacks are the key to the success of OSS business applications in general".

While GanttProject is similar to Microsoft Project, ]project-open[ is comparable to the Microsoft Project Server application, as it stores and manages multiple projects and resources and financial information on a server. In addition, ]project-open[ includes a number of collaboration modules such as forums & tasks, full-text search, file storage, calendar, wiki, bug-tracker and workflow plus a number of financial modules such as timesheet management, expenses, travel costs, project controlling, invoicing and support for backend accounting systems including SAP.

"We frequently see customers running a dozen applications ranging from bug-trackers and wiki to timesheet management and travel costs, each with different GUI and logins. Our goal is to integrate these applications into a single system." says Klaus Hofeditz, the other founding member of ]po[.

With Version 3.2, ]po[ now presents a mature, industry-tested product. Using the Open Source approach, ]po[ is able to offer enterprise class solutions that require a considerably lower investment than comparable commercial software.

Application Scenario: IT Department or IT Company

The following application scenario demonstrates how ]project-open[ and GanttProject can be used together to define, plan and execute a project:

A key account manager or a sales manager start the project cycle by creating a new project in ]po[ as a container for requirement documents and brainstorming results by using the file storage and forum modules.

Also, the account manager starts to plan the budget top-down or bottom-up by defining and estimating project tasks and resources using GanttProject.
The resulting project proposal often passes through a priorization and approval workflow in order to enforce company policies on budgets, margins and project approval. Using a graphical workflow editor, the approval workflow can be defined and modified. Project attributes can be added and customized.

A project manager then takes over the responsibility for the project scheduling and resource planning using GanttProject. Using ]po[ reporting, the PM identifies resources overallocations and bottle necks across projects.

During project execution, members of the project teams can use a large number of ]po[ modules such as calendar, forum, wiki and bug-tracker to collaborate across geographical and organizational boundaries.

Meanwhile, the project manager tracks the project progress on a per-task level and compares it with the internal costs from ]po[ timesheet management and the external costs from the ]po[ expense & travel costs modules. Alternatively, cost information can also be imported from external applications such as SAP.

After delivering the project, an accountant or senior manager then uses the ]po[ invoicing module to create and track invoices for fixed-price and effort-priced projects. The results can be exported via CSV or XML to backend accounting packages such as Quickbooks, Lexware Buchhalter or SAP.

Resources & More Information:

]po[ Web Sites:
- http://www.project-open.org/ (Developer Site)
- http://www.project-open.com/ (Marketing Site)
- http://www.project-open.com/en/press/ (Press Kit)
- http://pcdemo.dnsalias.com/ (Online Demo)
- http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/project-open/ (Download)
- http://www.project-open.org/download/change_log.html (Change Log)

GanttProject Web Sites:
- http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/ganttproject/ (Download)

Developer Conference:
- September 27.-29., 2007 in Barcelona, Spain
http://www.project-open.com/product/services/devcon/

Analyst Briefing:
- For questions and further information:
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 8pm CEST / 2pm EST
Dial-in: +1-641-297-5600
Participant Code: 78819

Press Contact:
- Frank Bergmann, Founder
Tel: +34 933 250 914 (11am - 7pm CEST)
mailto:press@project-open.com

]project-open[ is the company behind the open-source based web application with the same name. ]po[ has been founded in 2003 by two German engineers in Barcelona, Spain. The mission of ]project-open[ is to bring the benefits of open-source based Internet technology to small and medium companies.

]project-open[ offers installation, support, training and customization for the ]project-open[ product family.

For further information please contact us or visit us on the web at http://www.project-open.com/.

]project-open[
Press Contact: Frank Bergmann
Ronda de Sant Antoní, 51, 1o 2a
E-08011 Barcelona
Tel: +34 933 250 914
Fax: +34 932 890 729

This release was published on openPR.