Ideas From Project World Boston – June 2003

While attending ProjectWorld in Boston on June 4 & 5, 2003, I saw and heard about many interesting products and concepts that are part of the ongoing evolution of project management. Here are three.

My Pick of the Show

There is a confluence of Open-Source with project management software. I saw two 100% Java web-based project management tools at the show, and PSNext got me excited. PSNext is a complete web-based project management solution. While some who claim that title have built outrageously complex solutions, these folks have simplified. I like this product.

Their implementation is 100% Java, J2EE based, runs on Apache and supports IIS , BEA WebLogic, IBM Websphere, Tomcat, Linux, and SQL servers from IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle.

They also have a user interface that is in the top five of what I have seen in the past year. It is familiar, office-like, clean, and nicely arranged with user-role based tabs delineating logically grouped tasks. Further, they have implemented a unique per-tab licensing scheme that allows for the diversity and changing of people’s roles in today’s organizations. Their pricing makes their product viable for small and large teams.

While their web site has some information on PSNext, their web presentation undersells the product; you need to see it in person. I hope to review it in the next few months.

More about PSNext

Microsoft Project 2003

The new version of Project was recently announced for delivery in the second half of 2003. It was available on machines for demo, however the main demo by Microsoft seemed to focus Project Server and the bigger idea of Enterprise Project Management (EPM) rather than on the desktop versions.

Some of the new features in Project Standard 2003 include better integration with MS Office, a wizard to format printouts to a single page, and improved navigation. Project Standard is not designed to communicate with Project Server/EMS.

The Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution is the evolution of project server and its complementary interaction with Project Professional 2003. Microsoft reports its changes as improved enterprise resource management, management of resources for future projects such as proposals, ability to limit hours reported to current time period, time reporting and task management integrated with other appointments in Outlook 2003 (note their explicit 2003), improved printing in Project Center and Resource Center, and MS SharePoint integration to allow check-in / checkout and versioning of documents.

Microsoft’s emphasis is EPM. The feature list for small companies who use Project Standard seems small. I’ll review this product in a future issue when I have some hands-on experience with it, but to get their best solution you need to deploy Office Professional, Enterprise Project Management with Project Server, Outlook 2003, and SharePoint. An open question is if the entire Office 2003 is required to get the improved Project integration. Notwithstanding the affordability of this collection of products, implementation would be a massive project.

Evolution of Workspaces

There seems to be an emergent application type that is striving to integrate all of the business tools, project or business data, and team interactions into a single desktop browser or Outlook environment. Almost a “Front end to a Portal” as Julie LeMoine of UCHow calls it.

While these products work with MS Office and may integrate with MS Outlook, they are providing users an alternative to the deployment of the many pieces required for the ‘Microsoft business architecture’. That simplification of installation and support of the overall PC environment would be welcomed by all.

Some of the products in this new segment include CollabBiz (www.uchow.com), and at the show:  As-One (www.as-one.com). CollabBiz focuses on a secure, easy to use, global-ready environment.  As-One strives to provide a control panel to every part of a business’s daily operation.

These may be the initial wave of a more-complete idea that is the future of the 15 different kinds of single-focus collaborative packages we see today. Or the start of my long-forecasted consolidation of collaborative tools and portals into a single product space.

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