Professional vs. Open source project management software

Professional project management software is not just for managing projects but it lets determine your style of management, efficiency of your efforts, and success of your team. In contrast to open source packages , those solutions give you a complete set of tools for planning, performing and controlling projects, tasks, activities, processes, etc. Even the best open source project management software will not provide you with the same tools because usually open source solutions are targeted at the specific audience of users who make not great demands while professional software is designed to meet needs and requirements of users who look for a complex project management solution.

It is quite natural that the right solution should be applied to the right projects. Otherwise, most likely goals will not be met, expected results will not be produced, and customers will not be satisfied. For instance, when a large-scale IT project is managed by means of some open source project management software free solution, the IT project manager faces difficulties in organizing the team, communicating with stakeholders, controlling processes and tasks, administering project funds, and more. In this situation, the problem consists in the lack of tools that could allow the project manager to develop a complete project infrastructure and organize resources. For projects which require powerful functionality open source php shareware is inapplicable, and the right choice should be made at the very beginning of PM process.

When you decide to develop and deliver some project, you should carefully consider characteristics of the future project and evaluate which resources it will consume and then make your choice in favor of either software or open source web based shareware. Requirements to your project determine the project’s complexity which is characterized by the following:

• Scope. A magnitude of work required to deliver expected project results refers to project scope. If your project scope is rather large, obviously project management software open source solutions will not fit the scope and you are likely to fail your project. You should estimate your project scope and only then select professional or top open source tools.

• Resources. Money, time and people are three basic resources of any project. If you have enough resources, you can fit the project scope and produce deliverables as planned. As multiple reviews show, open source solutions are not completely sufficient to estimate a required amount of project resources because they do not usually offer tools for estimating, allocating, tracking and controlling resources. But professional solutions allow you to reach success in managing your project resources.

An example s VIP Task Manager. This software application allows you to manage the scope of your project and estimate resources. It uses a client-sever technology that allows you to communicate and collaborate with your team and share information. VIP Task Manager Professional successfully competes with advanced open sources and shareware solutions that are listed in most comparisons and reviews.