When we were planning on setting up our project management solution we wanted to get something that would meet a number of criteria that we had.

We needed the Project Management ( PM ) system to meet :

1. Stability – A PM that has been thoroughly tested and well supported was our primary concern. It is fine for us the software did not directly integrate but we needed something that could do everything we needed to do, and at the same time be able to offer a solid product to our clients.
2. Extendibility – The ability to add more functionality to the PM system. In the case that we needed to add functionality for whatever reason, we needed the software to have some sort of API that we could use to add anything that needed to add without having to get deep into the core, or even HACK!  (Never hack the core)
3. Event Scheduling – We needed some form of calendar or event scheduling for project management. It is important that both the client and us know what we have to do and when. There is nothing worse than hundreds of emails being exchanged, or lost, or dates mixed up or confused. The ability to manage all the relevant milestone dates in one place would make for a great PM system.
4. Ticketing System – Managing the current code and the state of the project is an the KEY! This would be the last but by no means least requirement. As a result we need to make sure that when there is a problem  or issue the clients can make sure that it is addressed and in a timely manner.  A ticket system also means that we can manage and monitor progress as well as execute performance evaluations throughout the lifetime of the project.

As a result we decided to go and take a look at what the available open source project management tools there were to evaluate, and in the end it came down to three choices.

1. Open Atrium

Homepage: Open Atrium

Demo: Community Site based on Open Atrium

Download: Official Download Page

Twitter: Open Atrium on Twitter

Open Atrium is an installation profile of one of our favorite content management systems Drupal. Now an installation profile is essentially an instance of Drupal that has been preconfigured with certain modules and settings for convenient and easy use in a number of fields, markets and environments.

Some of the features of interest that we evaluated:

1. Calender – The calendar functionality allows you the ability to create events that are pivotal to development, or management of client and internal projects. The ical functionality as well as the multi-day events were certainly a plus
2. Dashboard – Out of all the project management tools that we tried i think without a doubt that Open Atrium had the best and easiest layout. Recent activities, as well as events, notes and notifications are all clearly visible to the user when they log in.
3. Documents – The ability to share documents between team members is a definite plus, this combined with the ability to create revisions makes this a very good document sharing application. It also allows the ability to have a form of versioning, great for development and tracking the progress of projects.
4. Shoutbox – This is a more progressive and nifty feature. If you have ever had to get a simple quick message to the team whenever they log in or navigate around, this is the perfect feature! It allows for simple chats and notifications to be passed members in the scope of a particular group.
5. Case Tracker – This is the primary feature that we were looking for and the ticketing system in Open Atrium had a lot of features. One of the primary features that distinguishes this from the other hosted solutions such as Basecamp, was the ability to create an unlimited number of projects, tickets, ticket priority and ticket status.

2. Collabtive

Homepage: Collabtive

Demo: Official Demo

Download: Official Download Page

Collabtive is an open source PHP based project management platform intended for small to medium-sized businesses and freelancers. I think when it comes to reporting features out of the box collabtive is fairly a winner.

Some of the features of Collabtive:

1. Calender – Much like Open Atrium, Collabtive had a pretty nice UI and the calendar is clearly visible when a user logs in. It also has ajax functionality on the calendar that makes scrolling through months and archives a breeze.
2. Dashboard – Collabtive has a very interesting dashboard that has quite a few things going on. The ability to have a quick post feature where you can quickly create a project was good too. With a clever use of toggle elements you can also essentially manage an entire project from a single page: calendar, time, and activities, export to excel and pdf. However, these days we are shying away from apps that are heavy on the modals and JavaScript too, so despite all the pop it may not be what what we want but it can definitely work for a lot of others.
3. Excel Export – The ability to export the files from activity logs and time-tracker reports was a pretty good feature, not one we may immediately use but a definite plus and useful.
4. vCard Export – The ability to export user profiles to a vCard – the file form for electronic business cards that are gaining in popularity as you can import and export your contacts into various applications.

3. Feng Office Community Edition (Previously OpenGoo)

Homepage: Feng Office

Demo: Official Demo

Download: Official Download Page

Tour: Product Tour

In this case we were looking at the community edition of Feng. Feng is built on the popular ext.js framework and has an interface that easily resembles an Office suite but also has the project management and collaboration features. What really sets Feng apart from the rest was the ability to do your billing with your client accounts, a definite plus when you want to try and keep your management centralized.

Some nifty things about Feng:

1. Dashboard – Essentially the whole application is a dashboard and is a heavily-ajax based application. This is great, and sure it was a it is a great application bundle but there is one problem. Hitting the back button creates for strange or slightly out of the norm navigation within the application as you are taken to a separate page.
2. Calendar – The calendar was well thought out here and provides some good integration with the contact system. Easily create event and manage events with the wide-screen dashboard area.
3. Documentation – A very good documents and sharing platform, i think perhaps not quite what we would look for but you can definitely see the thought that went into the document sharing in Feng.

Conclusion

I think that in the end you have to pick the project management system that fits your needs best. For us the ability to integrate billing functionality with either Drupal or with CivicCRM were too great to overlook. This along with an API that we would be able to easily access to grown and expand the functionality made Open Atrium a clear winner.

Of course the other platforms are stable and worth a try, but i think the only one that really was furthest from the top was the Feng Office platform. Often when you hit the back button it would take you completely out of the application and to the previous page. As a result it can be a bit frustrating and takes a bit of getting used to.

However, when you care considering your needs always consider scalability and growth. If you are going to to be rapidly expanding and growing then you may want to consider a slightly more robust enterprise level solution like SugarCRM, and Salesforce.com with their open source offerings. These also offer commercial paid support as we all as a host of professional networks and resources to help you integrate the CRM into any existing platforms.