Earlier this week CommonPlaces exhibited at The New England Xpo for Business in Boston, MA. We really enjoyed meeting several attendees seeking a strategy for improving their online presence and explaining the power that their website could have. One of our favorite things to do is educate folks on what is possible, and how to use technology to advance beyond competitors.
Many individuals who stopped by our booth had questions as to why a mobile website is important, how a CMS can allow for painless website updates, and why the concept of ‘planning’ in the online world should be taken so seriously. For those of you that we spoke with, thanks for stopping by! Don’t hesitate to contact us if you wish to further our conversation.
If you didn’t get a chance to speak with us at the show, feel free to contact us, and we’ll answer any questions you may have. You can also catch CommonPlaces at the New York Xpo for Business on November 16th. More information on that event can be found here.
2011 was the first year CommonPlaces exhibited at this event, and we were very glad to have done so. We always enjoy connecting with fellow New Englanders and tuning into the hot issues on everyone’s minds. The team had a great time at this event, and we’re really looking forward to New England Xpo 2012!
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CommonPlaces is dedicated to the success of our clients’ projects. To make sure everything is running smoothly, we require a project management system to assign tasks, efficiently use resources, track time, pull reports both internally and for clients, store files, allow clients to issue support tickets and more.
We’ve recently been looking into using a new system that would provide greater functionality and ease of use. Using the selection criteria identified at the bottom of this post, our team narrowed our choices down to two finalists: Unfuddle and Active Collab.
We had already been using Unfuddle for some projects. Overall, we found that time tracking was painful in this system. To work around that; our internal team built a time-entry tool and a front end for pulling hour reports by date, projects and person.
We found the benefits of Unfuddle to be the following:
- Low learning curve and very fast adoption
- Fast & Flexible; can be used any way needed in order to get the job done
- Customers can log in and immediately understand what they are seeing
- The Drupal Feedback Module is already in place
- Our internal team can build what we need with API
- GIT integration
Conversely, we have identified the following concerns with using Unfuddle:
- Storage limitations
- Limited permission levels
- Somewhat free form
- Single resource on a task
- No Gantt Chart for scheduling
- No resource management, just lists
In looking at Active Collab, we found it to be a more robust project management system with available plug-ins. Additionally, because the system is installed on our own server, there are no limitations in regards to storage.
We found the benefits of Active Collab to be as follows:
- Robust feature set
- Powerful and reasonably priced add-ons
- Available widgets and gadgets
- Housekeeping service makes it SaaS-like
- System is hosted internally, so users are not limited to storage restrictions, nor are there storage fees. Internal hosting also provides added security.
- Email integration is slick
- Seems that any oversights or flaws are covered by low cost plug-ins
The following are a list of concerns with Active Collab:
- Medium learning curve – this system will take some time to learn
- Having to learn a new workflow will slow migration and adoption
- Flexibility of workflows
- Resource Management
Sample Feature Comparison
CommonPlace’s feature wish list is below. Every company’s wish list is unique to their processes and use cases. Below is a sample of the features CommonPlaces used to evaluate Unfuddle vs. Active Collab:
Based on the above criteria, we’ve made our selection. But we’re interested in what you think. What system would you choose to best fit the needs of your organization? Does your team use a different system that you’ve found to fit your list of requirements for a project management system? Let us know your thoughts by posting a comment below.
