What is the best way to manage your outsourcers - project management software?

by joecool1972

Posted: 13 years ago 22 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hi all,

I have just taken on a full-time employee and I will probably be taking on some more in the next couple of months.

I need a way to manage them in one central location.

Some kind of web based project management software and I was wondering if anyone had and recommendations as to which one is best. I would love a free one such as an open source one, but I am prepared to pay for one if the added features etc are worth it. But at the moment I only need something quite basic and easy to use.

I have been looking at:

Home | ProjectPier.org as an open source option

and

Project management software, online collaboration: Basecamp

activeCollab - Project Management and Collaboration Tool

Project.net | Open Source Web-based Project Management Software, Project Portfolio Management Software

as paid options.

Any advice would be much appreciated:

Thanks

Joe

#manage #management #outsourcers #project #software

WikiWarrior 13 years ago

I've used Basecamp and Teamworkpm.net and both are pretty easy to use and have a lot of features. For simplicity though and something your employees are more likely to have used, how about just using Google Docs? You can create spreadsheets, text docs, calendar, and share them with each employee as you see fit.

If your requirements are quite basic I'd be tempted to stick with Google Docs initially, then look at the paid ones at a later date when you need more features.
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- joecool1972 13 years ago
  
  Thanks for that.
  
  I have considered google docs the only thing is that I am a bit paranoid about that sort of stuff because a lot of the docs will have information on link building, mini nets and other things which I don't really want google to know about and link to my sites.
  
  Perhaps I am being a bit paranoid and maybe google would never check what is on your docs, but I prefer to be safe that sorry.
  
  Thanks
  
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mindykoch 13 years ago

Trello for project organization and tracklabor for productivity.

http://trello.com
http://tracklabor.com
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- russellprisco 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by mindykoch
  
  Trello for project organization
  
  http://trello.com
  
  Thanks for the suggestion. Looks awesome!
  
  Russell =)
  
  Thanks
  
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joecool1972 13 years ago

Thanks Mindy,

I have never heard of Trello that might be perfect.

I have come across tracklabor before through replacemyself and I might plan to use it in the future.

Thanks
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- mindykoch 13 years ago
  
  I hope that Trello works for you I think it is pretty awesome myself!
  
  Thanks
  
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  ebusinesstutor 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by mindykoch
  
  I hope that Trello works for you I think it is pretty awesome myself!
  
  Thanks for posting about Trello, Mindy. It is a nice system for people who are more visual. And it is free.
  
  Thanks
  
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sridhar 13 years ago

Here are a few from my bookmarks: Delicious.com - Discover Yourself!

Check out Freedcamp. It is free and they keep regularly updating it with new features.
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Alex Kage 13 years ago

I also always wanted to know the answer to this question. Thanks for the info.
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David Keith 13 years ago

zoho.com has a decent system. its not for everyone, but i have 2 different teams i work there. they also have a docs system that is like google docs...but better in many ways.
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michaelallen 13 years ago

If you want to keep everything central, look into WORKetc.

It would allow you to manage absolutely everything in one web app: contacts, projects, tasks, calendars, time tracking, invoicing, expenses, and other things. The idea behind WORKetc is all in one business management for smaller to medium sized teams.

You would be able to collaborate easily on everything with your outsourcers, and it's google apps integrated (I particularly like the Gmail gadget - a lot of WORKetc functionality from within Gmail) which helps with document sharing, etc.

I suggest googling 'em - powerful software!
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adam0718 13 years ago

You can try Team Task Manager. I use it to track projects and tasks with my outsourced providers. It's very intuitive and there is no learning curve. Free eval is here -
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- kennvc 13 years ago
  
  Check out the Web TimeSheet Project & Billing software from Replicon. It's not free, but is quite affordable. It runs in a browser so it's easy for outsourced workers (or anyone!) to log their time. It can automatically share data with MS Project and QuickBooks, and includes a standards-based application programming interface (API) that makes it easy to plug timesheet data into other apps (such as Great Plains, Ceridian, or almost anything else). Full disclosure: I work for Replicon and use its products.
  
  Thanks
  
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adavant 13 years ago

I definitely like Basecamp. Especially if you're working virtually.
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adam0718 13 years ago

You can try Team Task Manager. I use it to track projects and tasks with my outsourced providers. It's very intuitive and there is no learning curve. Free eval is on the Deskshare website.
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AnotherTime 13 years ago

We have been using ActiveCollab for many many months. Great addons also. We have a stable 4 person team and we will bring on a few more at time for heavy work loads. Great solution

Though ActiveCollab isn't free, but another solution to consider (and one we are looking at deeply to migrate to) is fengoffice. They have a paid version that they host, but also one that you can host yourself for free. We like this a bit better for the permissions control and scheduling. Although if your creating code... Activecollab would be better for this.

Basecamp work for a bit for us, but as we scaled up, we out grew it pretty fast. And pretty basic features unless you dig deep into API.
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TryBPO 13 years ago

We use Google Docs...basecamp for our project management.

If you need something to track the agent's time, take screenshots, etc. we highly recommend checking out HiveDesk.com They're awfully cheap. We've been with them since beta and they've improved heavily since then. We run an outsourcing company in Davao, but still use HiveDesk as it's great to give our clients a sneak peek at the work the agents are doing...
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James Foster 13 years ago

I personally like the promotion method.

Take one of your best outsourcers, promote him/her and make him the team manager.

Now you've got someone who's new responsibility is to be basically run that aspect of your business.

Which frees up your time to focus on the more important.
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internetmarketingservices 13 years ago

Try ProTasker project management software. Its easier than basecamp and more intuitive. Cheaper too. I've used basecamp, active collab and even tried customizing sugar crm. Protasker wins in my book.
Good luck!
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krad32 13 years ago

If you want a simple and easy to use project management software I would say you should choose Basecamp. It is a user friendly tool that wont take you too long to learn how to use it. Projects are loaded in a single dashboard that allows you to see the entire projects.

If your looking for a project manage software that focuses more on task I suggest Zoho Projects. Tracking features in task and time is accurate both in employee to employer.

You can also check this blog for more alternative. It discuses tool that can help you improve collaboration, project management and team communication.
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matthewfermin 13 years ago

I prefer basecamp. Easy to use and organized.
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replicontimesheet 12 years ago

I would recommend Replicon project tracking software, which is one of the leading project tracking and management software with abilities of time tracking and invoicing.
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What is the best way to manage your outsourcers - project management software?

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