Multiple Projects

[Zitan]

Greetings All,

We've been using dotproject for sometime now and think its a great open source product. As a project manager working with multiple projects however, there is still functionality that (*ughh*) ms project has which is very useful. In view of this we're considering funding someone local in kiwiland to make some extensions.

I was just wondering if any of the other wide range of dP developers had considered any of this stuff? I remember that some work was done on dynamic tasks and templating, but last time we looked at this patch it didn't work 100% (not sure now)?? Initially I installed and patched dotproject myself, but I dont have time for that fun stuff anymore ..... ;)

Basically here is what I want to be abe to do:

Dynamic Scheduling
When a new task is updated, or a task is marked complete I want project schedules to automatically update! So based on the new tasks due date/ priority/ dependent tasks/ time/ people I want the future task due dates to be pushed out across projects. Also if a team member finishes a task late, their dependant tasks dates should be pushed out.

Task Definition
To make the above useful I would need to be able to allocate the percentage a person would work on a task each day. I would also want recurring tasks.

Resource Levelling
I would want to be able to cap the amount of hours people can work each week and the amount on each project/tasks. So when added a new task, dates are pushed out based on a team members maximum hours per week on that project.

Project Templating
It would be cool to able to save project as templates and reuse (was a patch around for this that had issues).

Calendar/ task list
I want team members to be able to see tasks in the calendar (day view) not just events. I want events to be like tasks (so I can schedule a team meeting) and be able to log these hours against a general/recurring task later (for time reporting).

Project Upload
It would be cool to be able to upload a ms project file into dotproject .

Project Reporting
Being able to generate and store a project status report would be great. Obviously there are many formats for this (like other reports).

UI Improvements
Dotproject is elegant and very well defined I stress ..... I would like to have the tree menu js ui of tasks and sub tasks so I can hide sub tasks (like in ms project).

I know its a lot to want, but I have spent many, many hours updating task dates and such, and it is time consuming. Having this stuff in dotproject would also propel in to a new level in my view :cool:

Interested to know if anybody else had started work on any of these, and if any of the core developers have any thoughts on this. Dynamic tasks done properly could be difficult.

I do have some funding for this stuff ......

Awesome, thanx, Z.

[caseydk]

In view of this we're considering funding someone local in kiwiland to make some extensions.

If you're willing to expand your search out a bit, many of the dP developers are Aussies. I can't speak for them, but they may be interested in paid dP work.


Project Templating
It would be cool to able to save project as templates and reuse (was a patch around for this that had issues).

Project templating is available now. Just label something as a "Template" and when you create a new project, you can copy all of the tasks over. My wife uses this for creating her task framework on new projects... yes, my wife uses more of the advanced functionality than I do.


Calendar/ task list
I want team members to be able to see tasks in the calendar (day view) not just events. I want events to be like tasks (so I can schedule a team meeting) and be able to log these hours against a general/recurring task later (for time reporting).

In the CVS version, there is a nice simple user-based "To Do" list in the current system. Click on "Today" in the upper right and then the "Tasks" tab.

Project Upload
It would be cool to be able to upload a ms project file into dotproject .

This is another thing on my personal wish list. MS Project can export files as XML, so - depending on how stable that structure is - a relatively simple import should be possible.

Project Reporting
Being able to generate and store a project status report would be great. Obviously there are many formats for this (like other reports).

I believe that with the exception of the data for the core reports, the formats are going to be 100% custom to the organization. This might be a case for outputting a file of comma seperated values and going from there using Excel or something similar.

[Karen]

Greetings All,

Dynamic Scheduling
When a new task is updated, or a task is marked complete I want project schedules to automatically update! So based on the new tasks due date/ priority/ dependent tasks/ time/ people I want the future task due dates to be pushed out across projects. Also if a team member finishes a task late, their dependant tasks dates should be pushed out.

Task Definition
To make the above useful I would need to be able to allocate the percentage a person would work on a task each day. I would also want recurring tasks.

Resource Levelling
I would want to be able to cap the amount of hours people can work each week and the amount on each project/tasks. So when added a new task, dates are pushed out based on a team members maximum hours per week on that project.

Project Templating
It would be cool to able to save project as templates and reuse (was a patch around for this that had issues).

Calendar/ task list
I want team members to be able to see tasks in the calendar (day view) not just events. I want events to be like tasks (so I can schedule a team meeting) and be able to log these hours against a general/recurring task later (for time reporting).

Project Upload
It would be cool to be able to upload a ms project file into dotproject .

Project Reporting
Being able to generate and store a project status report would be great. Obviously there are many formats for this (like other reports).

UI Improvements
Dotproject is elegant and very well defined I stress ..... I would like to have the tree menu js ui of tasks and sub tasks so I can hide sub tasks (like in ms project).

I know its a lot to want, but I have spent many, many hours updating task dates and such, and it is time consuming. Having this stuff in dotproject would also propel in to a new level in my view :cool:

Interested to know if anybody else had started work on any of these, and if any of the core developers have any thoughts on this. Dynamic tasks done properly could be difficult.

I do have some funding for this stuff ......

Awesome, thanx, Z.

As caseydk has mentioned a number of these items are under active consideration / or even to some extent have been started by various members of the developer team. It may be worth having a quick look at the developer's site to see some of the items that we have flagged for upcoming releases.

Just by way of a general comment, as we're all aware 2.0 is regarded as the "Permissions" release. The next couple of releases are also being organised into particular functionality aims rather than the slightly adhoc method that's been used in the past.

Obviously any funding of any kind is hugely appreciated as it does mean that we can assign some resource and concentrate on functionality. If you get no other offers / direct contact and you are happy to work with some Aussies (we're not all horrid to Kiwis) then you are welcome to contact me direct and I'm happy to spread the work amongst the developer group who are best equipped to assist with tasks.

Karen C