Free Project Management Software

Project management software is in fact a package of services delivered to you by the purchased or free software that can help you organize all the information, schedule, tasks and everything you need in order to start a project and see it through all its intermediate steps, allpwing you to finish it in due time, within the stimated costs and results. So it is not only about managing the project in itself. It is however about managing all the developing parts of a project and integrated everything as a whole in order to get the best result possible. This kind of software can be used in all the fields of activity and does not require special training to work with. In fact almost all the free or not project management software are more or less user-friendly, but thhey can surely be used by anybody, starting with a simple guy who wants to use the software for a personal project and finishing with huge companies involved in the production of consumer goods. All you have to do is install the software, introduce the necessary data and then make the corrections and updates that come with every step of the project evolution and in the end you will see the results (hopefully good ones).

So project management software is used mainly in big projects that are really complex and have a lot of components. As it is impossible for one person, usually the project manager, to gather all the necessary data , analyze it and then take the best decisions based on that, some smart people thought about developing such useful software for business and personal use. So this software actually deals with all the component parts of the project and tries to sincronize them somehow. So the software included in the package must take care of schedules (making them and making sure the dead lines are respected or estimating some other dead lines), cost control ( the project must be done within a certain estimated budget), the resources available and their management, collaborations with different people or different companies, communication both inside the company and outside it, quality management and the administration of all these things.


Usually there are many people in charge, each in his or her own sector or field of expertise. This software allows all of them and each of them to have access to the entire data and bring the necessary changes in their sector. The automatic features of the software make the necessary connections and changes as they appear and based on the data that was introduced. For example if a work or a task was not accomplished in the allocated time and had to be fulfilled lated than expected, the final date of the whole project will have to be postponed.


The first step after the software is installed and you actually start the project is to stablish the main tasks to be completed in a certain estimated amount of time. As I showed before there are a lot of events and processes that depend on each other, so you need to calculate the critical path. Based on the preliminary information introduced by the people in charge in every department and according to the initial plans of the project, the manager will establish some clear requirements from his team. For example they will establish the tasks for people or groups of people and the programme according to which the resources will be allocated. The software gathers all the information available and helps you decide on the estimated time of the project and eacg of its parts. Again the software helps you realize in an early stage the eventual threats to the project anf offers you the possibility to take the necessary precautions to prevent it. It also gives you information about the workload of every team in every department and in this way it is easier for you to establish the length and opportunity of holidays. Not to mention the fact that you can find there all the information from all periods of the project even after it has already finished and gives you the possibility to draw the conclusions regarding the performance and progress made.

Paid and free management software can be divided into three basic categories: desktop applications - that can be installed and used directly on your desktop computer or server - like charts, calendar, etc, Web based services - that offer services that you can find on the internet and web based systems.


Professionals agreed that the best project management software is Microsoft Project . However it can be really expensive and it is not so affordable for everybody. But you can also find some free project management software to download from the internet, with enough features to fulfill your needs. This freeware or open source software is good enough and saves you a lot of money, as some of them are really good. For example OpenProj is very good open source project management software, with many useful features. Then there is Open Workbench , free project management software recommended for personal projects and organizations. GanttProject is free software, simple and easy, user friendly and i think it is the most recommendable of all.

Here is some useful information for those interested in free project management software: free desktop project management software, free online project management tools and free self-host web-based project management applications.


Every one of the options has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example the desktop version keeps all the data inside the company, but you need a lot of memory space available and a server, which is kind of rare for small companies. Then you can't have access to the information if you are not in the company, which sometimes can be vital because, as you know "knowledge is power". Then there is the online tools option. It is very convenient, as the data is recorded on somebody else's server, but you have access to it whenever you want to. But these are only tools that you can use. You can use one or two or how many you feel like it. They can only help you, but you still have to download the software on your computer. I consider web based applications the best and the most helpful, as you have unlimited access and also have the possibility to let all your team members access the information and update it when this is necessary. Sometimes you also have to pay a fee for the unlimited space and features granted by these applications.

In conclusion, it does not matter what free project management software you choose; the important thing is to be useful and compatible with you and to help you finish the project in due time and with all the tasks fulfilled.