General Information
Name: Comindware ProjectVendor : ComindwareCost: Cloud service starts at $29.99 per month for up 9 users On-premise service starts from $450 per user (a lot but that’s a one off fee). Fees decrease the more users you have.Languages:EnglishCurrency: No currency options that I could see
Basic features of creating projects
Comindware was a finalist for the 2014 Hot Companies & Best Products Awards for Most Innovative Software of the Year. I was ready to be dazzled. It’s easy to see why it is so impressive.
It’s easy to get started. Click the “+” button against the Projects tab to create a Project dashboard that allows you to view any associated project activity. The system assumes that the project will start on the date it was created. However, you can change this with the calendar function. You can also choose a deadline for your project. This is very helpful for fixed-date projects that require some help scheduling.
It’s easy too to add tasks: either import them from MS Project, or simply type them in. The task is active and unassigned by default. You don’t need any additional information, other than the task name. Just click ‘close. It took me a while to figure out how to close the task again after I had closed it. To change the task details, you need to hover your mouse over the ‘Not Set’ indicator and wait for an ‘i’ to appear. It could be easier to explain, but once you have it figured out it’s easy to modify the task details once it’s open. It is possible to set a deadline for tasks and a delay until’ date, but I don’t know how you can add a start date. It’s not necessary if you can use “delay until”, but some team members might be confused by the terminology of “delay”. You are not actually delaying the task. Instead, you are setting a future start date. Although you can view your tasks in a timeline, you cannot use it to move them around.
Comindware allows you to add tasks. These screenshots are not very good because the color definition isn’t very good. Comindware Project schedules project using priority-based planning. The system schedules your projects based on task priorities, resourcing, and other factors. The system will automatically schedule tasks based on priority and assignee availability. Tasks that are more important will be scheduled earlier. You can make changes to the plan and it will be rescheduled. This saves time but is a new way to plan for many people. It also relies on your task data and resource data being current.
To help prioritize scheduling, it’s easy to create dependencies between tasks. You can choose an existing task to make it depend on from within an open task. To reset or adjust priorities, you can drag tasks around in the task list. The WBS chart can be used to view the hierarchy of complex projects. It seems odd that I can’t create milestones, dependencies, and sub-tasks. This is possible, but I have never seen it before.
Gantt charts are not user-friendly. You can’t drag and move tasks. Comindware automatically reschedules work, shifting undone work to the future. However, it should always show the current status of the project.
The Gantt chart in ComindwareReporting & Timekeeping
I found a tab called timesheets, but I couldn’t figure out how to log my time. Perhaps I need to activate the settings of an individual? It might not be included in the trial version. With a little patience, I think I could have figured this out. Once you have timesheets in place, you can run reports on projects. You can choose whether you want to view people, projects, or tasks. You can save it as a template so you can copy it to other projects or parameters. You can export it to Excel if you need to bill or invoice.
Despite this, budgets and expenses can’t be tracked or set.
