General FAQ

General ]project-open[ Topics

Technical Assistance for ]project-open[

What is ]project-open[?

]project-open[ is an open source web based business application. It is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software designed for service companies with 2-2,000 employees who run their business or a major part of it, on a project oriented bassis. ]project-open[ is free and open-source software, built and maintained by a community of developers. Core services that ]project-open[ provides to businesses are

Finance Management, Tracking, and Reporting

What is ]project-open[ not?

]project-open[ is not a project scheduling software. ]po[ does not not replace Microsoft Project or other scheduling software such as OpenProj, GanttProject etc. Instead, ]po[ integrates with this type of software, allowing project plans to be made available and published for all stakeholders inside and outside the company.

What is Open-Source software?

Free software refers to liberty, not price (although the majority of
free software is available free of charge), and the user's freedom to
run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More
precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the
software:

- The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).

- The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your
needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for
this.

- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
(freedom 2).

- The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to
the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access
to the source code is a precondition for this.

[Source: http://www.gnu.org [10]]

Is ]project-open[ available in my language?

Most likely the answer is yes. ]project-open[ is produced and developed with English as the default language. Other languages that are directly supported are Spanish, German, and Italian. Adding any other language just requires a day's work of translating all the localization strings to the target language. For example we have just received translations in French, and Brazilian Portuguese from clients that will be incorporated into the next versions of ]project-open[. Please see the Localization for mor details.

**How is ]project-open[ different from commercial systems?

There are quite a few (at least 300) commercial project management
systems on the market. ]project-open[ offers quite similar
characteristics, but is open-source based, with all the known
advantages such as lower TCO, longer life-cycle , and a provider
ecosystem (>1000 developers for you to choose from) etc.

**

**How is ]project-open[ different from other Open-Source systems?

]project-open[ is the only open-source based Project-ERP with
professional characteristics such as financial controlling, accounting
and interfaces.

**What is the difference between ]project-open[ for consulting,
translation or IT organizations?

]project-open[ is a very modular system. This modularity allows us to
develop special modules for each of the vertical sectors above.

The main difference is between translation and the other verticals is
the type of "project tasks" supported:

- "Timesheet Tasks" contain information about project estimations such
as "estimated", "billable" and "reported" hours. Also, you can cover
the sales of licenses and basic physical goods with ]po[.

- "Translation Tasks" contain information about Translation Memory
repetitions and the associated workflow.

Apart from that they are the same product. You can actually have
"Timesheet Tasks" and "Translation Tasks" mixed in the same system,
for example as subprojects of a common parent project.

Does ]po[ cover project management standards such as PMBOK, PRINCE2, etc.?

There are several ways adjusting and configuring ]po[ to standards such as PMBOK, PRINCE2 etc.

You can easily re-name all labels throughout the entire application to adjust them to the language the standard chosen is using
You can make use of project templates with a pre-defined project structure and have users creating new projects exclusively based on a project template

i really like ]po[ I've got a few friends who might be interested in it, what can I do?

- Tell them:
We rely mostly on word of mouth to promote ]project-open[. So please
tell your friends and demo them the application.

- Put them in contact [11] with us:
There is a contact form for questions and comments.

- Help them to get started:
Maybe you can copy your working ]po[ installation to their computer?
Or you can help them to get the basic stuff working, such as setting
the "internal" company, a price list etc.

- Become a "Partner":
Please have a look at our list_partners [12]. We'd like to encourage
you to spread the word and participate in the benefits. We'll provide
you with extensive support, particularly with your first customer(s),
but you should have some tech skills and a lot of change-management
skills in-house.

**I need help quickly!!!

We can provide you with remote professional support for your
installation or your production system. Please contact us [13] for
details. For free support please use our Open Discussion [14] forum at
Sourceforget [15]

**I have a request for a feature. What can I do in order to have]po['s functionality extended?

There are two basic ways you can inquire for additional features.

a) Request your feature at sourceforge.net : We use
http://www.sourceforge.net [16] to manage feature requests from ]po[
users. When updating our development road map we evaluate those
suggestions and try to consider as much as possible. Such requirements
are subject to the condition that the feature serves a broader amount
of users.

b) Sponsored Development In case you don't have the time to wait for
approval and implementation as described above, you can always have us
developing particular features based on your specific needs.
In case the requested changes fit into our product strategy the
necessary resources are available to deliver the functionality in the
required time frame, we usually sponsor such type of development.

However, depending on the complexity of the implementation and the
need for further specifications to be defined in cooperation with the
customer, these projects might be in some cases not in line with the
budgets of smaller companies or single users.

Please use our contact us [17] to inquire about sponsored development.

References to this Page: en:faq_general, en:list_faq Categories: FAQ (Contents), Evaluators (User Profiles), ]po[ Beginners (User Profiles), ]po[ Users (User Profiles), ]po[ Application Admins (User Profiles), ]po[ Report Developers (User Profiles), ]po[ Developers (User Profiles), System Admins (User Profiles)

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