Systems for collaboration and control. Project Manager

Perhaps a significant portion of your work and projects are completed online. But it may be difficult for both you and your superiors to prioritize tasks according to their importance. Hence the need for managers to use various applications to collaboration online. Moreover, this is when they have to resort to the help of job management tools.

Online collaboration tools help your managers, team, and you stay up to date on project progress that may change and may not always be within your control. If there are a lot of instructions for managing a project, if they are updated and adjusted, like the project itself, then all these updates are immediately displayed in the control panel. Here is a review of 10 collaboration apps that may be useful to you as a project manager.

1. Taking notes: Producteev

Do you need to track the progress of tasks and at the same time “gather” your team members? Try Producteev in action. Producteev is a social task management platform that allows you to notify several people at once about important aspects of current tasks. Producteev allows you to manage as many projects as you like, providing details and progress updates to as many groups and individuals as you choose to include.

2. Virtual work environment: Podio

3. Conference session: Conceptboard

4. Selective teamwork:Basecamp

6. Ease of Use: Google Apps for Enterprise

[Service, free to use]

7. Problem tracking: Goplan

9. Business Expansion: Worketc

[free to use]

10. The crowning achievement: ProWork Flow

[free to use]

"People are not islands in the open ocean." This statement can be used successfully especially if you are a designer or developer. Despite the existence of paid tools, like Basecamp and Zimbra, you can also use free ones, which are perhaps not inferior to paid ones (and sometimes even surpass them).

In this article, we'll look at 14 free Web apps for online collaboration. Whether you need a simple editor with very basic capabilities or a full-featured project management application, you'll find at least one application here that meets your needs.

13. View

Vyew is very similar to Twiddla: it allows you to host conferences with up to 20 people participating at the same time. You can share your desktops and use the built-in screen capture tool. However, you can create and share diagrams with other conference participants using the DiagramVyew extension.

14.Writeboard

Written by the renowned group of 37 Signals enthusiasts, this app is an easy way to share information with your colleagues. You start by creating your own workspace, invite colleagues and just start writing. Your colleagues will be able to see your changes and edits in real time. You can save and track changes, create new ones, and roll back a document to older versions.

Today there are many convenient tools for collaboration on the Internet. Most of them were created for designers and programmers, but since all larger number people prefer to work from home, it was clear that similar services should soon appear for representatives of other specialties. Today, almost any freelancer, no matter what field he works in, can find a suitable online platform for collaboration with his colleagues. Many of these services are completely free, and in some you don’t even need to register to get started, which is very convenient.

Online collaboration tools allow you to share ideas, create rich content, plan, design and brainstorm. FreelanceToday brings to your attention a selection of 5 sites designed for collaboration.

The Netboard platform is your personal Pinterest, but with one twist - you can turn your account into whatever you want. This could be a regular website with interesting content, a portfolio or a blog. The site does not impose any restrictions on your creativity! One website is not enough? Create a few more - Netboard doesn't mind.

Each site with a tiled design can look completely different, which is the main advantage of this site. New content can be added by inserting links to external sources or uploading files from your computer. You can add videos from YouTube and other video hosting sites, and download documents from GoogleDocs.

How can we collaborate?

The Netboard platform is best suited as a place to collect various content that you can share with your colleagues. To allow other team members to edit posts, you'll need to grant them access to your account. At the same time, the service allows you to earn money - if the content is interesting, you can take part in the Amazon Associates, Zazzle Associates and Chitika affiliate programs.

DesignDrop is very easy to use and is a convenient and useful tool that you can use if you need to get feedback from your colleagues. The service allows you to post any visual content – ​​photographs, illustrations, layouts, and so on. To find out how the service works, you do not need to register. You will only need to fill out the form if you plan to use this tool in your work. DesignDrop currently allows you to upload JPG and PNG files up to 20MB in size.

How can we collaborate?

Upload the file and send a link to it to other team members. You can also send an invitation by e-mail. Your colleagues will have the opportunity to comment on the submitted sketch and draw directly on the uploaded picture. Comments and editing capabilities make DesignDrop an ideal collaboration tool for designers, illustrators or photographers.

The Ziteboard service works on the principle of a shared online board. Although the user will need to create an account to work together, you can test the service before registering. The free version of Ziteboard allows you to create three boards, and you can only use three colors to highlight important content. If your work requires more boards and advanced functionality, you can use the paid version, which costs $12 per month.

However, the capabilities of the free service are quite sufficient for effective work small team, especially if you don’t need to use several boards at the same time. A very interesting feature of Ziteboard is that it recognizes the shapes you want to create. If the user does not know how to draw, the service will automatically draw circles and rectangles, giving them correct form. In addition to drawing, the user can write marks on top of the image and leave comments.

How can we collaborate?

Create a new board and select the “Publish to Web” option in order to receive a link that you can later send to colleagues. You can give them limited access (read-only) or invite them to participate in a brainstorming session. To collaborate, you need to select the Live Teamwork option. Ziteboard is great for sharing ideas, explaining various aspects work or online lessons. It can also be used to create mind maps or diagrams.

Flockmod is an online collaborative drawing service. There is a desktop version of the program for Windows users, but it will be easier to run Flockmod directly in the browser, especially if you plan to work with colleagues who use Linux or OS X. Account not required, but you will have to register if you want to receive a link to the project you are working on.

Each such project is called a “room” and has its own separate chat for communication. There are also many drawing tools available to the user. Flockmod has layers, you can work with text, there are brushes and convenient color management. Any user who has worked with any popular editor will instantly master Flockmod.

How can we collaborate?

Create new project and send the link to your colleagues. When they join, their names will appear in the user list. When working together, you can interact via chat, save finished images and share them on social networks. The advantage of the service is that it can be used for a variety of things - collaborative drawing, for creating prototypes of websites and applications, or as an online brainstorming board. And the presence of chat makes Flockmod very useful tool to exchange ideas in real time.

MindSky can be used for a variety of purposes, such as creating a blog or website, but primarily it is a free alternative to Evernote. MindSky can also be used to collect text content, articles from the Internet, create lists, reminders, sketches, notes, and organize video and audio files.

But MindSky is best used to create mind maps - the service boasts a convenient interface with which you can change the necessary map elements. Your notes can be encrypted, and you can geotag and create tagging systems to make it easier to categorize and find the information you need.

How can we collaborate?

Sign up and add some items to MindSky. Your colleagues will also need to register - only after this the user can give them access to their content to edit it. The service has very broad capabilities for creating mind maps, but it can also be used to work in various group projects, exchange tasks, or create collections of interesting web resources that other members of your team can comment on.

INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION

Collaboration services can be used for a variety of purposes, for example, a team can use them to plan a tour or develop a presentation outline. Most of the tools presented in this collection are simple enough that even novice freelancers can use them. Many things are much easier to explain visually, so we tried to select collaboration services in such a way that freelancers of various specialties could use these online tools.

How do you indicate the version of a document? Do you have files that contain all variations of the word “final” in the title? Well, for example, text_old_final_end(1)_!!!really-final.docx.

It looks a little absurd, but if you follow the documents in your system, you will find quite a lot of “tailed” names. Especially if the file is edited by several authors. For example, the text of a contract can be edited almost endlessly, if only you give it free rein. And as a result, you accumulate a dozen versions, each marked with a growing tail of notes - here are the dates of edits, and the initials of the participants, and the sacramental “final” and “last”.

It is clear that this must be dealt with somehow. And bring work with documents into a system that will be understandable to everyone. The basic requirements for the order are simple:

1. The symbols must be clear to all participants.
2. All (important) versions of documents must be stored.
3. Documents should belong to projects, and not be in a common pile.
4. Access to documents must be controlled.
5. It's not necessary, but it's handy to have tools for collaborating on a document.

We will not discuss offline methods of document management. You, of course, can write rules for naming documents and send Word and Excel files by mail. This will lead to the growth of working folders for each participant in the process, and over time - to constant reconciliations of who is currently editing which document.

So let's ascend into the clouds - that's where the most interesting things are happening now.

1. Google Drive

Big Brother gives us an almost perfect document management tool.

1. Google Docs is not just an online document editor, old versions are stored here, you can comment on and edit documents “with three hands”.
2. Google Sheets are both tables for calculations and good functionality for accounting.
3. Google Drive itself is a dock management tool; you can organize a single structure for storing documents and clearly assign access to each folder.

Pros of Google Drive

1. They are obvious. This is the cloud, with all its benefits.

Minuses

1. The accounting system - nesting of folders, access to files and a control panel - will have to be created by ourselves.
2. Not everyone is happy with using such an open platform - after all, this is Google, it indexes everything that moves, and we didn’t pay it for privacy.

Please note: almost every self-respecting system has integration with Google Docs - you will see this later in the review. And this is reasonable - it is more economical to use working functionality than to waste effort on creating your own analogue.

However, we want to warn: confidential and commercial information, passwords and other important information It is better to store it where access is more strictly regulated.

2. Trello

Virtual board with a list of tasks and projects. You can name the boards as you like - and clearly see the process of completing tasks. You can attach documents to each task: from your computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. One interesting thing is that in Trello Business Class you can attach not only documents, but also GitHub pull requests, Slack conversations and leads from Salesforce. For collaboration, you can use the Trello + Google Docs combination: attach Google Docs files, which can be opened on disk and edited there - leave new comments, etc.

Pros of the solution:

1. Trello is a very easy system to learn. In an hour, people who have never used such solutions can figure it out.
2. Tasks and the process of their implementation are clearly visible, like on a cork board. The design is comfortable and modern, nothing superfluous.

Minuses:

1. There is no document collaboration tool. Those. you either use Google Docs or everyone downloads their own version. Yes, all documents will be collected in one task in any case, and you will not lose anything. But if you need more serious automation, then Trello is not the best option.
2. If there are really a lot of projects and tasks, Trello can be confusing due to its structure. Constantly switching between boards is not very convenient.

3.Worksection

Online project management system with financial accounting capabilities. To each task you can add different types files - and then edit them again with using Google. Or download and re-upload.

Source: worksection.com

For each file, you can make a description, select tags (for example, need review, urgent!, etc.), restrict access - i.e. make the file visible only to certain users. If you create a task or comment with limited visibility, not for everyone, then the files attached there automatically receive the same privacy settings.

All project files can be sorted by different criteria: type, date, tasks, size, name. You can view only files that relate to uncompleted tasks, or you can view everything.

You can also delete, download, assign tags to a group of files by simply highlighting them in the section.

New versions of documents can be uploaded to old ones - to do this, just hover over the old file and click on the icon to the left of it. The new document will load and take top place on the list. Wherein old version will also be preserved.

Source: worksection.com

The trick of the solution is that in the advanced tariff you can connect your own FTP storage. Then there will be no limits on downloading files at all.

Pros of the solution:

1. Worksection- modern system with extensive project and file management capabilities. In fact, you have access to all the functionality for convenient collaboration.
2. Separately, I would like to note the calculation of costs - if you determine the cost of an hour of work for a specialist, you can see the cost of each individual task.
3. User-friendly interface, the ability to set a deadline for the entire project, not only for tasks. The % of time spent is clearly visible and easy to control.

Minuses:

1. In the free version you have only 2 active projects and 50 MB of disk space for files. 10 GB is already included in the corporate plan, priced at $49 per month. At the same time, there is also a limit on active projects - 50 pieces. It seems to us that even for an average company, 50 projects and 10 GB are not enough. Premium costs $99, but active projects there are limited to 100.

4. Megaplan

Megaplan has a separate “Documents” module, which allows you to store files with different levels of nesting. For each document, you can set visibility - allow access only to certain employees.

When editing new option The file can be downloaded to the old one as a version. Employees can subscribe to notifications about the download of a new version - by mail, SMS, in the informer line, everyone determines this themselves in the settings.

Source: help.megaplan.ru

Text documents can be created directly in Megaplan. But they can also be viewed and edited only in Megaplan; they cannot be downloaded in any other format.

The program also provides templates for standard documents.

Source: help.megaplan.ru

Megaplan advantages:

1. Convenient and fairly simple interface.
2. Possibilities free work for 10 users, including working with documents.

Cons of Megaplan:

1. There is no full-fledged ability to create different types of documents directly in the system.
2. The cost of a tariff for only 10 users is quite high - about $250 for “all inclusive”.

5. Bitrix24

This is a comprehensive solution with a CRM system for business, where all the possibilities for sharing and editing documents are well thought out. You can attach files to each task and comment - from your computer or from any disk storage, and also immediately create new files in Google Docs or Microsoft Office Online.

Online collaborative document editing is available in . If you are editing an uploaded document via Google Docs, you can attach it to a comment - and a line will appear indicating that the user has uploaded new version document. Bitrix24 implements smart search - all documents can be easily searched by title or project, and hints are displayed.

Files related to each project can be sorted by date, by name, by size. Privacy is also set according to the settings of the project folder where the document is stored. You can prevent editing by everyone except the task author.

The Bitrix24 feature is a catalog of applications. For example, you can install “Document Designer” for free, which helps you create standard files in .docx, .pdf formats. Templates are easy to edit, they can be sent by email, and you can keep a log of saved documents.

In Bitrix24, a link to a document is attached to each task, which users can jointly edit, comment and discuss within the task. The easiest way to store documents is on the system drive. If for some reason you are not satisfied with Bitrix24.Disk, you can use any other cloud storage instead. But this is not convenient for everyone and not always.

Pros of Bitrix24

1. Almost all features (except for blocking documents and disabling public links to them) are available in the free version of the comprehensive solution. 5 GB also available cloud storage. And for $199 (top rate) you get unlimited volume. Plus savings on licensed office programs.
2. A large selection of applications to optimize work with documents.
3. Support for document versions and notifications about downloading new ones.
4. Wide functionality - in one solution you get everything you need for electronic document management.

Disadvantages of the solution:

1. A file's privacy settings are set through the group or task to which it is linked; a file cannot be made visible or invisible to certain users simply by adding a label.
2. No add function brief description to the file.

Let's sum it up

If you have few projects and participants, and the requirements for documents are not too complex, you can stop at the very simple solution- for example, Trello and the like. For simple work with tasks, this is quite enough - everyone attaches the necessary files and, if necessary, replaces them.

If we're talking about about full-fledged collaboration and online coordination, it is necessary to consider complex solutions - such as similar management systems. All their capabilities must be analyzed and compared, and then selected based on the functionality that you need.

And a couple of tips - which will be useful when working in any system:

• Even if you use complex system, which “will organize everything itself,” make sure that documents and tasks are named according to the same rules. This will make it easier to navigate through projects.
• Separate access - working documents should be stored in internal groups, and the client should be given a clean document without comments or edits.
• Lifehack: If you use Word in editing mode, do not forget to go to Review and accept all corrections before sending the file. Otherwise, the client may notice how you changed the terms or price several times.

It is not surprising that in Lately All more people prefer to work from home, or simply refuse business trips and prefer to maintain contact using remote work tools. That's why you decided to publish a review of tools for this.

• Ta-da List
  Ta-da List is a tool for group work with lists. If you need to maintain lists within a team, this is the most suitable tool that does its job well, but is not overloaded with functionality.
• TimeBridge
  TimeBridge is a schedule management system that integrates with Google Calendar, Exchange, and Outlook to make it easy to manage meeting schedules between people living in different time zones.
• Campfire
  Another brainchild of the creators of Basecamp and Backpack, Campfire is a web application that combines chat and instant messaging functionality that is designed specifically for business use. The free version allows simultaneous participation of no more than 4 users, but often this is quite enough.
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets
  A staple of any groupware tool list. - This is probably one of the best tools for group work today. You can both edit texts and work with tables together with your colleagues.
• Writeboard
  If you're looking for something simpler than Google's tools, then you might definitely like Writeboard - a lightweight, simple web app that works great with revision history and lets you collaborate on simple documents in a simple, straightforward way.
• Evernote
  Evernote is a wonderful tool for saving all sorts of notes, and has collaboration capabilities so you can send documents from user to user. this way you can even write an entire book together with other authors. For this, you can, of course, use Google Docs, but there are no such opportunities for creating notes and quotes from the most different sources. Although joint using Google Notebook and Google Docs for the same purposes.
• Mixin
  The previously mentioned one allows you to use only the time that all participants have designated as free, while Mixin takes on the job of offering a convenient time from a system point of view for everyone. This tool can serve as an accompaniment to TimeBridge when participants are having trouble finding common free time.
• Task2Gather
  There are a lot of online systems for working with tasks, but they are better suited for project management and interaction between team members than many, if not all of them. If you need an application that combines tools for working with personal tasks and managing projects in teams, Task2Gather is a good choice.
• MediaWiki
  Wiki has long been considered one of the most advanced tools for group work, combining collaborative editing capabilities with communication capabilities, notifications, group mailings, and more.
  MediaWiki requires deployment and customization for specific needs, but it certainly pays for it with its rich capabilities.
• Delicious
  If you have to work where there is a need to constantly evaluate and process references in a team, then - best tool for this. Adding view tags for:username, you can create a list of links to view a particular team member, organizing something like a to-do list.
• WordPress
  If you're looking for a blog that's well suited for collaboration, then WordPress, with its recent changes, is a great choice. It’s not even worth recommending anything else to support a group blog. among other things, it supports version control and therefore makes it easy to roll back unnecessary changes and correct the situation in case of any troubles.