Basecamp by 37Signals is by far the most popular and well known web based project managment system. It has been around since 2004, so is well established, and as with my project, it was initially created to solve a real business need. The 37Signals team used to be a web dev agency, and they created basecamp to help manage their own projects.
The following is a summary of the sections they talk about in their product tour, which will obviously highlight the key benefits of their system.
Customization
The very first thing they talk about is the ability to change the colour scheme and logo of the UI. Useful for branding the system as your own (premium paid plans also remove the basecamp logo from the footer
Dashboard
Next up is the landing page, the dashboard is the first screen you see when you login. Everyone has their own view of the dashboard based on the projects their involved in. It lists your clients and projects in the sidebar, and recent activity accross projects in the main part of the page. It also flags any overdue milestones and upcoming in the next few days.
TODOs
Pretty standard TODO lists, can creat lists, add tasks and assign them to a user. Can rearrange TODO items and entire lists. Can also filters to only show tasks assigned to a given user.
Files
Allows you to upload, download and share files. Can view files in chronological order or alphabetically. Can also have multiple versions of the same file. Can organize files into categories.
Messages
Allows you to post messages to each other instead of using email. Can also have inline images and add attatchments. Optional email notifications for users when a new message is posted. Can also make a message private, so the client won’t see it.
Milestones
Allows you to keep track of what needs to be done on a set date. Can assign a person to be reposinsible for the completion of the milestone. On the milestone page, you have a block of overdue, upcoming and completed milestones. Can also get email reminders and subscribe to an iCal feed.
Time tracking
Can add time entries so you know who spent how long doing what. Can export this data in CSV format. Can link time tracking to the TODO lists and it will appear in the time sheet. Can also generate reports based on a user and a time range.
Project Overview
The same as the dashboard, but specific to a single project. Also shows all users on that project.
Although it looks like basecamp seems to be doing a lot right, it’s still got plenty of room for improvement. The basecamp forums also show this. The feature request is by far the biggest sib forum. As part of my research, I will go through some of the more recent entries in the feature request forum, as this will give me a much better idea of what people really want. Although I will need to approach this with some caution, as there will most certainly be some unreasonable request, and some will conflict with my opinion of what a PMS should be.
