Hi, dihakz!

You could take a look athttp://openatrium.com/ I'm going to go through the code and see if and how much sense it makes to slipstream it into c5.

I was anyway going to do this sometime so..
Unfortunately I'm busy at the moment with a some projects and this was not high priority to me, but I'm going to look at it and proably do a PM system if I have some good ideas that makes it easy to use and to code.

Maybe you can live with this orhttp://www.fengoffice.com/ (downloadhttp://bit.ly/8RuAXr )

both systems are free.

regards
Fernandos

Open Atrium looks awesome! Since I don't use (nor intend to) Drupal, I can't try it out -- nor would I know anything about how complicated the code is to port to a different cms. I'm deadly serious about this, though... I love the simplicity and beauty of the interface, too. I understand not having much time... I would commission you to port it, if you gave me an idea of how much we'd be talking about!

Otherwise, let me know what I could possibly do to help (with limited knowledge or expertise -- I am clever enough to muck around and patch things together to make 'em work, but that is about it!)

Darren

I'm done with one of the larger projects next thursday, and I'm going to look how a port of OpenAtrium to a c5 package makes sense. I'll message you then, ok?

regards
Fernandos

sure... looking forward to hearing from you

I too would be very interested to see what you come up with.

As with the poster, my department runs multiple systems for different clients and it would be great to streamline it into C5 (which is by far our preferred system).

Looking forward to see what you come up with and happy to help out with any testing you may require.

We are of course more than happy to pay $$$ for this if it suits.

Richard.

I'm not sure how much this falls into project management port, but to me it appears that such a system would lend itself to improving the workflow of concrete for websites with multiple contributors.

Having a dashboard page (or straight up replacing the current dashboard index with a communication interface, task tracking (think pages awaiting approvals), developer commentary, and milestones (for website development) would be amazing.

Hi, Glockops!

Are you talking about a cross-site communication and project management approach?
I think this is doable, though it ain't easy.

Hi, Fernandos-

I think this would be an outstanding solution -- for ALL of us! Would help sell the hell out of Concrete5 to the general public, too. We sooooo need this! I am certain there would be others out there willing to help commission the development of such a module, would all contribute, and we can even work out a profit sharing situation with selling the module!

Hey, we're open source, we're a community, why aren't we working together more on projects like this?

D.

Yep.

<Warning: Wall of Text follows>

I have 42+ content contributors. I was thinking of an easy way for all of us to track:
- Pages pending approval (with one-click admin approval)
- Latest site activity (with page version comments + timestamp)
- Internal dashboard messages (like notices of new functionality / new block options / planned downtime etc.)

Some of that I could do by just inserting a block area on the dashboard page and then whipping up some blocks.

Internal dashboard messages could be a simple content-like block with maybe a message priority level attribute.

Latest site activity would be pretty easy to pull from the DB - showing the pages last updated, who updated them, when, and the version comments. I haven't dived in to the page publishing system - but it's conceivable that such a block could also have the pages pending approval shown as well (although they would need top billing and not hidden in a list)

WORKFLOW
But the main thing that I see is missing is an approval and workflow system. At the moment I've just handed out publishing rights like candy because it is too much trouble to put an approval process in place.

Having a way of not only approving a page, but providing feedback on approval rejection would be extremely beneficial. Then when the person that owns the page logs back in, they have a message about why their page didn't get approved and what they need to fix. Having that information tied to the page version would be even more awesome... although now I'm way out into left field.

Now for Project Management Ideas...
I'm thinking for web development... but here goes. Have the ability to create a project and assign tasks to site members would be nice. Then when those users log in they have access to the project list and see the tasks that they are assigned.

So an example is the creation of an "accounting" section of the website. I create a project, create an editable list of tasks and then assign responsibilities (or have others do that). So Jane is responsible for writing web content for page x, y, and z; Bill is responsible for choosing images for those pages; while Sue has to approve and publish the section.

Super-duper wishlist:
*Project creation / modification / deletion / archive functionality.
*Task creation / assignment / deletion / "finished" / etc functionality.
Drag-n-drop task order.
*Task commenting.
*Task due dates / milestones / project gnatt charts
*Project Team assignment (who has access to the project)
*Project task RSS + project/task comment RSS.
*Project resource file set(s), list of project related files shown on project page.

</end wall of text>

I'd be all for helping. I bring a basic knowledge of PHP and SQL to the table and loads of experience in user interface design.

Glockops-

Thanks for a GREAT post! I think you're right on target -- there are many, many of us out there, just like yourself.

I like your list, and think it would be great if we setup a project site for us to collaborate on a great module/update/solution/contribution to the core. I love your ideas, and have plenty more to offer as well!

I offer phenomenal graphic design/gui design expertise with a solid understanding of php/mysql/html/css/javascript development, and can integrate (and do integrate) all of that efficiently and successfully into all my design work!

Hope to talk soon...
Darren

As to not completely hijack this thread - I've created another about a message center / approval process:

http://www.concrete5.org/index.php?cID=39717...

Hadn't thought of it, myself, but YES... would be GREAT!!

Hi!

I appreciate your feedback and I think that the list is long enough so a feature freeze for a moment until we have version 1.0 would be nice.

Glockops I've read your wishlist and that is doable.

OpenAtrium and FengOffice has already all those functionality you've described and more. That's why I've chosen it.

I know that you want your ideas all integrated into the PM solution and I'll take that in account, but I'm trying to keep it general enough so that this is not a specialized but a general and good solution.

I'm going to calculate an estimate of time and budget needed for this project next thursday.

regards
Fernandos

I anxiously await your response! In the meantime... I'm new to these collaborative efforts -- let me know what I should be doing or *could* do to help out!

Fernandos-

Have you been able to determine if you can port Open Atrium to the Concrete5 platform without much difficulty? It would be great if we can piggyback off the efforts already in place (with an active community) rather than reinventing the wheel!

Darren

Hi, Darren!

I don't know if you can see the amount of code behind the clean fassade of OpenAtrium, but it's some hundred thousand lines of code.

"without much difficulty" doesn't apply at any time where we talk about a Project-Management solution and not a little theme.

You should be a little more patient :)
I've gone trough the code and it's drupal based, so it ain't easy. I'm still going to code the PM solution but it mustn't be the openatrium codebase. Let this be my problem, thanks for helping though.

Trust me, I'm under NO illusions! However, if this is something that is NOT so easy to port, you're likely going to need a LOT of assistance -- graphic design, user-interface-wise, etc.... I'm here to help!

How are things looking on this? I have an interested client!

It's on the way :)

Anything we can see? My client needs an estimate on this. Thanks!

Unfortunately, since this thread seems "dead" -- I'm off to look for another solution both for my business as well as my client. I was really hoping to have some idea, by now, where we were going to be -- estimate of delivery, functionality and/or cost.

Thanks for collaborating -- maybe we can work together in the future.

Thanks,
Darren

Hey, synlag---

What's the latest on this?

Ha, this is getting a boomer. If you want to know how it will be check out

http://www.collabtive.com/

What do you mean by a "boomer"? Can I assist? I like collabtive, and a good base to work from, btw.

Hm, a big package ;)

Will setup svn in the next days and give you access.

Figured I might as well check in with you! Make any headway with this?

This is of definite interest. Hope something becomes available in the near future.

I think it is of interest to many... however, I think this has definitely become vaporware. Don't hold your breath!

As i told you already, i'm not willing to do this on my own risk.

Make it paid job on an hourly base, post it to
http://www.odesk.com or whatever and you might receive the kudos for putting it on the marketplace.

How much are we talking about? How much is done already, and can I see it and the plans for the rest?

As I recall, there were about three different devs working on something, and I tried to consolidate the efforts -- get us all working on the same thing -- and I offered my assistance -- yet, nothing has materialized.

If I can see something "concrete" <grin> I may be able to offer something -- though, before this was easier to do, money has become a lot tighter since then!

Lol... the funny thing is, all I really wanted was "task management"! Checklists of tasks with due dates, notes and a responsible party! Is any of *that* completed?

Thanks for the followup, though!

Same here, I'd like to have a basic pm solution on top of c5. We currently use redmine and even if we're quite happy with it, I'm still not a big fan of Ruby.. Prefer C#, PHP, Scala, PL/SQL.

I might be willing to participate in different ways, but not before I have seen some papers/concepts/ideas.

Exactly! We need to see some wireframes or concepts (or, even, the work in progress) in order to know where we are, if we are on the right track, and if it is worth our time to invest anything into this.

I've been very busy learning for exams and with projects for courses. You know I'm still student :)

I'm sorry that I haven't had much time to realize this yet, but university goes first for me. I don't need to be payed for coding this, altough it would be nice, but I'm not dependant on the money. I'd just like to do it for fun and the community.

I've written lots of c5 packages in the last months for courses I had, currently I've to write a complex bourse game with RubyOnRails. But I wanted to get some breath on this satureday to create the roughs of the PM. I know howto write smartphone app now also, could be a benefit for the PM, if I have time.

Btw. I haven't heard of Synlag a long time...

Just checking in with you all -- is this thing dead, or what? Can we consolidate efforts here, maybe on Sourceforge, and come up with a viable solution?

Just bumping this thread up, again, to see if there is any renewed interest out there for a full featured Concrete5 Project Management solution... I would be willing to pay a pretty penny!

Hey dihakz,

first time I've seen this thread. Thanks for all your efforts in trying to get this off the ground. You're right, it needs doing and it's not a small job.

It needs to be broken up into stages, so that we can produce visible results to get the community interested. It also needs a dedicated project area and reliable people working on it.

However we decide to move forward, we need to get started!

PM me your email address and I'll fire back an email later in the day with my ideas on how we can manage this and ensure it gets done.

Just throwing this out there...

Good Task management is a huge deal. You start with some tasks, you end up with time tracking, collaboration, etc etc etc...I don't see a way to do this right without spending 6 figures on development.

I get the desire to use concrete5 as an extranet for your company, but why not investigate single signon with an existing system that covers all this stuff? There are sooo many out there.

we use getintervals.com to manage our projects and time, works great.

Hi, Franz-

First, (and I hope I don't come across as a complete moron) but could you please explain "single signon" to me?

I've used a ton of these, including the notorious Basecamp. I was SO agitated with their lack of customer care and flat out insulted their customers by stating they know best and no matter how many of their users needed something, they would have none of it. They're overpriced and their overinflated egos were more than I could bear. (most of this, really, applies to Jason Fried)

Personally, here is what I am thinking: I already have storage (a lot, actually) so that is no selling point there... a nice interface would be cool, though. Invoicing I do through WHMCS... Sucks having multiple systems, but the fact that it works so beautifully with WHM, there is no comparison. So, we do all our billing through there, and use it for tickets/support and time tracking.

Users... well, Concrete has that down pat.

I cannot STAND that they're going to penalize me based on my number of projects (these systems either limit the number of users, number of clients/contacts projects, or all of the above!) After a while, I feel nickel and dimed, with no REAL control over the application.

I've moved onto ActiveCollab. It is *ok* -- does most of what I need -- BUT, we use too many systems. Communication, as a result, just SUCKS. We seriously need to come up with the "ultimate" all-in-one solution that will alleviate ALL of these issues! One login place, all information shared (no duplicates, no syncing, no lost data or confusion on knowing where to look, conflicts galore, and so on!)

Something like what I'm talking about here would be THE KILLER APP (I'm not even kidding... of course, if it IS a massive time sucker, it may not be worth it.)

Incidentally, if anyone knows a venture capitalist, though, 6 figures would be nothing to invest in this!!

we use whmcs for hosting stuff as well, i like it.

single sign-on means any way of sharing user login information across different systems - OpenID, LDAP, etc..

I know quite a few VC types and the immediate question would be "what vertical is this for." There are actually quite a number of different types of systems like this geared for different industries. Doctors have their own systems that manage billing and client records, so do restaurants. Building one size fits all is notoriously difficult and tends to give you a lowest common denominator. Thus the glory of basecamp. I agree it doesn't do much for what it costs, but what it does, it does well. If you ever want a sortable to-do list, enjoy. Everything else is just accidental in there.

Regardless, for project management, tasking, and time tracking you would be well served to check outhttp://getIntervals.com

Wondered if you ever tried base camp and how it compares to intervals?

concrete5 Japan (Usagi Project) uses Redmine.

http://www.redmine.org/

It'a on ruby and a little heavy to run. So it's kinda pain to set up and run... but it's open source.

They don't have invoicing tool. But that's the only function... but we are open source group... we don't need to calculate the money.... (yet)...

personally iv use Redmine and Trac

i think i like redmine better though