3 replies to this topic

[frax]

Hallo,

Is anyone using any software for managing projects and for collaboration with the client(s)?

I am currently using wikis and just dropping things off in a directory for download view, together with an excel sheet where I can mark different illustrations priotity and comments (I have a quite good excel template for that now).

But at the same time, I am using a bugtracker for some more web/programming tasks... I think the one I use, BugTracker.NET, supports graphics (but maybe you can't preview them there).

Maybe I'll experiment with using that, but what are you guys otherwise using for this? Is there some dedicated software for this? (maybe it could be a niche to develop something for all the designers and artists out there...)

[CGIS]

We're using something called Project-Open (Link). It's an open source "enterprise-class" CRM/ERP system, with a Postgres backend DB. It includes wikis, forums, accounting and timelogging, project management, etc. We've been using it for a couple months and are very pleased with it. There's a learning curve associated with installing and configuring it (it will take a number of days, or you can ask the developers to help which will cost $$), but I think it isn't beyond the grasp of the ambitious among us.

Some people think open source is sketchy, but it's actually used by Greenpeace, and serves over 200,000 users, so I think it should work just fine for us...

Best Regards,

Andrew

Hallo,

Is anyone using any software for managing projects and for collaboration with the client(s)?

I am currently using wikis and just dropping things off in a directory for download view, together with an excel sheet where I can mark different illustrations priotity and comments (I have a quite good excel template for that now).

But at the same time, I am using a bugtracker for some more web/programming tasks... I think the one I use, BugTracker.NET, supports graphics (but maybe you can't preview them there).

Maybe I'll experiment with using that, but what are you guys otherwise using for this? Is there some dedicated software for this? (maybe it could be a niche to develop something for all the designers and artists out there...)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[benbakelaar]

WebCollab is a nice PHP/MySQL open source system. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of other proj mgmt systems.

Basecamp is a hosted, web-based, pay-by-the-month system which I have heard others say really good things about. I started using it at my non-profit, but there was no real organizational support for proj mgmt, so I never got to delve too much into it. I thought it was a great interface though.

As for wiki's, I've just started using Wetpaint.com with my sole consulting gig. It's a little chaotic, i.e. requires user control/organization, but it's quite useful.

[frax]

hmmm... but I want something more specifically tailored to collaborating around graphics, not some general issue-tracking thing. Maybe I'll whip up something myself, that way I can integrate it with our maps/graphics library/publishing system as well (so when things are final, they are already catalogued and can be published on the web).

With all free-lance illustrators/designers out there, there must be a niche for this. If it doesn't exist yet, maybe one should set it up...

Currently my workflow is this:
* maintain a list of maps/graphics/status/todo in an excelsheet. this often includes a lot of other ideas that we brainstorm up - a lot of these graphics are never prepared. We have a "hot or not" column to rank how feasible/good the ideas are.
* when at a milestone on an illustration, I trigger my "final save" javascript, which exports the graphic to png/eps/pdf formats (and creates a dated backupfile).
* When at a milestone in the project (end of day, time to show something for partner/client/colleague) I run a batch-file that picks all the loose files and puts them in a directory structure. It also zips up all the graphics in one "full" and one "lite" archive (in case someone just wants to grab everything).
* Then I upload (ftp) this to a folder on one of our web-servers.
* I have a coldfusion template there that just reads the files and presents thumbnails etc (very basic, not much text) for view and download
* when things are final, they have to be catalogued (including some metadata) and uploaded into our maps/graphics library (some 10 form fields)