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Project managers have hundreds of choices when it comes to open-source content management systems that can share files, post news, host newsletters, and manage communications across the project team. Best of all they’re free. But you do have to spend some time to find one that best suits your needs. The purpose of a communication plan is to identify the stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities in the review, approval and distribution of project information. A key step in developing a communication plan is not only deciding what information to share but also how to disseminate the information. Projects often rely on file servers, email and websites to communicate project information.
Project artifacts including the project charter, risk log, contact list, and project schedules are found on file servers and websites all throughout a company’s internal network. Customer-facing information can be shared by posting information to an external website or the latest executive presentation may be posted to an internal project website. Effective projects leverage tools that make project information accessible from any desktop.
During the mid-90s, a website designer would typically be responsible for developing a team website to share project information. The project manager would send the files to the web designer and the designer would incorporate the content into the website. A more recent trend in project communication is to adopt web-based collaboration and content management tools such as Documentum’s eRoom or Microsoft’s SharePoint Services software.
Today’s collaboration and content management software allows each project stakeholder to publish content to a website, control revisions, and share information without involving a web designer. Instead of storing project documents on the project manager’s PC or file server, the documents are readily accessible from any web browser. These tools also provide a standard look and feel regardless of the project. Previously, web designers would spend hours (and consequently dollars) designing the right look and feel for a particular project.
Building a brand and creative web design is necessary for consumer-facing websites; however, internal project management websites don’t need any special web design other than a simple method to access the project information. Today’s commercial content management tools allow teams to share and exchange project information effectively without requiring a web designer. However, empowering end users and acquiring software to share project information requires a financial investment.
The open-source community has thriving support for open-source content management systems. A content management system is a software package that manages documents on a website. Project managers can use open-source content management systems to share project files, post project news, host project newsletters, and manage communications across the project team. Open-source content management systems like Mambo, PHP-Nuke, and Drupal are just a few of the 300-plus free content management systems available.
Mambo Mambo (www.mamboserver.com) is a content management system that is used for a variety of content management needs ranging from simple websites to complex web applications. Mambo is easy to use and simple to manage. Publishing content and project files is accomplished with a few clicks of the mouse. Project information can be published and changed without having to write HTML or know any web programming. Content can also be accessed based on the user’s role and security. Online content can be automatically published and removed based on content expiration dates. Project news, on-line surveys, discussion forums, and project blogs can be easily published and customized using a variety of Mambo add-ins. The ReMOSitory file download component, PeopleBook’s team directory, and Events Calendar are just a few of the free components that can be installed to support project management activity. Mambo is one of the leading content management systems due to its active core development team, a supportive third-party development community, and wide community support. Free site templates, add-ons, and support are all available from the community development website at http://mamboforge.net. A variety of Internet website providers offer Mambo as a preconfigured option. Mambo can also be installed on Linux, Free BSD, Mac OS X and Windows NT/2000/XP operating systems.
Drupal Drupal (http://www.drupal.org) is another content management system used to build dynamic web sites utilizing a range of features including content publishing, discussion boards, news support, polls, and file management. Drupal, as with Mambo, have a variety of templates available to customize the overall look and feel of the site. Drupal’s expandable modules support a wide range of web projects ranging from personal websites to large collaboration-driven sites.
PHP-NUKE PHP-NUKE (http://phpnuke.org) is advertised as the most popular web portal software with the largest support community. PHP-NUKE is pre-configured with polls, news, discussion forums, and encyclopedia modules. Each of the modules can be used to manage and communicate information across a project team.
Evaluate and Test Drive With more than 300 content management systems to choose from, selecting a product can be a challenging task. Fortunately, the content management system community has provided several websites to compare and test drive select content management systems.
CMS Matrix (http://www.cmsmatrix.org/) provides a comparison of content management tools and allows end users to rate and compare different systems. The site is driven by community involvement and the ratings and recommendations are all based on discussion forums and end user feedback. The site allows perspective users to compare up to 10 different content management systems and posts the best rated systems across a range of criteria.
The open-source CMS website (http://www.opensourcecms.com) provides a test bed for a variety of content management systems. Popular open-source systems are pre-configured and allow users to test drive the system using both end user and administration roles. Piloting a system before installing it within the company’s data center, allows perspective users to play with different functions and determine which system meets their needs. Perspective content management users may discover new systems and can evaluate them with other more popular content management systems.
Before launching an internal website or purchasing a commercial application for communication or content management, consider open-source solutions. Content management systems are just one tool that supports a communication plan and further drives effective project delivery. Open-source solutions will help improve project communication at a lower cost. This article was written by Andy Makar and was orginally published at http://www.projectsatwork.com/article.cfm?ID=227193
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