Project Manager

Behind every successful business there are not only countless hours of efforts put into development and funding, but also a well-designed project schema. Diagrams and charts allow for a better visualization of goals and steps needed to take in order to achieve them. Specialized applications make it easier and Project Manager is no exception, coming equipped with a suitable name for what it has to offer.

The application's main window is well-organized, with all major areas you can work with structured in tabs for quick access. Your workspace is split into two sections, one for actual creation and enlistment of schedule items, while the other being dedicated to a timeline view.

You won't get to spent too much time getting acquainted with what the application has to offer, because everything is kept simple. Element dependencies seem shallow, with each tab storing specific data. Only after creating resources you use in projects can you attribute them to tasks, with little impact on the overall project.

An overview can be accessed, with the possibility to edit project title and description, as well as working hours and date intervals. Additional fields are available and display statistics such as start and finish date, overall effort, as well as completed percentage, but this is only informative and data automatically fills in according to info you provide.

No area seems to offer rich tools, with simple commands just to create items and modify very little details. For example, when creating tasks you only need to provide a name, duration, as well as several fields, none of them being mandatory. Moreover, you cannot add any outer references such as notes or any other kind of attachment.

Last but not least, a major disappointment is that no implemented feature lets you issue reports, which would have been useful seeing how it's oriented towards project management. You project can only be exported to an XML file or directly printed out on a sheet of paper, making it lack compatibility with any kind of external tools.

Project Manager does not fully live up to expectations and only manages to provide a basic set of tools that are more suitable for simple, day-to-day tasks rather than a full-scale business. In case you decide to use it, you must keep it under close watch, because there is no way it reminds you of upcoming tasks and events.