[dot] TaskJuggler Project Management Software Connects to Kontact

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1123643135/

From: Chris Schlaeger <cs at kde.org>
Dept: i-love-it-when-a-plan-comes-together
Date: Tuesday 09/Aug/2005, @22:05

TaskJuggler Project Management Software Connects to Kontact
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   Even though the TaskJuggler [http://www.taskjuggler.org/] Team
considers the just released 2.1.1 version
[http://www.taskjuggler.org/FUDforum2/index.php?t=msg&th=2602&start=0&S=d6a908fdcee905acb02daa146d195a79]
of their Project Management software mostly a bug fix release, this
release is a major milestone with respect to KDE integration. But before
I dive into the details, let me give you some background on the
TaskJuggler project.


     The Project was started in 2001 by some SUSE
[http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/] developers and project managers when
they were faced with logistical challenges in their development
processes due to a growing number of products and involved parties.
During their evaluation of existing project management solutions they
did not find anything that met their feature needs, their budget and
their OS requirements. So the TaskJuggler project was founded and only 4
months later the first version was officially released under the GNU
GPL.

     TaskJuggler revolutionizes the genre of project management tools by
using a textual description of the project breakdown, the resources and
their interdependencies. It also focuses on optimizing the resource
allocation rather than just being a graphical Gantt chart editor. Early
version started as a pure commandline software but a full featured KDE
front-end [http://www.taskjuggler.org/ide.php] (screenshots
[http://www.taskjuggler.org/screenshots_ide.php]) is now available as
well.

     Over time the software became more and more sophisticated and
TaskJuggler is now the most advanced Open Source project management
software available. It contains many features like multi scenario
comparison, time zone support, user definable data fields, risk
management, shift support and multi-user/multi-project support that put
it en-par with high-end closed source project management solutions.

     It has made its way into many Linux distributions and has been
adopted and used by many companies already. Some universities even use
TaskJuggler for their Project Management classes.

     The just released 2.1.1 release adds support to generate iCalendar
files. This allows the project manager to generate individual or team
schedules and distribute them to all involved parties for automatic
integration into their calendars. The KOrganizer
[http://korganizer.kde.org/] part of Kontact [http://kontact.org/] will
read the generated iCalendar file and merge it with the existing dates
in the calendar and TODO views. KOrganizer can also be started directly
from the TaskJuggler user interface.