The Outreach Project Tool was developed by CSO Lanifex GmbH to support communication with customers during project implementation. It has rapidly evolved into a highly effective Web-based collaboration system, which improves interaction between consultants and their clients, as well as a wide range of other applications. It serves an excellent purpose for sharing knowledge and project information both between external parties, as well as between company internal teams. Tiempo has succesfully deployed OPT in several projects and has become part of the development team.
Benefits
OPT is the single point of contact for all customer interaction inside a project. Each customer is registered with a login and password, and granted access only to the projects they're involved with. They can then see the project status at a glance, including a repository of documents, lists of tasks and their start and end times, an archive of all project-related e-mail and a list of requests. You can also do time registration, send newsletters and central calendering.
It stores all information in a MySQL database, and it may be accessed through any standard Web browser. OPT is written in PHP, and runs well under Apache and Linux.
Highlights
Web Interface
All access to the OPT is via a Web interface, which means it can be used from any Internet-enabled computer, including Windows, Macintosh or UNIX. The data is stored in a SQL database, making it easy to share with other applications if required.
Document Archive
The document archive provides a place to upload documents onto the Web server, which can then be downloaded easily by other people assigned to the project. Documents can be stored in their native format (such as Word, WordPerfect, Star Office, etc.) or converted to PDF or HTML for easier access. Every time a new document is uploaded, each other member of the project team (including the customer) is automatically notified via e-mail, making business communication much easier, even across different time zones.
E-mail Archives
The e-mail archive automatically stores all messages, which are CC'ed to the project repository, so they can then be retrieved by date or subject. This makes tracking some of the informal communication much easier.
Project Tasks
The tasks module provides a list of all tasks, along with the owner, start and end dates, and current status. Every task can also have comments added at any time, so the customer can make comments or request feedback. (Task status is normally updated by the project owner.
Requests
The requests module is essentially a simple trouble ticket system, which allows customers to create new requests, (such as changes to project tasks or service needs), and assign them to a specific person. That person is then informed via e-mail, and will receive regular reminders as long as the request is open. Every time they log in, they will see a list of all open requests.
News and Knowledge
The OPT system can also be used for announcements, which appear for all users (or specific project groups) every time they login. There's also a knowledge base for information, with an integrated search facility.
Newsletter
With larger projects, there is a newsletter feature, which when activated will automatically send a collection of articles (news items) to all the members of a team on a regular basis, or when a pre-selected number of articles have been submitted.
Document Links
Although not intended as a document management system, the OPT is a very friendly way of storing documents on a Web site so they can easily be retrieved.
Forum discussions
Throughout the system, forum can be used to discuss either tasks, documents or requests. This will centralize and archive comments and remarks on the essential parts of a project.
Calendering and time sheets
In the central repository, planning and worked hours are stored in the system and can easily be retrieved and reported on.
Security
Only authorized users are granted access to information, and authorization is performed with a user login and password, optionally over an SSL connection, and with full session management.
Administration
The administrator can easily add new companies, and for each company add any number of persons who can see that company's projects. For each person, there is basic contact information including name, e-mail address and telephone numbers.
Take a look inside! Click on the thumbnails to take a closer look.
Visit our Demo Site and login as a demo user, being either manager, customer, consultant, developer or administrator.
OPT_start
Once you are logged into the system this is the first page you will see. In this page you are informed about the latest activities and developments on the projects, in which you are involved.
OPT_project
Entering to Project section, you can create new projects, edit existing ones, and view detail information on each. The projects can also be set inactive once they are complete.
OPT_document
In the Project Section you can select to enter into these sections: documents, e-mail, tasks, and requests. Documents include functions for upload of documents related to a chosen project. The documents detail view include information such as author name, file type, and version number of each file.
OPT_doc_detail
Here you see a view of a specific document. You can upload a newer version of the document to the system while the older version will be preserved. The user can also send comments to others concerning this document with the use of the comment feature available in this view.
OPT_task
Each project is devided into major tasks that are added, listed, and updated under Tasks. In here, the progress can be monitored by customers while the developers use the functions and features for project task organization and management.
OPT_request
Requests is the next section in OPT. With use of the features available here, the customers and developers can collaborate with one another. The people involved in projects can open, comment, and modify requests.
OPT_news
In Notes section of the OPT all the news, newsletters, and Knowledge base of the projects and individuals registered to the system are kept and handled.
OPT_meeting
Create your meeting agenda online and add the notes afterwards. This will centralize and structure all your efforts to control the program and establish great a communication plan.
