using online management systems to collaboratively manage and organize projects

Using Online Management Systems to Collaboratively

Manage and Organize Projects

Melanie Church – Content Services LibrarianJennifer Peters – Content Management and

Discovery Services Librarian

Rockhurst University Greenlease LibraryContent Management & Discovery Services Department

Jesuit Institution in the heart of Kansas City Approximately 2,400 FTE, 150,000 bibliographic records.

CMDS department 2 professionals, 1 paraprofessional, work study student assistants (11-5)

Project management with students

TimelinePaper based – Web CT – Google Docs & Email

What wasn’t working

Finding documents and instructions

Who does what and when

Landing page for all CMDS workers and librarians

Dreaming of a product

EasySet up, use, familiar look and feel for students

AccessFrom anywhere, control level of access, import created training & reporting forms

ScalabilityVarious projects, project inventory, tracking and reporting tool

CostFree is best, but considered some low cost options

What is Google sites ?

Website builder

Levels of access: Owner, Collaborator, Viewer

Incorporates Google Drive

Google sites: Organization

Understand your needs

What we put into it

Training materials, Priority lists, Student project assignments, Instructions, Project documents

Outcomes

Manage multiple projects efficiently

Increase departmental communication on student work and ongoing projects

Student arrive and are ready to work and find their tasks and projects

Year in review or central storage for student work

Increase tracking of student work performance

Pros / Cons

Students understand google layout and google docsRevision history on each documentStudent evaluation toolAuto saving

Tied to internetDesign and organization of site evolving

Future of our Google Site

Post tests integrated into siteAfter training, between semesters

Expand use of Announcement featureFAQs, blog on progress updates

Project Goal MarkersIncorporate recognition and motivation

Growth of training and instructional materials

Mid-range to Expensive OptionsFlow –starting at $19 per month many tiers based on users,

workspaces, and storageEPMLive.com Microsoft ProjectAtlassian – 2 main products, Jira = ticket tracker & Confluence =

collaboration

Low Cost OptionsZoho - free for 3 users, then $12 per user per monthAsana- free up to 30 users (hybrid task & project manager)Basecamp - free for one projectGoplan - 3 plan levels starting at $10 a monthFreedcamp – software is free, but storage and backups are not

Free* OptionsTrello - basic free forever Podio - free to 100 itemsWrike- free to 5 usersPivotaltracker – free for academic institutionsRedbooth– free to 5, 5 projects, 5 GB storage & google drive

integration also have premium plansAzendoo - free, forever and for unlimited users. Also have

premium plans

Questions? Comments? Your Ideas?

The software you choose is simply a tool and cannot compensate for poor planning and organization.

Melanie Church – Content Services Librarian – melanie.church@rockhurst.edu

Jennifer Peters – Content Management and Discovery Services Librarian – jennifer.peters@rockhurst.edu