First thing we do when a project is confirmed is that we get everybody on board. Of course – we use activeCollab – an excellent project management and collaboration tool that has just been released in version 1.1 – some big improvements there. Systematization is the key my friends, remember that.

So basically we create a new project in activeCollab, and set up some default categories, milestones and tickets, etc. As of v1.1 – you can create a new project based on a template – or another project if you will – so you can skip all the boring chore that is creating the (almost) same setup over and over again.

Our activeCollab setup usually matches the SOW that was approved by the client.

Milestones

1. First milestone is usually set for the start of the project and getting all of the needed resources from the client, so this deadline is almost exclusively dedicated to the client and their responsibilities.
2. Second milestone (depending on the project) is usually used for the logo and visual identity development. This is what’s preparing the foundation for the site.
3. Third milestone is used for the Web design mockups and photoshop work.
4. Fourth milestone is when the xHTML/CSS templates are delivered. We never start xHTML/CSS without getting signoff on the mockups first.
5. Fifth milestone (depending on the project again) is used for CMS integration.
6. Sixth and the final milestone is reserved for the transfer of the entire setup to the client’s server and launch.

Tickets

In most cases we’ll go with one ticket per milestone method. I’ll just create tickets for each milestone and the minor stuff will belong to those tickets as tasks. Obviously this is not a rule, but it is the case 80% of the time. A very convenient thing is that tickets can belong to neither of the milestones and have their own due dates.

So for instance if we have a ticket ‘Visual Identity Design’ it will have several subtasks such as:

• Logo
• Business cards
• Letterhead
• etc.

They are checked off as they are completed and when the last task is completed and the final deliverable for that ticket is uploaded to the Files section – we close the ticket.

Files

The files section plays a great role in the whole collaboration/project management process. It’s main purpose is to allow all people in the team constant access to all of the resources involved with the project.

We usually categorize files like this:

• from client (all of the stuff that client was responsible for delivering)
• imagery (photography, graphics…)
• finals (our deliverables)
• miscellany (uncategorized stuff)

The awesome thing about Files in activeCollab is that it supports versioning. So for instance if we send out the initial version of the mockups it will go into the ‘finals’ category, other versions of this file (usually a zip archive) are exactly that – versions, not new items in the system. It’s working very well for rollbacks and stuff.

Pages

We had a pretty tough time trying to utilize this section of activeCollab. Now, as far as we’re concerned it might as well be called ‘Documents’, as we use them mainly for site content and documentation/briefs. It also supports versioning, so we just tell clients they can input their desired content to the Pages section and they are usually happy to fill them up themselves.

Also, another excellent use of the Pages section is storage for documentation. A lot of the times you’ll write the documentation or manuals for CMS usage and just delete them afterwards. It is most likely that the client will need another copy at some point so it is really convenient to be able to grab it and send it along. It’s really doing wonders for me personally as I never kept a backup of my old project – I mean I did, but it was a messy archive type of thing, on DVDs, I never knew what’s the latest version and it was just not working, which made me ditch the entire idea all together. So +1 for finally utilizing pages, I know a lot of you aC users don’t (yet), so this might give you an idea how to.

Discussions

This is the least used section of aC at Superawesome. Usually all discussions are going on among the tickets as they all have commenting enabled which is very useful. When we do use them though – discussions are opened for matters that don’t belong in either of the tickets but are a part of the project (such as future estimates, etc.)

Status Messages and Reminders

One of the awesome new things introduced in aC 1.1 were status messages and the reminder.

Status messages are turned off for clients in our installation – they are mainly used to inform people who is working on what. It basically an internal Twitter.

On the other hand reminders just rock. It’s functionality basically allows you to gently nudge someone, or approach them as you would in real life (at least that’s how I see it) and ask them – very informally – “hey, how’s this going?” or “Some stuff you need is uploaded in this thread @ comment #42” – very cool.

To conclude this post – basically activeCollab is the core of our operation. I can not imagine managing all our projects without it (we usually have four active projects at a time, depending on the situation of course.) If you are in need of some help in this field – activeCollab is definitely the app for you, and once you start noticing the benefits you’ll justify the price easily.

Ilija (lead developer of activeCollab) has just followed-up this post on the official activeCollab blog, if you have an experience with the app, or have a special way of using it, please do share!