10 reasons to choose OpenProject as your project management software

If you are looking for a project management software, you will find plenty of options. But how do you decide on the right one for your organization? Define your needs first and ask yourself the following questions:

• What kind of project management are you looking to implement - agile or traditional or hybrid?
• Which project management features are most important to you?
• Do you want full data control with an on-premises solution or do you want the software hosted by the provider?
• What technical and security requirements do you have?
• What is your data privacy compliance?
• Would you like to contribute yourself or develop custom plug-ins and thus prefer an open source software?
• Do you need specific integrations into other systems and therefore a powerful API?
• What kind of support are you looking for?
• How big is the team that will be working with the software ?
• What is your budget?

Having specified your requirements will make it easy for you to match them with a project management software. We compiled an overview of OpenProject’s advantages for you to find out if it is the best open source project management software for you.

Maybe you yourself have already decided that OpenProject is the ideal project management software for your organization. Nevertheless, this overview can also help you to convince your stakeholders who might not have bought into it yet. It sums up all the benefits.

1. Open source for transparency and flexibility

OpenProject is free and open source software. The source code is published on GitHub and is being continuously developed and improved by the OpenProject team together with an active open source community. You are also invited to contribute and a huge benefit is that you can customize OpenProject for your needs. Develop your own plug-ins to integrate OpenProject with other tools you are using.

2. Focus on data privacy for your security

OpenProject is based in Berlin, in the European Union, and the awareness and importance for data security and privacy actions have always been a major topic for us. Naturally, OpenProject complies with European and national data protection regulations. Secure data – secure processes: the protection of personal data is for OpenProject more than just a legal requirement.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European regulation to harmonize the rules within the EU for handling personal data of private companies or public organizations. The GDPR also extends this EU data protection regulation law to all foreign companies processing data of EU residents. The GDPR compliance is self-evident for OpenProject. As a firm believer in open source, OpenProject is invested heavily in the freedom of users. This encompasses the software freedoms granted by the GPLv3 and employed by OpenProject and naturally extends to the rights and freedoms granted by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In the same transparent fashion that we develop our software, we are committed to transparency regarding data privacy protection of our users. Please find more detailed information here.

3. On-premises and cloud for you to choose from

OpenProject is available as on-premises and cloud solution. Choose which solution works best for you. While an on-premises software offers the highest level of flexibility and data sovereignty, it also requires hardware and a strong IT team that takes care of deployment, maintenance, upgrades, fixing issues. With the OpenProject Enterprise cloud edition you leave the hosting to OpenProject and can focus on project management. And of course, hosting by OpenProject is done with high security measures.

4. Classic and agile project management for a hybrid approach

OpenProject supports both classic and agile project management and allows you to marry them to a hybrid approach as well. Combine Gantt charts and agile boards, plan sprints, use task boards, roadmap and much more.

5. Comprehensive feature set for all use cases

As mentioned, OpenProject covers classic and agile project management features. Besides work package tables, Gantt charts, agile boards, backlogs, OpenProject offers time tracking, budgeting, cost reports, project dashboard, Wiki, meetings etc. The detailed overview can be found here. With all these features OpenProject enables you to manage your project through the whole lifecycle, from start to closing and even including documentation.

6. Support and community for smooth operations

Thanks to the nature of free and open source software, the OpenProject community is global and active. Best practices get shared and support is provided by the community. OpenProject also offers an extensive documentation including user guides as well as supporting videos for demonstration purposes. In case you opt for the free OpenProject Community edition, you can count on the community to assist. The OpenProject Enterprise cloud and on-premises editions are paid for and include professional support by the OpenProject team.

7. Continuous development for regular updates

The OpenProject team together with the community is dedicated to improve the product continuously. Hence, OpenProject launches a few releases and patch releases per year. Feedback from users is transparently taken into consideration for the future roadmap. Find out here how our product development process works.

8. Web-based software for interdisciplinary collaboration

Thanks to OpenProject being a web-based software, it serves as a single source of information and creates clear responsibilities. Project members have access to tasks, responsibilities and timings at any time and from anywhere. Ideal for teams that work remotely. Work in your own team, across hierarchies, across departments and units. External partners can also be involved.

9. Intuitive interface for an easy start

Our customers describe OpenProject as a simple and intuitive software. Create a test account and get started! Get your project team started without intense training.

10. Flexibility and adaptability for your processes

OpenProject adapts to the way of working of each project team or department. You can customize goals, projects, processes, members, functions, dashboards. Custom fields and custom workflows allow for a maximum of individuality. Furthermore, the powerful API gives you the option to integrate other systems into OpenProject.

Plans and pricing for your individual use case

OpenProject comes in 3 different versions. The Community edition is an on-premises installation that provides a comprehensive feature set and is for free (irrespective of number of users and projects). The Enterprise on-premises and cloud edition offer additional Enterprise add-ons and security features as well as professional support. As the name suggests, with the Enterprise cloud edition OpenProject provides secure hosting for you. The Enterprise on-premises edition is installed in your infrastructure and gives you full data control and the option to customize. Please use this link to calculate your rates.

Whether you really want to get going with OpenProject or you are still unsure, we invite you to create your 14 days FREE trial here.