5pm is a web-based project management software. It looks great and is very easy to use.
It is easy to use, and the help function is helpful if you have any questions. You can find videos and a blog with useful information and up-to-date information.
The main problem I see is the lack of complexity in the features. This is not necessarily a problem if you are managing small or medium projects that only require the basics. Non-expert team members can also be confused by complexity.
5pm adds new tasks on top of the existing tasks. This is something I don’t like, especially if it is later than the tasks below. I’m old-fashioned, and my mind works down rather than up. Drag and drop the tasks into the right order. This is a new feature. You can also drag and drop one task to another. This is a great way to manage task linking.
Task linkages do not have dynamic dependencies. You can however make sub-tasks complete before the parent task is completed. This is not a dependency. You must specify the start-to finish, finish-to–start and other dependencies.
This is the result from the Gantt. It’s not clear to me why Gather Requirements is at the bottom. It’s at the top in task view. It’s not possible to drag and drop it onto the Gantt.
This is something I think I don’t know yet.
It is nice to be able to mark a task as complete.
It indicates new and updated tasks. This visual tool allows you to see what has changed since your last visit. This is especially useful for team members or to monitor how things are going.
Users can find it difficult to keep up with one another when they are not in the same location. This is exactly what the 5pm team knows. They state on their blog:
Our team is spread across two continents and can speak four languages. This allows us maximize our work time. Every day, teams around the world do the same thing. This blog is about sharing that experience.
Email notification is a great option. I like that you can upload files to make 5pm interface a single point of contact for your project team.
Emails can be used to create tasks. Add a 5pm email address in the email copy to do this. It integrates with Outlook so you can export calendar items. You can manage multiple projects, and hide those not being used.
Although I didn’t use the time tracker widget, it was something I liked. In spite of the difficulty of timesheets, it is possible that unwilling trackers are more inclined to record their time. A time report can be viewed, but accuracy will depend upon the data input.
Register for a free 14-day trial to see if it is right.
This review was published in 2010 for the first time.
