Many companies still use Lotus Notes to manage their email, resources, information and documents, and therefore it is no surprise that they also want to use Notes for managing their projects.
But is there any project management tool out there that supports Lotus Notes? Yes! We did some investigation for you. We came across four current project management software tools that integrate with Lotus Notes. So you can actually manage your projects with Notes!
Genius Project
Genius Project is a full-featured, enterprise-level project management system. It is both available as a cloud solution and an on premise installation. Genius Project’s scope of features is strong: Whether you want to manage an entire project portfolio, manage resources, plan and track your budget, collaborate with your team or share documents with stakeholders — the PM solution made in Canada can do all of that — and even more (see their feature list).
If you go for the cloud variant, the software vendor provides you with enterprise-class hosting at a well-known and trusted hosting provide (you may have heard of Softlayer, the IBM company)
Genius Project is offered in several so-called “delivery options” (we could also say architectures). One of these variants is built around the Lotus Notes ecosystem and it seamlessly integrates with your Lotus Notes Calendar, tasks, emails and address books.
The integration is entirely code-free: you can set it up yourself without having to pay a developer. On top of that, the project management software for Lotus Notes makes use of Notes’ replication mechanisms, document management, workflow features as well as security model.
More about Genius Project and its IBM Notes integration
Trackersuite Project Tracker
Trackersuite Project Tracker is a project management software built on Lotus Notes. As a web-enabled solution, its focus is on facilitating workflows and collaboration within project teams. In terms of functionality, it includes all the essential features project managers require, from scheduling to tracking tasks over documenting the entire progress.
Project Tracker has built-in notification, which means that task owners automatically receive reminders when a task falls due. In the same way, project managers can receive notifications when a project team member updates tasks or uploads a new document. As a Lotus Notes application, Project Tracker works directly with the Notes calendar, email system, replication process and document management.
More about Trackersuite Project Tracker
Projektron BCS
Projektron BCS is another project management software that integrates with Lotus Notes. Built by the Berlin, Germany-based company Projektron, the software is a fully-fledged, enterprise-grade project management solution with an impressive functional scope.
The software assists project managers in every step, from scheduling to budget planning and cost tracking to resource management (similar to MS Project), billing and order management. Several add-ons are available which support several additional processes (a ticketing system for instance).
The project management software Projektron BCS is available with several integration options, including Jira, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and IBM Lotus Notes.
More about Projektron BCS and its IBM Notes interface
Cobalt Gantt Diagram for HCL Notes
Cobalt Gantt Diagram is another project management software that is compatible with HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes). The solution’s name can be misleading, because Cobalt Gantt Diagram is more than a Gantt chart drawing tool.
The solution is a solid toolkit for project managers and it includes the “must have” features such as scheduling based on dependencies, critical path tracking, task management, resource planning and reporting (with nice charting options). The user interface is well-designed and it should be fairly easy for any project leader to get started with the tool.
More about Cobalt Gantt Diagram