Anyone Know of a Good Task Management System (Besides MS Project)?

[PatrickA]

All,

My boss, who dislikes MS Project, has asked me to take a crack at
designing a "simple" task management system in MS Access. Basically,
she wants me to put a wrapper and reports around an Excel spreadsheet
we currently use.

The system would allow her to enter information about Tasks, Who is
responsible, Start day, projected End day, Status, and Notes.

Does anyone know of a good sample, template, or even commercial
version written in Access that I could re-engineer to meet my (her)
needs? I have looked at the Task project in Access 2007, and it seems
to go down a different path.

Thanks,

Patrick

 

[Arvin Meyer MVP]

Spreadsheets and databases are totally different animals.

While a spreadsheet can be used as a flat file database, that isn't its
purpose. It is designed as an analysis tool, and should be used that way. A
database is used to store and retrieve data, sometimes outputting that data
to a spreadsheet for analysis.

Your project sounds like a relatively easy problem to solve. I know of no
systems which will do it for you though, other than Project, which may be
overkill for what you've described. My suggestion is to pick up a good book
on Access and database design. I suggest Michael J. Hernandez's "Database
Design for Mere Mortals" and John Viescas' "Microsoft Access Inside and Out"
Outline for problem and work through it, stopping by here to ask specific
questions to your problem. If that sounds too daunting, I'd suggest hiring a
professional.

 

[Mark Andrews]

I have two CRM related templates on my site. A free one in Access 2007 with
basic
Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities and Tasks and a cheap one that does a bit
more.

The second one is loosely based on Microsoft CRM and how they handle
Activities
(which are tasks, phone calls, meetings, etc...).
The free one is a scaled down version and was meant to go on Microsoft's
site but
it must be too similar to their contact management template.

Not sure if they are exactly what you want but you can take the one for free
and at a minimum steal the table design
from the other (just open it by holding down shift).

Also if you don't mind using a flex grid you could checkout:
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=180

I think this one has a pretty good project management form.

HTH,
Mark
RPT Software
http://www.rptsoftware.com