Product Review: activeCollab

Travis King |
General | Product Reviews
| October 5th

As freelancers we are often in our element working as hired guns. Being the single point of contact from pitch to project-end certainly has its advantages. There are occasions though, that need may arise to put together a collaborative group of designers and developers – a freelance posse if you will.

For those who have suddenly found themselves in the position of Project Coordinator, it can feel a lot like being pushed into the deep end of the pool. Without an effective collaboration structure in place, you will soon be drowning in emails and out-of-control task lists.

Fortunately, there are currently several programs and software available for working collaboratively, each with their different strengths and weaknesses. FreelanceSwitch requested that I review one of these choices – activeCollab from a51 development.

Who should use activeCollab?

Project management software is not a requirement for every freelancer. Recently I worked with another designer on her client’s website, since there was only the two of us, and we had a clearly defined development document, email was sufficient to keep us up to date on how the project was progressing. However, if the project scope required the need for an additional member, then a tool like activeCollab would have helped.

If your project requires a group of three or more, or is fairly complex (consisting of many tasks and milestones), then I would suggest taking activeCollab for a spin.

How is the learning curve?

I had never used a project collaboration tool before, so as I logged into activeCollab I had the impression that it would be confusing or overwhelming. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it all looked.

When you first launch activeCollab you’ll be greeted with a welcome screen that gives you some recommendations for your configuration. As you advance through the various sections you’ll be given a short description as to what each section does and how to use it. It is very helpful without feeling like you are reading a lengthy help manual.

Setting up users is also very straight forward. You can add what their role will be, along with what areas they will have permission to access. It will even send out a ‘Welcome to the Team’ email to the new member (although the email it sent ours said it was from Owner Company even though I had switched to say FreelanceSwitch).

What can you do in it?

There are plenty of tools available for helping you to break down your project. Project milestones, discussions, file sharing, joint calendars, time tracking, and forums are the standout ones. Noticeably missing are whiteboards, real time chat areas, and any type of RSS.

It is also very handy that it lets you export your calendars to Outlook, iCal, or Google Calendar. Another nice touch is being able to work from your Blackberry, iPhone, or other XHTML enabled mobile device.

Can my clients log in and track the progress?

Yes they can. If you like, you can allow them access to areas like Milestones and Discussions as a way for them to see how the project is progressing. The navigation and interface is simple to understand so your clients will not be stumbling about trying to learn how to use the program.

Having said that, however, I was a little disappointed that there was not more attention given to client interaction. It’s hard enough to get your clients to log in to a project management tool without at least giving them some extra ability to interact with the project. Perhaps they will add some more client side features down the road.

Highlights

You can host it on your own server. A major plus is that you can host activeCollab on your own server. There are no limits to storage space to worry about. If you can set up your own WordPress installation you should have no problem setting up activeCollab. Note: Your server needs to support PHP5.0 or higher.
Outright purchase. Since you buy a perpetual license when you purchase activeCollab, there are no monthly fees to pile up.
Customized look. activeCollab lets you tinker around with the colours and theme. If you know your CSS, you should not have a problem working your company colours into the program.
Localization support. They have recently added some nice features for working with different languages. There are now administration tools for language management and translation, per user language settings, and even email translation so that every user will be notified in their preferred language.
Ever expanding modules and plugins. The program is always expanding and adding new and better features. I particularly like the new Status section that adds a simple Twitter-like notification system, as well as the ability to now burn your entire project to a CD to archive or even send to a client.

Travis King is a freelance web designer and a firm supporter of Talk like a Pirate Day. If you have a product or service you think Freelance Switch readers might be interested in, please email Travis at travis@greenteadesign.ca

Travis King |
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Travis King is a freelance designer and Japan travel blogger.

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