Project Kaiser

When working on a complex project, with a large team, it can be difficult to remember who is working on a specific task or to manage certain resources. Project Kaiser provides the means to manage large projects, not just for one user, but for everyone. Team members can communicate with each other and exchange ideas or other data, over a distance. Members can work with separate user accounts, which can be organized hierarchically in a project. Managers can have a higher access level, while executors will have a restricted access level.

Project Kaiser is free for up to 5 users. Downloading its 50 MB setup file may take a few minutes, especially with a slower Internet connection, but you can make up for lost time when installing the software. A setup wizard will guide you through a standard operation, which involves basic configurations, like selecting a destination folder or creating shortcuts. Additionally, the wizard will install a Tomcat server on your computer, which can be configured automatically.

You may need some time to study the application's interface and experiment with its controls if you wish to understand them. Fortunately, you can find demos and screenshots which can help you get started. Once you master the program's functions, you will be able to manage your projects in an efficient and elegant fashion.

Project Kaiser comes with a web-based user interface, which can be accessed on any browser. It is divided into several sections, in which you can create, post and manage public entries, project entries, personal data and make general configurations, like setting up new accounts, manage workflow elements and more. Certain sections can be accessed only by administrators, managers or other users with a higher access level. Team members need to provide their usernames and passwords when logging onto the interface. They can change their passwords and customize their profiles with pictures, contact info and other details. Administrators can make the same configurations for all user accounts.

When creating a new project, you can include one or more team members by adding their user accounts to a list. You can also assign roles and access levels to each account. The first account in the list is set to manager by default. Other accounts can be set to executor, documentation writer, moderator and so on. It is also possible to assign a customer role to a user account, if you wish to keep a client in the loop. Instead of sending regular updates to your clients, they can log into Project Kaiser and see the progress for themselves and make requests if necessary.

Project Kaiser's functionality shines the most when it comes to communicating with team members and assigning tasks. When creating a new task, you have to type a description and make a series of specifications, like priority, start and due dates, importance, budget and more. Additionally, you can specify an assignee and choose which person should be responsible for that task, by selecting their user accounts. The created task will automatically appear on the assignee's interface and he can use different reply options, if the task is complete, if the instructions are not clear and so on. The messages and specifications are sent automatically between the assignee and the responsible, so there is no need to type or select a recipient. Besides posting project tasks, problems, requirements and so on, it is also possible to post emails, in the public section, as well as forums, Wiki documents and much more.