Project Management Software for Museums

[Alan Noble]

Hello all! I am in the hunt for a good piece of software that will coordinate exhibition schedules, assign tasks, show deadlines and deliverables, allow for in-application communication and file sharing, etc. Ideally this program would integrate MS Outlook, and possibly our CMS. I have a long list of other wants and must haves, so I'm pretty sure what I'm after is going to have to be designed specifically for us. (Big bucks...) But if anyone has any experience using a program like this, could you point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
Alan

[Paul Brewin]

Hi Alan, good question, I'll be watching this topic to see what answers might come through. We don't utilize anything like that but it sounds like a good thing. Are you using a combination of applications currently?
At PACCIN Prep Con this presentation (https://youtu.be/qebfsil5MxM)described a wiki system for Museum maintenance tasks, perhaps there's ideas in there of use. I recently heard of Atlassian but haven't dug into what they have that might translate to exhibition coordination.

[Alan Noble]

Paul,
Currently, it's a combination of MS tools and word of mouth. Very low tech. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for from those resources you shared, but they were interesting solutions for other issues. I'll keep this thread updated when I find what i'm looking for.
Thanks!
Alan

[otterpope]

Alan,

We have had good success with Trello. We set ours up to track and share 'incoming', 'next up', 'active', and future tasks. It can assign to individuals, contain deadlines, and it allows for tracking how long each task spends at each phase. It connects most easily with google products with contained files being always synced and current on google drive even if someone made changes a minute ago.

If you're interested I can share our current and active board so you can see how we are using it. It has been a lifesaver for sure.

Alex Moomey
Head Preparator - Arkansas Arts Center
amoomey@arkansasartscenter.org

[Alan Noble]

Alex,
You know, I think I saw that on the Atlassian site that Paul suggested. Perhaps I didn't give it a close enough look? If you're willing to do that Alex, that would be great. I'd love to take a look. We're currently in the process of trying out "Copper Project" to see if it will fit our needs, but I don't have an opinion on it just yet.
Thanks!
Alan