Maybe that isnt clear. But basically, Im away a lot and am trying to find some software that will allow me to get updates from the people in my group on various projects. They can (and do now) send emails but Im looking for suggestions for doing it in a bit more of a standardized way that essentially gets saved as sort of a project record.

I currently use both Microsoft Project (Win and a Palm version) and 2Action Meeting 3 on the Palm to track meetings. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Has your firm considered setting up a Sharepoint server?

No, I havent heard of it. I will take a look at it. While I am at a place that employs over 500 people this would be just for our workgroup. We are academic, so we get great pricing on Microsoft, we also have a lot of Linux/Unix stuff. Servers are both Microsoft and IBM blades with Linux so we could use either environment. Thanks.

Do you just want to share the files? When it's updated, everybody gets the latest copy? If so cosider looking into something like foldershare at foldershare.com.

They have free and paid versions, I've been using the free one for a while, the way it works is you point it to directories on several machines, and tell it to keep those in synch. I save my Palm data in one of those folders at home, and the machine at work copies it over whenever there is a change, and back again.

When I'm on the road if I need a file from somebody I have them drop it in the folder, and I get it the next time the machine connects to the internet.

The only issue is if you need to have multiple people access the file at the same time, but with just me it's never an issue.

Not sure of the costs but eRoom might provide what you need.

If you are looking for basically an online / offline message board type of application, Lotus Notes does this exceptionally well. Also, if you are using Outlook, you can create a public folder on the Exchange server, and set it to replicate with your laptop's Outlook. Then every posts email type messages to the folder. They aren't sent anywhere, but they are replicated offline to any subscribers. If the data is sensitive, then "public" folders can have appropriate security.

Try www.groove.com (30 day free trial, $69). It allows members of a project to synchronize working directories. My understanding is Microsoft is buying the company and will be offering the product itself.

I would suggest a Sharepoint server as well - we develop Sharepoint solutions as part of our service offering and our customers love it.

I have also seen some good reports on using Groove and Sharepoint as a package. Now that they are both Microsoft products it will be very commonplace.

Project can customized, via an accepted process, see here. This is so for all MS office applications, i.e., Outlook.

Sharepoint may be part of the solution, but there are also other ways. A lesser intusive way (than custom coding) that comes to mind is using Outlook forms. Such that a change by an approved user in a Project plan automatically generates and populates an Outlook Form, which is then emailed to whoever. The emails could be made to be partially invisible to users (in the same way Outlook meeting requests are email, but then you don't have to deal with them after you accept the request), i.e., you'd click on a button labeled Process Project X updates.

Creating a chronological history of changes is doable with a little more work.

One more thing, given certain conditions, SharePoint can be obtained at no cost from MS. See the bottom of this link.

If you are purely a Microsoft shop (which it appears you are not on the server side), then Sharepoint, eRoom, or Groove would be fine. Lotus Notes would be overkill. BTW I've used all the above products and think they are good in the right circumstance.

A portal would be valuable beyond just project updates and I'd suggest you download the free trial of Mulgrew from eSelf. Mulgrew is Java based and provides a much more feature rich, and IMO, easier to use and configure/customize solution that Sharepoint. It can use Mysql or other database system.

Chirp can be found at Plum Canary. It's basic function is to provide a way to let you assign tasks to people (in projects), provides a way for assignees to update same, then gives you a dashboard view of everything. (Said another way, it's core data objects are Tasks and Projects, which is what you seem to be looking for.)

You didn't really state all your requirements. But given what you *did* say, the "matches" for your needs are:
- Works offline (using a local cache of the data), then syncs changes/additions/deletions through a network-based service when you reconnect;
- Keeps all the status entries for a single task (/project) in one organized place;
- Works among team members;
- (You didn't say whether it needs to work between organizations; it does).

The "mismatch" for your requirement may be handheld access. I couldn't tell if you needed access from a mobile PDA (e.g. Treo, etc.). It doesn't have that; it's computer/laptop application only. (No web interface either). But it's available for both Win and Mac. The server is provided through a subscription service on the 'net, so there's no server to set up (which eliminates the Win/Mac/Linux debate of the above messages.)

If you can do without handheld access, IMHO this is a nice app for people who travel and manage teams / projects.

Hope this helps.

Welcome to Flyertalk, and thanks for the suggestion. A Mac/PC product would probably work. For now we have decided to start using Outlook templates and Public folders to get some logistical issues worked out (zero cost or learning curve since we use Outlook for scheduling, etc) whille we look at some of these other options and decide if they are something to move towards. Thanks to all for the suggestions, we are sorting through them!