Developer(s) | Projectplace International |
---|---|
Operating system | The World Wide Web |
Type | Project management software |
License | Proprietary |
Website | Projectplace packagings |
Projectplace is a Web-based project management tool, available as a subscription service from the Swedish application service provider, Projectplace International AB. Launched at www.projectplace.com[1] in September 1998, it was one of the first hosted Web applications available on a pay-per-use basis.[2]
The Projectplace software provides a suite of project management tools, developed on the beliefs of Social Project Management. No software installation is needed, clients pay to access Projectplace from a remote Web site. Projectplace modules include Team conversations, Document Archive, Issue Management, Planning & Tracking, Meeting Management, Project Portal, and Contacts.
The service is available in seven languages: Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, English, German, French and Danish and has more than 600 000 registered users in 250 countries.
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Projectplace software is based on BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work), a shared workspace platform developed by the German National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD). Projectplace AB founders Mattias Hällström, Magnus Ingvarsson and Peter Johansson, while working at the Swedish Institute for Systems Development (SISU), participated in the development of BCSW. In March, 1998, the three acquired a BSCW source code license and began to develop Projectplace as a commercial application.[3][4]
In 2000, the Projectplace platform won for Best Supporting Technology or Service in the European Commission-organized e-Work Awards, as an example of a best practice in new working environments for the "Information Society".[5]
Although marketed to the business sector, Projectplace has been applied to education. Maastricht University used Projectplace as the framework for development of its new Project Centered Learning (PCL) method of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. In their formal PCL experiment, "the project environment (Projectplace) consisted of a personal and a group space. ... The group space contained a document archive, discussion forum, project calendar, task and Gantt planning facility, contacts, participant's directory, wastebasket, group announcements, and web based help system. The 'owner' of the group also had an administrative tool available. All participants had round the clock support by the environment’s provider."[6]
The selection of Projectplace as the Electronic Project Environment (Dutch abbreviation: EPO) for the PCL project was based on a formal evaluation of its suitability as a learning tool:
The final report on the PCL experiment, "Using EPO to Stimulate Learning in the Health Sciences", concluded: