Help Desk
The Help Desk module has versions for internal help desk or external customer service. It includes ticket submission, assignment, and tracking, a sophisticated KnowledgeBase, extensive reporting and statistical analysis, and end user self-help.

Asset Manager
Asset Manager tracks hardware and software assets including configuration, maintenance, leasing, and support information. It also has a repository for documentation, training courses, and library items.

Sales Manager
The Sales Manager module is a sales management application that allows sales teams to control the marketing and sales process, from initial opportunity and lead to actual close.

Installation
Installation is essentially a snap. You place the software on a Domino server and open it through a Notes client or a Web browser. Notes administrators should remember that any commercial Notes software needs to be signed before use in your organization. The recommended configuration is a Domino server with 300MB of free hard disk space for program files. The operating system can be Windows or any operating system that supports Domino, and according to Eden, ProjecTrak has been certified by IBM for the iSeries (AS/400), zSeries (S/390), and pSeries (RS/6000).

After installation, you set the access to whatever security levels you want to have. Eden provides good documentation of typical setups. Since access and security can be set up or updated at any time, you might want to actually start using the software before making any decisions in this area. Beyond that, day-to-day administration is minimal.

Getting started
After completing the installation, open any of the databases to launch the suite. If you install more than one ProjecTrak module, Eden provides a free portal (shown in Figure A) that serves as a single entry point to access all your information (a little like the Notes welcome page).

FIGURE A


The ProjecTrak Portal serves as a single entry point. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The portal is well designed and very user-friendly (I know, I know, no one likes that word, but I couldn't think of a better one). I was able to quickly access the data that I needed and gather in one place all activity and information for a particular client. For example, I can see on one screen all the projects for someone, bug reports they submitted, all their help tickets, etc.

ProjecTrak Project Manager
One of the great differentiators of the ProjecTrak Project Manager is that it manages the entire life cycle of a project within a single environment, including the initial request submission, feasibility, project plan, task assignment, time and expense budgeting, resource management, issue and risk resolution, and reporting.

I found the software to be versatile enough to allow project managers to oversee simple, short-term projects as well as manage mission-critical processes with complex, multi-project schedules. For this review, I followed the lifecycle workflow, even though it's optional and customizable to fit within the user's environment. For example, you don't have to have received a Project Request to start with project planning and task assignment.