Collaboration software.

Pragmatic Software Co. has released a Professional Edition of Software Planner, its Web-based Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) tool. The Professional edition includes advanced project management features, time sheet management, project-based security and extended collaborative features.

Software Planner Professional allows project managers to create and secure hierarchical project plans within a project and secure the project plans so that only specific people may access them. Project tasks can be hierarchical and tasks can be linked to one another to prevent a specific task from beginning before others complete.

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Project managers can set baseline dates and costs and track variances as the project progresses. Project managers can also view all their project plans from a single screen, to determine the status of all their projects from a single location.

Team members are alerted via email as tasks are assigned to them, and as they update their progress using the Web-based interface, the project manager is alerted via email. Team members update progress by entering hours and percentage complete against assigned tasks. This time entry provides robust time reporting for timesheet management and client billing.

Clients that engage the team in project work can also view the status of each project. With appropriate security granted, clients can view the overall status of the project, and drill into the tasks assigned to ensure that the project is progressing as planned.

"Existing features of Software Planner include requirements management, test case management, defect management, calendar management, document sharing, discussion forums and list management from a single Web-based solution," says Steve Miller, President and CEO of Pragmatic Software.

Software Planner is available in three versions:

* Standard ASP Version -- Hosted by Pragmatic, this edition does not have the advanced project management features, but does manage other areas of the SDLC. Cost: $35 per concurrent user per month.

* Professional ASP Version -- Hosted by Pragmatic, this edition has advanced project management, Microsoft Outlook[R] Synchronization and other enterprise-type features. Cost: $65 per concurrent user per month.

* Enterprise Version -- Hosted by the client, this edition contains all features of the Professional edition. It also has a control panel that allows branding of the product and full integration with Crystal Reports[R] and Data Dynamics[R] DynamiCube (a pivot table reporting solution). Cost: $1,600 per concurrent user (onetime fee).

Web: www.pragmaticsw.com

Material for this column has been developed in most cases from promotional material supplied by the companies, which have not paid to appear in this column.