Turn WordPress Into a Project Management System

If you run a multi-authors blog, there will be times when you need to create projects and assign tasks to your authors. Instead of using a third party project management software, you can now use setup a free project management system right within WordPress, with the help of CollabPress.

CollabPress is a plugin for WordPress that transforms your WP setup into a project management platform. It is developed by Brad Williams (@williamsba) and comes with plenty of features at a price of free.

1. Download and install CollabPress.

2. The plugin won't change anything in the frontend. Instead, you will find a new CollabPress dashboard in your WP dashboard.



3. From the dashboard, you can view the recent activities as well as add new projects. On the right are the quick links to Calendar and Project details.

4. The breakdown for the CollabPress plugin is as follow: Project -> Task List -> Tasks. You first create a new project from the dashboard. You can then enter the Project description section to create task lists. You can then add tasks to individual task list. Each task can be assigned a due date as well as the user.



5. You can also leave comments on each task (a good way to let your staff know you are watching them).



6. When you create a new task and assigned it a date and the user in charge, it will appear in the calendar. This will give you a good overview of the whole project progress. One missing feature from this calendar is the ability to add/edit the entry right within the calendar itself.



7. In the Settings page, you can configure CollabPress to send email notification whenever a new project is added, and the permissions required to access/edit the CollabPress dashboard.

Wrapping up

There is no doubt that CollabPress is a great plugin for WordPress. While not everyone who uses WordPress will need CollabPress, I am sure those who have used it will appreciate its usefulness. It is still at version 1.0, which is pretty young in its development. Hopefully, more useful features will be added to it in future release (I am hoping for the calendar add/edit feature).

What do you think?

CollabPress (Home page | WP Download page)