f2w Helpdesk – Review

f2w Helpdesk doesn't actually sell itself as a project management tool, it was actually developed to be a ticket based help desk solution. However there is much more to this tool than meets the eye. It can also be easily used to manage personnel or groups of people, and assign tasks to them. The features that this system offers are surprisingly different to that of a dedicated project management tool, but are just as useful. A good example is the note system, it is unusual to find a project management tool that allows you to attach notes not just to tasks but also people, and yet f2w Helpdesk does. f2w Helpdesk is based on a SQL backend with a Zope front end, if you don't know what this means then it may be best to let an IT expert install this on your system. Effectively this program has an excellent list of features that enable people to use it as a project management tool, combined with its open source and GNU general public license. However there are some key areas missing and it is this reason why many people look at alternate tools for their project management needs. f2w Helpdesk lacks several options, not least are the graphs and tables that are normally produced by such tools. There are no gantt charts or time lines available, and it's even hard to allot time for a specific request. It has no time clock feature as well as any way of keeping track of expenses, contracts and budgets. It would be easy to make a long list of bad points about f2w Helpdesk, but that is considering it as a project management tool, as a help desk and ticket system it is excellent. Many companies may consider using this in conjunction with another project management tool.