Why:
- To catalog efforts for various quality management tools;
- To track, organize, and report status--all important components for any quality management effort;
- Any time you are tracking multiple tasks or subtasks;
- To share information among participants in any group effort;
- To report on the status of work and to prioritize overlapping tasks.
How:
- Methods to use either project management or collaboration tools can be either formal or informal;
- Tools should be installed in a central location for easy access by all group members;
- One rule about PM and collaboration tools is that they should be as flexible as you need them to be - if you need a tool to do something that it does not seem capable of doing, find another tool!
- Task tracking software, such as JIRA or Wrike, can be used for cataloging tasks and reporting on project status;
- With some post-installation administration, most collaboration tools can be customized to group tasks, provide workflows tailored to your needs, and record specific detailed information necessary to fully describe your tasks.
Take a look at an example of a JIRA dashboard
Example:
The Alaska Region Office uses JIRA as a project management tool to track both its software development process and its regulatory development process. Other project management tools include Microsoft Project, OpenProject, and Wiki.
The Alaska Region Office uses Confluence as a collaboration tool to share documents and to record system documentation. Other collaboration tools include Microsoft SharePoint, Google Docs, and Drupal (for content management).
Subject Ambassadors:
Scott Sauri - Office of Science and Technology: scott.sauri@noaa.gov
Karen Sender - Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center: karen.sender@noaa.gov
Jon O'neil - Northeast Fisheries Science Center: jon.oneil@noaa.gov
Tony Conigilari - Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office: anthony.conigilari@noaa.gov
