Open Workbench is a Windows-based desktop application that provides robust project scheduling and management functionality.  Open Workbench is an open source technology and is available for free to install on any number of computers.

This application is comparable to Microsoft’s Project software.  One of the main differences is that Open Workbench is resource-driven while Microsoft Project is task-driven.

Another is the way the scheduling algorithm determines the optimal project plan based on resource availability.

• “Open Workbench is unique in its ability to schedule work in a flexible way based on resource availability. Rather than manually specify how much and when a resource works on a task, Open Workbench allows that time to be calculated automatically by the Auto Schedule feature.”
• “Microsoft Project’s Resource Leveling capability is not as sophisticated. The resource leveling algorithm can only shift tasks on the schedule to find the next contiguous window in which the resource can complete the entire task.”

To move beyond desktop scheduling and into a workgroup or enterprise edition you can upgrade to CA’s Clarity, a project and portfolio management system.