Merlin - Project management solution

Merlin is a project management solution. Apart from the necessary and contained functions for project management, Merlin offers important features which are needed during projects.

Thus Merlin contains a complete risk management, a file management with version control and also an issue tracking. Even a specialized CRM is firmly integrated in Merlin. Each activity and event can be send to iCal.A specialized website created by Merlin will offer an easy base for communication to project members working with other operating systems.

Since Mac OS X is increasingly utilizable for use in daily business life, the lack of a modern and professional solution for the project management is more and more obvious. For this reason we started with the concept of a new project management software in the summer of 2003. At the beginning of 2004 we decided to develop the software.

Here are some key features of "Merlin":

The Views

￭ Complexity managed simply and concisely
With only three mouse-clicks, you can create a new project from a template, which can be edited intuitively in four different views. The contents and appearance of your view can be freely altered, allowing you to retain a constant overview of your project - even during the planning and implementation of comprehensive projects.

The Elements

￭ Elements of the project
Safeguard supplementary information within your project using Merlin's Elements. Assign these Elements to your projects, phases, procedures and resources. Elements contain, for example, deadlines, risks, checklists, problems and documents for the project records. 

The Library

￭ An inexhaustible source of knowledge and information - only a mouse click away
Agile project management now has drag and drop functionality. Simply take new iterations and phases from the library and drop them into the project. With many documents included, the Merlin 2 library ultimately brings the search for the right presentation of your project documentation to an end. Merlin 2 also easily accepts your own design/presentation 

The Resources

￭ »Luck doesn't always help, but work does.«
Gone are the days when your resources were nothing more than "attachments" in project management programs. In Merlin 2 you manage your team simply and completely. Take addresses from the Mac OS X Addressbook or MS Entourage in the Merlin program window or input new coworkers directly. If you do not yet know exactly who shall complete a task, that's no problem for Merlin 2.

Utilization View

￭ Reduce the stress factor
With Merlin 2's new Utilization View you can see at a glance which of your project coworkers are fully utilized in your planning and which still have some idle time. Use the meaningful histograms to break down utilization conflicts easily in the familiar Gantt chart format. And all these features function over several projects at once.
 
Collaboration and Integrations

￭ Merlin integrates perfectly with other programs
No matter what the source of your data is - MS Project, Excel, OmniOutliner, NovaMind or others, Merlin imports them completely. However this is not just a one-way street. Merlin exports projects with equal ease. For a continuously updated calendar view of your project, you can use Apple's iCal. Merlin 2 keeps your project calendar up-to-date 

The Search

￭ Needle in a haystack? Not a problem for Merlin
Every view has its own search field. Enter a key word and instantly the views are reduced to the essentials. Recurring searches are also no problem with Merlin 2. Define a complex search with a few mouse clicks and use this search for all your projects. Furthermore, Merlin Projects can be found in the Finder with the help of Spotlight.

Printing and Reporting

￭ Impress everyone, not just the boss
The graphic project plan is an important result - whether printed on paper or in a PDF. With Merlin's interactive print preview you can easily design the output. Convince and satisfy your project team using meaningful reports, developed and adjusted with only a few mouse clicks using the Merlin 2 Report function.

Documents

￭ Every document tells a story
Besides project planning no other topic is as all-encompassing as project documentation. For this task Merlin 2 ensures that you are perfectly equipped. Merlin knows when you edit a document in another application and gives you the option to create a new version. Thus you always retain an overview of all changes.


Limitations:

￭ It is no possible to edit more than 40 activities in demo version.
￭ All changes are lost after quiting the program.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· This version is a regularly maintenance and contains only some fixes.