Redmine — The Complete Guide: Free Issue and Change-Request Tracking for Engineering Projects
Redmine is a long-standing open-source project management system built around issues: each one gets a type, priority, assignee, target version and status, and you can define your own workflow. It is written in Ruby on Rails and installed on the office’s own server.
Redmine
Redmine Project
Task and issue tracking for an engineering project — with Gantt, time tracking and documentation.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Issue tracking — defects, change requests and tasks, with a full change history.
- Gantt and calendar — an overview of the dates in each project.
- Time tracking — hours per issue, project and person.
- Wiki and documents — documentation and minutes alongside the tasks.
- Role-based permissions — a client or contractor sees only their own project.
Where it pays off
In an engineering office Redmine is particularly suited to snag lists, change requests and coordination between consultants — exactly where emails get lost. It has a large plugin ecosystem. On the other hand, the interface is plain rather than modern, and installation needs some server knowledge.
Related tools
For a system with a current interface and extended planning — OpenProject. For a light Kanban board — Kanboard. For versioning files and code — Git.
OpenProject — Community Edition
OpenProject GmbH
Team project management in the browser — Gantt, tasks, documents and time tracking, self-hosted.
Get it from the vendorKanboard
Kanboard Project
A very simple Kanban board — what is in progress, what is waiting and what is done.
Get it from the vendorVikunja
Vikunja
Task management with four views — list, Kanban, Gantt and calendar.
Get it from the vendor
Git
Git project
Version control for code, scripts and input files — who changed what and when, and return to any version.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Redmine is a mature, stable system for tracking every open item in a project. Completely free when you host it yourself.