Redmine is used by many web teams around the globe. It’s flexible, web-based and runs open source. In this article, we are going to show you how to get more out of your Redmine projects by integrating it with some great Redmine plugins.
But before we dig into the Redmine, we do cover some basics of Redmine.
Why Redmine?
Redmine is a cross-platform project management application using the Ruby on Rails framework. The main use case for Redmine is managing projects.
And for that use case, Redmine offers a broad range of feature. Such as gantt charts, calendars, project wikis, forums, and a whole lot more. Redmine works great for an agile scrum workflow and is therefore used by many web development teams.
From my point of view, Usersnap’s integration with redmine works great for that use case and somehow can be seen as the web-based version of Microsoft Project and JIRA.
Redmine use cases: Project management and a lot more
Just to name a few, Redmine not only tracks tasks, milestones, deliverables but also can be used for tracking bugs or managing your project files. Redmine offers a broad variety of use cases, though it’s main use case remains in managing projects and providing quick & easy access to the most important things of a project.
If you’re not too familiar I’d recommend taking a look at this demo Redmine project.
How to install Redmine
I don’t want to go into details here since there are great installation guides available for every system. Redmine should run on most Unix, Linux, Mac and Windows systems as long as Ruby is available on this platform.
Creating a new Redmine project
When setting up Redmine for your team, you can create various projects within Redmine.
A project can contain unlimited sub-projects, which allows you to keep tasks of big projects still easy to monitor.
All projects usually have an own project wiki embedded in the project overview and those wikis and projects can cross-link (see Wiki extension plugin).
Creating a new project is straightforward and intuitive. Though there are some things to keep in mind:
Homepage – the homepage view is the name of the project.
Public or limited access – you can limit access to your new project to certain team members or you can grant access to everyone.
Modules – depending on the projects you want to use Redmine for, you can select different modules which you can use.
- Issue Tracking: track bugs and issues with Redmine
- Wiki: keep a documentation for your projects
- Time tracking: track time on tasks and deliverables
- Forums: collaborate with colleagues and discuss project related things
- News: Create a news channel for your projects
- Calendar
- Documents: Store your project files
- Gantt: Want to create Gantt charts – that’s the place to be.
Trackers – this feature allows you to decide how issues can be tracked. Whether as a bug, features or support.
Users – a project needs a team, so get your team created or ask them to register. Then you may start assigning roles.
Read more on why and how to set up Redmine projects here: https://plan.io/blog/redmine-guide/
7 best Redmine plugins that will change the way you work
So, let’s get into Redmine a bit deeper. As mentioned before, Redmine can be modified and adjusted to fit your team’s needs to quite some extent. Though you might want to make use of some available Redmine plugins to get even more out of Redmine.
So here are the best Redmine plugins which boost your project productivity, and will bring more joy to your Redmine dashboards.
1) Redmine plugin for bug reports & user feedback
If you’re working on a web app or website project, the Usersnap plugin for Redmine is definitely a plugin you should add to your Redmine project. With the feedback and bug tracking plugin for Redmine, you can collect all bug reports and feedback from colleagues and customers inside Redmine.
It can also be used for alpha & beta testing your web app, since it offers easy-to-use point and click reporting tools for your testers and sends those feedback automatically to your Redmine project. Learn more about the feedback & bug tracking plugin for Redmine.
Check out the Redmine plugin for bug tracking!
2) Agile Plugin for agile teams
The basic setup of Redmine might not be that useful for agile software engineering or web development teams. With the Agile plugin, you can create Kanban- or scrum-like boards and charts.
It’s definitely a must-have for all agile teams using Redmine. Get the Agile plugin for Redmine.
3) Redmine Checklist Plugin
I’d highly recommend installing this Redmine plugin since it gives you the feature of checklists (which you might be used from other project management tools.)
This Redmine plugin allows you to create and modify checklists, which makes it easier to keep track of tasks and to do’s. It’s pretty simple. But super useful. Learn more about the Redmine Checklist plugin.
4) Hide Sidebar
This might sound like a tiny thing, but it’s a great plugin for optimizing your Redmine interface. By installing this plugin, the Redmine sidebar can be hidden. Download the Hide Sidebar plugin for Redmine but better make sure that your used Redmine template works fine with that plugin 😉
5) Managing contacts inside Redmine
You might think of Redmine as a project management tool and issue tracking solution. Though Redmine can be way more than that. You can even manage your customers and other contacts inside Redmine with this CRM plugin.
It gives you a lot of additional features and you’ll definitely love it if you want to have everything in one place. For example, you can connect contacts inside Redmine to certain issues, which makes managing priorities easier. Learn more about the CRM plugin for Redmine.
6) Usability improvements with the Usability plugin
Redmine is feature-rich, for sure. But with all those features, it might not be the most intuitive user interface. With this usability plugin for Redmine, you can modify and adjust its interface to your and your team’s needs. You can hide elements or optimize workflows which make daily operations faster and easier.
Download the Usability Redmine plugin.
7) Monitoring your Redmine projects
The Monitoring & Controlling plugin for Redmine gives your project managers an easy and quick access to a lightweight chart tool. It displays pie charts of issues by statuses and shows charts with overdue tasks by project. Learn more about the Monitoring & Controlling plugin for Redmine.
Managing Redmine projects gets easier.
We’ve shown you some easy-to-use Redmine plugins which I highly recommend. Play around with them and see how they fit your needs and workflows.
There are tons of other great Redmine plugins out there which can make your projects easier to handle. Though it always depends on your project settings and personal needs. Certain tools may look nice but won’t fit into your work environment. So be careful when choosing the right plugins & tools for your team.
This article was brought to you by Usersnap – a visual issue tracking tool for every web project. Usersnap is a great Redmine alternative, used by companies like Microsoft, FastCompany, and Runtastic.
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