OpenProject is a powerful open-source project management tool that helps teams manage tasks, track progress, and collaborate effectively. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to install OpenProject on Debian 12. We’ll guide you step-by-step through the process, from preparing the server environment to accessing your OpenProject instance.

OpenProject is an open-source project management software designed for teams and organizations to collaborate on projects, manage tasks, and track progress. It is particularly useful for managing both small and large-scale projects, offering a wide range of features for planning, tracking, and collaboration.

Key Features of OpenProject:

• Project Planning and Scheduling:

• OpenProject allows you to plan projects by defining goals, setting timelines, and organizing tasks. You can create detailed work breakdown structures (WBS) to track project tasks and milestones.
• Gantt charts are available to visualize timelines, task dependencies, and critical paths, helping teams stay on schedule.

• Task and Issue Management:

• OpenProject offers task tracking, where tasks (or work packages) can be assigned to team members, given deadlines, and tracked for completion.
• It includes issue tracking, where you can report, track, and resolve bugs or project-related issues. It is particularly useful for software development projects.

• Agile and Scrum Support:

• OpenProject supports agile methodologies, such as Scrum and Kanban, making it a good choice for development teams. It provides features for sprint planning, task boards, and backlogs, which are essential for agile project management.

• Time Tracking:

• You can track the time spent on each task or project, which is particularly helpful for resource management, project cost control, and billing.

• Roadmaps and Timelines:

• With OpenProject, you can create project roadmaps to define high-level goals and plan future activities. Timelines allow you to monitor project progress and adjust plans as needed.

• Collaboration Tools:

• OpenProject has built-in tools for team collaboration, including document management, wikis, and forums. Teams can collaborate on tasks, share files, and have discussions in a central workspace.

• Budgeting and Cost Control:

• The platform includes features for project cost estimation, budgeting, and controlling expenses, which helps track financial aspects of a project.

• Reporting and Analytics:

• OpenProject offers reporting tools for generating detailed project reports, tracking progress, and analyzing project performance. Reports can be customized to show specific metrics like resource allocation or time tracking.

• Security and Permissions:

• The software provides a detailed permissions system to manage access to projects, tasks, and documents. You can assign roles and restrict access based on the user’s role in the project.

Use Cases of OpenProject:

• Software Development:

• OpenProject is commonly used in software development environments for issue tracking, agile project management (Scrum/Kanban), and version control. It integrates with Git, Subversion (SVN), and other version control systems.

• Construction and Engineering:

• It’s suitable for construction and engineering projects, allowing teams to manage complex project structures, dependencies, and timelines, and to track materials, labor, and cost.

• Non-profit and Public Sector:

• OpenProject is often adopted by non-profit organizations and public sector entities due to its open-source nature, affordability, and extensive feature set for project management.

• Research and Academic Projects:

• Universities and research organizations use OpenProject to manage research projects, assign tasks, track progress, and collaborate among distributed teams.

Benefits of OpenProject:

• Open-source: As open-source software, it can be self-hosted and customized to meet specific needs. It’s free to use for self-hosted versions, making it cost-effective.
• Customizable: OpenProject is highly customizable, allowing organizations to tailor it to their project management needs.
• Scalable: It is scalable for small teams as well as large enterprises with complex project management requirements.
• Community and Enterprise Editions: OpenProject offers both a free community edition and a paid enterprise edition with additional features like advanced authentication options (LDAP, 2FA), support, and enhanced security.

Who is OpenProject Useful For?

• Project Managers who need tools for detailed planning, task assignment, and progress tracking.
• Agile Teams that follow Scrum, Kanban, or other agile frameworks.
• Development Teams needing issue tracking and collaboration tools.
• Enterprises looking for an all-in-one solution for project planning, tracking, and collaboration.
• Non-profits and academia looking for a cost-effective project management solution that is customizable.

In summary, OpenProject is a powerful and flexible project management tool that is suitable for various industries and project types. Its open-source nature makes it ideal for organizations looking for customizable, cost-effective project management solutions.

Step 1: Create an Instance

• Access the Dashboard: Log in to your Shape.Host account and navigate to your Dashboard.
• Click Create: Click on the “Create” button located in the top-right corner.
• Select Instances: From the dropdown menu, choose “Instances” to begin creating a new cloud server.

• Select Location: Choose a data center location for your instance closest to your target audience for optimal performance.

• Choose a Plan: Scroll through the available pricing plans. Select a plan based on your project requirements, such as Standard, CPU-Optimized, or Memory-Optimized.
• Choose an Image: Select Debian 12 as the operating system for your instance.

• Authentication and Finalize: Choose your authentication method, either via SSH keys or password. Once done, click Create Instance to launch your server.

Step 2: Access Your OpenProject Instance

To connect to your instance on Shape.Host, follow these steps:

1. Get the Instance IP: After creating your instance, find the public IP address in the Shape.Host dashboard under Resources.
2. Open SSH Client: Use an SSH client like Terminal (Linux/macOS) or PuTTY (Windows).
3. SSH into the Instance: Run the following command in your terminal:

   ssh root@<your-instance-ip>

Replace <your-instance-ip> with your actual instance IP address.

4. Enter the Password: If prompted, enter your instance’s root password or use your SSH key if configured.

You are now connected to your instance!

Step 3: Update System Packages

Start by updating the system’s package index to ensure all software is up-to-date:

apt update -y

Step 4: Install Required Packages

Install necessary dependencies for OpenProject:

apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates wget gpg

Step 5: Add OpenProject Repository

Add the OpenProject GPG key and repository to your system:

wget -qO- https://dl.packager.io/srv/opf/openproject/key | gpg --dearmor > /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/packager-io.gpg
wget -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openproject.list https://dl.packager.io/srv/opf/openproject/stable/13/installer/debian/12.repo

Step 6: Update System Packages Again

Update the system package index after adding the OpenProject repository:

apt update

Step 7: Install OpenProject

Install OpenProject using the package manager:

apt install openproject

Step 8: Configure OpenProject

Run the configuration tool to set up OpenProject:

openproject configure

Select the OpenProject version as default. The default version is for general project management, while the bim version is used for specific industry sections such as the construction industry.

Select Install the new PostgreSQL as the database for your OpenProject installation.

Select Install Apache web server when asked. You’ll be using Apache as a reverse proxy for OpenProject.

Now input the domain name of your OpenProject installation.

Leave blank for path installation. You’ll install OpenProject in your root domain/sub-domain.

For SSL configuration, select Yes or No. You need to provide details of your SSL certificates.

Skip the subversion repository integration.

You can also install Git integration to your OpenProject installation.

Enter the path directory for the Git repository. By default, it will use the/var/db/subversion/git directory.

Leave the git CGI backend pat as default.

Select Install memcached server to continue.

Now enter your admin email address for OpenProject installation.

Then, select the default language to English.

After the process is finished, you will see the following:

Step 9: Verify Services

Check the status of PostgreSQL, Apache2, and Memcached to ensure they are running:

systemctl status postgresql apache2 memcached

Also, verify the status of OpenProject services:

systemctl status openproject openproject-web openproject-worker

Step 10: Access OpenProject

Launch your web browser and visit http://<your-instance-ip>/login. You should see the OpenProject login page. Use the default credentials to sign in:

• Username: admin
• Password: admin

After logging in, you can start configuring your OpenProject workspace.

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Now, change the default admin password to a new strong password and click Save to confirm.

Once the process is complete, you will see the OpenProject dashboard like the following:

This tutorial was made possible using Shape.Host services, specifically their Cloud VPS offering. Shape.Host provides reliable and scalable cloud hosting solutions that are ideal for hosting applications like OpenProject. Check out their Cloud VPS plans to get started with your own instance today.