At OpenProject - the open source project management platform trusted by thousands of teams worldwide - we are making a clear statement: we want to be your sovereign go-to solution for agile teams. We are excited to give you an outlook on what is coming in 2026, in order to further improve agile ways of working within OpenProject.

Co-creation with our Community

We have been exploring, through many interviews with our current and future users - how the backlog refinement and sprint planning experience in OpenProject could evolve to better support agile collaboration. We also analyzed the pain points Jira users experience when working in agile teams. This helped us better understand your needs. We used those insights to provide first prototypes of redesigned backlogs and boards, which were then tested with users. Within an open source project software like OpenProject, you have the possibility to shape the product together with us. This is also why we are releasing our prototypes within this blog post and looking forward to your feedback.

Improved backlog refinement and sprint planning

The goal of the new concept is to make backlog refinement, sprint planning and usage of agile boards more intuitive, structured, and scalable for growing teams and enterprises, especially for teams migrating from Jira to OpenProject, who are working with Scrum, Kanban or SAFe. By improving how backlog items are organized and how teams interact with their sprint planning view, we aim to create a smoother and more flexible agile experience in OpenProject. Let’s take a closer look at how these ideas could support teams during agile ceremonies.

Automated backlog

At the beginning of April 2026, we plan to release the first iteration of our redesigned Backlog module. You will then automatically see all work packages from your project within the backlog without the need of adding them manually to the backlog. In case you don’t want certain work package types to be automatically visible in the backlog you will later on get a possibility to exclude them from the automated backlog.

Structuring large backlogs with backlog buckets

Have you ever struggled with structuring a backlog with hundreds of work packages? We have a solution for you! The updated backlog design will introduce clearer ways to organize backlog items using backlog buckets. You can use buckets to sort your work packages in a way which will help you keep an overview over the backlog and your team’s priorities. You just create buckets which are relevant to you and you easily drag & drop the work packages to newly created buckets. With this improvement, you can easily sort e.g. your “Low hanging fruits”, “Priority bugs” or work packages which are “Ready for development”.

Fast lane for moving work packages

We are also planning to implement improved ordering mechanisms for work packages (move up, move to top, move down, move to bottom, or move to sprint). With one click, you will be able to easily move your to-do’s to a relevant bucket or sprint. Less scrolling back and forth. This makes it faster to manage large backlogs and keep priorities where they belong.

Backlog filters and saved views

Of course you will also have a possibility to filter your backlog based on all attributes, incl. custom fields. In case you would like to re-use a certain view in future, you will be able to save it as a public or private view. This will allow you to quickly navigate to the set of work packages that is relevant to you and where you would like to zoom in.

Sprint planning

With the backlog view on the left and sprints on the right, you you can see your sprints and backlogs on one screen without scrolling. This view will boost your productivity during sprint planning. The improved layout makes it easier to see what work is ready to be pulled into the next iteration.

At a glance, key information about each backlog work package is visible:

• Name
• ID
• Type
• Status
• Assignee
• Number of story points
• Priority

You will have the possibility to not only define the sprint scope but to also highlight the sprint goal in order to align your team, as well as to set sprint dates.

Active sprints and sprint boards

Once you’ve started your sprint, you will automatically get a sprint board, showing you the planned sprint scope. This is your team’s go-to place during the sprint. With this overview, you will always see who is working on which topic and how the team is making progress.

Multiple active sprints within one project

Do you have various teams working within one project? Do they want to start separate sprints in parallel? No problem! OpenProject will allow admins to define if a project should be a single-sprint or multi-sprint project. This brings more clarity to your teams and their sprints, at the same time allowing them to work within the same backlog.

Board filters and saved views

Once the sprint begins, teams rely on boards to manage their day-to-day work. The new concepts explores how sprint boards could provide a clearer way to track progress. With introduced filters, you will be able to adjust the board view to your needs. You can filter for any kind of attributes, incl. custom fields. In case you would like to re-use some of the filter sets, you can always save the view as a private or public view.

Configurable work package cards

The redesigned board behavior is intended to make daily work management more intuitive. Clearly structured work items and the board layout help teams stay focused on progress and flow while reducing visual clutter. With the configure board view, teams could adjust the card size and choose which information should be displayed on each card. The design illustrates three levels of card configuration: compact, regular, and full; giving users flexibility in how much information is displayed.

Status mapping for complex workflows

The concept will also introduce the ability to map multiple workflow statuses to a single column, giving teams more flexibility in how they visualize their workflow. This will be a booster for teams working with complex workflows.

Work in progress limits

Would you like your team to deliver faster? Focusing on the most important topics and reducing work in progress is an essential productivity booster for agile teams. OpenProject will support you on this path through work-in-progress limits which can be set for each column individually.

Swimlanes

Users will get a possibility to enable swimlanes and configure them based on attributes such as parent work item (e.g. epic), assignee, version, component, priority, or type, allowing teams to organize work in a way that best supports their workflow. Swimlanes will provide your team with a very structured board view.

Agile reports

To support monitoring and improvement, teams can also access reports designed to help track, analyze, and optimize performance during and after a sprint. These will be very helpful during retrospectives. We are planning multiple reports and graphs:

• sprint reports
• burndown charts
• burnup charts
• velocity charts
• created vs. resolved chart
• cumulative flow diagram

Sharing

Especially within enterprises, when working based on SAFe principles, most teams should be aligned on sprint start and end dates. Already within our first agile release (currently planned for April 2026), we will allow users to share sprints through the whole instance or within a certain portfolio or program. This means that teams working with shared sprints will share the sprint dates and goal, but still can define their own sprint scope relevant for the team. Under the administration settings, sharing sprints across projects can be enabled or disabled. Projects can also be configured to only receive shared sprints.

Versions and sprints

Soon, you will be able to associate work packages with versions and sprints at the same time. An epic then can be planned for a release using the version field and can be planned for a certain sprint at the same time. In Q2 2026, we are also going to introduce an additional version field, “Observed in versions”, which — in addition to the version that defines the release version — allows you to track the versions in which a bug occurred.

Kanban boards

In case you prefer to work using Kanban methodology, you will of course have a possibility to create Kanban boards, also multi-project Kanban boards, including all the new functionalities described in the article, like swimlanes, work-in-progress limits, filters, saved views. etc.

Global Backlog module for SAFe organizations

The planned global Backlog module will help enterprises to manage big agile portfolios. Especially for SAFe organizations, this might be the go-to place for navigation between sprints and board. Among others, you will also have a possibility to filter for the PI (Product Increment) scope or for all dependencies across the whole portfolio.

And all that is coming to OpenProject in 2026!

These concepts are all part of our ongoing design exploration to improve agile workflows in OpenProject. While not all elements are part of the product yet, they represent the direction we are exploring to better support teams working with Scrum, Kanban or SAFe.

We’re continuing to refine these ideas and look forward to sharing future updates as the designs evolve. In case you would like to provide your feedback on those prototypes, please feel free to comment on the work packages within our roadmap. We would love to hear from you!

Stay tuned for our future agile releases!

Making project collaboration possible wherever work happens has always been an important goal for OpenProject. Many teams do not work exclusively at their desks. They need to work on construction sites, in meetings, traveling, or simply away from their primary workstation.

With the OpenProject Mobile app, we aim to support these scenarios by enabling teams to stay connected to their projects directly from their mobile devices.

The mobile app is currently available as a beta version and continues to evolve as we refine the experience and expand its capabilities. While it already supports many important workflows for working on the go, it is still a work in progress. Our product team is continuously improving features, usability, and performance based on feedback from the OpenProject Community.

Recent improvements also ensure that the app works smoothly on tablets, offering a more flexible way to interact with OpenProject across different device types.

In this article, we want to share where the mobile app stands today and what you can already do with it.

Supporting project work on the go

The OpenProject Mobile app is designed as a companion to the web experience. Instead of replicating the full desktop interface, the mobile app focuses on the most important interactions users need while away from their desks.

With the mobile app, you can:

• Browse projects and work packages
• Update details such as status, priority, or assignee
• Write comments and collaborate with team members
• Track and log work time
• Have a centralised and personal dashboard
• Receive and react to notifications about comments, mentions, and work package changes

These capabilities allow teams to quickly respond to changes, update tasks, and keep collaboration moving, even when they are not using their primary workstation.

Manage work packages directly from your phone

Work packages are at the center of collaboration in OpenProject, and the mobile app makes them easily accessible while on the move. Within the app, you can view and update work packages across projects and interact with tasks just as you would expect in day-to-day project work.

Users can:

• Change attributes such as status, assignee, or priority
• Comment on work packages and mention colleagues
• Upload attachments directly from their device
• Manage watchers and task relations
• Work packages index page in the OpenProject mobile app
• Work package details on the overview tab in the OpenProject mobile app

Designed for mobile workflows

Mobile devices come with their own strengths, and the OpenProject Mobile app takes advantage of them to support quick and simple interactions. Some features are specifically optimized for mobile usage, including:

• Quick work package creation through a simplified interface
• Direct photo and video capture and uploads from the device camera
• Touch-friendly navigation optimized for smaller screens
• Local notifications to stay informed about project updates
• Focus-mode timers to track time spent on tasks

Overview of projects and tasks

The mobile app also provides an easy way to explore projects and stay informed about ongoing work.

Users can browse projects, portfolios, and programs, view project details, and navigate to related work packages. Together with the personal home screen and notification center, this gives users a quick overview of work packages and updates that require their attention.

Expanding the experience across devices

While the mobile app was initially designed for smartphones, many users rely on tablets for meetings, workshops, or on-site work.

Recent improvements ensure that the app adapts well to tablet devices, offering a more comfortable layout and better use of larger screens. This allows teams to review work packages and projects in split screens and collaborate more easily during discussions or presentations.

As development continues, improving the multi-device experience remains an important focus area.

A growing part of the OpenProject ecosystem

The OpenProject Mobile app is available for iOS and Android and connects directly to your OpenProject instance. As a beta product, it continues to evolve alongside the rest of the platform.

Our team is currently working on further improvements such as:

• Real-time push notifications
• Deep linking to work packages and projects
• Additional collaboration capabilities
• New modules of the app, like meetings or wikis, coming to mobile
• Continuous usability and performance improvements

Each iteration brings the mobile experience closer to the flexibility teams expect when managing projects across different environments.

Try it and share your feedback

Because the mobile app is still in beta, feedback from the OpenProject Community plays an important role in shaping its future.

If you are already using OpenProject, we encourage you to try the mobile app and explore how it supports your workflows on the go. Your feedback helps us identify improvements, prioritize new features, and continue refining the experience.

We look forward to hearing how you use the mobile app in your daily project work. Here is how you can get in touch.

We’re excited to announce the release of OpenProject integration app versions 3.0.0 and 2.11.2 for Nextcloud! ✨

What’s new

This release focuses on improving compatibility with newer Nextcloud versions, enhancing reliability, and smoothing out the overall collaboration experience.

Support for Nextcloud 33

Version 3.0.0 introduces support for Nextcloud 33, including necessary adjustments to breaking changes in the Files frontend API.

Note

This is a breaking change update. Please ensure compatibility before upgrading.

Improvements

• Added debug logging for OpenProject API requests to simplify troubleshooting

Bug fixes

• Fixed handling of projects with unknown parent projects
• Ensured HTTPS is enforced for Nextcloud base URLs in OpenProject API requests
• Resolved broken guest access to Talk rooms for Nextcloud 32 and above

Update recommendation

We recommend updating via the Nextcloud App Store to take advantage of the latest fixes and improvements.

Thank you

A big thank you to the Nextcloud team for the continued collaboration and partnership! 🚀

OpenProject 17.2 has been released and introduces several improvements across the platform. This release opens new possibilities for integrating AI into your project workflows, improves transparency on the Project Overview page, and continues our work on usability and accessibility.

One highlight of this release is the introduction of the MCP Server, which enables secure connections between OpenProject and AI systems while keeping full control over how project data is accessed.

In this article, we highlight the most important changes and what they mean for your daily work. As always, please see our release notes that contain the complete list of features, changes, and bug fixes.

A quick article navigation:

• Bring AI to your projects with secure MCP Server (Professional plan and higher)
• Reusable meeting templates (Basic plan and higher)
• Project Overview improvements with budget widgets and improved accessibility
• Comment fields for project attributes
• PDF export improvements
• Require login before opening external links (Premium plan and higher)
• UX/UI updates with the Primer design system
• Migration, installation, updates and support

Bring AI to your projects with secure MCP Server (Professional plan and higher)

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of everyday work. Teams are exploring AI assistants that can answer questions, summarize information, and help analyze project data.

Many organizations are therefore asking the same question: How can we bring AI into our project workflows without losing control over our data and systems?

With OpenProject 17.2, we introduce the MCP Server, a new capability that enables secure connections between OpenProject and AI systems.

The MCP Server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and exposes OpenProject’s APIv3 resources as MCP-compatible endpoints. This allows external tools, including large language models (LLMs) and other MCP clients, to access structured project data from OpenProject in a controlled way.

With this connection in place, AI assistants can interact with real project context. For example, they can summarize project status, analyze dependencies between work packages, or support planning workflows based on up-to-date information from OpenProject.

At the same time, control remains fully in your hands. The MCP Server integrates with OpenProject’s authentication mechanisms, including OAuth2, API tokens, and external OpenID Connect providers. Administrators can configure the server directly in OpenProject and control aspects such as response formats and response volume.

The MCP Server was sponsored and developed with the support of Mercedes-AMG, who are actively using it in their OpenProject environment. Their collaboration helped shape the feature based on real-world requirements and demonstrates how large organizations can benefit from securely connecting AI workflows to their project data.

Administrators can configure the MCP Server directly in the OpenProject administration interface and control aspects such as response formats and response volumes. This allows organizations to decide how their project data is exposed and how external tools interact with it.

To learn about how to use the MCP server, please see our documentation.

Note

The MCP Server is available as an Enterprise add-on in the Professional plan and higher. See our pricing page and contact us for more information on upgrading to a higher plan.

Reusable meeting templates (Basic plan and higher)

Preparing meetings often involves recreating the same agenda structure again and again. With OpenProject 17.2, administrators can now define reusable meeting templates that provide a predefined agenda layout for their teams.

Instead of starting from scratch, users can select a template when creating a meeting. The agenda will automatically include predefined sections and items.

This saves time when preparing meetings and helps teams reuse proven formats for discussions and decision-making.

Note

The reusable meeting templates are available as an Enterprise add-on in the Basic plan and higher. See our pricing page and contact us for more information on upgrading to a higher plan.

Project Overview improvements with budget widgets and improved accessibility

OpenProject 17.2 enhances the Project Overview page to provide clearer financial insights, easier editing, and improved accessibility.

Budget widgets for financial insights

Project managers and stakeholders can now see key financial indicators directly on the Overview page.

New widgets display information such as:

• planned budget
• actual costs
• spent budget
• remaining budget

Visual breakdowns by cost type and recent monthly actuals help teams understand financial trends directly within the project context.

Inline editing for project description and status

The project description and project status widgets on the Overview tab can now be edited directly inline. Authorized users can update information directly where it is displayed.

Improved accessibility of Project Overview and dashboard widgets

We have significantly improved the accessibility of widgets on both the Project Overview and Project dashboard pages. Widgets are now fully operable via keyboard, provide clearer structural semantics for screen readers, and follow WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines for focus management, labeling, and navigation order.

These improvements ensure that project information and controls are accessible to all users, including those relying on assistive technologies.

Comment fields for project attributes

Project attributes often require additional explanation. For example, a chosen value may depend on assumptions, governance decisions, or project-specific context.

With OpenProject 17.2, administrators can now enable comment fields for project attributes. This allows users to document the reasoning behind selected attribute values directly where the attribute is maintained.

Comments follow the same permission logic as the attribute itself and are:

• displayed alongside the attribute on the Project Overview page
• tracked in project activity
• included in exports
• accessible via the API

This provides additional transparency and helps teams better understand important project decisions.

PDF export improvements

OpenProject 17.2 enhances PDF exports to provide more comprehensive reporting.

Work package queries can now include relationship columns, which are exported as structured tables in the PDF report. This ensures that dependencies between work packages remain visible in exported documentation.

In addition, WebP images embedded in work package descriptions are now supported in exported PDFs.

Require login before opening external links (Premium plan and higher)

Following external links inside collaboration platforms can sometimes pose security risks.

Building on the external link safety options introduced in OpenProject 17.1, OpenProject 17.2 adds the option to require users to be logged in before opening external links.

When this setting is enabled, users must authenticate before they can follow external links.

Note

This feature is available as an Enterprise add-on in the Premium plan and higher. See our pricing page and contact us for more information on upgrading to a higher plan.

UX/UI updates with the Primer design system

OpenProject continues the transition to the Primer design system, helping unify the user interface across the application.

Backlogs module update

The Backlogs module has been updated using Primer components. This results in a cleaner layout and more consistent interaction patterns.

Work packages can now also be viewed in a split screen, allowing teams to manage backlog items while reviewing work package details.

Improvements in administration interfaces

Administrative interfaces for Custom Fields, Versions, and Groups have also been aligned with the Primer design system.

OpenProject 17.2: Migration, installation, updates and support

Follow the upgrade guide for the packaged installation or Docker installation to update your OpenProject installation to OpenProject 17.2. We update your hosted OpenProject environments (Enterprise cloud) today, March 11, 2026.

You will find more information about all new features and changes in our Release notes and in the OpenProject Documentation.

If you need support, you can post your questions in the Community Forum, or if you are eligible for Enterprise support, please contact us and we will be happy to support you personally.

• New to OpenProject? To test all features of OpenProject 17.2 right away, create a 14 days free trial instance for our OpenProject Enterprise cloud.
• Prefer to run OpenProject 17.2 in your own infrastructure? Here you can find the Installation guidelines for OpenProject.
• Want to upgrade from a Community version to try out the Enterprise add-ons? Get a 14 days free trial token to test the Enterprise add-ons (all plans).

Credits

A very special thank you goes to Mercedes-AMG for sponsoring the MCP server feature and supporting its development. Your collaboration and real-world feedback helped shape this functionality and demonstrate how large organizations can benefit from securely connecting AI workflows to their project data in OpenProject.

We would also like to thank Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, City of Cologne, Deutsche Bahn and ZenDiS for sponsoring released or upcoming features. Your support, alongside the efforts of our amazing Community, helps drive these innovations. Also a big thanks to our Community members for reporting bugs and helping us identify and provide fixes. Special thanks for reporting and finding bugs go to Alexander Aleschenko, Gabor Alexovics, Jörg Mollowitz and Александр Татаринцев.

Last but not least, we are very grateful for our very engaged translation contributors on Crowdin, who translated quite a few OpenProject strings! This release we would like to particularly thank the following users:

• Adam Siemienski, for a great number of translations into Polish.
• Mehmet Coşkun, for a great number of translations into Turkish.
• Liangzdz, for a great number of translations into Chinese Simplified.

Would you like to help out with translations yourself? Then take a look at our translation guide and find out exactly how you can contribute. It is very much appreciated!

As always, we welcome any feedback on this release.

Driving user adoption and leading change when moving from Jira to OpenProject

When organizations decide to migrate from Jira to OpenProject, the initial focus often lies on technical aspects such as data transfer or use case mapping. While these elements are essential, I consistently observe that the greatest challenge is not technological. The real success factor is organization’s ability to navigate change initiatives and guiding people on their journey of change.

Co-creating the future way of working

At OpenProject, we approach migrations with the understanding that it’s success depends on thoughtful change management. Rather than imposing a new system, we work with organizations to co-create their future within OpenProject. This starts with:

• Identifying stakeholders and understanding their way of working, their needs, processes and pains.
• Mapping the use cases that shape their daily work.
• Translating existing workflows into OpenProject wherever possible and,
• Exploring the underlying needs together, when no direct equivalent exists.

At OpenProject we approach product development with a very user-centric mindset. Whenever I guide companies in the migration process from Jira to OpenProject, I always try to involve the real users from the very beginning. I go on my users’ island and try to understand their needs. I do mean “needs” and not solutions. It is not user’s but our product teams’ responsibility to define a solution based on users needs. Through rapid prototyping methods, our teams provide tangible solutions and validate them with users. This iterative and collaborative process fosters ownership, builds trust, and naturally creates internal advocates for the new platform. It helps us to define solutions, which really address users’ needs.

Our product development is fully transparent. You can read each single acceptance criteria we define for our user stories. We actively seek feedback from our users. Using an open source product gives you the opportunity to shape the product together with us. Our community matters.

Leading change from closed source to open source

We also recognize the importance of change leadership throughout the transition. Successful change leaders listen with intent, remain curious, and treat feedback as valuable input. Creating psychological safety allows users to openly share concerns and ideas.

To further strengthen adoption, we usually encourage the development of internal champion networks. Identifying early adopters and empowering them to support their peers builds momentum across teams. Involving decision-makers early ensures alignment and sustained sponsorship. Leading change is a team sport, no matter if we talk about a 50 people team or a 150 000 people organization.

In case you would like to deep dive into the topic of leading change from closed source to open source, I recently explored this topic within a talk at FOSDEM.

Starting the transition in practice

A practical way to begin the transition is through a proof of concept (PoC) with selected teams, ideally representing key target groups.

To understand what moving from Jira to OpenProject really means, we often recommend a use case analysis. By mapping key scenarios from Jira to their OpenProject equivalents, organizations gain transparency into potential solutions, gaps, and define mitigation strategies. This structured approach transforms migration planning into a constructive, tangible and solution-oriented process. The feedback from such processes is essential for our roadmap planning and gives organizations a possibility to co-create OpenProject together with us based on their needs.

We guide users on their change journey, among others by providing customizable onboarding and training sessions. Short and focused training sessions are typically sufficient. We support organizations also with tailored enablement formats, combining administrator training on configuration and workflows with team-level sessions for daily usage and role-based training where needed.

As processes and needs become clearer, we guide teams in translating workflows and needs from Jira to OpenProject. Throughout this phase, responsive support channels and helpdesks ensure that questions are addressed quickly and confidence continues to grow.

Conclusion: From proof of concept, through migration to confident adoption

Change can be scary. Ultimately, a successful migration is not defined by completed data transfer, but by the moment teams feel confident and productive in their new workspace. By prioritizing co-creation, targeted enablement, and transparent communication, we help organizations turn a potentially challenging change initiative into an opportunity to further strengthen team collaboration and fully realize the value of OpenProject and open source.

You can co-create the future of tech if you contribute to open source products. Especially if you are decider, you can make the change happen. Start the transition to open source, but prepare it well. You don’t have to and you shouldn’t do it alone. Co-create the future together with us and your colleagues. Digital sovereignty isn’t built with code alone - it’s built with people who believe in it.

And remember… You’re not just migrating software - you’re building democracy and freedom for future generations.

How to choose the best open source project management software

Finding the right project management software for your organization can be a challenge — especially when you want a solution that is transparent, flexible, and gives you full control over your data.

Open source project management tools are increasingly popular in 2026, as many organizations look for alternatives to proprietary platforms, rising licensing costs, and cloud-only solutions. At the same time, requirements around data privacy, security, and compliance continue to grow — particularly for public institutions and regulated industries.

To help you make an informed decision, we have updated our overview of the top open source project management software in 2026. The tools listed below differ in focus and strengths: some are built for agile teams, others for software development workflows, and others for full-featured project planning across an organization.

When comparing project management software, make sure to consider:

• Feature set and supported methodologies (classic, agile, or hybrid)
• Hosting options (cloud vs. self-hosted)
• Data protection and privacy strategy
• Community activity and long-term maintenance
• Pricing and available support options

The tools listed in this article are widely used and well-established open source solutions, each with different strengths depending on your organization’s needs.

Here are our 5 top open source project management tools to consider in 2026:

1. OpenProject
2. Redmine
3. GitLab
4. Tuleap
5. Taiga

OpenProject

OpenProject is a widely used open source project management platform, licensed under GNU GPL v3.

Best for in 2026: organizations looking for a secure solution that supports classic, agile, and hybrid project workflows.

Free and open source software

The software code is freely available on GitHub. All changes to the source code are transparently traceable at any time. With OpenProject, there is no vendor lock-in.

OpenProject meets high data protection and security requirements. The company, based in Berlin, Germany, focuses on developing a secure and privacy-compliant European alternative for project management and team collaboration. Read more about security and privacy conditions at OpenProject.

Data sovereignty

With OpenProject, users retain full control over their data. With the self-installed version hosted on own servers, OpenProject offers a high level of data sovereignty. Alternatively, hosting is provided on demand on secure servers within Germany. OpenProject follows a strict privacy approach and does not rely on user tracking within the application. Read the OpenProject privacy policy.

Secure hosting

If you don’t have the capacity or knowledge to host OpenProject in your environment, the Enterprise cloud edition offers secure hosting in the EU.

Feature set

OpenProject maps the entire project lifecycle, from project planning and execution to project controlling and closure. The software supports classic, agile, and hybrid project management.

It includes extensive project management functions such as project and milestone planning (Gantt charts), task management, agile boards, meetings, project wiki, forums, time and cost tracking, budgets, and more. See OpenProject collaboration features.

Configuration

The software is flexibly configurable and can be adapted to individual requirements. With a powerful API, additional systems can be connected if required.

Part of openDesk

OpenProject is part of openDesk, an open source office and collaboration suite for the German public sector. Learn more about openDesk.

Active maintenance and development

OpenProject is continuously developed and maintained by an active developer Community. New features, improvements, and updates are released regularly. To learn more, take a look at the OpenProject roadmap.

Professional support and training

Building on extensive documentation, OpenProject offers professional support and training for organizations that require additional guidance.

Pricing

The OpenProject Community edition is free of charge and self-hosted. All essential project and task management features are included in this free version.

The Enterprise cloud and on-premises editions offer professional support as well as additional premium and security add-ons. Pricing starts from €5.95 per month per user.

OpenProject also offers a 14 days free trial to explore the Enterprise edition in practice — no credit card required, and you won’t receive unwanted marketing emails.

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Redmine

Redmine is a long-established open source project management and issue tracking tool, licensed under GNU GPL v2.

Best for in 2026: teams looking for a lightweight, self-hosted solution focused on issue tracking and extensibility through plugins.

Feature set

Redmine combines project management with strong issue tracking capabilities. It is particularly popular among technical teams who want a flexible tool for managing tasks, bugs, and workflows.

Key features include:

• Issue and task tracking
• Project and role-based access management
• Custom fields and workflows
• Wiki and documentation features
• Plugin ecosystem for extending functionality

Redmine is often chosen for its simplicity and adaptability. However, compared to more modern platforms, it may require additional configuration and plugins to cover advanced project planning features such as Gantt-based scheduling or portfolio management.

See a comparison between Redmine and OpenProject to explore the differences between both open source project management tools.

Hosting

Redmine is primarily designed for self-hosting, giving organizations full control over where their data is stored. This makes it a common choice for teams with strict infrastructure or compliance requirements.

Pricing

Redmine is free to use as open source software. Costs typically depend on hosting, maintenance, and whether professional support is provided by third-party vendors.

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GitLab

GitLab is a source code management and DevOps platform that can also be used for project planning and collaboration. It is licensed under an MIT open source license and has a clear focus on software development teams.

Best for in 2026: software development teams looking to manage code, CI/CD, and project planning in one integrated platform.

https://about.gitlab.com

Feature set

GitLab offers a broad feature set to support the entire software delivery lifecycle. In addition to version control and DevOps functionality, it includes project management features such as issue tracking, agile boards, workflows, and timelines.

GitLab is especially strong for teams that want to connect project work directly to development processes. However, features such as budgeting, cost tracking, or more advanced project portfolio management are not a core part of GitLab’s offering.

Tip

If you are not entirely convinced by the GitLab offering in terms of project management, but like its feature set, you can use OpenProject with its GitLab integration.

See a comparison between GitLab and OpenProject to explore the differences between both open source tools.

Hosting

GitLab is available both in the cloud and as a self-hosted on-premises solution. The self-managed version provides full control over your data and infrastructure.

GitLab.com, the hosted cloud offering, is primarily operated on Google Cloud infrastructure in the United States. For organizations with strict compliance requirements, hosting location and applicable regulations should be reviewed carefully.

Pricing

GitLab offers a free tier with limited features. Paid plans provide additional functionality and support, with pricing depending on the selected edition and team size. GitLab also offers a free trial for its paid plans.

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Tuleap

Tuleap is an open source project management and application lifecycle management (ALM) platform, licensed under GNU GPL.

Best for in 2026: agile software development teams that need structured planning and lifecycle management in one open source platform.

https://www.tuleap.org/

Feature set

Tuleap provides a comprehensive set of agile project management features, including task boards, backlogs, Kanban boards, burnup and burndown charts, and dashboards.

In addition to agile planning, Tuleap supports software development workflows such as test management and project tracking, making it particularly relevant for teams working in regulated or complex development environments.

For organizations looking for a broader project management approach, Tuleap’s focus on agile and ALM may feel more specialized. Traditional project management features such as Gantt-based scheduling, budgeting, or cost tracking are not as central as in other tools.

See a comparison between Tuleap and OpenProject to explore the differences between both open source project management tools.

Hosting

Tuleap is available both as a cloud solution and as a self-hosted on-premises edition.

For the premium cloud version, hosting providers are available in several regions, including France, Switzerland, the USA, the UK, Korea, and others. Organizations with specific compliance requirements should review the hosting setup carefully depending on the chosen plan.

Pricing

Tuleap does not offer a fully free cloud version. Pricing depends on the selected edition and hosting model, and a free trial is available upon request.

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Taiga

Taiga is an open source project management software whose beginnings date back to a Kaleidos hackathon in 2013. It is licensed under MPL 2.0.

Best for in 2026: agile teams looking for a simple and visually intuitive tool focused on Scrum and Kanban workflows.

https://www.taiga.io

Feature set

Taiga was created with the goal of providing an accessible and user-friendly agile project management tool for developers and designers.

It offers a comprehensive feature set for agile methodologies, including:

• Kanban boards
• Product and sprint backlogs
• Issue tracking
• Estimation tools
• Dashboards and reporting features

Taiga is well suited for teams working primarily with Scrum or Kanban. However, classic project management features such as Gantt charts, budget tracking, or broader portfolio planning are not part of its core focus.

See a comparison between Taiga and OpenProject to explore the differences between both open source project management tools.

Hosting

Taiga is available both as a cloud solution and as a self-hosted on-premises edition.

The cloud version is hosted in the European Union via AWS, which can be relevant for organizations that require GDPR-aligned hosting.

Pricing

Taiga offers free cloud and self-hosted options. Paid plans provide additional services such as premium support, with pricing depending on the selected edition.

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Compare the top 5 open source project management software in 2026

Choosing the best project management software for your organization depends on a variety of criteria, including the features and workflows you need, the size of your team, and your hosting and data privacy requirements.

All listed open source project management tools have their own strengths and are suited for different use cases — from lightweight issue tracking to full-featured hybrid project planning.

If you are looking for an open source project management software in 2026, we recommend taking a closer look at OpenProject, Redmine, GitLab, Tuleap, and Taiga.

To give you a quick summary:

Tool	Best for in 2026	Hosting options
OpenProject	Hybrid project management across teams	Cloud + self-hosted
Redmine	Lightweight issue tracking and plugins	Mainly self-hosted
GitLab	DevOps teams managing code + planning	Cloud + self-hosted
Tuleap	Agile planning + lifecycle management	Cloud + self-hosted
Taiga	Scrum and Kanban teams	Cloud + self-hosted

• OpenProject supports classic, agile, and hybrid project management in one platform. It offers features such as Gantt charts, agile boards, time and cost tracking, and a strong focus on data sovereignty through self-hosting or secure EU-based cloud hosting.

• Redmine is a long-established open source tool focused on issue tracking and extensibility through plugins. It is primarily self-hosted and often used by technical teams looking for a lightweight and customizable solution.

• GitLab combines project planning with source code management and DevOps workflows. It is especially relevant for software development teams that want to manage code and project work in one integrated environment.

• Tuleap focuses on agile project management and application lifecycle management (ALM). It is well suited for teams working in structured software development environments that require agile planning and lifecycle tracking.

• Taiga provides an intuitive and visually appealing agile project management experience, focused on Scrum and Kanban workflows. It is a strong option for teams looking for simplicity in agile execution.

Regarding pricing and hosting details, we recommend visiting the individual websites, as costs and available plans may vary depending on team size, deployment model, and support requirements.

You can also take a look at more detailed comparisons of OpenProject to other alternatives here. Every organization is different, make a choice that’s best for your needs. We are here if you have more questions.

OpenProject 17.1 has been released and introduces several major improvements across the platform. In this article, we highlight the most important changes and what they mean for your daily work. We will summarize the most important changes in this blog article and, as always, please see our release notes that contain all changes, features and bug fixes.

A quick article navigation:

• Automated project initiation requests (Enterprise add-on)
• Smarter meeting workflows with work package outcomes and more
• Release Attribute highlighting to Community
• Other great improvements with OpenProject 17.1
• Migration, installation, updates and support

Automated project initiation requests (Enterprise add-on)

Starting new projects often involves more than just creating a project space. In many organizations, project initiation includes collecting key information, aligning stakeholders, and requesting formal approval before work can begin.

With OpenProject 17.1, automated project initiation requests help structure this process in a dedicated workflow. Instead of coordinating project details via emails, spreadsheets, or meetings, teams can collect all required information directly within OpenProject and track the initiation status transparently.

Project initiation requests are based on predefined templates and guide requesters through the necessary input. This makes project intake more consistent and reduces back-and-forth between project requesters, project managers, and decision-makers.

Once submitted, OpenProject automatically creates a work package with all relevant information as well as a PDF artifact. This way, initiation requests can be reviewed, discussed, and approved in a structured way before the project moves forward.

This feature is particularly useful for organizations with standardized project processes, governance requirements, or approval workflows. It supports a clear separation between requesting, reviewing, and starting projects, while keeping all information in one place.

If you want to learn more about the concept behind project initiation workflows and how they support structured project governance, take a look at our preview article on project initiation request workflows for PM² and other standards .

To learn about how to use the automated project initiation requests, please see our documentation.

Important

Automated project initiation requests are available as an Enterprise add-on in the Premium plan. See our pricing page and contact us for more information on upgrading to a higher plan.

Smarter meeting workflows with work package outcomes and more

Meetings are most effective when decisions and action items are clearly captured and followed up on. With OpenProject 17.1, meeting workflows have been improved to help teams turn discussions into concrete next steps and keep recurring meetings better connected.

One of the great improvements is that meeting outcomes can now be directly created as work packages. Instead of manually transferring notes or action items after a meeting, teams can immediately turn agreed outcomes into tasks and assign responsibilities. This helps ensure that decisions made in meetings lead to actual progress.

For recurring meetings, agenda items and outcomes can now be copied to the next occurrence. This makes it easier to continue discussions, revisit open points, or carry forward unfinished items without recreating content from scratch.

OpenProject 17.1 also improves calendar integration for meetings. Participant responses such as accepted, declined, or tentative are now visible directly in the meeting sidebar. These responses are collected from calendar invitations, for example when an ICS event is sent by email or downloaded and shared, giving organizers a clearer overview of who plans to attend.

Together, these improvements make meetings more actionable, better connected to ongoing work, and easier to manage across recurring sessions and external calendars.

Attribute highlighting released to Community edition

At OpenProject, we remain committed to our Community and are convinced that the continuous development of the OpenProject Community Edition benefits everyone. That’s why we regularly release Enterprise add-ons for the Community version. With OpenProject 17.1, we are releasing attribute highlighting for our Community, so that it’s no longer an Enterprise add-on.

Depending on which attributes you want to highlight – and which colors you choose – your work package table looks different. Here’s an example of a work package table highlighted by Priority:

Read more about this seemingly small, but very effective feature in our blog.

Other great improvements with OpenProject 17.1

OpenProject 17.1 offers more features and updates. To keep this article concise, here is a quick look at some additional improvements worth highlighting:

Enable a warning before opening external links in user-provided content (Enterprise add-on)

To improve security awareness, OpenProject 17.1 introduces an optional warning before opening external links that were added by users. This helps teams better assess potential risks when leaving OpenProject, especially in environments with many collaborators or external contributors. Available as Enterprise add-on in the Premium plan. Read more about capturing external links in OpenProject.

Show short and weight values for Hierarchy and Weighted item list fields (Enterprise add-on)

Hierarchy and Weighted item list custom fields now display their short and weight values more clearly. This makes it easier to understand priorities and calculations at a glance, especially when working with structured data or aggregated values in larger projects.

Note

Hierarchy fields are available as Enterprise add-ons in the Basic plan and weighted item list fields are available as Enterprise add-on in the Premium plan. Read more about custom fields in OpenProject.

Improved performance and UX/UI updates

OpenProject 17.1 includes further performance improvements, bug fixes and UX/UI refinements across the application. The Activity tab has been optimized to load faster and provide a smoother experience, especially in projects with a large amount of activity.

In addition, several areas have been updated to use the Primer design system, including the Access tokens section in account settings, the Backlogs administration page, and the password confirmation dialog. These changes improve visual consistency and usability while keeping existing workflows intact.

OpenProject 17.1: Migration, installation, updates and support

Follow the upgrade guide for the packaged installation or Docker installation to update your OpenProject installation to OpenProject 17.1. We update your hosted OpenProject environments (Enterprise cloud) today, February 11, 2026.

You will find more information about all new features and changes in our Release notes and in the OpenProject Documentation.

If you need support, you can post your questions in the Community Forum, or if you are eligible for Enterprise support, please contact us and we will be happy to support you personally.

• New to OpenProject? To test all features of OpenProject 17.1 right away, create a 14 days free trial instance for our OpenProject Enterprise cloud.
• Prefer to run OpenProject 17.1 in your own infrastructure? Here you can find the Installation guidelines for OpenProject.
• Want to upgrade from a Community version to try out the Enterprise add-ons? Get a 14 days free trial token to test the Enterprise add-ons (all plans).

Credits

A very special thank you goes to Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, City of Cologne, Deutsche Bahn and ZenDiS for sponsoring released or upcoming features. Your support, alongside the efforts of our amazing Community, helps drive these innovations. Also a big thanks to our Community members for reporting bugs and helping us identify and provide fixes. Special thanks for reporting and finding bugs go to Johannes Baumgarten, Lea Fuchs, Александр Татаринцев, Stefan Weiberg, and Natalie Stettner.

Last but not least, we are very grateful for our very engaged translation contributors on Crowdin, who translated quite a few OpenProject strings! This release we would like to particularly thank the following users:

• Haura Nabila Rinaldi, for a great number of translations into Indonesian.
• arnegronkjaer, for a great number of translations into Danish.

Would you like to help out with translations yourself? Then take a look at our translation guide and find out exactly how you can contribute. It is very much appreciated!

As always, we welcome any feedback on this release.

Those who work according to project management standards, such as PM² or PMflex, rely on very specific requirements when creating new projects. A new project initiation request is therefore often time-consuming and prone to errors: Which version of the spreadsheet actually contains the up-to-date data? And what information do I need to submit the request? In many organizations, this project initiation request serves as the formal basis for approval, budgeting, and prioritization.

As a project portfolio manager, you want to enable project initiators to easily create and process project initiation requests in one platform for project and portfolio management. That’s why we want to significantly simplify the project initiation process with OpenProject: we are currently developing a wizard that guides users step by step through the project initiation workflow.

In this blog article, you can find out exactly how this workflow will simplify the work of portfolio managers and everyone involved in creating new projects. Please keep in mind that this is a preview of a feature still in development and therefore subject to change.

Important

This feature is currently planned to be released with version 17.1 in February 2026, as Enterprise add-on in the Premium plan. Please see our Pricing page to learn more about the different OpenProject plans.

Automated guidance for complex processes

Every month, we release new features and Enterprise add-ons for OpenProject. On the one hand, this means the software is becoming more powerful. Project managers can work faster, more effectively, and in a more targeted way. On the other hand, we are aware that users need clear guidance from the software — especially when underlying processes are complex, whether based on PM², PMflex, or other project management standards.

Particularly when starting projects, a step-by-step workflow can be extremely helpful. The idea: project portfolio managers define specific steps and attributes in a template. Anyone who then creates a new project simply follows the predefined steps. At the end, a work package is created that contains all the necessary information and is assigned directly to the responsible person or group reviewing the request.

This ensures that standards are met, everything is documented centrally, and users can focus on their actual work instead of on the tool.

Benefit of a workflow for project initiation requests

Does the following sound familiar? To create a project initiation request according to PM² or PMflex, you have to search through scattered Excel spreadsheets — or, even worse, emails — and in the end, you’re still not sure whether you have the latest and correct data. And even if all the data is there, it still needs to be checked by a portfolio or program manager. But how and when?

These unclear processes cost time and causes frustration, resulting in incomplete project initiation requests.

So let’s:

• Predefine clear processes and required attributes in a template.
• Enable a feature that guides the user step by step.
• Complete the workflow with automation that bundles all information and initiates the next step.

Our vision is to make this possible for users of PM² and PMflex in particular and to enable it as Enterprise add-on. At the same time, we also want teams using other methods – such as PRINCE2, SAFe, OKR – to benefit from predefined standards and guided project creation.

Tip

PMflex is the project management standard for public administration in Germany. As OpenProject is part of openDesk, the all in one office and collaboration suite tailored for public sector Germany, the project initiation wizard will also be available for openDesk users.

A structured process helps organizations:

• Reduce cognitive load for project initiators.
• Ensure all mandatory information is collected.
• Avoid errors caused by outdated or inconsistent data.
• Standardize project initiation across departments.
• Onboard new employees more easily.
• Improve transparency for reviewers and decision-makers involved in the approval process.
• Automate the handover to portfolio or program managers.
• Keep documentation in one central place.

Let’s see what the OpenProject team is currently working on to enable this idea of a project initiation wizard.

Feature preview: project initiation workflow (Enterprise add-on)

The planned Enterprise add-on will enable project initiators to navigate through the process in four steps.

1. Select a template to create a project

Choose the right project, program, or portfolio template defined by your portfolio manager to ensure that all required attributes and steps are included.

Image: Preview mockup showing interface to select different templates to begin the project initiation request in OpenProject.

2. Fill out the predefined requirements

Enter the necessary information in a clear and guided form. The fields shown depend on the chosen template and ensure that all mandatory data is collected.

Image: Preview mockup showing interface to fill out several requirements for the project initiation request, such as Dates, Technical information or legal basis.

3. Submit the project initiation request to trigger automations

Once all required fields are filled out, submit the initiation request. The workflow automatically bundles all information and sends it to the responsible reviewer.

Image: Preview mockup showing interface to submit a project initiation request in OpenProject.

4. Check the status and exported artifact on the work package

After submission, OpenProject automatically creates a work package in addition to the project you just created. With this work package, you can track the status of the initiation request. Additionally, OpenProject will generate an artifact from your information in the form of a PDF and add it to the newly created work package.

For this step, we don’t have a mockup to show yet, but the created work package could look something like this:

Image: Demo work package of a project initiation request in OpenProject, with automatically written description, uploaded PDF file (the artifact) and comment by ‘System’.

Example from practice: How this wizard will improve daily work

Imagine Anna, a project coordinator in the IT department of a medium-sized German city administration. Until now, her workday often started the same way: searching for the correct version of a project initiation file. One version was saved on a shared drive, another was attached to an email, and a third one was updated by a colleague “just last week” — but nobody remembered where.

When she finally found the right file, the next challenge was figuring out which fields were mandatory. Some projects required additional information, others didn’t. And if something was missing, the portfolio manager would send the request back days later with comments like “Please update section 3.2” or “Missing justification for budget planning.”

With the new project initiation workflow in OpenProject, this process is expected to become much easier. Anna selects the correct template, follows the predefined steps, and fills out only the fields relevant to the project type. No guessing, no version confusion, no back-and-forth.

When she submits the request, all information is automatically bundled and assigned to the responsible reviewer — making the process transparent, structured, and significantly faster. And because the workflow aligns with the PMflex project initiation phase, her organization can ensure that every new project starts with complete and standardized documentation.

Outlook

The project initiation workflow is the first step toward a series of guided processes in OpenProject. After completing this feature, we plan to support additional PMflex-aligned wizards to make structured project, program, and portfolio management even easier — especially for public administration and large organizations with standardized processes.

We look forward to sharing more insights as development progresses.

Talks, digital sovereignty, and Community at FOSDEM ’26 in Brussels

On 31 January and 1 February 2026, FOSDEM returns to Brussels. For more than 25 years, FOSDEM has been one of the world’s largest and most respected conferences for free and open source software, bringing together developers, maintainers, public sector practitioners, and open source communities from around the globe.

We are excited to be part of FOSDEM 2026 with two talks and to once again connect with the wider open source ecosystem.

OpenProject: A Year Full of Updates

Wieland Lindenthal

In this fast-paced session, Wieland Lindenthal will walk through the most impactful OpenProject updates of the past year. From powerful portfolio management improvements to long-requested service management features such as internal work package notes, the talk offers a comprehensive overview of where OpenProject is today.

Beyond new features, the session also looks ahead. Wieland will share our long-term technical strategy to bring real-time text collaboration to every corner of the platform. The goal is to enable teams to co-create work packages, meeting notes, and other project management artifacts seamlessly.

A key part of this journey is our work with BlockNote, the rich-text editor already powering applications such as openDesk’s Notes and Mijn Bureau’s Docs. You will learn how we are integrating BlockNote to bridge the gap between quick text sketches and fully-fledged project plans, and how developers can leverage our BlockNote extensions to integrate work and task management into their own platforms.

The talk will also give an outlook on our migration strategy for teams moving from Atlassian Jira Data Center to OpenProject and from Confluence to XWiki, supporting organizations on their path toward open and sovereign collaboration.

Whether you are a user, contributor, or developer, this session invites you to rethink collaboration in open source project management.

👉 Find out more and bookmark the session

From Vendor Lock-in to Resilient Digital Ecosystems: Leading Change in Europe’s Public Digital Infrastructure

Rosanna Sibora

As European public sector organizations pursue digital sovereignty, the technical migration from proprietary software to open source solutions is often only half the challenge. Technology is rarely the hardest part. The real complexity lies in changing mindsets, workflows, and institutional culture.

In this talk, Rosanna Sibora shares proven change management strategies drawn from leading IT transformations and guiding public sector clients through transitions from Jira to OpenProject. The focus is on how to build sustainable and resilient digital ecosystems that serve citizens rather than vendors.

Participants will learn how to:

• Co-create change through proven leadership best practices
• Create ownership for the open source solutions within public sector
• Build the business case and frame the open source narrative that resonates with public sector stakeholders and decision-makers
• Drive the mindset shift to FOSS
• Identify your use cases and foster transition to open source products
• Build internal champions who drive adoption across departments

Drawing on real-world public sector experience, this session highlights the human factors that can make or break digital sovereignty initiatives. Whether you are planning your first migration or refining your change management approach, you will leave with actionable frameworks for leading successful transitions to independent and interoperable digital workspaces.

👉 Find out more and bookmark the session

Community matters: Join our FOSDEM meetup

FOSDEM weekends are intense. Talks all day, devrooms to jump between, and hallway conversations that somehow turn into deep discussions about documentation, governance, or that one bug that still exists.

Once the laptops close, we do what open source communities do best. We meet. We talk. We grab a drink.

We are happy to co-sponsor a FOSDEM community meetup:

On Friday, 31 January 2026, we invite you to an informal open source meetup in Brussels together with our friends from XWiki, Nextcloud, and Passbolt.

No talks. No slides. Just people.

When and where:

• Date: Saturday, 31 January 2026
• Time: From 20:00 until late
• Location: Scott’s Bar & Kitchen, Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potagères 2, 1000 Brussels

👉 Save your spot

We are hiring

FOSDEM is about connections. We are also having quite a few remote open source jobs in our luggage. If you want to contribute to a thriving open source project and foster Europe’s digital sovereignty, let’s talk.

We are currently looking for:

• Senior Account Manager France
• Senior Full Stack Developers
• Product Tech Lead
• Customer Success Manager
• …

Open source, remote first, European values.

👉 Get in touch. Let’s talk

We are looking forward to inspiring talks, great conversations, and meeting many familiar and new faces at FOSDEM 2026. See you soon in Brussels.

We have released version 2.11.0 of the OpenProject integration app for Nextcloud! ✨ This update brings several usability improvements and fixes to make your project collaboration experience even smoother.

We recommend updating to the latest version via your Nextcloud app center to benefit from the newest enhancements.

Changes of the release 2.11.0:

• Simplified warning message for OIDC identification
• Improved work package creation process
• Clearer messaging in the select field during work package creation
• Smoother UI in the “Create work package” modal (stable Subject field behavior)

Thanks to Nextcloud for the continued partnership!

Teams collaborate on ideas, strategies, and texts every day, but when this happens outside the project tool, context gets lost and coordination takes more time than necessary. With OpenProject 17.0, real-time collaboration is now built directly into the Documents module (Cloud and Containerized installations) — but only if the module is activated in your project.

In this article, you will learn why enabling the Documents module is worth it, how live collaboration works in OpenProject, and how to get started in just a few minutes.

Get started with live collaboration

Enabling the Documents module is a small step that can have an immediate impact on how your project team collaborates. Instead of using separate tools or exchanging document versions, teams can create and edit documents together directly in OpenProject.

Typical use cases include:

• Brainstorming ideas together in real time.
• Aligning on strategies, concepts, or project goals.
• Drafting guidelines, proposals, or internal documentation.
• Collecting input and feedback from multiple stakeholders.

Important

Real-time documents collaboration is available starting with version 17.0 and is automatically enabled for Containerized and Cloud-hosted installations. Packaged installations (DEB/RPM) require additional manual setup. Please see our system administration guide for more details.

Watch this video to understand how to benefit from OpenProject Documents with live collaboration:

How to use the OpenProject Documents module for real-time editing

Imagine a marketing team that wants to align on its strategy for the year. Several people need to contribute ideas, refine wording, and agree on priorities — ideally without exchanging files or switching between tools. The Meetings module helps collect ideas and align on topics in a structured way, but sometimes teams simply need a shared document to brainstorm collaboratively, without organizing everything as a meeting.

With the Documents module enabled, the team can create a shared document in their project and start working on it together in real time. Everyone sees changes instantly, comments can be addressed on the spot, and the document evolves collaboratively instead of through multiple versions.

Below is a simple example of how project admins can get started and introduce live collaboration in just a few steps.

1. Activate the Documents module in your project

As a project admin, open the project settings and activate the Documents module. This is the only required step to make live collaboration available to your project members. Once activated, all users with the appropriate permissions can create and edit documents together in real time.

2. Create types to structure your documents

To keep documents organized, you can define document types such as Strategy, Concepts, or Internal documentation. This is especially helpful when multiple teams or topics are involved. Types make it easier for project members to find and reuse documents later on and can be adjusted as your project grows.

3. Create your first document

Create a new document and give it a clear title, for example Marketing strategy 2026. The document opens directly in the editor, and changes are saved automatically while you work. From this point on, multiple users can edit the document at the same time without any additional setup.

4. Share the document with your team

Simply share the document link with your project members. Everyone with access to the project can open the document and start contributing immediately. No separate invitations or external sharing settings are required — project permissions apply automatically.

5. Explore the editor and link work packages in the text

Use the editor to structure your content, add lists or headings, and reference relevant work packages directly in the document text. This helps connect ideas and decisions with the tasks they relate to. For more advanced editing options, you can learn more about the underlying editor technology in the BlockNote documentation.

Tip

Use the news module to spread the word and encourage project members to try out live collaboration in Documents as well.

Activate live collaboration in your team

You are already taking the time to read about live collaboration — enabling the Documents module in your project takes less than a minute. Activate the Documents module, create a first document, and invite your team to work on it together.

If you are looking for more details on specific settings or permissions, our documentation is the best place to start. The User Guide explains how to work with documents, while the System admin guide covers technical setup and configuration options.

OpenProject 17.0 has been released and introduces several major improvements across the platform. In this article, we highlight the most important changes and what they mean for your daily work.

As this is a major release with many updates, we focus on the key highlights here. For a complete overview of all features, changes, and bug fixes, please see our release notes.

A quick article navigation:

• Real-time documents collaboration

• Better meetings, less overhead: Draft and presentation modes, outcomes, and iCal

• Redesigned project home and improved template selection

• Programs and portfolios for strategic structuring (Enterprise add-on)

• Updated SharePoint integration with more restrictive permissions (Enterprise add-on)

• Other great improvements

Think together, create together: Real-time documents collaboration

Project ideas, decisions, and agreements are often formed together. At the same time, they tend to be spread across different tools and files. This makes it harder to keep context, align as a team, and connect written content to actual project work.

With OpenProject 17.0, teams can collaborate on documents in real time, directly in OpenProject. What does that mean? – Multiple users can edit a document at the same time and see each other’s changes instantly. This helps teams develop ideas together, align on content, and keep everything centrally available.

That central approach works especially well because most documents are closely connected to your tasks and projects. You can reference milestones and link work packages, making it easier to move from a shared text draft to an actionable project plan. This is especially useful for project-related documents such as concepts, contracts, specifications, or planning documents, where collaboration and traceability matter.

Good to know: The redesigned Documents module is built on BlockNote, a modern, open source text editor that is also used in other European open source projects such as LaSuite and openDesk. This creates a strong foundation for future collaboration features across OpenProject.

Important

Real-time collaboration in Documents is available out of the box for all plans using OpenProject Cloud or on-premises installations with Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or Helm. For package-based installations, real-time communication needs to be set up separately. Also relevant for on-premises installations using packages: The package source has been changed to packages.openproject.com.

If you want to learn more about the design decisions, technical background, and what’s planned next, read this blog article.

Better meetings, less overhead: Draft and presentation modes, outcomes, and iCal

Meetings are essential for coordination and decision-making — but preparing agendas, guiding discussions, and documenting results often require extra manual effort. This can make meetings feel fragmented and outcomes hard to follow up on.

OpenProject 17.0 improves meeting workflows by supporting teams before, during, and after a meeting, helping to keep everything structured in one place. Read more about meeting management with OpenProject in our user guide.

Planning a meeting: Draft mode

With draft mode, agendas can be created and refined collaboratively without notifying participants too early. This allows moderators to align internally before opening the meeting and sharing it with the full group.

Running a meeting: Presentation mode

Once the meeting starts, keeping discussions focused can be challenging. Presentation mode helps moderators guide participants through the agenda step by step, making it easier to stay on topic and ensure that all items are addressed in order.

Documenting results: Multiple outcomes

Capturing results is just as important as running the meeting itself. Meetings can now include multiple text-based outcomes, making it easier to document decisions, agreements, or next steps directly where they belong. These outcomes remain part of the meeting documentation and can be reviewed later.

Staying informed: iCal subscription

To support follow-up and planning, meetings can also be subscribed to via iCal, allowing participants to stay informed about schedules and updates in their personal calendar tools.

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Together, these improvements help teams run meetings more efficiently, keep discussions structured, and ensure that results are clearly documented and accessible.

Structure projects consistently: Redesigned project home and improved template selection

Creating projects in a consistent way is essential, especially for organizations working with defined project standards such as PM² or PMflex. In practice, project information is often spread across different views, and project setup can be error-prone, particularly for non-technical administrators.

OpenProject 17.0 introduces a redesigned project home, now split into two dedicated tabs. This makes it easier to distinguish between high-level project information and operational details and helps teams understand a project’s structure at a glance. Please note that in addition to the redesign, the project overview page has been renamed to project home.

Project creation has also been improved. A clearer template selection guides users through the setup process and helps avoid common mistakes, even when projects are created by users without deep technical knowledge.

Note

These improvements lay the foundation for a planned multi-step project creation wizard in one of the next releases. The upcoming wizard aims to support the creation and processing of PM² / PMflex artifacts in a guided and user-friendly way. We plan to publish a preview article about this feature on our blog soon.

Manage projects at a strategic level: Programs and portfolios (Enterprise add-on)

As organizations grow, managing projects individually is often no longer enough. Strategic goals, dependencies, and priorities need to be visible across multiple projects — not just within them.

With programs and portfolios, OpenProject 17.0 helps organizations structure projects at a higher level. Related projects can be grouped into programs and portfolios to provide an overview of all ongoing initiatives. This makes it easier to align work with strategic goals, track progress across projects, and support informed decision-making.

This is particularly helpful for organizations working with PM² or PMflex, where projects are embedded in a broader strategic context and need to be managed consistently across portfolios and programs. PMOs, management teams, and public sector organizations benefit from increased transparency without adding complexity to day-to-day project work.

The feature is available as an Enterprise add-on in the Premium plan and integrates seamlessly with existing project structures in OpenProject. See our user guide to learn more about the portfolio module in OpenProject.

More control when connecting SharePoint: Updated SharePoint integration (Enterprise add-on)

Sharing and collaborating on documents across systems is common in many organizations — but it also raises questions around access control and data protection. Especially in regulated environments, it is important to clearly define who can see and edit which content.

With OpenProject 17.0, the existing SharePoint/OneDrive integration has been split into two separate integrations. This allows for more restrictive and clearer permission handling when connecting SharePoint content to OpenProject.

The updated SharePoint and OneDrive integrations are available as Enterprise add-ons in the Professional plan, just like before version 17.0. See our system admin guide to learn more about the SharePoint integration and now separate OneDrive integration for OpenProject.

Other great improvements

OpenProject 17.0 is a packed release. To keep this article concise, here is a quick look at some additional improvements worth highlighting:

Improved accessibility

Alt texts for images and improved chart colors make OpenProject more accessible and easier to use for everyone. See our Release Notes for more information on accessibility improvements.

Smarter global search and more precise autocompleters

The global search now includes additional context such as type and status, helping users find relevant content faster. As a positive side effect of that, several autocompleters have been improved to provide more accurate suggestions and reduce ambiguity when entering data. See our Release Notes for more information on smarter global search and more precise autocompleters.

More restrictive user privacy options

User visibility can now be restricted more strictly for people who are not members of the same project, supporting privacy-sensitive environments. See our Release Notes for more information on more restrictive privacy options.

Improved project attribute help texts

Project attributes now offer clearer help texts with captions and support more direct editing, making project setup easier to understand. See our Release Notes for more information on improved project attribute help texts.

Custom mobile logo (Enterprise add-on)

Organizations using the Enterprise Basic plan and higher can now use a custom logo in the OpenProject mobile app to better reflect their brand. See our Release Notes for more information on adding a custom mobile logo.

Required project attributes

Projects can now enforce required attributes, helping ensure consistent and complete project data. See our Release Notes for more information on required project attributes.

New permission to export projects

A dedicated permission now allows administrators to control who is allowed to export project data.

OpenProject 17.0: Migration, installation, updates and support

Follow the upgrade guide for the packaged installation or Docker installation to update your OpenProject installation to OpenProject 17.0. We update your hosted OpenProject environments (Enterprise cloud) today, January 14, 2026.

You will find more information about all new features and changes in our Release notes or in the OpenProject Documentation.

If you need support, you can post your questions in the Community Forum, or if you are eligible for Enterprise support, please contact us and we will be happy to support you personally.

• New to OpenProject? To test all features of OpenProject 17.0 right away, create a 14 days free trial instance for our OpenProject Enterprise cloud.
• Prefer to run OpenProject 17.0 in your own infrastructure? Here you can find the Installation guidelines for OpenProject.
• Want to upgrade from a Community version to try out the Enterprise add-ons? Get a 14 days free trial token to test the Enterprise add-ons (all plans).

Credits

A very special thank you goes to Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, City of Cologne, Deutsche Bahn and ZenDiS for sponsoring released or upcoming features. Your support, alongside the efforts of our amazing Community, helps drive these innovations. Also a big thanks to our Community members for reporting bugs and helping us identify and provide fixes. Special thanks for reporting and finding bugs go to Alexander Aleschenko, Stefan Weiberg, and Markus Preisinger.

Last but not least, we are very grateful for our very engaged translation contributors on Crowdin, who translated quite a few OpenProject strings! This release we would like to particularly thank the following users:

• stenberg.thomas, for a great number of translations into Swedish.
• natalianikolaieva1803, for a great number of translations into Ukrainian.
• Sharmin, for a great number of translations into Persian.

Would you like to help out with translations yourself? Then take a look at our translation guide and find out exactly how you can contribute. It is very much appreciated!

As always, we welcome any feedback on this release.

Open source security is a shared responsibility. OpenProject is proud to take this responsibility seriously. As part of an initiative funded by the European Commission, we at OpenProject have partnered with the YesWeHack bug bounty platform to make our open source project management software even more secure.

Security researchers are invited to test the latest stable version and report any vulnerabilities – with financial rewards for valid reports.

What is the bug bounty about?

OpenProject is currently listed as a public program on YesWeHack. Security researchers can analyze the latest stable release of OpenProject as published on our GitHub repository, and report any findings through the platform.

The program is sponsored by the European Commission, under its initiative to strengthen the digital security of open source tools used by public institutions. It’s part of a broader strategy to foster digital sovereignty and secure open infrastructure in Europe.

Note

About YesWeHack: The bug bounty and vulnerability management platform is “built by hackers for hackers”, connecting organizations and ethical hackers worldwide to uncover and patch vulnerabilities. Read more on their website.

Examples of valid vulnerability types include:

• SQL Injection (SQLi)
• Cross-site Scripting (XSS)
• Remote Code Execution (RCE)
• Privilege Escalation
• Authentication/Authorization flaws

Full scope and exclusions are listed on the YesWeHack program page.

Quick guide: How to contribute

1. Create a free YesWeHack account at yeswehack.com.
2. Join the OpenProject program.
3. Analyze the latest stable release.
4. Submit valid vulnerabilities through the platform.
5. Receive your reward if your report is accepted and in scope.

FAQ

Who can participate?

Anyone with a YesWeHack account and a passion for security can participate. You don’t need to be part of an organization — individual researchers are welcome.

What is in scope?

Only the latest stable OpenProject version is in scope.

What are the reward ranges?

The rewards range from €100 to €5,000, depending on the severity of the vulnerability. Rewards are based on the CVSS severity score and follow a structured grid.

How do I submit a report?

You can submit a report through the YesWeHack platform. Reports must include clear reproduction steps and follow the responsible disclosure policy.

What happens after submission?

Submissions are reviewed by OpenProject and triaged based on impact. Eligible reports will be rewarded and fixed as appropriate.

Join the effort — hack for the public good

Help us make OpenProject even more secure. Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or just starting out, your contributions make a difference.

Explore the OpenProject program on YesWeHack.

What a year of contrasts 2025 was! Full of growth, progress and meaningful impact. But at the same time, full of threats, uncertainties, and alarming announcements. How can we remain positive with all the challenges we face every day? We believe that this is precisely why optimism matters more than ever. It is a choice to see opportunity where others see obstacles, to focus on solutions rather than problems. We should roll up our sleeves and be the change we want to see in this world, not waiting for someone else to act. Every small effort, every thoughtful decision, and every collaboration contributes to a larger impact. By staying hopeful, committed, and proactive, we turn uncertainty into possibility and challenges into milestones for progress. And we are proud of everything we have achieved together over the past year.

As we close another chapter, we want to pause, look back, and celebrate together: with our team, our Community, our partners, and our users — with you! This year, OpenProject continued to live up to its mission: delivering open source, sovereign, and powerful project management to organizations of any kind: Empowering teams to achieve great things together for the good of society. And we did that not just by adding features but by thinking deeply about why open source matters today more than ever.

🚀 What we shipped in 2025

Continued regular releases, real improvements

In 2025, we shipped a total of 28 releases, each bringing meaningful, visible improvements to our users. Among the most important enhancements were:

• Major UI and accessibility upgrades, along with improved filtering, usability refinements, and new configuration options for dark and high contrast modes.
• Significant enhancements to the Meetings module, including meeting backlogs, recurring meetings, agenda item outcomes, PDF exports, and improved invitation flows.
• Improved scheduling with automatic “as soon as possible” scheduling mode, better progress calculations, and support for entering lags.
• Portfolio management improvements, incl. project life-cycle management and calculated values for project evaluation and scoring.
• Time-tracking improvements, including a dedicated calendar view and PDF exports for timesheets.
• Enhanced file-storage integrations for Nextcloud and SharePoint.
• Additional collaboration features such as internal comments (Enterprise add-on), automatically generated work package titles, work package reminders to notify users at a later point in time, and numerous refinements to support more flexible and efficient teamwork.

These updates reflect our commitment to continuous meaningful improvements instead of bells and whistles, but making the tool more helpful, more accessible, and more reliable for everyday work. Our release notes provide an overview of all updates. You can even view the fantastic new release videos we introduced in 2025.

Industry recognition: OpenProject as a top-rated PM solution

In March 2025, we were honored to be recognized by Gartner Digital Markets (via Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice) as one of the leading project management solutions 2025 worldwide. This recognition is not just a badge but a tribute to our users, our Community, and our persistent dedication to quality and open source values.

Reinforcing our strategic roadmap: our vision meets execution in 2026 and beyond

At the start of 2025, we published our roadmap, spotlighting key themes like portfolio management, team collaboration, integrations & API, usability & accessibility — and even a mobile app on the horizon. It’s inspiring for us to see so many of those planned items take shape throughout the year and not least because they align with real needs of organizations scaling sustainably.

In 2026 and beyond, OpenProject is expanding its capabilities across key strategic areas to empower organizations with even more robust, secure, and future-ready collaboration. The 2026 roadmap focuses on advancing the migration from Atlassian Jira, strengthening IT Service Management (ITSM), and deepening support for agile project management. It further enhances test management, portfolio management, and resource and capacity planning to improve cross-team efficiency and transparency.

In addition, OpenProject is investing in powerful AI integrations to automate workflows and provide actionable insights, while also extending real-time collaboration in text editors. Together, these focus areas shape a comprehensive strategy to support digital transformation and agile administration in the years ahead.

💙 Why 2025 mattered — beyond features

Because open source and digital sovereignty matter more than ever

We live in a world where digital infrastructure shapes power, autonomy, and trust. With rising geopolitical tensions, shifting regulations and increasing attention to data sovereignty, it’s no longer optional to ask where your data is stored, but it becomes fundamental.

OpenProject stands for a different path: open source, transparent, self-hostable, privacy-conscious. In 2025, we saw more organizations, especially in public administration and regulated environments, look for exactly that kind of sovereignty, control, and independence, rather than signing up for closed SaaS tools. This is not just about software, it’s about preserving freedom, democracy and trust in digital collaboration.

All the happier we are that also openDesk, the sovereign workplace by Zentrum Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS), is gaining traction and organizations such as German State Premiers and the International Criminal Court chose openDesk in 2025. We are happy that we are part of this, contributing Portfolio and Project Management as well as collaboration functionalities.

Because our team and Community outshine everything

Our success this year would not have been possible without the vibrant and engaged team. In May this year, we gathered for our company offsite in Brandenburg. Spinning new ideas, fostering team spirit and spending fun time together. Watch our team video to get an impression. We want to thank our team, who showed up with passion, patience and persistence throughout the year. You make it happen!

“When the wind turns wild, set your sails with intention. Storms reveal the strongest navigators. In these times of uncertainty, it is more important than ever to collaborate with our friends. Digital sovereignty is a joint task for Europe in order to stand up for our values and thus for our democracy.” – Birthe Lindenthal, CMO and Co-founder

And all of this would not have been possible without the Community around OpenProject. From bug reports and feature requests to translations, documentation contributions, testing, feedback and support: every single contribution matters. The 2025 Gartner recognition, the smooth releases, the roadmap follow-through, all of it stands on the shoulders of our Community.

And finally, we thank our close partners and sponsors once again. i.e. City of Cologne, Deutsche Bahn, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, and ZenDiS. Of course, it’s great to release software for free. But developers want to be paid, open source or not. That’s why we would like to express our heartfelt thank you to our loyal partners who support us with feature sponsorship. All these upstream contributions benefit other users.

Because we stand up as a serious alternative to proprietary PM stacks

With the announced discontinuation of Atlassian Data Center, 2025 has become a crucial year for companies evaluating their future tools. We were aware of this and worked to position OpenProject not just as “another project management tool”, but as a standalone, mature alternative and a reliable partner for an immediate switch. In doing so, we have made a small but important contribution to digital independence on a large scale.

Because we build a strong ecosystem with our partners

2025 also marked an important year for strengthening the open source ecosystem around OpenProject. We know that digital sovereignty cannot be achieved alone. It is a team effort — in Germany, across Europe, and with strong partners who share our vision. In 2025, we were proud to strengthen international collaboration, from our participation in the DINUM Hackathon in Paris, where we explored cross-border solutions for open, privacy-first collaboration, to participating in the Franco-German Digital Sovereignty Summit in Berlin, reaffirming the importance of sovereign solutions for public administration.

Together with our partners, we deepened a network of powerful, privacy-respecting alternatives to proprietary platforms. Our long-standing partnership with Nextcloud continued to grow, enabling seamless content collaboration through our Nextcloud integration and offering organizations a secure, sovereign alternative to Microsoft 365. We were excited to participate as sponsors in many Nextcloud Enterprise Days, such as in Copenhagen, The Hague, and Paris, as well as at the Nextcloud Summit in Munich. At the same time, we intensified our collaboration with XWiki to build an open, extensible alternative to Atlassian Confluence — and we are already working on the first integration. This is where open source truly shows its strength: when independent projects unite their communities, their knowledge, and their innovations. Because in this ecosystem, 1+1 becomes 3 — and organizations gain real freedom of choice.

🧱 The challenges and what still needs attention

Of course, not everything is done. As we grow and evolve, we see areas where improvement is still needed:

• Ensuring smooth migration paths for larger organizations switching from legacy tools, especially for those coming from proprietary stacks.
• Continuing to build integrations and interoperability because tools don’t live in isolation.
• Enhancing UX and accessibility further, especially with more diverse users, platforms, and needs.
• Preparing for global uncertainties: security, data protection, and sovereignty, and ensuring OpenProject remains a safe, stable and trustworthy place for organizations to collaborate.

We accept these challenges, and we are committed to working on them together with you.

❤️ Thank you to our Community, our users, our team

We started 2025 with a lot of energy. Today, at the end of 2025, we look back with pride, gratitude and optimism. Thank you for your trust, your feedback, your engagement and your contributions.

Whether you are a long-time user, a newcomer, a contributor, a supporter, or just someone curious: you make OpenProject what it is. Let’s carry this spirit into 2026!

• Let’s continue building software that empowers teams — not locks them in.
• Let’s continue our support for digital sovereignty, open collaboration and transparent infrastructure.
• Let’s stay open, inclusive, quality-driven and always ready to listen to our Community.

Together, we make OpenProject not just a any tool, but a shared foundation for collaboration, trust and freedom.

Here’s to 2026. 🌟 The OpenProject team

Starting version 17.0 – currently planned for January 2026, OpenProject introduces a completely redesigned Documents module with real-time collaboration capabilities. This marks a significant step forward in how teams can work together within OpenProject, enabling multiple users to edit documents simultaneously while seeing each other’s changes as they happen.

Why we needed this change

Project teams work in increasingly distributed and asynchronous ways. Whether you are brainstorming ideas, drafting project requirements, writing status reports or planning the next phase of work, collaboration is at the heart of what makes projects successful. However, traditional document editing workflows often create friction: files are duplicated, versions become out of sync, and team members struggle to know which version is the most current. Parallel editing leads to conflicts, data loss and frustration.

At OpenProject, we’re always trying to find ways to help our users communicate and collaborate in better ways. We believe teams want to work together in real time, see who else is contributing and have confidence that their edits won’t be lost or overwritten. This is precisely why we worked on upgrades to the Documents module.

Important

Please note that the changes outlined in this article are planned for release in version 17.0, which is currently scheduled for January 14, 2026.

Real-time collaboration in OpenProject

The redesigned Documents module brings true real-time collaboration to OpenProject. When you open a document, you can see who else is actively editing it. Their cursors appear on the page, showing exactly where they are and what changes they are making, as they type.

Real-time collaboration is not simply about being able to see other users’ changes. It’s also about removing the barriers that slow teams down: no more waiting for someone to finish editing before you can make your contribution, no more merging conflicting versions, no more hunting through email attachments or shared drives to find the latest version of a document. The most current document is always in one place, and everyone works from the same source of truth.

What’s new in Documents

The new Documents module represents both a significant user experience improvement and a fundamental technological shift:

Real-time collaborative editing: Multiple users can edit the same document simultaneously. You see who’s online, where their cursors are, and what they’re changing in real time. Complex conflict management happens automatically in the background, ensuring that no one’s edits are lost.

Modern rich text editor: Documents now uses BlockNote, a modern open source rich text editor that makes writing and formatting simple and intuitive. Adding rich content like images, videos, audio files, or code blocks is straightforward.

Dynamic work package references: You can now include references to work packages directly within documents using the /op or /workpackage commands. These references update dynamically, so if the name, status or type of a work package changes, these are reflected automatically in the document. This also makes it easy to link to features or reference bugs without manually copying and pasting information that might become outdated.

File attachments: Attach files to any document to provide additional context, supporting materials, or related resources. Everything stays organized in one place.

Improved design and usability: The entire interface has been redesigned with a focus on clarity and ease of use, with a particular focus on providing a distraction-free editing experience.

Take a look at this short preview Gif that shows the features listed above:

Preview for OpenProject 17.0: Four active editors in the Documents module, adding a heart image to the document, linking work packages and collaboratively writing and editing text.

Technical foundations

Making real-time collaboration possible required substantial work on the technical foundation of the Documents module. We’ve adopted two powerful open source technologies: BlockNote as our rich text editor and Hocuspocus as our real-time collaboration toolkit.

BlockNote provides the editing experience users interact with directly. It’s extensible, modern and designed with collaboration in mind. One particularly exciting aspect of using BlockNote is that our new work package reference components are built to be generic and reusable, such that other tools that use BlockNote can also benefit from these same components. For example, Docs, part of France’s LaSuite and Germany’s openDesk, is based on BlockNote. XWiki is also testing an integration with BlockNote, which will allow users of these tools to call our BlockNote extension add dynamic links to OpenProject work packages in their text. The combination of XWiki’s knowledge management platform and OpenProject’s work management capabilities is especially potent as a replacement for Atlassian’s Jira-Confluence package. Such integrations create a more consistent experience for users working across different tools in their digital workspace.

Hocuspocus handles the complex real-time synchronization and conflict resolution that happens behind the scenes. When multiple users are editing simultaneously, Hocuspocus ensures that changes are merged correctly, no edits are lost and that the editing experience remains smooth.

These technologies form a solid foundation for collaborative editing in the Documentions module today, and potentially across other areas of OpenProject in the future.

Looking ahead

The new Documents module is the first step in a larger vision for real-time collaboration in OpenProject. However, it’s also a test bed. We’re using Documents to refine our technology, test our infrastructure and learn how our users collaborate in practice.

Once the technology is stable and we’ve gathered real-world experience, we plan to introduce real-time collaboration in other areas of OpenProject where it can bring value. Work packages are an obvious next candidate. Our goal is to make it possible for you to see your colleagues editing work package descriptions or updating custom fields in real time, with the same experience you now have in Documents.

How to access the new Documents module

For Cloud users: If have an OpenProject Cloud subscription, the new Documents module is available starting with version 17.0. You don’t need to do anything. Hocuspocus and all other dependencies are already installed and configured. Simply ensure the Documents module is enabled for each project where you want to use it, and you can start collaborating immediately.

For on-premises users: How you access the new Documents depends on your installation type:

• Containerized installations (Kubernetes, Docker, or Helm charts): Everything works out of the box. Hocuspocus is automatically installed and configured for you and real-time collaboration is enabled by default.

• Package-based installations (DEB/RPM packages): You’ll need to manually install dependencies such as Hocuspocus and configure them to enable real-time collaboration.

Note

Please see this admin guide for more information on real-time collaboration for Package-based installations.

What happens to existing documents

All documents created before version 17.0 remain accessible exactly as they were, using the CKEditor-based text editor. These documents do not support real-time collaboration, but they’re fully functional and unchanged. You can continue to use them as you always have.

Starting with version 17.0, all newly created documents use BlockNote and support real-time collaboration (if real-time collaboration is properly configured and enabled). This means you’ll have both old-style and new-style documents coexisting in your OpenProject instance. Older documents will have a ‘Legacy’ label on them for easy identification.

Important

If real-time collaboration is enabled and users create new documents, but real-time collaboration is subsequently disabled (either manually or due to issues reaching the Hocuspocus server), those documents will no longer be accessible. We are aware this can lead to loss of access to data, so we strongly recommend that you not disable real-time collaboration after it has been enabled.

If real-time collaboration is not enabled—for example, because Hocuspocus is not available—new documents will continue to use the old style with CKEditor, without real-time collaboration features.

Your feedback

There is of course still a lot of work to do before we have real-time collaboration across all of OpenProject. We would really appreciate your help in getting us there.

Your feedback will help us understand what we’re doing right, what we can improve and what we should focus on. Does having real-time editing in OpenProject change the way you work? Will you use this in your own projects? What are ways we can improve it?

As an open source company, we develop in the open and value input from our user Community. If you have thoughts about the new Documents module, questions about how it works, or ideas for how we can make it even better, we’d love to hear from you. Join our Community instance and share your feedback.

Credits

We would like to thank the team behind BlockNote — Yousef El-Dardiry, Nick Perez, and Matthew Lipski — for creating such an excellent open source rich text editor. Thanks as well to the team behind Hocuspocus for providing the robust real-time collaboration infrastructure that makes this possible.

We’d also like to thank the design, development and QA teams at OpenProject for their hard work in making all this possible.

Europe needs open, interoperable tools to collaborate across borders. Especially in the public sector. This vision was reaffirmed at the Summit on European Digital Sovereignty in Berlin, where leaders committed to strengthening open source infrastructures like openDesk OpenProject was invited on site as part of openDesk.

Summit on European Digital Sovereignty

This week, the Summit on European Digital Sovereignty took place in Berlin, hosted by the German government and attended by high-level political leaders and open source innovators from across the continent. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron laid out a joint vision for a sovereign digital Europe.

OpenProject participated as part of openDesk

When we talk about digital sovereignty in Germany and Europe, we talk about openDesk. openDesk is the secure all in one office and collaboration suite, for the public sector and everyone else. OpenProject is proud to be a core component, powering project and task management in a secure, privacy-first environment.

In his speech, Merz mentioned ZenDiS’s OpenDesk as an alternative that is already being used at the Robert Koch Institute and is also in use, at least selectively, in the Chancellery and the Ministry of Digital Affairs. We reported on this in our blog a few weeks ago.

The significance of digital sovereignty is evident

It is a positive sign that all 27 EU member states have signed the “Declaration on European Digital Sovereignty” initiated by Austria, thereby establishing a framework for action on digital sovereignty.

Another strong signal is the increasing presence of openDesk and the topic of digital sovereignty in general in the press. After the summit, the official German news programs Tagesschau and Tagesthemen have reported on the importance of digital sovereignty.

As Adriana Groh, CEO of Sovereign Tech Agency, summarizes at her speach on the Berlin summit this week: “Open source has proven itself to be a winning strategy — not recently, but for decades.”

Conclusion: Attention is great, but the work continues

Europe has the talent, the tools, and the momentum to shape its digital future, openly and collaboratively. The Berlin summit was a powerful reminder that open source is no longer a niche solution, but a strategic choice at the highest levels of government.

OpenProject is proud to be part of this movement. Together with the openDesk ecosystem and partners across Europe, we are committed to creating digital tools that serve the public good.

Still, we share the feeling expressed by ZenDiS on LinkedIn, that we miss even clearer commitments to open source solutions. Because even though the importance of digital sovereignty is becoming increasingly apparent, there is still a lack of clear communication, decisions, and speed.

If you’re working in digital public administration, now is the time to join the conversation. Learn more about openDesk and book a demo with ZenDiS to discuss your options.

Managing goals in form of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) is a proven framework used by companies of all sizes to align strategy and execution. To successfully work with OKRs, teams need a flexible and transparent OKR software that supports both high-level strategic planning and day-to-day task management. OpenProject is perfectly suited as an OKR software to meet this goal.

Read the following guide to learn how you and your organization can use the OpenProject software to manage your OKRs in three steps.

Insights: Our experience with OpenProject as OKR software

OpenProject is known as top project management and task software. What many people don’t yet realize is that the tool can also be used wonderfully for the OKR methodology. In other words, for strategic goal setting with Objectives and Key Results. The OpenProject team is a good example of how OpenProject works in practice as OKR software. Since Q1 2025, we have been using OpenProject to plan and track our corporate Strategic Initiatives, Objectives, and corresponding Key Results.

Today, we share our experience and learnings, so that you can benefit from our test runs and use these instructions to get started with your own OKRs right away.

Note

We will show some screenshots in this article. Please note that some of them actually show our real company OKR project while others are based on demo data. Nevertheless, the process and structure reflects the way we work with Objectives and Key Results internally.

Learning 1: OKR masters and regular check-ins

To start with OKRs in our company, we selected and trained two so-called OKR masters. They are experts in the OKR framework and know best how to handle Objectives and Key Results, e.g. when it comes to phrasing or questions like “What do I do with OKRs that we didn’t finish in this quarter?”.

To do so, they also attend our regular OKR check-ins – to answer questions and stay informed on how the different OKR teams proceed. In the first quarters, we scheduled these check-ins weekly. Now that everyone is more experienced in working with OKRs, some teams changed the frequency to bi-weekly or even monthly check-in meetings.

Learning 2: Dedicated OKR teams in a dedicated project

As we use the OpenProject software for many different projects, it was quite clear that we needed a dedicated OKR project for all our Objectives and Key Results. Nevertheless, this OKR project is not time-limited. New OKRs are added every quarter, and at the same time, we can view past quarters at any time.

What we have learned: Creating dedicated OKR teams is very helpful. Not only because the composition of OKR teams can differ from our usual team structure, but also because OKR teams may require different permissions.

In addition, we created an OKR wiki right at the beginning, which the OKR masters keep up to date. In it, employees can find all the information they need for internal work with OKRs.

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Guide: How to use OpenProject as OKR software in 3 steps

These were our most important learnings after three quarters working with OKRs in OpenProject. Now, let’s see how exactly you can use the tool for OKRs, step by step.

Quick navigation:

Step 1: Setting the project

• Type, status, versions, groups and custom fields

Step 2: Adding OKRs

• Work package relations
• Work package attributes and descriptions

Step 3: Monitoring

• Work package tables
• Boards
• Meetings
• Overview and statistics

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Step 1: Create an OKR project with specific settings

The first step in OpenProject is always creating a new project, inviting members – and adjusting all necessary settings.

For an OKR project, you’ll need specific work package types like:

• Strategic Initiative
• Objective
• Key Result
• Task

These are the work package types we use to manage our OKRs at OpenProject.

For statuses, we rely on the same ones we typically use, e.g. “new”, “in progress” or “closed”. Additionally we added the status “moved to next quarter”, which is very helpful if you want to continue on an Objective or Key Result in the following months. This way, accountables just need to update the status and change the version, e.g. from “Objectives 2025 Q3” to “Objectives 2025 Q4”.

As mentioned above, we advise to set up OKR groups for different teams so that everyone, e.g. the OKR master, can assign work packages to the specific teams. This allows individual teams to see at a glance which OKRs belong to them and decide among themselves who is accountable for which Objective or assigned to which task.

Tip

We’re still experimenting with custom fields for OKR work packages. One idea is to set up a custom field for the Confidence Level, on Objective and on Key Result level. Accountables can then update the Confidence Level regularly to track how certain they are that the Objective or Key Result will be achieved by the end of the quarter – for example, by setting it to 0.7 if they estimate the probability to be 70%.

Step 2: Start Strategic Initiatives, Objectives and Key Results for the next quarter

Now that everything is preset, step 2 can start: defining quarter-specific Strategic Initiatives, Objectives and Key Results. This step builds on the company’s vision, mission, and annual goals — ensuring that each new OKR directly contributes to the overall strategy. Typically, the Strategic Initiatives and Objectives are defined and approved at the management level, while the corresponding Key Results and related tasks are then discussed and refined collaboratively within each team.

Work package relations

Of course, these work packages should all be linked in a smart way. In OpenProject, simply use parent-child relations to display dependencies between a Strategic Initiative, its Objectives and Key Results:

Learn more about work package relations in OpenProject.

Work package attributes and descriptions

Once you have created all relevant work packages for the quarter and have set up all relations, it might be helpful to bulk edit them to add more information:

• Set the start and finish date to the start and end of the quarter.
• Set the version e.g. to Q4 2025, so that you can filter for that.
• Adjust priorities if necessary.

Apart from these general attributes, it is always helpful to add work package descriptions and if you work with estimates and progress, fill out the fields for Work – depending on your progress reporting mode (which is defined on an instance level).

Step 3: Monitor and schedule regular OKR meetings

Once everything is set up in OpenProject, the real work can start. To keep track of your OKR progress, you can filter and save Work package tables, Boards or Gantt charts.

Work package tables

Here’s a real screenshot of our internal OKR work package tables:

You can see saved work package tables for all teams for different quarters as well as team-specific tables. Helpful on a management level is a filtered view for all Strategic Initiatives across quarters.

Boards

Some teams prefer working with boards instead of table views. For OKRs, a parent-child board is helpful to display Objectives and their corresponding Key Results:

This type of board view works well for (bi)weekly OKR check-ins to monitor and discuss progress for each Objective.

Meetings

When it comes to OKR, regular check-ins are essential not only for the team but also on a management or OKR master level. Here’s where one of OpenProject’s most popular features comes into play: the Meetings module. Set up a recurring meeting series based on a template, and you’ll have a dedicated space to regularly review the progress of your Objectives and Key Results.

With just a few clicks, you can add them to the agenda, include comments, and record an outcome during the meeting. It couldn’t be more convenient — everything is presented at a glance, with direct links to the work packages and email invitations sent to participants. Done.

Overview and statistics

Use the project overview page to see at a glance which Key Results are at risk, closed or moved to the next quarter. Here’s an example of the OpenProject company OKR overview page:

Note

OpenProject is an OKR software that is frequently updated, with new releases every month. Looking ahead, we plan to improve our setup by experimenting with even more detailed dashboards and further automation. Take a look at our roadmap to see what we plan to release next!

Start a trial to test OpenProject for your OKRs

With everything set up, your team can now fully leverage OpenProject as OKR software to align goals, track results, and stay accountable.

OpenProject helps teams implement OKRs without switching tools. With flexible work package types and intuitive tracking, you can align strategy and execution in one place. Are you and your team working with OKRs as well? Try OpenProject now and see how OKR software built on open source can streamline your strategic alignment.

Open Source collaboration for the public sector

Digital collaboration in public administration is becoming increasingly important across Europe and beyond. Questions of data protection, interoperability, and digital sovereignty are now central to how governments organize their work.

In Germany, one initiative is setting a strong example: openDesk, an open source collaboration platform designed specifically for public institutions, developed by the Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (ZenDiS), a government-owned organization promoting open and secure IT infrastructures. openDesk integrates several trusted open source applications – including OpenProject for project management and task tracking – to enable secure, transparent, and independent collaboration within and between public organizations.

A milestone for openDesk: The German conference of Minister Presidents

A key milestone for openDesk was its successful use by the Conference of Minister Presidents (“Ministerpräsidentenkonferenz”, MPK). This conference brings together the heads of all 16 German federal states several times a year to coordinate policy decisions across the country.

At the October 2024 meeting in Leipzig, openDesk was used for the first time – only one week after the platform’s official launch. The organizing team from the State of Saxony wanted a secure, sovereign system for sharing documents, recording decisions, and collaborating on materials between all 16 states.

The result was a complete success. openDesk proved to be reliable, secure, and interoperable. The conference’s digital processes ran smoothly, and all participating offices could collaborate efficiently. This first real-world use case demonstrated that open source collaboration works even at the highest levels of government.

The technology behind openDesk

openDesk is a modular, fully open collaboration suite that combines several established open source solutions into one cohesive environment. It is developed and supported by a strong network of European and German partners who are committed to transparency, data protection, and digital sovereignty:

• B1 Systems GmbH – consulting and infrastructure services for open source deployments.
• Collabora Online – collaborative editing of office documents directly in the browser.
• Element Software GmbH – secure chat and video communication based on the Matrix protocol.
• Nextcloud GmbH – secure file storage, synchronization, and sharing.
• Nordeck IT + Consulting GmbH – software development and integration of open collaboration tools.
• OpenProject GmbH – project management, task planning, and transparent team collaboration.
• Open-Xchange GmbH – open e-mail and groupware infrastructure.
• STACKIT GmbH & Co. KG – cloud hosting infrastructure based in Germany.
• Univention GmbH – identity and access management for public IT systems.
• XWiki SAS – open knowledge management and documentation platform.

Together, these organizations deliver a sovereign, privacy-respecting digital workspace that meets the strict security and data protection standards of European public administrations.

Secure hosting within Germany

During the first deployment at the MPK in Saxony, openDesk was operated by Adfinis and hosted on the cloud infrastructure of IONOS, which is certified according to the C5 security standard of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

The more recent MPK meeting under the chairmanship of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was hosted by STACKIT, the cloud provider of the Schwarz Group (known for Lidl and Kaufland), with technical support from B1 Systems.

This collaboration between public institutions, mid-sized IT service providers, and open source software vendors shows how digital sovereignty is becoming a practical reality in Europe – secure, independent, and future-proof.

Growing momentum: The International Criminal Court joins the movement

Digital sovereignty is not just a German or European topic anymore. The idea of using open, transparent, and locally controlled software is gaining international traction.

Recently, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced its decision to replace Microsoft products with openDesk. This move by one of the world’s most important international justice institutions underlines a growing trend: organizations handling sensitive information are increasingly turning to open source solutions to ensure long-term independence and control over their data.

OpenProject as a key component of openDesk

As one of the core components of openDesk, OpenProject provides the backbone for structured project and task management. It enables transparency, accountability, and traceability of decisions – essential qualities for complex administrative environments.

OpenProject helps public sector teams coordinate their work effectively, stay aligned on responsibilities and timelines, and maintain full control over their data. Hosted on European infrastructure and fully open source, it meets the highest privacy and compliance standards.

Learn more about openDesk and the software providers behind it.

Looking ahead

By the end of 2025, openDesk aims to deploy around 160,000 licenses across German public institutions. The platform continues to expand – from large organizations like the Robert Koch Institute to smaller but strategically critical bodies such as the Conference of Minister Presidents.

openDesk and its components, including OpenProject, represent a shared vision: digital sovereignty as the new standard, not the exception.

OpenProject 16.6 has been released and this version introduces new features and improvements again. Please take a few minutes to learn what changes for you. We will summarize the most important changes in this blog article and, as always, please see our release notes that contain all changes, features and bug fixes.

• Project evaluation and scoring (Enterprise add-on)
• Significant performance improvements
• New index page for Documents module
• Further usability updates

Project evaluation and scoring (Enterprise add-on)

With OpenProject 16.6, project portfolio managers gain new ways to make their work more measurable and transparent. The release introduces three new project attribute types: Hierarchy, Weighted item lists, and Calculated value. They can be combined to evaluate and compare projects based on consistent criteria.

These attributes allow organizations to build their own evaluation models. Hierarchy project attributes let you organize information in a structured, nested way — for example, grouping initiatives by region, department, or program.

Weighted item lists extend this concept by assigning numeric scores to list options, such as effort levels or risk ratings. These values can then be used as input for automated calculations.

Calculated values enable automatic computations based on formulas using numeric project attributes, including scores from Weighted item lists or even other calculated values. The computed result is displayed directly on the project overview and in the project list. It automatically updates whenever one of its source attributes (e.g., Benefit or Effort in the example below) changes.

Here’s an example of a calculated value called ‘Overall score (calculated)’ with the following formula: (Strategic impact * 0.6) + ( Benefit * 0.3) - (Effort * 0.1)

These new attribute types open up flexible ways to work with project data. Scoring is just one typical example — the same structure can be used to represent strategic priorities, aggregate indicators, or define your own evaluation framework that fits your organization’s needs.

Note

Please note that these new project attributes are part of our Enterprise add-ons in the Enterprise Premium plan.

Significant performance improvements

Working with large projects and complex portfolios can be challenging when pages take too long to load or filters lag behind. That’s why OpenProject 16.6 focuses on improving performance, ensuring that even large-scale installations with thousands of projects and millions of work packages remain fast and reliable.

To achieve this, several backend processes have been improved. Database queries and API responses have been refined to avoid unnecessary counting operations, and the autocompleter for adding work package relations now only retrieves the data it actually needs. These changes reduce query load and make the application more efficient overall.

As a result, users will notice faster response times, smoother navigation, and more responsive filtering — even in the largest environments.

New index page for Documents module

Managing project documents efficiently is key to keeping everyone aligned. But as projects grow, finding the right file can become a challenge. To make this easier, OpenProject 16.6 introduces the first step toward a more powerful and collaborative Documents module.

The new index page provides a structured overview of all project documents, showing each file’s Name, Type (the category), and Last edited date. The most recently updated items are always on top. A quick filter helps you search by title, and the navigation menu on the left lets you narrow the list by Type (previously called Category). Both terms are used synonymously in this first step, as Type will gradually replace Category in future updates.

A new + Document button makes adding content straightforward, and on mobile devices, the view adapts to show only the most relevant details.

While this is a smaller change on its own, it marks the beginning of a broader improvement to how teams will work with documents in OpenProject. We are excited about the upcoming changes that will make document management and live collaboration easier and more intuitive.

See our roadmap for more information.

Further usability updates

Small usability enhancements can make a big difference in everyday work. OpenProject 16.6 brings several refinements that make managing information smoother, meetings more efficient, and administration tasks easier to navigate.

Change parent of a custom field item or project attribute (Enterprise add-on)

Administrators can now rearrange items within hierarchical custom fields (Enterprise add-on) or project attributes without having to recreate them. A new Change parent option opens a dialog showing the hierarchy tree, allowing quick reorganization through search and selection.

Updated “More” menu in meetings

In the Meetings module, moderators can now move agenda items directly between sections using the new Move to section action. This saves time in meetings with multiple sections or longer agendas and helps keep discussions better structured.

Learn more about meeting management with OpenProject.

Editing individual attributes even if other fields are invalid

Users can now edit visible fields even if other required fields are missing or invalid. This prevents unnecessary validation errors — for example, when a required field was added later — and lets users continue their work without interruption.

Sticky header and first column in workflows

In Administration → Work packages → Workflow, the table now has a sticky header and sticky first column. This makes it easier for administrators to keep an overview of transitions when scrolling through large workflow tables.

Read more about managing work package workflows in OpenProject.

Mini calendar re-added on mobile

On mobile devices, the date picker once again includes a mini calendar view for selecting start and finish dates. This makes it easier to see weekdays and working days at a glance, improving usability when managing tasks on the go.

OpenProject 16.6: Migration, installation, updates and support

Follow the upgrade guide for the packaged installation or Docker installation to update your OpenProject installation to OpenProject 16.6. We update your hosted OpenProject environments (Enterprise cloud) today, November 5, 2025.

You will find more information about all new features and changes in our Release notes or in the OpenProject Documentation.

If you need support, you can post your questions in the Community Forum, or if you are eligible for Enterprise support, please contact us and we are happy to support you personally.

• New to OpenProject? To test all features of OpenProject 16.6 right away, create a 14 days free trial instance for our OpenProject Enterprise cloud.
• Prefer to run OpenProject 16.6 in your own infrastructure? Here you can find the Installation guidelines for OpenProject.
• Want to upgrade from a Community version to try out the Enterprise add-ons? Get a 14 days free trial token to test the Enterprise add-ons (all plans).

Credits

A very special thank you goes to Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, City of Cologne, Deutsche Bahn and ZenDiS for sponsoring released or upcoming features. Your support, alongside the efforts of our amazing Community, helps drive these innovations. Also a big thanks to our Community members for reporting bugs and helping us identify and provide fixes. Special thanks for reporting and finding bugs go to Sven Kunze, Stefan Weiberg, Gábor Alexovics, Alexander Aleschenko, and Tobias Nowakow.

This release, we specifically want to thank Emon for reporting a security vulnerability on our website. Reports and feedback like this are one of the reasons we love OSS and appreciate being part of such an amazing community.

Last but not least, we are very grateful for our very engaged translation contributors on Crowdin, who translated quite a few OpenProject strings! This release we would like to particularly thank the following users:

• William, for a great number of translations into Chinese Traditional.
• Pickart, for a great number of translations into Catalan.
• Maxime77, for a great number of translations into French. Would you like to help out with translations yourself? Then take a look at our translation guide and find out exactly how you can contribute. It is very much appreciated!

As always, we welcome any feedback on this release. 💙

OpenProject as a secure web-based project management software supports many different use cases. At the beginning of each quarter, it is very convenient to follow the OKR process in OpenProject, set your strategic goals, derive smaller goals, and break them down into manageable and measurable smaller results.

What are OKRs?

After Agile, OKR is now arguably a well known buzzword in modern business management and people management. Not only does the company set goals from the top down anymore, but the employees are also involved in the formulation of the company’s goals in this management framework.

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. With OKRs, individual tasks of employees and/or teams are linked to the strategic corporate goals. Based on the corporate goals, the teams regularly (e.g., every quarter) derive their individual or team goals and define measurable results for those goals.

Objectives are qualitative goals: Where do I want to go or what do I want to achieve (always with regard to the corporate goal(s)). Key Results are quantitative smaller results (tasks) which count towards the Objective: What do I have to do to achieve the goal and how can I measure it?

The overall company goals are broken down into qualitative Objectives and quantitative Key Results for each planning period. The Objective is achieved when all underlying Key Results are completed.

OpenProject as web-based open source OKR software

We use OpenProject as OKR software ourselves to support our (slightly modified) form of OKRs. Among many other features, goals can be easily defined in OpenProject. Define, document and follow-up on (strategic) business goals. The work package module is very suitable for this. First, the work package types GOAL and KEY RESULT are added and activated in the project.

If required, additional custom fields, such as Goal Category and KPI can be added to the work package type. Collect and specify the (strategic) goals in this Goal Backlog. Here it is advisable to subdivide e.g. after different Goal categories. During your goal planning, prioritize the goals in OpenProject, assign them to an Accountable, and add them to a version (e.g. Goals Q1 2026).

For the planning of the next quarter, set a filter, e.g. to the version “Goals Q1 2026”. You can discuss these strategic goals with the team and each responsible person, then break them down into individual qualitative goals (Objectives) for the next period and add measurable Key Results for those.

This works very well in OpenProject via the relations feature. Either choose the relation “Includes” between the Objective and the respective Key Results or add Key Results as children for Objectives.

In the list you can then display which Key Results need to be completed in order to fulfil the Objective. Of course, all other features of the work packages, such as comments, status, priority, %Complete, custom fields, workflows, etc. work in addition to this.

If you set Key Results as children, you could create a “Part of” relation between tasks and Objective. Or, the other way round, add the “Includes” relation to the Objective.

This way, you are able to configure your OKR process to your needs. This enables transparent and efficient documentation and tracking of OKRs as well as direct integration with project management.

Tip

In the OpenProject team, we use our own software to manage work in form of Objectives and Key results. Read this guide to benefit from our learnings on how to use OpenProject as OKR software.

What else should be considered when working with OKRs?

It is best to start with only a few Objectives. You should clearly discuss within the company / team what you want to focus on in the next quarter.

Key Results should be broken down and documented in as much detail as possible. It should include a measurable result so that you know exactly when the goal was achieved. If necessary, you can work with the %Complete field in OpenProject to show how far along you are in achieving each Key Result and to visualize progress over time.

The team should agree on whether the goals are stretch or fix goals, i.e. goals that can be realistically completed at the end of the period. Either way they should be SMART. Read more about goal setting in this wikipedia article.

If a goal is not achievable within a period, we try to break it down into smaller iterations if possible. If this is not possible, we accept that a goal can be carried over into the next period, including new Key Results.

Evidently, OKR software can only support the process. It is important to discuss the goals and the results in detail with the team, to review them in regular meetings and to improve them if necessary. A review of the process and lessons learned with the team is especially recommended at the end of each completed planning period and before the next iteration.

We look forward to your feedback, suggestions, and ideas on how to best use OpenProject as OKR software.