5pm is an intuitive web-based project management tool. Though it packs a lot of powerful features, its interface is very straight forward and easy to use – everything is within a click or two. You will not need to spent time training your team or clients to use it.

5pm features include:

• Sharing projects/tasks, notes and files – one virtual location for your whole team.
• Two-way e-mail integration – generate email notifications and answer them directly from your email.You can even create tasks from emails!
• Time tracking – log the hours spent on tasks and generate reports.
• Customizable Reports – slice and dice your data into different views then export it to CSV or print it out.
• Interactive Timeline – a Gantt-style view with simple drag-and-drop editing.

This list goes on and on: RSS and iCalendar support, security roles, hidden projects/tasks, European/US date/time formats, Time Zones, advanced search, project/task cloning, auto-archive, task dependencies, Google Docs connection, 256-bit SSL encryption, etc. 5pm looks like a pretty mature application and has been evolving for years. And if all of that is not enough – developers will be glad to know that 5pm also offers an open API.

5pm interface is highly customizable – each user can adjust the information they need to see. The dual-panel layout is easy to navigate and makes a good use of monitor space (widescreens in particular). It also auto-refreshes with new data, so you can just keep 5pm open in another window for an up-to-date view.

The Timeline is very handy if you need a bird’s-eye view of your projects and tasks, and you can easily re-schedule them by simply dragging them around.

5pm Mobile version is fast and offers many of the web features. Works on iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry Bold, Palm Pre, etc.

5pm also has a Time Tracker desktop widget available – you can track your time and then log it directly to 5pm – works on PC, Mac and Linux!

PC World describes 5pm as “easy for a project management neophyte to understand” and Autodesk characterizes it as “Straight forward and easy to use”. The only way to see if it fits you is to give it a try.

The subscription plans start at just $18/month. Each of them supports unlimited clients, so you can use it as your portal for interaction with them no matter where they are, 5pm is available in a dozen languages!

If you want to find more about 5pm, a quick 2-minute Video Introduction is a good place to start.

But the best way is just to open a free trial account and start using it – the registration takes about 10 seconds and doesn’t require a credit card.

Give it a try today and see if it helps you get more done by 5pm – make sure you post us back your comments!