Steve Kickert says he has a solution to the confusion caused by trying to manage multiple projects from several locations. He’s launched OnePlace, an online application he calls a chaos management system.

OnePlace lets you set up projects, tasks, deadlines–all the elements necessary to get things done and lets you share them with co-workers.  You can organize discussions, pass around documents, change deadlines, and keep statistics on your progress. 

“It combines collaboration, project management and personal information management,” said Mr. Kickert,  a co-founder and CEO of  Riverock Technologies, which developed OnePlace. Mr. Kickert, whose background is in technology to manage logistics, believes there’s room for an easy-to-use task management product that has the advantage of being a Web 2.0 application.

The benefit of software-as-a service, of course, is access to up-to-date information from anywhere. “If I make a change, there isn’t a delay in communications,” a shortcoming that so often reduces the efficiency of project management, Mr. Kickert said. Users can log in from any computer, but OnePlace has also enabled access via iPhone and mobile browser. Customers can log in to check for updates and add or modify data from their mobiles as well as their PCs. 

“You can use this product at work; you can use it at home, he says. Users can also keep their personal information in OnePlace, assured it will remain private from other team members.

OnePlace is currently in live beta on the Web, offering a free 30-day trial subscriptions.  There are several categories of subscription ranging from a free personal version to $25 to $500 a month, depending on the number of workplaces you need.  The workplaces are areas where you gather material for a particular project or goal. Mr. Kickert says his team is working on links to Outlook so that users can easily transfer their data to their OnePlace projects.  

OnePlace is published by Riverock Technologies, based in Shakopee, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis. Mr. Kickert spent years as the chief technology officer of nearby High Jump Software, which is used to manage supply chains. So far he has funded the company himself, but he is considering a round to help expand the company.

Like all action management products, the challenge is presenting an interface simple enough to make a beginner productive and complex enough to manage complex tasks. The user’s home page in OnePlace is refreshingly uncluttered, with areas for teams, deadlines, tasks and workplaces. You can create projects, subprojects, and tasks. You can decide whom to share your project with. The home page dashboard shows at a quick glance any missed deadlines and due dates.

OnePlace joins a crowded market for Web 2.0 products. Success will depend on attracting enough users and making OnePlace indispensable to them.