Every manager of a small business or a start up should read Susan Mernit's guide to business management software. It could save them money and improve efficiency.

The 36-page document outlines the various advantages and downsides of using a variety of free and low-cost online software and services. I actually spent a couple of hours on Sunday enthralled by this document, which sets out to compare tools businesses are actually using in a clear and concise manner.

Entitled "How do you get things done? Tools for managing your assets in an expanding organisation", the paper was written as part of Mernit's work for House of Local, a consulting firm for media and non-profits based in Oakland, California.

Mernit outlines about 30 tools in the context of news organisations attempting to tame the work flow, but these can be used by almost any business, especially if they do not have a lot of management and monetary resources. As she says, many of the business tools don't offer lesser quality that those used by large companies with big IT departments and wallets.

"In fact, in many cases, they offer improved functionality and greater flexibility, often because they need to serve such a wide base of users," she says.

They range from project management tools, database systems, calendars, schedulers and talk tools that might be said to exist in the computing "cloud". One example is 37 Signal's Basecamp for project management. At the company I work for this is highly popular among the project managers, who use it across a variety of communication contracts we hold. The online tool costs about $25 a month.

Mernit is highly enthusiastic about Basecamp (http://basecamphq.com). I can see its value, but you need to manage the tool. I often found comments or suggestions tended to disappear in the general flow of the work and were forgotten. Perhaps the suggestions were not considered to be good enough, but there was no discussion of them and things tend to get lost in a slightly confusing interface. But this is a quibble.

The value is being able to organise by companies and teams, and to segregate access depending on the work programme. You have an instant to-do list and a set of milestones by date. It's embarrassing when a missed milestone pops up with your name on it.

The Basecamp group also produces Highrise for managing contacts, Backback as an instant intranet, and Campfire for group discussions. But Mernit instead recommends using Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google groups to complement Basecamp when sharing information among a project team.

Another alternative I am interested in testing is the Drupal-based Open Atrium project management site. It is open source and free. The site describes it as an "intranet in a box that has group spaces to allow different teams to have their own conversations". It comes with a blog, a wiki, a calendar, a to-do list, a group communications module and a management dashboard. The suggested toned down alternatives are Remember the Milk, and Toodledo.

To manage meetings try Free Conference and Doodle to schedule and manage calls. Free Conference is not free. It charges per minute. You can record calls and pay extra to get a transcript if you really need to hold people to their words. File sharing can be done through Yousentit.com and Dropbox.com.

Staff can use Toggl for tracking their hours. The online service is free for individuals. The paid version allows a business to set up multiple accounts.

Chatting in a private group can be done through Yammer, where basic access is free. The paid version offers more extensive service. PB Wiki allows you to collaboratively manage and edit documents online.

For the full links to these tools and a discussion about them go to www.houseoflocal.org to download the document.

Send any comments to elamin.ahmed@gmail.com