I'm supervising about 10 dissertations and think I need a way - better than just having folders for each person - to keep on top of what each person is doing/should be doing/has done.

Any ideas for suitable (hopefully free) software? or any way I can get my existing stuff (e.g. excel, word, one note) to do something useful?

Microsoft Project isn't bad - it might do what you want, I think? Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!!

Don't think it's free though

I'd use Excel in this case myself. Have a row for each student. Put their names in the first column. Then in each subsequent column have each task they need to be doing. And once done put DONE in the relevant box.

That's what I'd do. But then I hand crafted a Prolog (very obscure programming language) project management system to help with my thesis writing!

Thanks for the suggestions, I played around with excel for a while, but decided to create a notebook on onenote - with sections for each of the smaller groups and then pages for each individual. That way i can copy and paste in all the email contact and notes from meetings about each individual (we have to log all our contact with them to make sure they all get equal amount)

There are various project management software which can integrate google docs to it. That will make it better for your scheduling and tasking people on your projects or jobs. Such software can be Zoho Projects, Freshbooks, Deskaway and Smartsheet. You could also try Basecamp and Desktop Central which have Gantt charts to remind you of what project is to be done.

Here's one blog that might help you choose the best project management software that suits your preference: http://www.timedoctor.com/blog/2011/02/02/43-project-management-software-alternatives
There's a short review for you to have an idea of what the software is about.

Wow! Supervising 10 dissertations is HUGE!! Microsoft project should definitely help. I feel it's one of the best project management software with an intuitive and easy way to successfully complete projects. Although, it's not free, and not sure for how long you need assistance, but you could avail of the FREE Microsoft Project trial for 60-days evaluation period. Hope this helps :)
www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/try.aspx

I use Google docs as well as projektino.com. You can try it - there is a free option:) The application allows to create projects and tasks, assign tasks to people, set due dates, attach files - all the things for better organization. It's really easy to use, web based, more like an online collaboration tool than project management software. For example basecamp is similar to projektino, but they have only 30 days trial for free. There is also dotproject.com for more demending user (also it's for free).

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When choosing a project management software package, what matters most is the functionality. It must be able to help you manage your projects at the most efficient way. I use a project management software package called latitude and it works fine for me. You can visit their site for more info about its features: http://www.latibiz.com/

eTaskMan is quite ok. Easy to use. :-)