Planning, allocating resources, and scheduling projects are done using Project Management Software. Project managers and their teams can use it to manage their budgets, quality management, and all project documentation. Besides facilitating stakeholder collaboration, this software also acts as a collaboration platform.
Project management tools aim to help project managers, teams, and contributors complete tasks, organize client requirements, and manage time, budget, and scope constraints. When companies use proper project management, they can deliver the expected results within budget and on time. When choosing a project management solution, companies of all sizes need to consider the types of implementation, key features, and factors to consider.
How to Manage a Software Project Successfully
Software projects can be managed effectively in eight ways, according to Forbes. The following tips can be helpful:
- Giving your team the freedom to focus on product development by taking on non-development tasks
- Sharing success stories with your team can motivate them
- Assigning functions without making any changes
- Sticking to the plan (until it needs to be modified)
- By being organized yourself, you can encourage others to be organized
- Delegating effectively to increase productivity
- Getting to know your team and establishing a good working relationship
- A breakdown of the plan and the assignment of specific tasks for each day
Types of Project Management Software
As business software became available and affordable, companies replaced pen-and-paper project tracking systems with project management systems.
As the technology evolved, desktop applications improved in features, scale, and security, allowing multiple users to access the software across a company’s network. When cloud computing presented options and advantages, management software vendors began offering subscription-based online products. Moreover, it allowed more providers to provide different types of systems on the market.
Online Project Management Software
Any internet-connected web browser can access web-based project management software via software-as-a-service (SaaS). Businesses of all sizes across industries can use these online platforms. Users can access the tool from a central database from various devices such as desktops, tablets, and smartphones to get up-to-date project information.
Today’s online project management software offers many features that can compete with enterprise solutions. With these apps, you can visualize task progress, collaborate with coworkers, automate workflows, share files, message team members, and integrate with email using several methods.
As their feature sets expand, online management software also falls into the category of collaboration software or business process management software. Many online project management solutions, including Zoho Projects, Microsoft Project, and Basecamp, are available.
On-Premise Project Management Software
On-premise project management programs are hosted on a company’s server. The IT department will manage the server in the company’s data centre. There is often only one on-premise license purchased by a company, and it may be necessary to purchase additional upgrades or updates. Several companies prefer on-premises project management software because of long-term cost concerns.
The company controls the data storage and security protocols to protect the data when the software runs on its private servers. If businesses with 50, 100, or more users purchase one-time licenses for their on-premise project management programs, they can save on monthly subscription costs. Additionally, they can schedule software updates to make preparations before an automatic update occurs due to SaaS systems’ inherent downtime.
Integrated vs Best-of-Breed Software
Business project management solutions today include various tools and features to manage multiple types of projects. It is possible to handle simple projects satisfactorily with the help of specialized project management software. Applications specializing in a particular function, like task management, scheduling, or time tracking, are considered best-of-breed.
An integrated suite of applications combines functions such as task management, Gantt charting, and time tracking. Integration of tools offers a unified solution for visibility, collaboration, and accountability. Small businesses and startups must find software solutions with fewer features covering the basics. The project management tool should incorporate tasks, team collaboration, document management, and email integration features.
Unlike a simple project management solution, a comprehensive one has features covering core project management functions such as scheduling, resource management, and financial management. A PM suite will be more expensive but will provide accurate estimates, dependencies control, unlimited projects, real-time progress tracking, and comprehensive reports that justify its price.
Free Project Management Solutions
A full-featured free and open-source system is available for home users, small teams of no more than one or two people, and small teams of one or two people. Project management vendors provide many of these free project management solutions and various levels of paid services. The free tier may be limited in features, restricted to a few users, or with limited personalized support. These options may prove helpful to small teams or those who are just testing out a new tool.
A free management software solution based on open source can be a valuable option for large teams. These tools offer all the same features as subscription or on-premise tools, and many can be customized for specific project types. A third-party or in-house development team must manage support, implementation help, and custom changes.
Industry-Specific Project Management Systems
To reduce the customization necessary upon implementation, industry-specific project management software has been developed to cater to the needs of specific industries. Features and customizations in construction, software development, financial services, healthcare, and law make them better suited for industrial use.
Industry-specific tools include collaboration, expense tracking, portfolio, contractor, and resource management. These tools can also manage a creative team, a remote team, or a specific project within your portfolio.
What are the benefits of using Project Management Software?
This type of software is primarily used for resource management and cost tracking for non-repetitive business operations. A marketing company may offer standard services such as social media promotion and create customized campaigns for large clients. Custom campaigns can have different resources and costs depending on the customer’s needs, so resources allocated to each project will also vary.
Diversification of services: Project management software can combine different services to diversify a company’s offerings. With this flexibility, team members can meet the changing demands of customers and market conditions. Highly competitive industries such as professional services can benefit from the ability to respond quickly to market changes.
Effectiveness and profitability tracking: It is necessary to manage projects so that professional services activities can be tracked for effectiveness and profitability. By allocating resources appropriately at the right time, a project manager can deliver the project on time and within budget, improving customer satisfaction.
Who Uses Project Management Software?
Most employees within a project-based business, as well as their partners and customers, benefit from using project management software.
Employees: Project management software assists employees involved in project execution and needs to know what to do and when. In addition to updating the system when tasks are completed, employees use the software to communicate and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders. Integrating other solutions allows employees to track their time and check the availability of resources, like equipment.
Project managers: To define projects and resources, monitor all activities, and intervene and modify any part of a project as needed, they need access to all the system features. It is only possible to accomplish this through alerts and notifications that include workflows for escalation and with different levels of severity. The project manager is also responsible for setting and managing access rights for internal and external users. More Information
Executives: To monitor projects, executives mostly rely on analytics and reporting. As well as information on the project’s status, they need information on the resources allocated and the overall efficiency of each project.
Partners: Partnerships with third-party service providers who complement the company’s offerings are essential. Because external contributors are only involved in specific activities at different stages of a project, they only need access to the information they need to do their jobs.
Customers: Additionally, customers can communicate with service providers through dedicated portals to monitor progress on one or more projects, provide feedback, and provide feedback. It may be necessary for customers with large and complex projects to have access to the project management solution provided by the provider.
What are the Alternatives to Project Management Software?
You can either replace project management software entirely or partially with the following alternatives:
Project and portfolio management software: Project portfolio management focuses on grouping similar projects into portfolios that can be coordinated and managed together. Portfolios are project groups with common characteristics. Although project management software can manage individual projects, it usually does not provide portfolio management tools. Therefore, companies that need to manage portfolios of projects must use something other than standard project management tools.
Professional services automation software: PSA is an ERP for professional services, delivering modules for the front office (sales and marketing), the back office (accounting and HR), and professional project management. Large and medium-sized service companies that want a single integrated system for their entire operation can benefit from this type of software.
ERP: There are two types of ERP software for project-based companies: ETO ERP software (for manufacturers of complex custom products in industries such as aerospace and defence) and Project-based ERP software (for government contractors). ERP systems often need the features these companies require, such as bidding, contract management, and time and expense management.
Work management software: Professional service companies sometimes need PSA software but often require features not included in most project management solutions. Depending on the industry, these features can differ. For example, marketing agencies need content authoring and document management tools. Work management software allows you to manage projects, collaborate, and utilize industry-specific features.
Goal tracking in Project Management Software
Tracking and managing individual and company goals as an organization grows becomes increasingly tricky. For this reason, many companies have begun using goal-tracking apps and tools to manage high-level initiatives and granular tasks. Anyone or any organization looking to consolidate and track their goals will find plenty of solutions available to do so. Among the most popular tools for teams and organizations are Weekdone and Goals on Track. Although these tools are excellent for tracking goals, their application goes beyond that.
It would help if you looked for a software solution that offers goal monitoring and project management. ClickUp, an all-in-one project management software, allows you to access and share your goals and tie them to measurable and actionable business objectives. Purposes, a feature of ClickUp, allows you and your team to track goals in multiple ways. Monetary values, factual/false statements, ClickUp tasks, etc., can represent these targets.
Tying business objectives to measurable results is also possible using ClickUp’s formula fields and column calculations. The ClickUp Dashboards make it easy to pull critical project and goal details into one convenient view so you can share them internally or externally.
