A project is a combination of numerous parts and intakes by many people. So, managing a project isn't that easy, one has to take care of all the aspects like:
- Task, for which you make task lists
- Time, scheduling with Gantt charts
- Scope, overview in dashboards
- Budget, time tracking and scheduling tools to see if you're on target
- Resources, methods of collaboration
All the one stated aspects need to be managed precisely by a Project Leader or a Project Manager. It is important for them to understand the dynamics of the project, the goal to be achieved to deduce what type of management skills or leadership capabilities should be implemented.
To achieve all this using the different styles of leadership that a Project Leader or Project Manager, trust adds up being a crucial element for success. Trust is and has always been a vital factor in producing results. The ones experienced in their field of business appreciate the initiative of taking on and managing work-based projects, but it can be a time-consuming and difficult task and also a drain on resources that are much needed.
You'll often have tough deadlines to work towards, and completing projects on time can be hard to organize efficiently. Teams are made that are supposed to handle multiple projects, simply have to rely on human memory to keep them all organized, which makes the task complex.
For the projects to be delivered on time and within the specified budget, bilk of information needs to be written down and stored, deadlines need to be plotted for each process, and documents are to be shared among the team. A constant communication is needed among the team members for smooth and hassle-free working. When your team needs to get serious about managing projects, the solution is to get project management software.
Such traditional methods of project management could never be questioned, but they just aren't good enough anymore in this world of hi-grade technology. Manually typing information into spreadsheets, using word processing software to compile notes, and recording of meeting minutes on paper by hand are tasks that take an enormous amount of time and lead to loss of resources and manpower.
To ease all this market was introduced to the project management tools that are provided with the capability to organize the projects far more easily and efficiently. They can let you perform a ton of useful things - such as delegating tasks, creating trackable to-do lists and accessing progress reports - in one easy-to-handle piece of software. In this article, we're going to understand what a project management software is and look at some of the best project management solutions for your business.
Project management software is an online or offline service system for both working and collaborating on projects. Such real-time workspaces help team members to interact with the members outside of the team as well as maintaining a smooth communication within the team.
This helps them to keep an eye on the work in order to take care of each and every detail the process involves. This will ensure proper working of the module. Such software help in providing an overview of all the available projects so that one can keep an eye on the progress and also the mistakes and corrections.
This helps them to keep an eye on the work in order to take care of each and every detail the process involves. This will ensure proper working of the module. Such software help in providing an overview of all the available projects so that one can keep an eye on the progress and also the mistakes and corrections.
While looking for a tool to manage the different processes in a project, you need to keep these things in mind.
- One software online, because you want access to update status and track your project progress wherever you are
- Have real-time views of your project, so when statuses change you know immediately
- By being online, you foster collaboration and improve project efficiency
- Increase accountability and notify team with email alerts
Online project management tools can do all this and even more. Traditionally within a company, many projects are managed by a dedicated project manager, and that's pretty much same even when project management software is used. While a project manager might still be the person overseeing the whole project and helping to redirect resources as needed, she or he is not the only person using the project management application.
Everybody in the market form Employees, contractors to even clients are using the project management system to share documents, sign off on plan and log time spent on tasks. Getting into a project management application environment, you'll find people working together break the most complex projects into parts for ease in work, buy concentrating on the subtasks for an overall result.
You may also like:
Visibility into every team member's task list also useful helps in understanding the behavior of the employees towards work and whether they're overworked and ultimately not producing as much output. Taking, for example, the software would work consider a colleague has been assigned six task assignments all due within the next 48 hours.
The software could easily spot the problem and generate a working plan managing all the needs to complete the work before deadlines slip. Possibly by just looking at a Gantt chart, for example, project management apps offer an amazing feature that will allow the managers to see clearly when employees have too much work on their plates, or not enough, or are they getting lazy and slowing down.
Further, this information can be used to promote or demote an employee and also It does help everyone use the available resources more effectively. So typically, they will provide an overview of all the projects over the same platform and an overview of the work being done within a day, a week or even a year.
The very best project management apps help in rescheduling tasks automatically according to the deadline and the amount of work completed. Many track time spent on projects and integrate with invoicing and billing systems.
The most important thing to know here is that the project management apps are specially made or projects and not any work. That might sound like a tautology, but it's important as projects are a specific type of work.
Projects are those who have a dedicated start date, a dedicated end date, and deliverables specified. For example, creating a new design for a website is a project as it has all the elements specified above. However, maintenance of that website is considered as an ongoing work and no a project as it would not be having any clear beginning or end date.
Also, one should keep it in mind that if in a project the turnaround time is quick and only two or three people are involved, using a project management system could be more trouble than it's worth. So use this software where The kind of work that benefits from a project management app typically takes more than a few weeks to complete, and there are many steps and people involved.
List of Best Project Management Software of 2017 With Review
Looking for the best project management software for your company? We've made the task easier and combined some of the best project software and tools in one comprehensive list. Check out the tools' top features and what's special about them that can benefit your business.
LiquidPlanner developed by LiquidPlanner Inc. is an online project management software The launched to a public beta in 2008. LiquidPlanner was developed to conquer the need of something that was dynamic, supportive and reliable. And apparently it is the only resource based predictive project management software in the world and if therefore comes with the phrase Dynamic Project Management.
LiquidPlanner is among the new generation of project management software. It has specific features separately for IT teams, project managers, professional services, development teams, and marketing teams rather than providing only a single Doman. It matches the project needs of both small businesses and large enterprises to give out optimal results
LiquidPlanner helps in carrying out best and worst scenario planning with flexibility for risk assessment situations and also can handle even drastic changes in priorities. It offers features like time tracking, client portals, resource management. This helps professional service firms to keep tab of their clients.
One can also share the product details to not only the internal but also the external audience be it clients, suppliers, and business partners. LiquidPlanner has the capability to organize project information for support in making clear-cut and defensible decisions based on actual data.
Mobile apps for Android and iOS devices are also available. LiquidPlanner can be easily integrated with Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box. Similarly, the software has the capability to work with Salesforce.
Some features:
- Change in one project or activity can impact on other projects or activities.
- Priority-based scheduling: helps in keeping tab of deliverables and deadlines;
- Quick look on how the resources are spread out and utilized across multiple projects.
- Collaboration discussions at the task level or on top-level issues are possible.
- Could be used as an Agile tool, where teams can share updates, obstacles, and recommendations and give the project leader a clearer picture where to take the next steps.
LiquidPlanner Pricing:
LiquidPlanner is available in three plans as given below. A free trial plan is also available.
- Small Team Plan ($9.99 per user per month)
- Professional Plan ($39 per user per month)
- Enterprise Plan ($60 per user per month)
2. Aha.io
Aha! is a comprehensive road mapping and project management platform. It helps a business to effectively manage their product portfolio. With Aha! Some great business strategies could be made providing a visual roadmap for their companies. Aha! With its framework can allow people and organizations to interact, facilitate the flow of information, and collaborate towards achieving their business goals.
Aha! is developed to help businesses, particularly project managers. Aha has the capability to analyze the market and customers, and further use the information from the analysis to map out key strategies, build a business model, and determine how the goals can be achieved. Aha! Could be considered as a perfect tool for team planning.
Aha!can also encourages employees to work with more efficiency, also the customers and other stakeholders to feel free and share their concepts and potentially innovative thoughts through its ideas portal.
Also, read:
Aha! Pricing Plans:
You can try Aha! for 30 days absolutely free.
- Premium - $59/user/month (billed yearly) or $74/user/month (billed monthly)
- Enterprise- $99/user/month (billed yearly) or $124/user/month (billed monthly)
- Enterprise + - $149/user/month (annual only)
Teamwork Projects is one of a kind cloud-based project management platform. This is not suitable everywhere but do support various applications. Features like task lists, time tracking, file uploads, and messages. Teamwork Projects focuses on managing group objectives, communication, and the establishment of business.
The project scheduling feature in teamwork projects makes it capable for the project managers to define project tasks; also they can assign them to people and track their progress and further reward them. This also allows document management.
Teamwork Projects has client billing feature, this allows a user to generate invoices based on hours worked, the work was done and expenses incurred. The project collaboration feature enables communication through mobile devices so team members and project managers can monitor and supervise the project remotely.
Teamwork Projects has the capability to be integrated with applications such as FreshBooks, Dropbox, Google, Box and more.
Pros
Teamwork is a good tool to store the information for your project. You can create tasks and keep project details. But I do not think it's best to manage the project communication among the team members.
Cons
The user experience needs to be improved with improvement in the screens that lack information and hence the ability to communicate its message to the users.
What's New in Teamwork Projects?
With the Board view option in its app Teamwork Projects has kept itself in good competition with similar products in the world of project management. This Board view feature lets you and your teammates manage and visualize work using a kanban-style approach.
Desktime might be bad news for the slacking employees. But the apparently good news for the employers. They truly have the power within themselves now; they can check who are earning their paychecks and who are just wasting time and resources of the company scrolling the social media pages.
Desktime is a special application designed for the SBMs which provides an amazing time tracking service. Desktime provides an automated software that has the capability of supervising each employee in the organization and further analyze his/her productivity in real-time.
It can also sort the company's various applications into categories - "productive," "unproductive," and "neutral." All this happens quietly and unobtrusively in the background, with no user input required. It comes with a state of the art interface along with a dashboard from where one can access nearly any data involving information like a number of employees working, number absent, who's slacking, who's late, and so on.
Also, if needed managers can examine work stats of each and every individual in the firm:
- Time arrived
- Total "productive" time for the day
- Measure of overall efficiency
- Ranking relative to other employees.
This should not be taken as negative for the employees; rather they can also track their progress and know their capabilities so that they can further help encourage themselves to achieve the desired efficiency and pace and to compete other employees. The basic idea behind it is that stats should be used as a carrot, not stick. Ultimately, this feeling of "getting to the top" would not only help boost itself but also the overall company productivity.
Admittedly, employees may not be comfortable with the idea of being monitored or checked upon, but this is necessary as if they're spending an inordinate amount of time on Facebook and watching YouTube, you'd want to know, right? And this could be done with the "incentive" of a little friendly competition, and employees should be rewarded for good work.
DeskTime has recently released an iPhone app that will facilitate this process by allowing mobile managers to monitor the time-tracking and productivity data even if they are not in the office or on the run.
DeskTime pricing plans:
- Desktime offers a free 30-day trial.
- $199/month for up to 50 employees.
5. GenieBelt
GenieBelt is an amazing software designed for the construction industry. The construction industry is now undergoing massive technology upgrades to ease down the process they involve themselves in. This is a SaaS platform that can improve the efficiency of project planning. The platform offers live PM, live project overview, instant reporting, and mobile collaboration.
Features, Benefits, and Strengths
- Live PM-GenieBelt uses Gantt chart to display projects interactively Importing the projects and running them live is made possible by the integration of MS Project, Asta or Primavera.
- The dashboard within the application makes it easy to visualize the entire project portfolio. A comprehensive view of everything is surely going to make things more understandable.
- Collaboration- GenieBelt recognizes the power of smartphones. It provides applications for IOS, Android, and Windows.
With a well-organized project, the company can save at least 2-4% of the expenses related to that project. Geniebelt is the software that can make this happen by eliminating the need to use any additional software.
Geniebelt also offers a full trial audit feature that is needed to be subscribed. This allows the system to automatically monitor and record, and keep everyone updated on project's status specifying any changes or issues. Finally, Geniebelt features a simple and user-friendly interface, with a 24/7 live support team to back you up in need.
- Construction companies and contractors that undergo difficulties while sharing tasks and are in need of a constant overview of projects can rely on Geniebelt that can solve this major organizational issue.
- Geniebelt let users see the full project picture. This helps in complying to the timelines so that the projects are not displayed from another overview perspective.
- With the touch of one button, then everything happening in one short list can be exported to another.
GenieBelt Pricing:
GenieBelt offers a free now, free always plan with one project per month.
- This free version will allow 50 files to be attached to your project.
- Basic, offering extra projects for $249.
- More projects and files could be added for $130 a month
6. CaseCamp
CaseCamp is a cloud-based project management software. This is made available online in a public or a privately hosted cloud. This application includes features that make the companies capable enough to manage their projects, their budget, their billings, support, their resources, and tracking.
Overall, CaseCamp tries to keep users and team members on the same page for higher productivity.
CaseCamp with its simple and straightforward project management nature comprises of all the features and capabilities. A neat user interface allows for smooth navigation and quick hassle-free access to information as well as fast and seamless communication with the teams.
Many international brands like Ericsson, NDTV, and Wedding.com use CaseCamp making it easy for their managers to manage the projects and keep them within the budget with a complete track record of expenses.
Project managers and their teams need to be on the same page if their goal is to work and complete projects without any hitch or friction. CaseCamp is completely robust in nature and can provide with tools and functionalities needed work on projects, either individually or a collective whole.
CaseCamp comes with traditional project management tools but in an innovative way, like the to-do list that helps to keep everyone updated on tasks and the remaining work that is needed completed and also the priority and urgency associated with each task.
Projects could be accomplished only when Budget and expenses go hand in hand. CaseCamp help project managers to create and specify realistic budgets and also help in their effortless implementation. For ensuring that expenditures can be easily audited all expenses are monitored.
CaseCamp greatly simplifies a manager's job by creating schedules for the employees and assigning them according to their expertise. Adding a great feature that allows tracking of leaves, absences, and hours worked allowing managers to assign tasks, decide on incentives and grant further leaves.
CaseCamp Pricing:
All 3 plans of the public cloud edition include unlimited users with a free trial of the software offered for up to 10 projects.
The software is available for customers at $4999, and the vendor customization cost is $15-$20/hour.
- Cloud - starts at $25/month
- Gold - $4,999
- Diamond - By quote
7. Apptivo
Apptivo is another cloud-based suite of management applications designed to aim small businesses and to manage a range of functions within such firms including financials, human resources and supply chain management.
Customer relationship management (CRM) applications like Attivo provide ae capable of contact management, lead management, opportunity management and customer service ticket management.
Other applications o this application includes expense reports, license, and insurance tracking. Sales planning and territory management, cash management and budgeting are some functions that make it different from others and provide an edge. Users have the right to access Google app integrations for Drive, Calendar, and Tasks. Mobile apps are also compatible to an extent.
Users can create as well as manage tons of customer accounts for their business. Records, including Contacts or Opportunities, can be linked individually with every client.
Having huge warehouses of data and information it is not easy to manage all the client accounts properly and efficiently. This is where such tools come into the picture enabling you to filer your markets, company territories, and their market segments. The account information gathered can be used to analyze, search, and sort client accounts.
This tool not only helps to define who is purchasing the product but also their location category is defied. You can also further define the industry that this customer account belongs to and other information, all in a single place. Information about the account including ownership and much more can further be reported to the industry
The primary goal of this application is to create an easy and very affordable approach to handle business-from small ones to enterprise. IT also helps a small business to compete against top competitors that are capable and equipped with much better resources.
Recommended articles:
- Managing customer accounts: could be done using a web-based platform allowing easy and efficient access from any place.
- A common communication tool to bring your business more transparency into client engagements
- Repeat sales to your existing customers becomes much easier with this tool
- Customer contacts saved even if you have changes in your sales representatives
Apptivo Pricing Plans:
A 30-day free trial is available.
8. Todo.vu
Everything we do could treat as a task, and that is what todo.vu is up-to, it concentrates on a task and acts as a productivity tool. It has integrated within itself the elements of Project Management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
Its primary focus is to take complete supervision over any task and get it done.
Taking everything as a task - lead in the sales, tax retain paid, a phone call to be answered, a meeting to attend, facing the client, updating the front end of a web page for your client as per the specifications, delivering a change to an architectural drawing, fixing a tap in one of your client's units.
Tasks could be in-house and some for the client/customers and their projects.
So todo.vu has the capability that allows capturing all the tasks quickly, it can also categorize them, that is according to whether external client or in-house and further keep track of the progress and record the overall time being spent and utilized 0n them.
Each task contains file attachments and even other data involving conversations in which you can invite specific team members or the complete team and even clients in both the scenarios. This makes it possible for all the employees to follow a task directly and receive updates.
There are various ways for the clients to create and view their tasks.
Emails can be done directly from the todo.vu or if they are keen. One can log in and can interact directly with the task and can also manage what they see easily.
Todo.vu can also be used to track the time spent on tasks to calculate productivity and efficiency and further raise billing reports.
A very simple but effective workflow is integrated within todo.vu to make sure everything gets done with no hassle
All tasks occur in 4 states:
In this application If a task is assigned to somebody else then this is marked as done. Once done an option to archive the task will appear asking if you are satisfied with the work or re-open it if not. Todo.vu also ensures that the things happen quicker than are done manually. Invitations could be sent, and new users could be added as clients with their contact details.
IT incorporates a powerful task filter that makes it easy to find tasks even in a bunch of thousands.
Todo.vu is a simple solution for everyone. It does not work according to the traditional sales-focused CRM.
Its working system is completely different from the existing traditional Project Management tools that don't mean it won't ensure proper execution of tasks rather better.
Todo.vu is not designed specifically for help-desk or support yet it could be used for that purpose. Online stores could make use of todo.vu to track sales. Being versatile it can be used ideally for architects, engineers, landscapers, surveyors, town planners, accountants, book-keepers, property managers, realtors, web developers, programmers and what not.
Conclusion
The intricacies of project management are handled easily by the use of certain project management software which enables you to streamline the process of managing the heavy workload by the use of this software and make your group work easy. This software cover wide range of features which surely help you out in carrying the process of project management easily and effectively.