The purpose of Project Management Software is to provide an environment in which a group of people can work together on joint projects. Most projects involve the development and implementation of new ideas, and these ideas have to be presented, evaluated, and revised.
The role of Project Management Software is to help this collaborative effort along. Collaboration happens at various levels and it is up to the Project Management Software to facilitate all these levels.
A typical Project Management scenario
Consider a creative agency developing a marketing campaign for one of its major clients. The project team includes a number of individuals within the agency -- the creative director, the copywriter, the illustrator, the graphic designer, etc. But it also includes personnel on the client's staff: the product manager, the advertising manager, even the general manager if it is an important enough project.
And the team will usually include outside agents who have been hired specifically to deliver some component of the project: illustrators, photographers, voice over specialists, audio and video studio personnel...the list goes on.
All of these people have to be kept in the loop as the project proceeds.
Traditionally, coordination of this sort was done by the project manager. But Project Management Software puts this job into the hands of individual team members. If it is working correctly, it gives each member of the team an accurate picture of how the project stands at any given moment.
Once a team member becomes familiar with the Project Management System, there is no reason not to be fully aware of developments, timelines and delivery dates, to submit assignments for approval in a timely manner, and to make revisions as they are necessary.
What to Look for in your Project Management Software
Usability - Perhaps the most important feature a useful Project Management System must have is ease of use. If using the software takes more time and effort than it is worth, team members will quickly stop using it. The point of Project Management Software is to complete the project more efficiently, and if the software is not user friendly it can end up doing exactly the opposite.
Set up and Maintenance - Your Project Management Software must be easy to set up and run trouble free. The last thing you want is a new level of technical problems, or a system that requires a dedicated technical person to run.
Accessibility - Team members will need access 24/7 from a variety of locations - from within your office, from client locations, from team members' homes. That means that web access using a standard web browser is mandatory.
Simple User Management System - Be sure your Project Management Software has a simple and easy-to-use system for creating users and assigning privileges, as well as creating, storing, and retrieving passwords.
Powerful Document Management - The heart of any Project Management System is the way it handles documents. It should provide a variety of tools and features to make it quick and easy to control how you share files with your clients and team members. Some features to look for in the document management of your system are:
- Easy uploading of files so they become available to all team members with appropriate privileges.
- Ability to attach notes, comments and suggested revisions to each document.
- Ability to retain different versions of documents with their accompanying notes and author information.
Flexible Task Management - Your system should allow you to break down your project into tasks, assign tasks to your team, track task progress, view the task history and measure how much time has been used on a task.
It should also allow clients to log issues and questions through the web interface which can then be directed to the project manager for incorporation into the workflow.
Project Archiving - Once a project is finished, team members should be able to delete old versions and download the latest and approved versions of files along with a list of all project tasks in a single compressed ZIP archive.
To see an online demo of the powerful Project Management System called Hot Project, visit the Hot Project Demo. Hot Project has had many years experience working with some of the biggest brands in the world - with some of the best agencies in the world for advertising, design and communication.
Rick Hendershot is a writer, online publisher, and creator of the Linknet Publishing Network. To learn how you can promote your product or service with online articles, see the Linknet Article Promotion Program.
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
The US House of Representatives has recently passed the "Spy... Read More
.Net Framework is a platform or development environment to seamlessly... Read More
SAP Inc., a global leader in client/server enterprise application software... Read More
When making a decision to buy any piece of software... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has substantial market share and... Read More
Now is the time to look at an alternative to... Read More
This article will not attempt to advocate the use of... Read More
Viruses and spyware usually show up on your computer one... Read More
What is Interactive Mapping?Interactive mapping is a visual display medium... Read More
Logistics automation is often considered as barcoding extension to Sales... Read More
The purpose of Project Management Software is to provide an... Read More
At the end of XX century, in the late 1990th... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM proved to be reliable solution in... Read More
Usually, the easiest way to tell you have spyware is... Read More
Sales are all about leverage, because there is only so... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains serves majority of US based horizontal and... Read More
Not all of us have the luxury of working both... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions offers several ERP applications: Great Plains, Navision,... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Solomon and Axapta are Microsoft Business... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very popular ERP platform... Read More
Collaboration SoftwareCollaboration Software, also known as group collaboration software or... Read More
In order to implement VLANs in a network environment, you'll... Read More
If someone entered your home, uninvited and installed numerous cameras... Read More
Since Version 8.0 Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains & Great... Read More
Buying accounting software is a major investment. It's an important... Read More
If you're online using a dialup Internet connection, you'll probably... Read More
In this article you will find some background information about... Read More
Great Plains Purchase Order Processing (POP) module makes up one-third... Read More
Follow the steps below to quickly design, generate, and deploy... Read More
TikiWiki is open source software - it is written in... Read More
Spyware and malware are large problems for Internet users today... Read More
MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm... Read More
You probably didn't casually invite, or extend a formal attendance... Read More
1. Replace Dexterity cursor with SQL Stored Procedure Dexterity... Read More
Formatting and reinstalling windows 98 is very easy if you... Read More
Great Plains Accounting, accounting package for mid-size and small companies... Read More
What is Colossus?Colossus is software licensed to about twenty-five insurance... Read More
If you've been using MySQL database to store your important... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good fit for... Read More
As we could imagine, if you are reading this article... Read More
Now that spyware is the single most dangerous threat to... Read More
While I was in college, if you would have asked... Read More
Here is some free software tools to help you build... Read More
The java programming language is becoming more and more popular... Read More
In the previous ISDN article, we looked at how and... Read More
This article is the third of a series of articles... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is now approaching the phase of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions is now in process of creating so... Read More
TikiWiki is open source software - it is written in... Read More
FTP stands for "file transfer protocol". FTP is basically a... Read More
Midsize business or non-profit organization should decide if one-vendor solution... Read More
Do you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an... Read More
eStore Advantage allows front-office applications to communicate with back-office business... Read More
If you have Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise (version 6.0 or earlier)... Read More
In the Clinton era the status quo was simple: you... Read More
When you think... Read More
If you use Microsoft Outlook (or similar applications) for e-mailing,... Read More
Itâ??s easy to understand why you might be drawn to... Read More
This article illustrates the best practices to improve the performance... Read More
Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more... Read More
If you are to buy a HelpDesk & Asset Management... Read More
While paper labeling CDs and DVDs may appear to be... Read More
If you have Microsoft Great Plains as main accounting and... Read More
Navision Software was purchased by Microsoft and now it is... Read More
This short paper will expand on two key reasons to... Read More
The Microsoft system preparation utility for Windows 2000 is a... Read More
Software |