This document provides an overview of project management software and the key considerations for selecting a package. It discusses the three major pillars of project management: planning, tracking & management, and collaboration. Planning involves tasks like scheduling and resource allocation. Tracking includes time tracking, task management, and budget/expense features. Collaboration tools aid communication and sharing of documents. When choosing software, businesses must consider whether to use desktop or cloud-based options, specialized versus all-in-one tools, and the usability and integration capabilities of different products.

1. GUIDE to Project Management
How to find the best project management
software package for your business.

2. PMat a
glance
Managing projects has grown increasingly complex over the past decade.
PAST THEIR
DUE DATES
OVER-BUDGET
LOWER THAN
PREDICTED ROI
Business professionals often rely on project management software to help them oversee
multiple endeavors and more easily mitigate risk by identifying failing aspects of a projects

3. common tools and features
The term project management software applies to a range
of software platforms, each with a slightly different mix of
mix of functionality.
It’s crucial that the software you select makes your projects
easier to manage.

4. the three major pillars of project management
PLANNING
TRACKING &
MANAGEMENT
2 3
COLLABORATION
1

5. planning
Planning a project first involves finding the team
members with the necessary skills, and estimating
how much resources a project will need.

6. scheduling
Creating completion dates for all of the moving parts in a major project
helps managers construct a more accurate timeline.
Most project management
software includes automatic
alerts when due dates are
approaching, or when a task
is not completed on
schedule.

7. forecasting
It’s essential in calculating the ROI of a project before its major
resources have been invested.

8. resource allocation
Being able to quickly view the resources dedicated to a project and
change them on the fly

9. tracking
and
management
Implementing software that provides the proper
amount of granularity and monitoring.

10. time tracking
Besides simply measuring productivity, time tracking software also
builds an archive of valuable data that can help businesses forecast
completion dates for similar tasks or projects in the future.

11. task management
Task management refers to being able to quickly determine who’s
contributed to what part of the project lets managers better identify
bottlenecks and stay on top of the project’s progress.

12. While the concept of task management is simple, the software can
actually be fairly robust. Task dependencies are often represented
through gantt charts, such as the one below:

13. permission settings
A key part of managing a project effectively lies in vetting the
access of each user on the platform.

14. budgeting and expense tracking
Although software that budgets for projects, and businesses
in general, comes in standalone versions,
certain project management
platforms include
BUDGETING FUNCTIONS
as well as
EXPENSE TRACKING

15. analysis and reports
A robust analysis tool can present metrics around productivity in a
visual fashion that makes the information easier to digest.

16. collaboration
Collaboration tools help connect different departments, and
make it easier to include distributed teams.

17. document sharing
Software that lets team members share documents can improve
productivity and increase efficiency.
REDUNDANT COMMUNICATION
as multiple messages are sent about the same issue
DIFFICULT TO FIND DOCUMENTS
due to the structure

18. The depth of such functionality varies from the simplicity of a
system such as Google Drive…
to full-fledged wikis that house all of a project’s relevant
materials.

19. internal messaging
Native messaging and meeting functions strengthen
communications between team members.

20. considerations when
selecting a product

21. 1
desktop versus cloud
Businesses today need to choose between project management software that’s
installed on a specific company computers (on premise), versus software that’s hosted
online by the vendors (cloud).

22. 2
best of breed versus all-in-one
Make sure to request a free demonstration (most PM companies offer one), and consider
how each of the product’s features will translate to your particular projects.

23. 3
usability and integration
Don’t just consider the particular features of each project management software.
Examine the overall usability of the platform, too.

24. Now that you've learned the basics, head over to our website where you can download the complete guide
or read more about how PM software can help your business.
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