How to Choose the Right Project Management Software
| 26 | Aug 2010 |
Project management software can be a useful tool for tracking project milestones, keeping up with to-do lists and scheduling meetings between team members. Choosing the right program (and the necessary bells and whistles) for your business will take a little research.
Small businesses typically start with spreadsheets, followed by an online tool such as Google documents, before looking for something more comprehensive, said Burke Alder, product marketing manager at AtTask Inc.
The top three online project management tools for small businesses are Clarizen, AtTask and Tenrox, according to our sister company, TopTenREVIEWS. The monthly cost for these tools are $24.95, $39.95 and $38.95. respectively. [Read full review]
Choosing the right software
There are three questions a business should consider when deciding if it needs project management software, said Rudolf Melik, CEO at Tenrox. These are:
- Are you a project-based organization?
- Do you have more than five project team members?
- Are you using multiple spreadsheets to forecast your work, track costs and job status, or bill for projects?
“If the answer is yes to all three questions then you need a centralized project database and an online project management system that will help you improve project reporting, pipeline forecasting, accurately track project costs, and bill more efficiently and faster,” Melik said.
“The most important features for the small business owner should be first and foremost simplicity and robustness,” said Sharon Vardi, vice president of marketing at Clarizen. Some tools are too complicated while others are too simple and lack necessary features, Vardi said. “The best thing is to find a solution that has the best balance between usability and robustness.”
Another important feature is the tool’s ability to grow with the business, Alder said. AtTask sells a customized package for small businesses. “It gives them a specific amount of licenses and services to help them get up and running in a quick amount of time,” he added.
“You don’t have to go out and buy another tool when you grow from a small business to a large business,” Alder told BusinessNewsDaily.
Instead, the AtTask system lets you add more licenses (to accommodate more employees) and features, including portfolio management, which lets a company evaluate how different projects tie in with one another, Alder said.
Social feature
An added bonus of the AtTask software will be a new tool called Stream, which will launch at the end of this year, Alder said. The Stream tool adds a social aspect to project management software by incorporating some of the features found on such websites as Facebook and Twitter.
Instead of just assigning tasks to team members, the social tool will send requests, allowing employees to accept assignments. This is similar to accepting friends or invites on Facebook.
The thing with project management solutions is they’re usually just quantitative information,” Alder said. “Behind that data there’s always a story,” he said. The Stream tool lets a business owner view comments that tell a more quantitative story behind the numbers.
Fun factor
Other important features include its ease of use, Melik said.
“While project management software is part of the basic plumbing of any project-driven business, it can be a system that is hard to love,” Melik said. “That’s why you should look for a vendor that has paid extreme attention to the user experience and the user interface.” Melik suggests looking beneath the “flashy” user-interface to make sure the tool is easy to use.
“There are many project management software tools to choose from with razzle-dazzle demos and marketing,” Melik said. He suggests choosing a system that is cloud-based and compatible with other software applications.