Features to look for when choosing a project management tool
31 January 2012
There are hundreds of project management software solutions on the market. Some are free and very limited, some focus on project collaboration a lot, some focus on advanced project management a lot, some break the bank, and some require learning a PM methodology.iManageProject is unique. We know that everyone has projects to manage (or an entire project portfolio) , but not everyone has professional project management expertise or use the right tool or project management application. We want to help you become an efficient project manager, and if you are already, we want you to become the best project manager you can be. How? By providing a collaboration-oriented project management system, with a free package available, and an impressive feature range for project and time tracking, timesheet management and project cost tracking. iManageProject can also be used as an issue management program, bug tracking software and expense software as well.The definition of “project-management software” varies widely, and your needs are likely to depend substantially on your project, your team, and your project-management style. What’s available out there and what tools might support your particular project-management needs?1. Planning ProjectsFor many professional project managers, no software can rightly call itself a project-management tool if it doesn’t allow you to map out a project’s tasks and visually display how they interconnect. This type of project plan provides a powerful way to define the project schedule, understand the critical path for a project, and assess and allocate staff resources.
2. Managing TasksTask management – the ability to define a task, assign it to someone, create a deadline, and know when it’s complete – is generally the most desired and ubiquitous feature in project-management software.3. Sharing and Collaborating on DocumentsEvery project team has documents, and you can substantially increase productivity by providing a central location to store and work together on them. 4. Sharing Calendars and Contact ListsWell-managed calendars and contact lists can be important to project productivity. If you need to schedule a meeting with several different team members, having access to each of their calendars can save a huge amount of time.
5. Managing Issues or BugsWhile a task is typically just a phrase with an owner, a status, and a deadline, many projects require a tool that will also track comments and conversations for line items, rate priorities or difficulties, email updates or other subscriptions to an issue, or attach additional documentation (such as a screenshot of a problem). For technical projects, this functionality is often used to track bugs.6. Tracking TimeIf you are tracking consultant time, or creating a process that can be replicated in the future, you’ll need to understand how much time team members are devoting to each task.