How to find the right Project Management Software for your needs.
Project Management software refers to a term covering several kinds’ softwares which include estimation and planning, budget, communication, administration systems, etc. which help to deal with complexity of projects. For example, Project Management software can be used to create a schedule of your project, like the opening date and the ending point and what tasks are to be completed and when during this term.
Online (Web-Based) and Desktop Software
There are several approaches to Project Management softwares. Online or say web-based and desktop softwares are couple of them. Web based project management softwares can be accessed only when you have an Internet connection or with the help of web browsers.
And if we talk about Desktop Project Management softwares, then it’s simple that it would run directly onto your computer. The advantage the software will be available and you can install it onto your computer and run it. In addition, you can even use such software on multiple computers if you share the disk drive on a network. Still, only single person can access the software at a time. The feature we can see here is ‘Ease of Access’ in desktop project Management software. Also, we can see the ease of updating the work on a single computer. Only drawback of desktop software is that once the network goes down, software becomes inaccessible. In Online Project management softwares, the drawback is files load a bit slower. If you’re trying to load large files, then it would eat more time depending upon the speed of your broadband connection. So, we saw both online and desktop programs and rest depends upon your needs to be considered to choose which project management software is appropriate for his/her organization.
Single-User and Collaborative Software
Project Management softwares have been divided into two categories – ‘Single-User’ and ‘Collaborative’ softwares. In single-user software, only one person is permitted to edit or make changes to the software at once. This type of software is useful to an organization or a company which has a small number of members involved.
Collaborative Software programs are designed such that these programs can be modified or edited by more than one user at a time. Web-based tools generally fall under this category but the restriction is that such programs can be used only when a user has Internet access. The benefit is when a member of the team is given any task, he or she can run the program and update with the progress report of the task and other relevant data.
Well, if you have large team working upon a project, then I recommend collaborative project management softwares. If you’ve less number of people in your project, where simple project do not require any involvement of any multiple users, there, single-user project management softwares are always beneficial.
Understanding Additional Features
There are several features that you need to look into project management softwares. Here are some of the addition features:-
1. Issue Tracking: The part of the software is used to keep a record of the issues which are reported or several problems. They can even be tagged as ‘critical’ or ‘minor’ so that action can be taken fix the issue as soon as possible.
2. Scheduling: Scheduling is an important feature to look into project management software. Sometimes you may have lots of events or tasks to be scheduled and as such, you can schedule it using the software itself and carry on the work later on.
3. Project portfolio management: This feature is used by project managers to keep a track or analysis of the projects done and other business strategies and other concerns like available company resources.
4. Resource management: This features helps to keep a note of all the resources been used in a project. Well, the more complex the need of resources is, the more important becomes the availability of this feature.
5. Document management: Document management feature is used to store all the important or necessary documents related to the project. And if your company works on a project which requires lots of documents related works, then this feature is must.
Prices.
The price of Project Management software varies widely and it is different and depends upon your needs. But as per my knowledge, large or complex projects’ project management software should be of maximum 500$ and not more than that. If you are from a small organization, then the software shouldn’t cost more than 125$.






