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PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL
Project management tools are the features and characteristics of a project
management system that allow you to complete projects efficiently and
on time. These systems manage recurring tasks through automated
systems to save you time.
You can follow your project’s timeline and operate system to maintain
your workflow.
Project management tool is software that help teams plan, manage, and
optimize resources across an organization.
A good project management tools makes planning, executing and
monitoring project progress a total breeze.
It is a transparent record.
Why Are Project Management Tools Important?
Project management tools are critical for organizations for a variety of reasons.
1. They help keep the team organized and ensure that processes are followed.
2. They provide a clear overview of all activity happening in relation to a campaign, project,
or task at any given time.
3. Project management tools also allow teams to communicate clearly and quickly with
comments, chat, and more.
Reasons why you need a project management tools to a certain
project
Smooth Collaboration
It is essential to make sure that every member involved in the project is internally
connected and collaborated.
Project management tools enable easy file sharing, documentation, and reporting with
others to observe everybody’s performance.
Easy and Quick Planning
Project management tool makes easier for the managers to allocate tasks to different
members based on their skills.
A project management tool gives you the ability to quickly set a hierarchy of tasks for
efficient and effective completion.
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ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
Project management tool allows you to indicate which actions are sequential and which
tasks are dependent on one another. In turn, this makes it easier for the team to do their
task.
Project management tool is a time-saver because when the team leader knows which
actions are the most important, he/she then recognize which tasks to assign to whom.
Keep Budget in Control
Budget management is a very fundamental task that assists in controlling the cost of the
project. Each project comes with a cost that involves the potential expenses and expected
returns. Project management software lets managers optimize the cost and work to
maximize profits. This can be accomplished by time tracking, progress tracking, budget
reporting and other tasks that assist project managers to plan the budget and work
accordingly.
Easy Resource Allocation & Management
Managing and assigning resources is another reason why your business requires
project management tools. It is very essential to manage resources to ensure smooth
business processes so nothing is wasted. Understanding what materials and tools you
will need in a project let you run without any obstruction that may be affected by missing
resources. With suitable project management tools, you can avoid purchasing
unnecessary resources, so you spend only for the stuff that you actually require.
Strong Team Workflow
Getting the entire development team work as one is usually very challenging, but with
project management tools, you can simply make everybody work together. Using project
management tools, the project manager is able to watch the tasks that are being
managed by team members and how much work has been finished. Having a strong
team workflow is a must for the organization’s success, and project management tools
can help you accomplish your goals.
Continuous Project Monitoring
To obtain long-term success, it is necessary for companies to track the performance of the
project. When you hire app development agency, they will also spend time to monitor
every task with the help of the project management tools to ensure that the things are
being completed on time. They can gather performance data of each member of the team
and watch every stage of the software development life cycle to optimize the current and
future projects.
Easy Data Sharing
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ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
It is important to make this data available throughout the development team for
transparent and better communication. Using project management tools, that support
centralized data storage method, each member of the team can easily access, update
and use the documents and files. Thus, rather than sending out a number of emails with
attachments, all the file sharing tasks become very easy to work with project management
tools.
How to choose a right project Management tool?
1. Define your project management tools needs.
The first step to finding a project management tool is identifying the current problems in
the way your team works. It’s important to write these pain points in a list you can refer to
later. Possible problems could include:
Lack of communication between departments
Disorganized projects and missed deadlines
Uneven workload between team members
Overflowing email inbox
Too many time-wasting meetings
When you are looking at all options for a project management tool, you need to ask: does it
solve these problems? If the answer is no, remove the tool from your list to prevent you from
getting distracted by flashy demos, pretty UI, or powerful features you’ll never use. You can
also use this list as a starting point to define what features you do want in a project
management tool. Mark each feature as high, medium, or low priority to know quickly if a
potential tool is going to work.
2. Research the best project management tools.
With your needs defined, now it’s time to see what options are available. Here are some ways to
get started:
Ask team member what they liked using in the past
Talk to other project managers in your industry
Check out recommendations on industry websites
Read software review websites
Start by prioritizing feedback from your team — knowing what they liked in previous tools
will make company adoption easier. It’s worth spending a little extra time looking for that
perfect fit.
Once you’ve evaluated the options, narrow it down to about five finalists, and ask team
members to vote on their favorites as well.
3. Test out the tool
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ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
It is important to test out the customer service. Implementing a new tool, even if it’s a great fit,
takes work. A provider that supports you can make all the difference. Better request a demo and
spend 30 minutes to an hour with their sales team to learn a bit more about how the sales team
themselves are using the tool, and what functionalities you can expect. You can also ask the
support team a question and see how long it takes them to respond. Check out their help center
and resources to see if they have assets that will help you get started. Ask your sales
representative how they plan to support you if you make the switch.
Project management tools that offer free trials:
Hive – Hive offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required
Kintone – Kintone offers a free trial with no credit card required, and a special trial for non-
profits
Asana – Asana offers a 30-day free trial for all new users
Zoho Projects – This tool offers a 10-day free trial of all paid plans
4. Feedback from your team.
After you’ve completed the trial, it’s time to gather feedback by reaching out to everyone on
the pilot of your potential project management tool. Things you should ask about:
Would the project management tool make their workflow more efficient?
How much time would be spent updating it?
What did they like the most/least about the tool?
How much time did it take them to get started?
How likely would they be to recommend the tool?
5. Evaluate the Cost of the Project Management Tool
Consider not only the price per user, but also the time it would take to implement the tool.
Weigh that against the cost of continuing to work the same way. Think about the time wasted,
opportunities lost, and problems caused by your current workflow. How could this new tool
change that? If you can see long-term savings, then you’ve found a good option.
You should also consider what payment method works best. Do you prefer monthly
subscription or annual payment? Do you want to commit to 3 months and then reevaluate?
6. Get Executive Buy-In
When you’re preparing to implement a project management tool, it’s critical that you get buy-in
from the executive team, or at least part of it. Because you’re going to ask dozens of people to
likely change their day-to-day routine, it’s best to have support from leadership. A few ways you
can do this include:
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ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
Having a group of leadership team members on the tool selection committee
Openly communicating with leadership about current tool shortcomings
Providing statistics of past successful implementations to leadership
7. Purchase the project management tool
Once you’ve gotten executive buy-in from the right people at your organization, it’s time to
make the purchase of the tool. Since most project management tools are purchased based on a
seat count, we’d recommend making a purchase that outfits 2-3 teams, and using them as a test
to see how you’d roll out to the rest of the organization.
8. Implement the Project Management Tool
We need implementation plan to Implement the purchase project management tools.
Timeline: When do you want to bring everyone on?
Training: What training do various people need?
Who will provide it?
How will it be provided?
Champions: Who are going to be the key advocates for this tool?
How do you get them to buy-in?
What will they do to encourage others?
Integrations: When are you going to set up key integrations?
Who will be responsible for setting them up?
9. Retrospective
Give direct feedback to the sales and customer success teams about your experience — who
knows, maybe there are parts of the tool that they can tell you about to help solve for any issues.
It’s also critical to have regular check-ins with your team to learn about how they’re using the
project management tool, where you can make changes, and how to better implement it over the
long run.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
Project Management Tools
Gantt Chart
Is a project management tool assisting in the planning and scheduling of projects pf all sizes, although
they particularly useful for simplifying complex projects. Project management timelines and tasks are
converted into horizontal bar chart showing start and dates, as well as dependencies, scheduling
deadlines, and how much of the task is completed per stage and who is the task owner.
Logic Network
it shows the sequence of activities in a project across time. It indicates which activity logically
precedes or follow another. Create START (left) and END (right) sticky note and put them on
whiteboard.
PERT Chart (The Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
A project management tool that provides a graphical representation of a project’ s timeline. Program
evaluation and review technique breaks down the individual tasks of a project for analysis. PERT chart
are considered preferable to Gantt chart because they identify task dependencies, but they ‘re often more
difficult to interpret.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)
Product Breakdown Structure Is a effective tool that details the
physical components of a particular product or system, under
consideration. The formal PBS comes in the form of
a hierarchy. It begins with the final product at the
top of hierarchy followed by the sub categized
elements of the product. The Product Breakdown
Structure is similar to the Work Breakdown
Structure.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
A Work Breakdown Structure is a hierarchical outline of the tasks
requirement to complete a project. The WBS “break down” the
structure of a project into manageable deliveries. Each deliverable is
assigned a task or series of tasks that can be further broken down
into subtasks to meet the needs of the project. The advantage of
using a WBS as part of project lifecycle management is that is takes
large, complex projects and breaks them into smaller, more manageable tasks that can be assigned
to specific people or team to deliver.
A product breakdown structure is a hierarchical breakdown of
the products to be produced during a plan. A product breakdown
contains just products.
A work breakdown structure is a hierarchical breakdown of the
entire work that needs to be completed during a plan. A work
breakdown structure contains just activities.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
TOP PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS
1. Kissflow Project
2. Trello
3. Asana
4. Zoho Project
5. Wrike
6. Monday.com
7. Proofhub
8. Clarizen
Features to look for in project management tools
Team collaboration tools
It gives you a digital space where you and your team can share ideas and files and discuss
assignments. Collaboration tools may include discussion boards, file-sharing systems and/or
messaging features.
Integrations
Integrations with other programs can streamline your workflow so you don't have to hop back
and forth among multiple applications. When everything is in one place, it keeps you organized
and connected, and saves time. Instead of adding every integration available, select the apps
that match your company's needs and are not already included in your project management
system.
Real-time reporting
You and your team need to remain up-to-date on assignments. With real-time reporting, you
can receive instant notifications about project progress, missed deadlines or any changes to
ongoing projects, and address issues before they turn into serious problems.
Invoicing features
Budgeting is sometimes part of mapping out the project plan, which is so much easier when invoicing
features are already embedded within your program. You can use these tools to communicate with
clients about pricing and calculate additional costs and billable hours. Invoicing features also give you
access to your team's finances and budget reports.
Time tracking
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ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
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Wasting time is not an option when you're on deadline. Knowing how much time your team
spends on certain tasks and projects is helpful to your planning. Time tracking is a key feature
that can help you identify which team members need more time management guidance.
These tools usually come in the form of milestone features, which highlight certain levels of
project progress and help you accurately calculate billable hours.
Data analytics system
A data analytics system gives you the tools to examine your team's work ethic and flow so
you can see where to make the appropriate changes. A quality program shows your team
members' progress as well as their shortfalls, so you can gather information and make
improvements.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
STA. MARIA, ILOCOS SUR
GRATUATE SCHOOL
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15911-project-management-software-features.html
https://hive.com/blog/choosing-project-management-tool/
https://www.ntaskmanager.com/blog/project-management-tools-for-effective-project-planning/
http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/tools/project-management-tools.php
https://www.zignuts.com/why-project-management-tools-are-important/#:~:text=A%20project
%20management%20tool%20gives,team%20to%20do%20their%20task
https://www.celoxis.com/article/7-steps-to-choosing-the-right-project-management-software
https://www.pmstudio.be/difference-pbs-wbs/?lang=en
