| Project management software exists in | | | | increases. Requirements for project |
| many different levels of sofistication | | | | management software change accordingly. |
| and variety of prices. This article aims | | | | At this level project management |
| to help project managers realize what | | | | software must be able to work not only |
| kind of project management software | | | | with the static representation of start |
| tools they need and find out how | | | | and finish dates for each project |
| computers can help them in everyday | | | | subroutines, but it needs to be powerful |
| routine. | | | | enough to simulate the project and |
| Before choosing some particular tool you | | | | reschedule it every time something |
| should have a look at the different | | | | changes in project flow. |
| kinds of projects to manage and | | | | Project management software for huge |
| corresponding PM skills. It is very | | | | multi-project environment |
| important to pick a project management | | | | At this high-end level we need project |
| software tool appropriate for you and | | | | management software that meets a lot of |
| your organization. The following types | | | | additional requirements. Now we need to |
| of projects and project management | | | | roll-up multiple projects and require |
| software should cover the field broadly, | | | | consistent information for |
| though any categorization is very | | | | decision-makers. Among the features they |
| relative. | | | | need are: |
| Project management software for small | | | | * material resources allocating |
| projects, usually in single functional | | | | (including finances) |
| area | | | | * scheduling and tracking a pool of |
| At this level project managers usually | | | | human resources |
| plan and schedule only durations of | | | | * sharing resources between multiple |
| project subtasks rather than resource | | | | projects |
| capacity or work estimates. They do not | | | | * sophisticated risk assessment tools |
| need to track a project budget and their | | | | * detailed project performance tracking |
| project status reports contain only | | | | * creating a detailed project budget. |
| completion date tracking. | | | | This brings project management software |
| Project management software in this | | | | closer to the company's accounting |
| situation helps project managers to | | | | system |
| automate such basic routines like | | | | If you need a lot, you have to spend a |
| * planning project flow | | | | lot. Project management software for |
| * occasional status reports preparing | | | | this purpose costs from $400 up to $3000 |
| * producing Gantt charts | | | | and even more. Such packages usually |
| If your project management tasks are not | | | | have network versions and team |
| intended to grow and such functionality | | | | communication capabilities. |
| is enough, you should not spend a lot of | | | | Categorization above was rather |
| money nor waste your time on long | | | | comprehensive over the last years. But |
| learning curve about features you'll | | | | modern project management reality |
| never use. | | | | changes constantly, therefore we can |
| Project management software for managing | | | | talk about one more project management |
| larger projects | | | | software category. |
| Project budget is very important now, | | | | Project management software for managing |
| therefore we need a project management | | | | multiple projects in small and mid-size |
| tool to give us the capability to | | | | businesses |
| estimate resources and money at every | | | | It often happens that project managers |
| stage of the project. As more people are | | | | face the need to manage multiple |
| getting involved in the project, | | | | projects simultaneously, using resources |
| software should provide the ability to | | | | that can be shared between them. But |
| create numerous status reports – | | | | they do not need a huge and extremely |
| from simple total project cost to more | | | | expensive project management software |
| sophisticated ones. | | | | tool with thousands of not really needed |
| As the size of the project grows, the | | | | features. What should they choose? |
| number of project management techniques | | | | ConceptDraw Project can be the answer. |