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Published November 13th, 2016 by

6 Essential Features of Project Management Software

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Sales Force Automation

The sole purpose of a company is to receive and accomplish the projects to meet their goals and succeed. These projects are assigned to each member of the company which will contribute to the main product. In order for the company to meet the deadline of the project, everyone should cooperate and be responsible to the things that might occur. To finish a single project, the company must have at least 20 workers and above that will work on the project. But this number of worker is hard to monitor one by one. Project management  (PM) tools are created to deal with the problem especially on projects.

Software for project management are specially designed to create a quality and perfect projects. This can only achieved by proper planning and distribution of works. In order for an owner to distribute the tasks accordingly and plan for the best action for the project, he should seek help from a project management application. These apps are guaranteed to be helpful and user friendly. Every data, every information necessary for daily, weekly or monthly reports are recorded in the software so it can be easily seen and located. The budgeting of the project is also a part of the feature of the software. You will never worry about the health of your finance again once you trust your software.

Most user prefer spreadsheets to document each update or information of the project. Microsoft spreadsheet is the best tool that most company rely on. This is the oldest but the most convenient way to monitor the progress of the project and the workers as well. But with the use of a good project management app, it will never be the same again in using the MS spreadsheet. Because everything in these applications are automatic and advanced that is good in saving time while giving the best quality output of a company.

Project Management

A software for project management is a tool utilized for preparation of projects, scheduling of projects, resource allocation of projects, and change management of projects. It lets the project managers (PMs), investors and workers to regulate costs and manage the budget, management of quality, documentation, and utilized as a system for administration. A software for PM can also be used for teamwork and communication among project investors.

Tools for managing a project is an advanced application used in tracking, monitoring, and updating the projects. Using such equipment in your company will never be a regret. It will boost up the productivity level of your company and the quality of the products and outcomes as well. With proper project planning and management, you will attain the best output that your client is wishing for. This will help you to increase the reputation of your company and gain the trust of your clients.

Uses of Project Management Software

The software for PM has a very simple goal, it is to assist those people who are involved in dealing with projects to attain their own goals. For separate projects, the goal is to supply the expected production of the project on or before the deadline, within the project budget and of course the expected quality of the project. However, those people who are managing numerous projects, a PM tool must be more helpful, productive, and it regularly has an unlike label. The labels such as management software for project portfolio, or software resource management. Most of the successful men today suggests and recommends those people who are new in the industry.

6 Essential Features

1. Scheduling and Planning

When handling a group, it is extremely important to make the responsibilities and tasks of everyone to be visible and outlined. This feature is good to avoid mistakes and know who might be the qualified persons for the new tasks.

All of the best software for PM enables turning over tasks to group members and making deadlines and priorities. Adding deadlines to tasks will sends an automatic notification for every time the due date will approach, and the project is still unfinished.

2. Collaboration

A big project team can be consisted of 10 to 100 persons; each are working on their specific tasks, having proficient knowledge in a dissimilar field.

Regularly, members of a project team are obliged to access the work of one another so that they may complement it to their own works. Meaning to say, it is highly essential to start a systematized and fast communication through numerous channels.

3.Documentation

You are not placing all your data of your project on MS Excel spreadsheets, right? We are proud to say that 88% of the spreadsheets you use contain errors. Take a look at every business procedures that you want an Excel substitute  for.

Holding all the gathered information to a complete PM tool tells that you may easily share the information with your group and use it with just few clicks. You don’t need to change between numerous spreadsheets to discover bits of information.

When looking for the finest software for PM, ask businesses that have that the kind of tool that enables them to manage and store information. Not all PM tools contain a customer relationship management (CRM) or demand automation.

One more underused advantage of collecting the information you need in a single place is the comprehensive reporting you will get. More details about this on the next number.

4. Reporting

To effectively manage your business projects, you have to be alert of the problems and deficiencies that need a quick answer. To get a thorough summary of your project development, you will need at most two features – perceptive reports and KPI dashboard.

5. Resource Management

It’s not only your team’s time that needs to be managed but also yours. Probably, you need a tool for keeping track of other resources for project, a good example is the meeting rooms, and supplies used in the process of project.

6. Managing the Budget of the Project

The bigger the project you will make, the more money you need to burn and manage. For effective expense management, it is not a choice to use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

 Budget Reports

You are going to require a tool for PM that monitors all your project expenses and offers a quick and perfect reporting about the project budget performance.

The finest software for project budgeting provides its user a weekly and monthly reports about your expenses on the project and the total expenditures. You will also know when your budget for the project goes over.

To receive a quick summary of the performance of your budget, create a report about financial analysis. Some software tools for PM also allow incorporations with software for accounting, so you will know all the data on your financial expenses that are related to your projects and the profiles of your customers without the need to enter an existing data again.

Dashboard for Project Budget

Make a report about your project finance using a dashboard and supply numerous KPIs to be seen on the progress of your project.

 Add charts and graphs on your dashboard for you to get actual time updates regarding on your project. In order for the budget reports or dashboard to be shared with your group members, you need to set access rights to your dashboard, guaranteeing that the people on your group have an access to the data.

 Automated Invoicing and Time Billing

When trying to work for a company and you deal with numerous customers, you need the PM software to allow invoicing and time billing. You are required to monitor the length of time consumed on tasks, make an hourly addition rates to workers and collect invoices that accords to the task they have done.

Time Tracking

Make use of a tool for time-tracking like Toggl to file the times that are spent on projects and make use of the information for your invoicing procedure to be automated.

You may find PM software with combined tools for time tracking but it may be available with a cost of other features that are important. There is always a chance to mix a solution for time-tracking to the PM tool to file your tasks and connect it to the projects and profiles of your customers.

 Automated Invoicing

As invoicing take the greatest time of yours, there is a good way to collect and pass a bill with just a small number of clicks. You may use pre-intended PDF prototypes and tool that immediately relay the project invoice to you. The best software for time billing will enable you to set up email cues for due project invoices and relieve your assignment.

You can never deny the fact that you need PM software, and if you want to know more reviews of PM tools, visit CrowdReviews.com. This is where every information you need about software on PM is documented.

Our rankings are completely independent, transparent, and community driven; they are based on user reviews and client sentiment. These project management companies had to earn their way up and didn't just pay their way up.

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