What is Project Management Software?
Online project management software and tools help individuals and teams keep projects on track, allowing them to plan, schedule, and allocate resources to where they are needed to complete the project in time. All of this can be achieved using various charts and tools, including Gantt charts and timelines giving you a visual representation of how your project is progressing and what needs managing when.
What is Project Management Software used for?
To help project managers and teams collaborate on projects. A good project management system has built-in functions to help you complete your tasks and analyze how your project performs.
These tools can be used for:
- Project Overview – Complete top level view of your project to see how all parts interact with each other
- Task Management – record individual tasks that need completing and assign them to the right person or team with more information of what needs to be done
- Time Tracking – track the current progress of how long each task is taking, so you can reassign more resources or change your timelines accordingly. Project time tracking also lets you keep track of billable hours so you can invoice more efficiently.
- Reporting – many online project management tools can create custom reports so you can analyze how your project is performing and where bottlenecks are. Create visual reports to show to managers when needed.
Who uses Project Management software?
Project management tools are for freelancers, creatives, small businesses, individuals, architects, game creators, and the list goes on. If you’ve got a project, you want to keep track of, no matter how big or small, this type of project management tool is for you.
They are often easy to learn and come packed full of features that you can use together or individually.
Used by teams to collaborate and share project details, they help keep data, files, and information in a single accessible location. Project managers can quickly set up a new project, create custom fields and automate tasks, helping save time.
Project Management Software Features
Key features you’ll find inside many of the best project management software include:
- Task Management – manage individual tasks, add information & specific detail
- Time Tracking – track the time it takes to complete individual tasks and sections of projects
- Task Automation – automate tasks to help save time. For example: send notifications when a task is complete
- Workflows – create and manage workflows to see what need to be completed, and task interactions
- Gantt Charts & Views – visually see your project plan based on timeline and the list of tasks
- Custom Reporting – create reports displaying the current status of the project, what’s complete, what still needs to be done and time projections
- Team Collaboration – collaborate with team members, send notifications, add information & details to complete a task or get feedback
- Communication Tools – chat tools, discussion boards and direct messaging helps teams communicate together to complete tasks
- Activity Logs – all interactions with the software are logged so you can audit who changed what and when
- File & Document Storage – upload files, images, documents, video and audio associated with your project to your account to store or share with team members
App Integrations
The top project management tools either integrate into other tools for small business, or allow them to integrate into them.
This can add extra functionality to your project management system, adding marketing tools, email automations, video conferencing, CRM solutions, and more for a more robust and all-round solution.
What are the benefits of project management software?
If you’re used to shuffling papers around your desk, writing post-its, or using multiple different programs to keep track of your current projects and ideas. In that case, you’ll benefit from using project management software.
Some of the advantages include:
- Time Saving – save time by storing all your information in one place for a quick lookup when needed. No more hunting around for your notes or details. Everyone can see what needs to be done and when.
- Project Planning – plan your projects in greater detail, and see an overview of your timelines. You’ll be able to change details quickly, swap tasks around, and manage your resources at the click of a button
- In-depth Reporting – no more time-consuming calculations and projections to figure out. Let the software do it for you, providing custom reporting about your projects
- Project Budgeting – planning your projects can help you figure out how much they will cost to complete and what resources you need to complete them. Budgeting can help allocate extra time, workers, and investments.
