PM software – why you need them
Project is a time bound activity and involves resources like manpower, materials and time. No two projects are exactly identical. Variations occur in form of layout, manpower, time constraints and resources. Project Management requirement also stems from the complexity, magnitude and number of agencies involved in to the jobs.
Today every other organization who is in to projects talks of Project Management tools like Primavera , MS-Projects and Web based applications. But how many of these organizations employ them to effectively manage their projects, that is a million dollar question. ERP stats says that for every successful ERP implementation there is one failure . Similar stats are also there with Project Management software implementations. It has been observed that companies are rarely utilizing the full functionalities of a Project Management software. At majority of places the Project Management software are being used for scheduling purposes alone.
There are four well defined stages in project cycle. These are:
- Start up
- Planning
- Execution
- Closure
Project Management software has a role to play in each of these four stages. But any Project Management tool can be effective once the activities and milestones are well defined. Merely buying a great PM tool and hoping that it will rid you of all project problems will be asking for too much. Project Management software helps the Project Management team in planning, tracking, spend analysis and closure. But to get benefits out of the software the group has be do all their basics and follow strict discipline.
Needless to say, Project Management software can be effective, if one works on it.[ad#ad-468-15]
More you work on it more you can gain out of it. Nowadays MS Project(Microsoft) more or less has complete functionalities of Primavera(Oracle ). Even SAP has a Project Management module which is quite stable and effective. So buy any of these great Project Management software and do the necessary off-line hard work in detailing.
May also like to read: Project Management software tools
Companies are rarely utilizing the full functionalities of a project management software because those companies are buying a more complex tool than they need. All you have to do is to choose the right PM software. A project management software for mid-size and medium-size companies is RationalPlan:
http://www.RationalPlan.com
One of the reasons for wide acceptance and usage of project management tools is for teams that are globally based. Our project management tool is being used by many such teams.
http://www.deskaway.com
Definitely, it will take a lot of time without these project management tools like http://www.5pmweb.com and others
And BTW, there are some tools available open source that can make your tasks easier and you can give them a try before going serious in PM tools. Gantt is my favorite.