You are in business to accomplish several goals. The main goal, and rightfully so, is to make a profit! Seems like a simple enough end result for all of the hard work you and your teams have poured into your business craft.
Well, perhaps not, especially if your firm’s basics are in disarray. Without a concrete process, without objectives that are executable, and without management accountability, profit may be a lofty goal continually strived for but rarely obtained.
Software Solution
To realize profitable projects, to ensure internal efficiencies and tasks remain on track, a fully integrated project management system is, especially these days, mandatory for most business operations. Software that manages project planning is usually comprised of two methodologies: a complete, turnkey system, or one that is modularized. The former affords a company a total project management system that incorporates all of the nuts and bolts, while the latter modularizes various project planning components.
No matter the type of software employed, a write-once system is preferable. Such reduces input errors and definitely improves the integrity of the data being examined. If your software can also bring into play your customer data, you’ve avoided the dreaded input error bug that can skew your final reports.
Most integrated project management or project planning software systems offer charts, graphs and reports. What is of interest to management is that the system also facilitates the communicative and collaborative aspects of the projects. Workgroup centralization for clients and project co-workers is important in managing the entire process from start to finish.
The software solution must also be able to meet the demands of the end-user and the customer. Sometimes these demands can occur quite suddenly. Unresponsive software or a truculent program module that cannot flex around suddenly imported difficulties becomes an anchor that weighs heavily on the company’s bottom line.
A well-tooled project planning software system also minimizes the need for additional development work on the system itself. Training employees and consultants on the use of the software should be, if not effortless, worth the investment. When time and money are saved, and valuable resources can be applied to the projects in a more immediate fashion, a “win-win” situation occurs for both client and company.
Reporting Results
A complete project management software system will be able to grow with the company and report all of the required data quickly and accurately. The system should be able to handle:
- Unlimited projects and tasks as well as track all project aspects such as hours logged, project costs, what has been billed and what remains to be billed
- Billings accomplished in light of the project budget
- Detailed work logs for each client and all related support issues
- Specific resource assignments to the project’s various tasks
- Budget comparison reports in relation to spending
- Tracking and setting project budgets
- Document management, plans and process flows within a complete record of the project
- Changeable levels of access to the data via role-based permissions for different users
- Billing rates that can be varied when associated with different project consultants
- Incorporation of a calendaring component
With a complete system, the approval process becomes far easier for managers. They can review the project status at any time they wish, view charges, and approve time and expenses to keep the project on track. With the single project management software system in place, accountability becomes a reality.
A View To Success
The last element any project manager wishes to experience is project management software that adds complexity to administrative efforts. Additionally, the software should be fully capable of presenting a visual status of the projects underway without the necessity of a manager having to cull through reams of reports for an overview. A plus also occurs when management is able to view a project from the “hundred-thousand mile altitude” level, as new perspectives can be realized and applied to increase flexibility and apply new company capabilities in completing the projects.
Endgame
The goal of software should be to streamline the entire project management process. When the updating of tasks can be handled quickly and still result in the acquisition of complete detail levels, a triumphant conclusion is the much-sought consequence.
The result of successful project planning is a satisfied customer. A satisfied customer, under most circumstances, will return to the company that has already proven they can meet client needs. Both the client and the company win!
Team Interactions Inc. of Carlsbad California, develops and markets Enterplicity. Enterplicity is project management software that greatly improves project workflow and transparency. The vision for the Enterplicity came from experience in product development projects, and the lack of an easy to use, easy to implement, centralized tool for the organization.
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