10 Important Factors to Consider While Selecting Right Project Management System

There are plenty of articles and literature which talk about how automating and standardizing appropriate processes/practices improves chances of repeatable success. If your organization delivers projects, I don’t have to reiterate how critical it is to have well defined project management process for each stage of project delivery – be it planning, task management / scheduling approach, approvals, changes, acquiring resources, resource utilization, costing/budgeting, etc.

If you dealing with projects of considerable duration, multiple resources and varied complexities, and if you are not using any project management system then you are certainly missing things in a big way to efficiently organize these projects.

If your organization is already using project management system to manage and deliver project, you would have accumulated some or other learning over the years and it would have helped to standardize project management process while dealing with project delivery cycle. But have you realized that there are important factors which may be missing because of your current project management system?

Project Management Maturity Level – Where Do You Stand?

The essential things you should figure out is – what is the maturity level of current project management processes at your organization; what are and will be expectations of your customers from future projects deliveries in terms of maturity level. How many PMP certified project managers your organization has, does your client expect delivery in agile-way? Though there are plenty project management system available, it is you who clearly need to understand, what to expect from project management system. If you search online or visit some marketplace, you will find thee are pretty basic – to-do list tools which may cost you nothing or they may be cheap, are touted as project management system; at other end you will find complex tools which are highly costly yet difficult to understand and use. You will have carefully watch for better project management system.

The bottom-line! (at top)

The most important thing you should ask while selecting a right project management system for your organization::

Will it work for my team in delivering all aspects of project; at the same time will it give me and my managers required visibility?

Here are other important questions you should ask

1. Is it intuitive?

It should be very intuitive that your team members need not be trained use it. It has to be easy to get started. In today’s fast paced world, your team will find it hard to spend time in learning complex tools.

2. Is it collaborative?

The tools should be inherently collaborative. Even though the word collaboration holds different meaning for different people, it should enable informed and quick decision making for team.

3. Is it simple and shows data only required for a given role?

Team members should find the project management system, easy to use and the tool should show only those information relevant to them. Individual team member should not get bogged down with complex Gantt chart software; rather he should know what’s in his plate for today/tomorrow.

4. Does it give real updates?

Gone are the days of off-line systems. Today, team members should be notified of latest changes in schedule and project manager should know the latest state of any/all tasks in the project. If there is any risk/issue highlighted, team should know about it, at earliest.

5. Does it provide bird eye view/ top view of senior/portfolio manager

Multi-project dashboard that shows break down of project elements like schedule/tasks, resources, issues, risks, changes, budget, cost, progress planned vs actual, etc.

The critical information senior managers (decision makers) look for is project status indicator (budget, resources, progress – Green, Red, Umber). Thus while tracking KPIs for project portfolio manager, s/he should be able to see high level project status indicator in portfolio dashboard.

6. Does it have all features to manage entire lifecycle of project

If your project is not trivial, your project would encounter problems, it will face risks, it would have budget, it would have resources, change requests, etc. PM tool is not all about scheduling. Project management is much more than Gantt Chart. So do check whether a given tool has all required project management features. You project will need

• Task schedule tracker
• issue tracker
• risk register
• time tracking
• project budget & cost tracker
• resource manager
• change request management
• stakeholder management
• meeting manager
• expense tracker
• portfolio management etc. Check whether a given PM tool deliver what is necessary for you to deliver your projects right from inception to closure.

7. Is it an integrated product and the only place to go to? (integration)

The business world has already spent lot of energy in terms of resources and cost while working with different systems. Running around various tools to manage project is the thing in past. Ask whether you would prefer to have every artefact of your project at one place or scattered in different systems?

Have you already invested in different software/tools? Fair enough; then check whether the tool provides necessary integration with these systems. It could be MS Project, Google Apps, etc.

8. Can everyone use it in his/her own way? – at home, while traveling, is it mobile?

Would you like the software to provide you with a flexibility with which your team members, portfolio managers can use the software and update project activities on the go? Today world is about online, mobile. The software should let you access project details anywhere, any time and using all connected-devices like laptop, smartphone, tablets.

9. Is it scalable, can it grow as my business grows?

The software should provide you the flexibility to scale up or scale down as your business dynamics changes. It should let you scale up when your business grows.

10. Is it secure, reliable – where is SLA and what does it say?

Check what are security measure software vendor is promising to apply, how is he ensuring the reliability of the software, service. See whether a software vendor has transparently shared service agreement. You should have a close look at the service level agreement (SLA); contact details, support mechanisms.

Do you have any other consideration while selecting PM tool, I would definitely like to hear that.

Additional readings about project management, leadership

• Avoid These 10 Most Common Mistakes That Leads to Project Failure
• Transition of A Good To Great Project Manager
• Looking for a robust task management software: Best of Both Worlds: Gantt Chart + Kanban Board?
• 8 Reasons to Decide Whether Your Organization Needs Project Management Office
• Managing Portfolio of Projects? Your Organization Needs Project Portfolio Management Software
• Project Management Tool for Software IT Projects
• Managing Project Stakeholder’s Expectations
• Guide to Selecting RIGHT Project Management Tool
• Top Best Project Management Software List 2018

Your life can be become easier with the right project management system. ZilicusPM is the right PM tool for you and your team.

About Zilicus

Zilicus offers the best project portfolio management tool ZilicusPM, with robust project management tools capabilities and easy ways to track project management KPI,

Know more about project portfolio management, Gantt chart, best project management tool, project management office, project management tips, project planning guide, project risk management, project scope management, effective project management, project manager guides and know more about Project Portfolio Management Software, Project Management Software Guide.