ConceptDraw Project
Project Management Tool
Software project management tools exists in many different levels of
complexity and variety of prices. This article aims to help project
managers realize what project management tool they
need and find out how computers can help them in everyday routine.
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Before
choosing some particular tool you should have a look at the different
kinds of projects to manage and corresponding PM skills. It is very
important to pick a project management tool appropriate for
you and your organization.
The following types of projects and
project management tools should cover the field broadly, though any
categorization is very relative.
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Project management tools for small projects, usually in single functional area
At
this level project managers usually plan and schedule only durations of
project subtasks rather than resource capacity or work estimates. They
do not need to track a project budget and their project status reports
contain only completion date tracking.
The project management tool in this situation helps project managers to automate such basic routines like
- planning project flow
- preparing occasional status reports
- producing Gantt charts
If
your project management tasks are not intended to grow and such
functionality is enough, you should not spend a lot of money nor waste
your time on long learning curve about features you'll never use.
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Project management tools for managing larger projects
Project
budget is very important now, therefore we need a project management
tool to give us the capability to estimate resources and money at every
stage of the project. As more people are getting involved in the
project, software should provide the ability to create numerous status
reports - from simple total project cost to more sophisticated ones.
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As
the size of the project grows, the number of project management
techniques increases. Requirements for the project management tool
change accordingly. At this level the project management tool must be
able to work not only with the static representation of start and
finish dates for each project subroutines, but it needs to be powerful
enough to simulate the project and reschedule it every time something
changes in project flow.
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Project management tools for huge multi-project environment
At
this high-end level we need project management tool that meets a
lot of additional requirements. Now we need to roll-up multiple
projects and require consistent information for decision-makers. Among
the features they need are:
- allocating material resources (including finances)
- scheduling and tracking a pool of human resources
- sharing resources between multiple projects
- sophisticated risk assessment tools
- detailed project performance tracking
- creating a detailed project budget. This brings project management software tools closer to the company's accounting system
If
you need a lot, you have to spend a lot. Project management tools
for this purpose costs from $400 up to $3000 and even more. Such
packages usually have network versions and team communication
capabilities.
Categorization above was rather
comprehensive over the last years. But modern project management
reality changes constantly, therefore we can talk about one more
project management tools category.
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The project management tool for managing multiple projects in small and mid-size businesses
It
often happens that project managers face the need to manage multiple
projects simultaneously, using resources that can be shared between
them. But they do not need a huge and extremely expensive project
management software tool with thousands of not really needed features.
What should they choose? ConceptDraw Project
can be the answer. It is a cross-platform (Mac OS X and Windows)
project management software tool that allows the project manager to
automate project routines - from planning and assigning resources to
powerful report generating capabilities. You can download free trial or get more info on main page. Anyway, the choice is up to you.
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