Planning, scheduling, organizing meetings, managing budgets, and other resources, are a few of many responsibilities of project managers. Handling all these tasks can get overwhelming for them especially on a busy day. To enhance productivity and automate tedious yet time-consuming tasks it is important for organizations to equip project managers with the best project management software system.
With hundreds of project management software solutions available in marketing, it becomes important to determine which one will help your company save time and money. An effective project management system should be able to streamline processes as much as possible. For finding the right Project Management Software for Accounting Professionals have an in-depth brainstorm session with your team and go over all the steps you need to take to complete the project. You can then assess each project management software based on steps your team wants to initiate.
In addition to this, here are the top 6 features you need to look for in a project management system:
- Scheduling and Planning Features: While working on a project, it is important for each team member to be aware of their responsibilities and tasks outlined in the project plan to avoid any kind of misunderstandings or delays. Project planning involves categorizing tasks based on priority and scheduling them so that everything is done in time. A project management system must-have features like a task management tool, team calendar, and a planner. These tools will allow managers to monitor the number of tasks and hours each member has been assigned and what task needs to be assigned to whom in the future. Urgent tasks can be prioritized and moved ahead with the help of a planner and in the end, your project team will be much more productive.
- Collaboration Features: Project managers need to stay in touch with the project team without fail and team members need to work well together and collectively come up with new strategies, plans, and decisions regarding the project. In the current situation, wherein most teams are working remotely, it has become important to choose a project management tool that has collaborative features such as annotations, file/document sharing, team dashboards, and client data sharing.
File sharing features offer free storage space for your team members to upload data and documents. They can quickly share documents and allow other members to access the files without any hassle. Many project management tools have a built-in messaging feature that facilitates team communication. Team dashboards display important visual metrics, charts, graphs, and key performance indicators for all the members to see, these dashboard can also display specific insights based on customer data.
- Time Tracking Features: Every project comes with a deadline, which is why losing time is not an option. Track the amount of time your team members are spending on a specific type of task is vital for planning the project. Managers can guide team members on time management if task completions are taking longer than expected. The ideal project management system must have a milestone feature displaying the progress made and help the manager calculate billable hours accurately. These features can come in handy if you want to show your clients how much work has been completed or you charge clients on an hourly basis.
- Integration Support: Make sure the project management system supports integrations with other applications or programs so that your team does not have to keep switching between multiple applications. If everything is available in one place it will help team members stay organized focused and connected with each other. Not every team member will be working on the same kind of tasks within the project. While some may be working on content, others may be working on design and development. The ideal project management system should be able to integrate relevant tools for different types of tasks. Integration of various tools also ensures that there is transparency across your team and everyone will stay involved in the project.
- Real-Time Reporting Features: Stakeholders want to know your project schedule and status far before you begin implementing your project and members need to stay on track with the project once it begins. With real-time reporting features, you can send and receive timely reminders or notifications about any missed deadlines, edits made, deadlines, and project progress to stakeholders and team members automatically. This allows managers to address any problems before they tamper with the project. Members can easily check what others are working on and how their progress impacts the overall project. This reduces communication problems, keeps the team together, and motivates individual members to keep contributing. Real-time reports enable you to track and convey your project scope, time, budget, and progress consistently to your clients.
- Budgeting Features: Budgeting can be tough especially while working on large projects wherein project managers need to document and manage a lot of expenses. It is important to pick project management tools that track your project expenses, notifies managers when the project goes over the budget and allows them to export the data to your computer whenever they need it. Features like automated invoicing can help agencies dealing with multiple clients with timely billing and invoicing based on the work done. Project management software with an invoicing feature can save up to ten hours of time every week for a project manager. It also reduces any chance of human error.
To effectively navigate the project management solution, scheduling, task management, team coordination, monitoring, invoicing and time-tracking tools are essential. Look for a data analytics and integration system that satisfies the needs of your business as well. There are many benefits of project management software backing up your project managers. Firstly, it automates tasks that can be mundane or maybe at the risk of human errors. Secondly, these platforms improve the quality of work and will support your business in achieving certain goals faster. Lastly, you will have a handle on planning and budgeting for major projects.
Selecting the right project management system is not only beneficial for your company but also for your customers. These systems facilitate team collaboration and can help them stay updated about the ongoing projects.
