Project Management Software

Project management (PM) software is useful when dealing with large or complex projects that require many individual stages to be completed before the project as a whole can be concluded. PM software includes functions to automate scheduling, to keep track of associated costs and to manage the overall budget. The software can also be utilised in the allocation of resources, and to manage the flow of information between other administrative systems.

The scheduling aspect can automate the production of technical charts such as critical path analysis or Gantt charts. These map out the steps that need to be completed, the order of completion and the times allocated to each stage to ensure that the project as a whole is completed on time and on budget. These graphs also allow the correct allocation of labour and resources, in the right order for the project to be successful. In the example of a house build, the stages could be organised so that materials are delivered in a specific order, and that trades arrive in a particular order – builders then roofers then plasterers and electricians etc. This means that cash-flow forecasts can also be produced, enabling more accurate financial forecasting.

Project management software also has the ability to form a collaborative approach, so that different project managers can make amendments in the case of time over-runs or if tasks are completed more quickly than expected. This is possible when a shared database is utilised over a network, or indeed over the Internet.

For simplistic projects or projects with few stages to completion, specialised project management software may sometimes be effectively substituted by spreadsheets or even time-planning packages and are often already installed on the users machine. Additionally, spreadsheets have the versatility to manage figures and to compute complex calculations, a useful feature when keeping track of costs. Indeed, these features are likely to be more sophisticated than those found in many specialised project management programs.

Two examples of project management software are ‘Microsoft Project’ costing between $400-500 and ‘Open Workbench’, a free open source alternative. Microsoft Project is probably the most well known planning application available on the market. It has a wealth of advanced features such as the production of best case and worst-case scenarios as well as creating project proposals. A criticism of the program is that many features will not be utilised by the average user, meaning that some program features are redundant on certain projects. Similarly, the cost of the package seems unbalanced compared to market competitors. A freeware alternative is Open Workbench, which places itself in direct competition to the Microsoft offering. Indeed their website boasts of many features that ‘MS Project’ does not have, such as validating baseline rules and the scheduling of holiday work. Of course for many people the main advantage of ‘Open Workbench’ is the fact that it is provided completely free of charge, so users can try the package to see if it meets their requirements before having to pay for alternative PM software. For more information about ‘Open Workbench’ visit openworkbench.org.