Project Management Tools

Daniel Knowles -104KM November 2013

Evaluate, Compare and Contrast two project management case tools that could be used to evaluate a project

Consider the software functionality, limitations and enablement of virtual collaboration

Select one of the tools chosen and report on why this is the

appropriate choice for the project.

Task

What is a Project ?

A project, defined by PMI (Project Management Institute) is a temporary group activity designed to produce a unique product, service or result. A project is temporary because it has a defined beginning and end in time. It also has defined scope and resources and is unique in that it is not a routine operation. A project team often includes a team of people who don’t usually work together sometimes from different organisations and locations. Projects must be expertly managed in order to deliver on time and within budget.

Source – www.pmi.org

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently. Project Management is a strategic competency for organisations, enabling them to tie project results in to business goals Project management processes fall into five groups:

•Initiating •Planning •Executing •Monitoring and Controlling •Closing

What is Project Management?

Source – www.pmi.org

Wrike claims to deliver a real-time platform that blends work management and collaboration, making day-to-day work easier, more transparent and efficient for thousands of companies.

Teamwork Project Manager was born from the company Digital Crew which was founded in the last 1990’s The latest release, and biggest update to Teamwork Project Manager was in October 2013 when a brand new User Interface was launched It’s a clean, crisp, modern design is consistent with the product people already know and love

Project Management tools to be reviewed

Source - www.teamworkpm.net/

Source – www.wrike.com

Wrike claims to deliver a real-time platform that blends work management and collaboration, claiming to make work easier, more transparent and efficient.Wrike is an online project management platform designed to make work fast, easy and efficient. Wrike is suitable for co-located and distributed teams. It is flexible and enables multifunctional teams to collaborate and get things done successfully in one place. Wrike allows Scheduling, prioritisation, discussion and ensures progress can be tracked in real time

EvaluationWrike

Source – www.wrike.com

Teamwork Project Manager is an easy-to-use online teamwork & project management software application that claims to help managers, staff and clients work together more productively online.Teamwork Project Manager allows you to take a birds eye view of projects and visualise the overall schedule. This can be a benefit for teams that manage multiple projects at the same time. The project Manager can see which projects are on-track or running behind schedule and take corrective action

Teamwork Project Manager

Source - www.teamworkpm.net/

Source – www.wrike.com Source - www.teamworkpm.net/

Wrike Features & Benefits

Teamwork Project Manager

√ Project Management Connection –allows a Project Manager to take a birds eye view of all projects and visualise an overall schedule. Beneficial for teams that managing multiple projects The project manager can quickly see which projects are on-track or behind schedule and if necessary take corrective action An enabler for staying informed, maintaining a high level view and scheduling project reporting.

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√ On time delivery Allows tracking of time spent on every project which in turn allows projects to be kept on track in relation to their budget. Also aids efficient and transparent billing of clients. √

√ Collaboration – This sector of the tool enables effective team working even if colleagues are not in the same locations. It provides a forum for sharing and managing communications, messages, email, status updates and file sharing and reporting.

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√ Task Management - Clearly defined and assigned tasks can help the success of a project. Task management allows tasks and sub tasks to be assigned to staff, co-workers and contractors. Task management allows for start and end dates on projects to be noted, % of tasks completed to be documented. Task priorities and task reminders can be added amongst other things.

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√ Milestone tracking – Milestones within projects are usually unique to the project being delivered however common milestones are also usually used during the project planning phase. Milestones help keep projects on track. Common milestones include Late Milestones, upcoming milestones and completed milestones. It can also be useful to provide milestone reminders and notifications

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√ Gantt chart planning - for scheduling and visualising. An online “drag and drop” Gantt chart will help project leads identify and schedule dependencies. It can also help link tasks and dependencies and move them forward automatically helping to aid the high level project view.

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√ Privacy option – this feature allows project leads to keep tasks private to individual users regardless of the company they belong to. It is possible this feature can be provided within multiple companies at various locations and only allow them see their own tasks.

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Comparison & Contrast (1/2)

Source – www.wrike.com Source - www.teamworkpm.net/

Wrike Features & Benefits

Teamwork Project Manager

√ Communication and Messages – This feature will enable communications to be shared in real time quickly and effectively. Messages, replies and file attachments can be kept in one specific area where they are able to be accessed by the project team. Within this feature an archiving facility can be very useful as this provides an audit trail should this be required.

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√ On line library repository - The file section within a project is where you can store all project related files, so that all of the project team can access key documents quickly when they require them. It could also be helpful if access can be restricted to some files should they be confidential

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√ Budget Tracker facility – This feature tracks the time staff spend on each project . If the feature is intuitive it can also be used to forecast expected costs throughout the duration of the project. √

X People directory (colleagues and clients) – A feature which enables a “people directory” to be established. This provides contact details for those colleagues and clients who have an interest in the project. This feature can also be used to generate automated updates for a recognised mailing list.

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√ Notebook - Notebook pages can be used to write a press release, or website content, it can even used to keep track of your thoughts and idea during a project √

√ Customised – Dashboards, reports and content can be customised, for example by adding photographs,, logo’s or by applying colour themes to the online project “pages” This type of customisation gives a corporate look and feel to the project being delivered

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√ Calendar -Allows project leaders to post times for meetings and events, gives the ability to quickly invite and notify other project members. A calendar feature should allow the creation of recurring events such as weekly meeting so nobody misses anything

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√ Mobile Apps - Apps are free for iPhone and Android. Wherever you are, the apps ensure that you will not miss a single important project update √

√ Dash boards – A project dashboard is very useful for providing a quick over-view of a Project. Often a pictorial dashboard with traffic lights or arrows showing progress allows colleagues and clients to take a quick glance at a dashboard and get a feel for how the project is going.

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Comparison & Contrast (1/2)

Software functionality

Source - www..crunchbase.com

Source – www.wrike.com

Functionality within Wrike and Teamwork Project Manager is:-

- In the main intuitive

- IT is cloud based

- Combines both task and project management

- Active task management within Wrike is amongst the most powerful in its class.

- In addition to Wrike’s Intelligent Email Engine(tm) Wrike also provides tools to manage tasks through email Gmail gadget for example allows the creation and editing of Wrike tasks in the Gmail interface, With Microsoft Outlook, add-in turns emails into interactive tasks within the outlook inbox) Wrike also has functionality compatible with Apple Mac

- available via mobile applications

Software Limitations

Source - www..crunchbase.com

Source – www.wrike.com

Limitations for both Wrike and Teamwork Project Manager are few. Since both tools are deployed via online real time methods. Bugs can be fixed quickly and released into the live environment with little or no disruption to service.One of the key limitations for both tools is the storage required to support users.

Wrike recommends that 5 users require 2Gb of storage capacity.

Teamwork Project Manager does not operate on a limited number of users, instead it defines the amount of storage required based on the number of projects being managed. 5 projects require 1Gb of storage.

Virtual Collaboration enablement – WrikeVirtual collaboration is enabled in Wrike by connecting all tasks relating to a particular topic in one place, making it easier for the project team to find all relevant information relating to their thread of work (see the screen shot below)

Virtual Collaboration enablement – Teamwork Project Manager

Virtual collaboration is enabled in Teamwork Project Manager by enabling teams to be successful by centralising communications with messages, email integration, notifications, status updates and file sharing. (see the screen shot below)

Which tool to choose?

Wrike or Teamwork Project Manager?

Following my review of both project management tools my preference after careful consideration would be to use Teamwork Project Manager. The functionality of both tools is good as is the interface to mobile applications. However despite it being a close run I eventually chose Teamwork Project Manager as my preferred project management tool due to the pricing and storage requirements of the tool. In my opinion there is more flexibility available via

“Teamwork Project Manager”