Characteristics That Project Management Tools Must Meet

Project management is primarily based on applying different methodologies and strategies. However, to ensure that objectives and established deadlines are always met, it is now vital to also consider a project management tool to further facilitate the process.

And what do project management programs do? These types of software are typically hosted in the cloud and allow for the creation of collaborative work environments that help to organize and control task assignments, as well as easily oversee their status. 

The use of management and planning is a growing demand in many companies, given that experts in the area have expressed their frustration with the lack of technological support. According to this Wellingtone report about project management, only 23% of those surveyed use any kind of management software in their organizations and 25% say they don’t have the right technology to work as a team on non-formal projects. The need to apply new solutions with agile methods is urgent. 

Aligning, structuring, and distributing the internal work process via an effective business dashboard is one of the key objectives behind any project management methodology. The goal is to direct all projects in the same direction in an effort to learn from potential mistakes and, in turn, implement improvements to increase the success rate. In short, it is about efficiently optimizing both work and resources.

What are the benefits of introducing a project management tool?

The benefits of using a methodology to manage projects are varied: 

• Organize project timelines
• Develop team skills
• Obtain information to estimate time and cost accurately
• Mobile project management 
• Help manage and minimize project risks
• Evaluate individual team member participation
• Minimize expenses
• Improve communication between team members
• File documents and share them online
• Improve overall productivity 
• Quickly see the real-time progress of a given task

After learning about the many advantages of using a program to organize our tasks, the question is: 

What’s the right project management tool for my company?

There’s a large demand for project management tools and techniques. Luckily, the digital market offers a wide variety of platforms that provide a multitude of capabilities and you can find the perfect fit for you. The hard part is choosing the one that is best suited to your business needs. Here are some factors to consider when selecting a tool:

• Number of projects to be managed
• Number of people who will be involved in the project
• Accessibility needs
• Alignment with business goals to make the most out of the tool 
• Giving visibility to other areas of the company to share information 

Depending on these factors, one solution will best suit your needs. It is important to emphasize that a meeting with a consultancy prior to choosing the tool can be very useful. Enlisting the services of a company that can guide and help you in the implementation will make the adoption of the platform more successful. 

The key characteristics to look for in a project management tool

Keep in mind the following criteria when selecting your project management tool: 

Accessible

Ensure that the tool is housed in the cloud and is accessible on different mobile devices. Also, it’s important to make sure that the data can be shared with the client, in addition to colleagues in other departments, so that they are fully informed on the project’s progress at all times.

It must provide access to both the internal team and client in an effort to speed up processes and encourage client participation. Functions such as project sharing or merely providing the space to have real-time conversations can strengthen team collaboration. 

Usable

The interface of the tool must help facilitate navigation between different projects, which requires that it be well structured. In addition, we must allow for document downloading in different formats to ensure it can be read on as many devices as possible. 

Organized

The tool should easily allow for time management and review, resource allocation, and should establish dependencies between tasks. It’s very important to estimate project hours and assign them effectively to the team. The more organized and usable the interface is, the more time will be saved when using the tool. This ease should be enjoyed by not just the manager, but the entire team. 

Visual

The tool must allow you to easily plan and follow the project execution. It’s also what gives us the opportunity to design personalized dashboards, according to business needs. 

Real-time

It must have the capability to issue real-time reports that show the evolution of the project and help you make quick decisions when facing any problem or complication. The speed of information transmission is directly proportional to the ability to resolve incidents. 

Open

If the project management platform has an API, we can connect our projects to other tools (ERP, CRM, etc.). Sharing data between different platforms greatly facilitates project management in other areas, such as customer service, operations, or administration. Mulesoft, part of the Salesforce system, is a great example: an integration software that allows us to connect all systems to make the most out of all the information. 

Safe

Of course, the platform must be secure, comply with all data privacy requirements, and have security and web trust certificates (SSL, TLS, etc.)

What are the best project management tools?

As mentioned above, the best project management tool is the one that adapts to the specific needs of your company and team. 

Salesforce

Within Salesforce, we have the ability to perform project-based case management. This is a native Salesforce feature, for which we do not need to connect any external software. With case management, we can create tasks and assign them to team members who receive an automatic alert informing them of their manager's needs.

Cases are classified in columns according to their status: New, Distributed, On-going, Waiting, Closed. The status of each project can be customized according to the workflow; Salesforce is very personalizable and adapts to the business and management model. The project administrator can use case management to view the number of hours used on each task that, for example, you can convert into shared dashboards with the client to justify the invested time. 

The information collected in case management can be used to create reports about the state of the project, the percentage of time dedicated to each campaign, and much more. It’s a very useful tool for Project Managers to follow the case in real time. 

Asana

Another popular project management tool is Asana. It’s a work organization tool for all kinds of companies, from the smallest projects to the biggest. Establishing priorities, remembering deadlines, or automating the daily work are just some of its applications. Stand out for your design and project visualization options; they are very attractive and easy to understand. 

Jira

Jira is another of the most famous softwares on the market. Through your workflows, it helps to define processes and efficiently follow the tasks assigned to us. It perfectly fits with the areas of marketing, human resources, legal, and finance; activating notifications allows us to communicate with the rest of the team and send notifications about urgent actions. 

At WAM Global, we are Salesforce experts and we have Leadclic’s expertise as a Golden Partner of the platform. We go beyond implementation; we offer business, analysis, and support intelligence to make the most out of all Salesforce applications, including project management. We use the Agile methodology to better cover the client needs as fast as possible. Count on us and optimize your project management. You’ll see the difference.