Online Project Planning, Tracking Software - Things to Look for

Do you know the real state of projects you are managing, are you able to promise reliable delivery date for your projects? If the answer is NO, then you are in a shooting-in-the-dark situation. There can be various reasons for such situation -

• No clear understanding of what need to be delivered and what is being delivered
• Lack of commitment of your project team
• No management support

These are different people aspects that you need to manage. However if you are unable to manage schedule, track project progress, update team and other stakeholder about project plan, etc then you are really missing project planning and tracking solution. It is not to say that tool can not address people problem or fill the gap created by broken or non-existent processes; but project management software can really keep you on top of your things.

Here are few things you must consider while selecting or using project planning and tracking tool

Ease of Use

• Is it simple and intuitive to use?
• Will my team member embrace it?
• Will I as a team member get to see, precisely what is pending on my name, when it is due, what is current status?

My requirements

• Does it meet my requirement in terms of scheduling (Gantt chart, dependencies, baseline, critical path)
• Is it collaborative?
• Can project team members make informed decision?
• Does it provide real time status?
• Can I track other aspects of projects like cost, budget, incidents, risks, resources?
• Can my team and I receive integrated email notification?

Performance

• If I am going to use it online or web-based system - does it deliver excellent performance?
• Are project reports loaded quickly?

Mobile way

• Can my team view and update task progress on the go - and use project management app using smartphone devices?

If you have these questions - and looking for satisfying answers - you should certainly look at online project management software ZilicusPM and take 30-days free trial.