Developing a project management tool box

While most agree that project management software can help a company better track and communicate the resources spent on a particular project, the trick is determining which software is right for your company—and learning to use these tools effectively.

When she must replace an employee, Cherelle Vasudevan decides what skills she needs using her Microsoft Project software. With this application, she can tell easily if she needs someone with different skills—instead of just blindly hiring a replacement.

Vasudevan, assistant vice president of application development and strategy in information systems management at Seligman Data Corp., New York, N.Y., USA, estimates that the software improves her project efficiency by 25 percent overall, mainly by enabling her to better track her resources and department projects. The software not only allows her to justify a new hire but also helps her communicate better with management and employees.

“From senior management's perspective, the graphic depictions make it easier to see when projects will be done,” Vasudevan says. “From an employee perspective, this allows you to roll it up to a higher level. It makes it easier for them to understand the important pieces and what role they play.”

The right software also can have a significant impact on bottom line. Phil Leamon, president and CEO of HL Group International, Dallas, Texas, USA, remembers a large telecom client that hired two full-time employees to manually cut, paste and fax Excel spreadsheets to share project information with offices around the world. The company finally turned to the Web-based project management tool, ProjectXpert, developed by VisualSoft Technology, Hyderabad, India, to communicate the same information without any human intervention.

Screwdrivers vs. Hammers: Buying the Right Tools

Companies make several mistakes when choosing project management software. The first mistake? “A tendency to have one tool that fits all,” says Michael Petko, PMP, chair of the Project Management Institute's Consulting Specific Interest Group and president of consulting firm Palma Project Professionals, Charlotte, N.C., USA. Petko notes one client that actually hired a contractor to manipulate a sophisticated scheduling resource management tool—the use of which was mandated by the company—to make it work for smaller projects as well as large projects.

A second key mistake is not fully understanding the software your company is using today. “A lot of people have good project management tools; they just aren't using the features in them,” Leamon says.

The third (and by far the biggest) mistake is not understanding that different software tools address different levels of project management, and that a company must institute good, basic project management processes before implementing any system.

Balancing Diverse Needs

“Eighty to 90 percent of companies are missing some key processes that they must implement before they put software in place,” says Lori Gipp, vice president of marketing and strategic alliances at consulting firm PM Solutions, Havertown, Pa., USA.

According to Gipp, there are five levels of project management. Companies can buy software tools that address all of these levels, but it is important to organize basic processes before implementing high-level software, Gipp says.

Gipp's PM Hierarchy of Needs begins with simply managing one project. Companies can then build on that to manage multiple projects, then manage resources across projects on both a departmental and organizational level. Finally, companies can build up to corporatewide project portfolio management, which provides management with a high-level view and analysis of all company projects (see Exhibit 1). Radhakrishnan Mahalingam, PMP, a principal consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Edison, N.J., USA, also suggests that companies begin with lower-functionality tools and migrate to more complex tools as they become more comfortable. He breaks project management into three levels: basic project planning and scheduling, enterprise-level analysis, and portfolio management.

Exhibit 1: Take a good look at the hierarchy of project management needs to gain a better perspective of how your organization may benefit from software tools.

Basic project planning and scheduling software enables a company to better manage and analyze the process involved in a project and the skills needed for these processes. Enterprise-level tools go a step beyond to help companies manage projects from the enterprise level, tracking not just project tasks but also items such as spending, time sheets and other metrics that enhance enterprisewide analysis of each project.

At the highest level, portfolio management-level software tracks metrics from several different projects and consolidates the figures to determine which projects are successful and which are not. Despite the varied models, analysts agree that companies cannot expect to achieve portfolio management without developing the basic skills first. Implementing software cannot create effective project managers or processes—it can only make their jobs easier and more efficient.

“Your software is going to automate whatever processes you have in place,” Gipp says. “If you have chaos in place, the result will be automated, highly visible chaos.”

“People think that tools are the be-all and end-all and forget that they are called tools for a reason,” Petko agrees.

Lois M.Mentrup has covered the technology market for nearly a decade. She writes an ongoing technology column for the small business publication Business Advisor and has served as a freelance writer for several wireless trade magazines, including Wireless Review and Telephony.