Should Do If you're in the market for a new project management program, what should you look for? About Project Management Programs-1 • Project management software programs vary widely in their capabilities. – Some are simple scheduling programs. – Others are complex programs that integrate with a company’s marketing, budgeting, human resources, manufacturing and management information systems. About Project Management Programs-2 • The premise behind most project management programs: – You enter resources, task sequences, dates and costs. – The program calculates or modifies budget, schedules and resource utilization. (Some program do even more, drawing networks or converting one network form into another.) – In most cases, you can enter project data into a spreadsheet format. – In many cases, project management software also allows you to produce reports. About Project Management Programs-3 • What no project management software program can do: – It cannot substitute for competent decision- making on the part of the project manager. – It cannot provide leadership skills. – It cannot produce miracles. About Project Management Programs-4 • What a competent project management software program should do: – Can help the project manager track interrelated variables, resources, schedules, costs and tasks. – Enhance communication between the project manager and the project team. – Can facilitate problem solving and project collaboration. Punch List of Desired Features-1 • Ability to graph costs, resource utilization and project schedules using histograms, line diagrams, Gantt and other kinds of charts. • Ability to create standard and custom reports, including standard accounting and tracking reports. (Note: Some programs can produce special report formats required by government agencies.) Punch List of Desired Features-2 • Ability to maintain resource and project calendars that record the availability of both equipment and staff. – Use these to create optimum schedules. – Use these to establish workweeks based on actual workdays and to specify non-work periods, such as holidays, vacations and weekends. – The project calendar should be able to be printed out in summary or in calendar format. Punch List of Desired Features-3 • Ability to make schedule changes based on any number of resource-leveling parameters and priority scheduling attributes. • Ability to maintain skills inventories to match resources to task requirements. • Ability to allow multiple users to access, input and report on project data simultaneously. Punch List of Desired Features-4 • Ability to track and schedule multiple projects at the same time. – Some programs feature a comprehensive, single database that enables cross-project analysis and reporting. – Some programs feature cost and schedule modules that share common data files that allow integration among projects and that minimize schedule inconsistencies and redundancies. Punch List of Desired Features-5 • Ability to collapse the view of projects by work breakdown structure or organization structure, milestone or sub-project. • Ability to calculate and then display the critical path for a network. • Ability to display alternative schedules, task assignments and cost criteria so that the immediate impact of schedule, resource changes and sequence can be evaluated on the spot. Punch List of Desired Features-6 • Ability to assign early-warning parameters so the project manager can be informed of potential trouble regarding resource conflicts with other projects, cost overruns and schedule problems. • Ability to integrate with material management, accounting and purchasing systems to help order materials, equipment, supplies and contractor services. • Ability to produce presentation graphics for making reports to management and customers about the project’s plans and status. Punch List of Desired Features-7 • Ability to display actual and planned data simultaneously. • Ability to summarize data in a variety of ways, including expenditures, timing and activity data. • Ability to produce complete cost analyses, cost accounting and variance analyses. • Ability to create free-format reports with other report generators or word processing programs for incorporating personalized project annotations. Punch List of Desired Features-8 • Ability to display relevant information on the Internet or corporate intranet so that project team members can view the status and schedule of the project and their assigned tasks. • Ability to communicate and collaborate with the project management team across project locations (virtual project management). Web-Based Collaboration Tools for Virtual Project Management-1 • Elements of virtual project management: – Communication and collaboration with the project team across project locations worldwide. – Collaboration that goes beyond basic messaging to share information. – Multimedia communication that incorporates phone calls, e-mail, e-mail attachments and other media. – Leveling and tracking resources across world-wide projects. Web-Based Collaboration Tools for Virtual Project Management-2 • Elements of virtual project management (cont’d): – Methodologies and standards to maintain complete configuration control over all project deliverables, including all iterations of same. – Access to project-related information systems and corporate databases, data warehouses, computer-aided design programs, CASE tools and simulation software.