Web-based Project Management Software Selection

Web-based project management software represents an opportunity for a lot of newcomers to economically web based project tracking. Businesses previously unable to cost-justify the enterprise project management software required for geographically dispersed collaboration of their project teams can now easily afford these solutions through the selection of web-based project management software. Although the benefits of web-based project tracking are quite numerous, there are a number of pitfalls to avoid when selecting the right project management software tool for use on the web.

When selecting web-based project management software, it is important to maintain the same project management standards expected from any project management software. Whether your project management professionals are working on their project schedules on client-based desktop applications, or over the Web on web-based project management software, they will expect web based project tracking calculations consistent with industry standards.

Project management professionals expect dynamic project schedule calculations to be consistent with industry standards, most of which are defined by the Project Management Institute (http://www.pmi.org). It is imperative that web based project tracking calculations include dynamic task relationships with all four task-predecessor values:

Multiple task predecessor relationships are equally important, as any one task may have numerous dependencies with varied task predecessor relationship types. Once the task predecessor relationships are defined by predecessor type, duration values for predecessor lead and lag time calculations must also be incorporated into the project schedule so that your web based project tracking is easily maintained with current scheduling data.

Any career-oriented project manager today is quite familiar with Microsoft Project as a standard for personal project management software. The project management professional expectations for project scheduling are often set by Microsoft Project, whether or not Project is their personal project management software of choice. Microsoft Project does maintain the Project Management Institute project scheduling standards as referenced earlier in this article, further establishing the importance of maintaining these standards when selecting web-based project management software.

One simple way to test project scheduling compatibility with the Project Management Institute standards is to use Microsoft Project files as an import and export test to the web-based project management software. Set multiple task predecessor relationships within a Microsoft Project file and import that file into the project schedule for the web-based project tracking. It is not enough to review the schedule after the import, because a lot of web-based project management software will alter the data by changing the schedule relationship into hard-coded task dates that will no longer calculate after they are imported into the web-based project tracking. You must complete the test with the procedure in the next paragraph to make certain that the project schedule will continue to perform on the web-based project tracking as would be expected within Microsoft Project.

Change multiple task durations and relationships within the imported project on the web and make absolutely certain that the web-based project tracking dynamically recalculates accordingly. This should include changes to the task schedule and proper calculation/recalculation of the critical path (critical tasks often shift with duration and predecessor type changes). Remember to accelerate schedule durations as well as lengthening them when testing web-based project management software. The process of rapid development and deployment often requires schedule acceleration. Proper risk management also requires schedule acceleration to efficiently process a reschedule as project risks are overcome and/or avoided during the course of the project. It may sound simple, but it is quite common for web-based project management software to incorrectly calculate these rather rudimentary schedule acceleration processes.

Another benefit of testing the Microsoft Project import and export with your web-based project tracking is that many industry standard project templates are available online from various trade organizations in a Microsoft Project file format. Properly managing an imported Microsoft Project schedule will allow you to fully leverage these templates.

No project management software application is complete without meeting the above criteria and passing your test procedures to validate the scheduling calculations required by your projects. Due diligence during the selection of your IT project management software is always critical in making the decision, as it will go a long ways toward mitigating the risk of making the wrong decision for web-based project tracking. To summarize, always check for the following: