Online Project Management Review

Sometimes the hardest part of a project is just keeping everything organized. With an online project management service it doesn't matter where anyone on the team is located. Having an easy-to-use application that covers everything from schedules, budgets, reports and task managers means that you don't have to worry about the mechanics of organization but can instead put more time and effort into the actual project itself. The best online project management services we reviewed are Clarizen, AtTask and Daptiv PPM. For more information, check out our articles on online project management services.

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Online Project Management: What to Look For

When looking for online project management that will best fit your business, first decide how you want to interact with the program. Do you want to use it on your server or the manufacturer’s server? Also, decide who will use the service. Some online project management services charge per user per month. If you have international team members or a mobile work force, this is essential to know for budgeting purposes.

Below are the criteria that TopTenREVIEWS uses to evaluate online project management services:

Collaboration
Collaboration is the way information and issues are communicated, and the most popular collaboration tools for business include email, conference calls, web meetings and company-hosted intranets. Collaboration tools should be simple and intuitive. The best online project management services will give you powerful collaboration tools that enable and encourage constant communication. You should also be able to access the application within your company network even if you don't have internet access. That way even if the internet goes down you can keep working.

Being flexible means being successful. It’s tough to be flexible when team members don't all have current project updates. Project management services help your team delegate tasks, schedule deadlines, monitor progress, assess risks and track expenses. The best project management services help members from across the globe communicate and collaborate. Capable project management services have remote applications remote applications for smartphones and other handheld wireless devices, and some manage global schedules.

Resource Management
A project management program should manage and control the limited resources needed to run a project, such as people, money, time and equipment. When working with any project, the hardest part can be making sure that you don't overbook any of your team members or resources, so having a scheduling assistant makes your job a whole lot easier.

Project management services manage all resources – people, talents, money and time. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep track of who is on your team and what skills they have. Effective resource management lets you build member profiles so you can assign the right task to the right person to get the job done.

Project Management
This section covers the processes, practices and specific activities needed to perform continuous and consistent evaluation, prioritization, budgeting and selection of investments. This provides the greatest value and contribution to the strategic interest of the organization. With the interactive schedules you can keep on the critical path as help you keep track milestones. Having an application that lets you effortlessly oversee every aspect of the project will mean you can easily create the reports you need.

The best project management services monitor each step of a project, from costs to individual employee responsibilities, to help foster personal accountability and keep projects under budget. Most project management services provide statistics and tracking, graphs, feedback, timesheets, Gantt charts, milestones, critical work paths and task assignment. Effective project management services also track expenses, monitor budgets, regulate resources and calculate costs.

Ease of Use
All online project management solutions have a learning curve, but the best software products have features and instructions that are easy to find and simple enough for anyone to use. Some of the services available are patterned after other commonly used applications, such as Microsoft-based programs.

Help & Support
Project management services should offer a comprehensive user guide and help system. The manufacturer should offer a customer service email address or telephone number so you can get answers directly from the technical support team. You should also be able to find online tutorials that can step you through some of the more complex functions of the application.

The best online project management services are flexible and can manage projects in all industries – construction, engineering, accounting, technology, development, training and more. Accommodating project management services also manage resources and provide adequate reporting and collaboration tools. Whether you’re a small business owner or an employee of a multinational corporation, online project management streamlines and simplifies the process to get your project done and out the door.