If you are looking for an online project management service that is driven by the market, then AtTask may in fact be what you need. The development team polls its customers for ideas on what features should be included in future releases. This product's biggest strength is its adoption of techniques from social media. These capabilities help improve the teamwork of everyone involved with the project, earning it the TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award.
AtTask puts an emphasis on communications, which is clear when you look at the organization of objectives, schedules, resources, business data and schedules. It is not an application that you install on your computer but rather an online service. So long as you have internet access you can use the application. This means that even if some of your team is located remotely they can still be part of the project. If they speak another language you are still covered by AtTask.
The main unique feature of AtTask is its collaboration capabilities. This lets everyone in your project stay up to date with changes as they are made. If you need to create reports for clients or managers, you can easily send out reports so they can see the status of the project. Creating the reports is simple because the application has all of the reports built in. Another feature that helps the whole team remain organized is the Gantt charts. These charts also complement the reports that you send out. Every member of the team can customize their interface to suit their own needs. If you would rather create the project in Microsoft Project and import it into AtTask you have that option as well.
The product reflects deep understanding of the psychology of group dynamics. Team members are empowered to decide on their own deadlines, rather than having to accept project manager assigned deadlines. Project managers, rather than guessing who might be available for a task, can simply post a list of tasks that are available, and team members can opt to accept tasks as their workloads warrant. Project managers have the opportunity to monitor the stream of communications flow and be able to detect the prevailing communications tone.
When you add users to the project management software you can also add their contact information and assign them to specific companies. You can customize the settings for each user or add them to a group with specific settings. AtTask also has a capacity planner that lets you add a project to a schedule and calculate if it is feasible to accomplish during a set period. This feature compares the resources you have to the resources the project requires. You can easily drag and drop the project to a different time, calculating the best timeframe to proceed with the project.
TeamHome, an interface designed for team members allows employees a sense of ownership because they have input into deadlines and they can easily communicate whenever an obstacle arises. Team members never suffer from confusion about what they should be doing at any given time and what they should work on next. Because team members can track every task that they work on, even those tasks that are important but not part of the project that the project manager is responsible for, project managers have complete visibility into each worker's complete responsibilities. The people aspect of work management is not lost on AtTask. The TeamHome section captures team member accomplishments and successes, which makes it easy for managers to track progress without hounding for status reports. And it makes it easy for managers to recognize individual achievements.
To create a new project in AtTask, fill in pertinent information and assign specific tasks to groups and individuals via dropdown boxes. You can also prioritize each task or project and automatically send emails if the task is overdue or the priority changes. A standout feature of AtTask is the dashboard. You can customize each dashboard, choosing from a list of pre-defined options. This lets each individual user customize the display and use only the useful information and navigational tools.
AtTask also features a risk/benefit chart. Different sized bubbles represent prospective projects. These bubbles incorporate the benefit of the project measured against the company’s goals, the risk and the cost. The risk/benefit chart creates a visual depiction of possible projects for the company and makes it easier for the management to make an informed decision.
Like most project management software, AtTask has a learning curve. Be prepared to spend some time navigating the interface and reading the documentation to familiarize yourself with the program. We found the multimedia tutorials to be especially helpful. After you become familiar with the program, navigation through the many features and options is simple. The Team Area streamlines collaboration and communication and fosters a team environment with an extremely easy to use interface akin to social media user interfaces.
AtTask’s extensive support includes online chat, documentation, FAQs, phone numbers, email support, multimedia tutorials and threaded notes. Documentation is available for system administrators as well as project managers and team members. The help manuals and help videos are excellent. You can purchase additional training, including Rollout Coaching, AtTask Boot Camp and On-Site Consulting. A complete education catalog is online. There is also an on-demand course that provides team members with six self-paced chapters.
The AtTask API (application programming interface) is engineered to make it easy to integrate AtTask with other tools. For example an Outlook Plugin integrates AtTask with Microsoft Outlook. There is also a Salesforce.com to AtTask plugin. So AtTask plays well with others.
AtTask runs on all recent Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
If you’re the type of project manager that’s big on collaboration, then AtTask is what you need. It’s ideal for creating an environment where employees and management can easily keep up to date with the project’s progress. This is a versatile and excellent online project management tool. Team members who use this product are likely to feel more in control of their responsibilities and less likely to suffer from the debilitating stress and paralysis that often results from team projects that are managed from the top down without input from team members as to what task deadlines would be realistic. This is a product that demonstrates how businesses can be more efficient and businesslike by applying humanistic values to human resources.
