Instead of stressing about getting the schedule right in a report to your manager, spend your time focusing on completing the project and let Daptiv PPM do the paperwork for you. This project portfolio management service is a strong contender when it comes to online project management applications. It contains plenty of features and resources so that you can stay on top of your project, big or small. The team who developed the application made sure to make it something easy to use as well as adaptable to what you need. This product earns the TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award.
Having clear communication between team members is important when working on any project. Daptiv has tools such as news, polls, discussions, document management and calendar events to help you keep in touch with your teammates whether they are in an office down the hall or across the country. The news alerts feature lets you notify your teammates with urgent information. You can use the forums to have discussions without needing to call a meeting. We also found it useful to leave notes and upload attachments in task section of the website.
When you are a project manager you have a huge responsibility in keeping track of all of the tasks, deadlines and assignments. You also have to make sure not to overbook any of your employees or other resources. With the timesheets, budget reports and capacity planner you will make sure to balance your resources even if you have multiple projects. Not only can you keep track of the contact information of the resources but you can also organize them in the Daptiv PPM database. With this application, instead of trying to solve issues as they come up, you can keep them from ever happening.
Project management is a rather complex duty to perform simply because there is so much tracking and monitoring involved. Upon logging into Daptiv PPM, you will immediately be greeted by a customizable dashboard which can be set up to show you the current statuses of your projects. Your dashboard can be set to simply display the progress of projects, or else you can customize it with the tools you need to immediately make changes to such things as notifications, task lists and timesheets.
The nature of projects is that they are in a constant state of change. Priorities shift, progress is made, problems are encountered. With a quick click of the button you can easily change the priority and order of tasks, archive and delete old projects or even add projects to your favorites list.
The process of creating a project through Daptiv PPM is straightforward and easy. Simply title the project, give it a description and plot a start and end date. When you set up a project, through a series of drop-down menus you can specify important aspects of the project such as the scope, location, project score, risk score and overall benefits. Where project management software is concerned, creating a project from scratch can take minutes. If you find that you are creating projects that are similar, then you can duplicate a project and change applicable information.
Typical project managers rely on one of two software applications to assist them in tracking their various tasks and activities: Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project. Excel is rather basic in this regard and offers few features geared toward managing projects. Project, on the other hand, can be somewhat difficult to learn or manage. Daptiv helps bring even greater control to the lives of project managers by allowing you to transcend the usual import/export function. Instead of relying solely on those functions, you can synchronize your tasks with Microsoft Project. In addition to that, you can manage projects in Daptiv through an interface similar to Excel where columns can easily be shifted and you can navigate tasks with the tab key rather than a mouse.
Gantt charts are synonymous with project management, and are offered through Daptiv PPM. Tasks can be moved directly through the Gantt chart by simply clicking and dragging a task. In most other applications, you must first edit each task individually and then change the start and end times. In addition, you are given access to a resource utilization chart that outlines what your current utilization is across an entire project. It notes the total number of hours dedicated to the project versus those available through team members, and it indicates which days you are more likely to encounter scheduling problems.
Daptiv sets itself apart further from the competition with their archive of user-developed applications. Through the online project management interface, you can create custom applications without the need for coding. With this tool, countless other users have created applications to perform various HR-related functions in addition to new reporting capabilities.
Daptiv PPM takes a rather unique approach to ease of use. A software service’s usability generally depends on the layout and design of the user interface, largely because the interface and navigation are unchangeable. Not so with Daptiv. To tailor the interface more to your needs, you can configure your interface to display the tools and buttons you use most. We feel this gives you greater control over your experience. Rather than having to search through countless pages and links for the tool you need, you can identify what features you’ll use and set them to be your default menu options.
Daptiv PPM offers unlimited support avenues for users. You can make as many support requests via phone, email or ticket request. For additional assistance, you can visit the Daptive community forums. The activity on the forums is not amazing, though you can certainly utilize it for additional feedback from other professionals using the product.
Blogs are another medium through which you can obtain specialized assistance. Daptiv keeps their own professional blog, though they do recommend two other project management blogs. Each of these blogs provide best practices and other information relevant to project management, though the blogs do not appear to be consistently maintained. For example, the PM Best Practices Blog has not had a new entry in it since July of 2010.
Creating an online project management application is a difficult task, due largely to the fact that there are so many things that go into such a product. Daptiv has risen to the challenge in creating a truly comprehensive software application that will enable any project manager to track every detail of their projects. The customization offered through this product is truly its largest selling point though. If you don’t plan on using a feature, then you don’t have to keep it on your interface. Customize your software to fit your company's needs and improve productivity immediately with Daptiv PPM.
