There are hundreds of project management and collaboration software packages in the marketplace. You might use the following criteria to decide which software tool is right for your business.
This is the partial list of criteria we used when we researched hundreds of packages to narrow them down to the few we feel comfortable recommending.
What to Look for in Collaboration & Project Management Software
- Written Conversations - Discussion forums, wikis, chatrooms, and notes attached to each project to facilitate team communication.
- Document Sharing - The ability to share and update, using check-in and check-out, documents ensurings everyone is working with the latest version.
- Project Management Functions - Traditional functions of project management including timelines, resource scheduling and planning, time and cost tracking, etc.
- Up-to-Date Status Information - The ease at which everyone, from the CEO on down can see the current status of the project.
- Integration With Mobile Devices - Having software tools that can be easily used on mobile devices magnifies the value and the likelihood of being used consistently.
- Easy-to-Use - Software tools only get used if they are relatively easy and painless for users.
- Company Stability - It is critical that the company stay in business and not drop support for the software tool.
