Choosing a project management system is not as easy as it may seem at first. It should be done carefully and without any haste. Any system needs to be accustomed to and the personnel should be trained how to use it. Thus, first of all, you have to choose a product that suits your needs to the maximum.
In general, while choosing a project management system you have to follow two main principles.
Principle 1: any program provides a possibility to manage data but not the business process itself
Thus, before starting the search for project management systems, you have to study business processes in your company. The more details you will consider, the easier it will be to make a choice.
You can start with your projects. Try to remember as much information as possible about your completed projects and analyze it. For example, if your projects can be divided into several types, you need a system that provides an option of dividing projects by types. If you set deadlines to some projects or phases of projects, you need a system that allows doing this. Having analyzed projects, do the same with tasks and reports.
In the end you’ll get a list of options that should be present in your project management system.
It’s extremely important to start choosing work management software with the analysis of business processes since finally you will have a clear idea on what you need.
Choosing a system by comparing the characteristics and features of different systems can be risky since there are no guarantees that the system will suit your business processes.
Principle 2: the chosen system should save your time
Let’s imagine that you have already analyzed the business processes in your company and have chosen several systems that suit your requirements. In order to make the final decision, you have to test the data access speed. Task management software will be effective only if each team member is able to access the necessary information quickly.
Consult your team and define which information is more important for each group of team members. For example, developers should be able to access their active tasks quickly and managers should access the reports on the executed tasks. If the access to the required data takes 3-4 clicks or the information is difficult to access at all, such system doesn’t suit you.
The choice of a project management system is a very time-consuming task. However, having the right approach to this question, the chosen system will help you organize your work effectively.