“Which planning tool should we buy? Should we go for a simple task scheduler or a more comprehensive solution? Open source or proprietary software? Does our IT platform already have something that we can use as a task scheduler?”
So many questions. The decision is not easy. Market research is important.
I did a brief search online and I counted 101 planning tools (and I am sure my list is still incomplete!). It is a real jungle out there and if you need a planning tool you certainly need to do your homework. [Please also see the update posted in 2021]
I found interesting articles that are worthwhile reading, if you are considering investing in a planning tool. An article from Scoro, in particular, was very inspiring: “How to Find the Best Project Planning Software?” by Karola Karlson (https://www.scoro.com/blog/choosing-project-planning-software/). Of course, Scoro has a huge stake in the matter. They are a software-as-a-service solution provider, offering a business management software, including project management. But I found the article balanced and very well structured and I am re-posting their criteria below (adding personal inputs). Before I dig into in the details, I would also mention three additional articles that I found equally interesting:
- 51 Best Project Management Tools for 2021
- 41 Best Project Management Software and Tools (2021 Update)
- Top 10 Best Project Management Software & Tools in 2021
Below is the three-phase Scoro’s checklist, which I complement with some personal inputs. I hope you will find this useful!
1. Define your requirements
It is really important that you have a good understanding of your organisation’s needs, have an assessment of the complexity of your workflows, of the nature of your projects and the relationship with your stakeholders. If you are a small organisation, you may not have experience, resources and time to work out the requirements yourself, therefore assigning the task to an independent consultant may be the solution. A consultant may help in clinically and objectively assessing the organisation’s requirements and identify your key priorities for a planning tool.
In defining the requirements, it is important that some fundamental aspects are covered, such as the complexity of the projects, risk appetite, the organisation’s business horizon, the project management requirements, your staff knowledge, skills and expertise with project management and scheduling, the analysis of the IT infrastructure, and the installation and on-boarding requirements.
An in-depth analysis of planning tool’s features that you require is key. The temptation is to be lured in by the fancier and flashier features that the software providers are always advertising on their websites. Be rigorous and disciplined. Start by listing all the activities that you want to manage with the new planning software. Scoro’s article gives you a little bit of inspiration (see the list, with some own editing…):
- Project, programme and portfolio management features
- Task management and to-do lists
- Resource management & time tracking
- Project scheduling and shared calendar
- Collaboration tools and email integration
- Messaging/commenting
- File storage and sharing
- Reporting and performance tracking, with easy customisation
- Flexible and visually engaging project dashboard with KPIs
- Ability to accommodate also KPIs not strictly linked to the project plan
- Ability to incorporate issue tracking, quality management
- Ability to include risk metrics
- Budget and expense management
- Customer relationship management
- Possibility of easy customisation
- Budget (for licence cost and running costs)
If you stick to a list, you’re more unlikely to get carried away with cool but irrelevant features of expensive project tools. Ensure the marking of the real critical features, and the less critical ones.
And finally, make sure you have dummy project prepared, representative of those you are planning to manage with the tool, that can be used during the demo or for pilot testing the software.
2. Conduct research
Google the terms, yes, but go further, I would say. Talk to other organisations, your clients, your partners and other project managers. Get some referrals. Hear what they say about the various features, what they use routinely and what they don’t use (and ask why..).
Make sure you ask specific questions about reliability, ease of use and quality of the user-software interaction, quality of the provider’s support, hidden costs, security etc. Make sure you understand what features are used in practice.
Check ease of customisation of the software – you need flexibility with the setting up and the reporting. Ease of integration with other software may be important to check.
If you are looking for a software with mobile integration, make sure that it has an application program interface for iOS and Android mobile devices. And check about the “field” user experience, about the ease of use when running the tool on mobile devices, when on the move, with poor connectivity….
“Light” project planning tools can be launched rather quickly while more comprehensive tools might take weeks to be configured and be deployed. Check about your internal organisation experience with the design and deployment of computerised systems. Start also to build your “User Acceptance” testing before you even buy it. It will help in quickly fix the “snagging” issue during deployment and get the software you really need quickly.
3. Decision-making process
Make sure all the analysis is documented onto a spreadsheet and have a robust and firm scoring criteria. Use a “balanced scorecard” approach making sure you stick to the features (“must have”, those you “may want” and those less critical, but “nice to have”). This is where it is important that you try to assess what products would match your requirements. Shortlist a few (top 3?) and stress test them….
Bear in mind that a more comprehensive project planning solution (rather than just a simple scheduling tool) may allow you to stop using other tools. You may integrate your finance metrics into the tool so you could ditch the cumbersome Excel worksheets. Ensure you keep your mind open to more radical decisions. The investment for a more comprehensive solution may pay off. You should make sure you factor this in.
And make sure you discuss the choices with your team and the internal stakeholders!
Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager, GALVmed
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.
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