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5 Project Scheduling Software Features That Will Boost Your Project’s Success

Emily Brown March 30, 2022

Running meetings, planning and scheduling, managing resources and budgets, and reviewing reports are just a few of the responsibilities of a successful project manager. The task might seem rather onerous on a busy day. Managers require the best project management software solution to automate time-consuming processes and manage a huge team of professionals.

While we’d all like to get the magical application that implements all of the jobs and covers everything in our desired feature set, the abundance of options accessible makes finding an all-powerful PM tool a daunting endeavor. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of software solutions available, all of which focus on the same features: tracking and organizing the project management process, as well as improving team cooperation.

After completing this blog, you will have a thorough understanding of the main PM software features and will be able to make informed judgments when it comes to selecting the best project scheduling software for you.

1. Planning & Scheduling

When managing a team, it is critical to have everyone’s roles and responsibilities clearly defined and apparent. Assisting in the avoidance of misunderstandings and determining who to distribute new duties to.

The best online project management software allows you to delegate tasks to team members as well as set priorities and deadlines. When due dates are added to activities, a notification is automatically sent whenever the scheduled completion date approaches and the activity is still incomplete.

Task Prioritization

It goes without saying that you should be able to prioritize your tasks. Prioritizing chores is quite useful when dealing with urgent issues. You may easily make room in your planned schedule by employing a planning tool with scheduled time slots, rather than manually rescheduling the entire project plan.

Agility

Project scheduling functions are fairly prevalent in web-based job planning software, so locating one is not difficult. However, don’t overlook it when looking for new project scheduling software because it’s critical to effective teamwork.

Calendar for the entire group

Another essential feature of PM software is a team calendar for scheduling and managing meetings. By creating a shared calendar that syncs with popular calendar software, you can ensure that everyone receives notifications and attends meetings on time. You may also add critical due dates to your team calendar to keep track of forthcoming milestones.

2. Collaboration

When managing a team, it is critical to have everyone’s roles and responsibilities clearly defined and apparent. Assisting in the avoidance of misunderstandings and determining who to distribute new duties to.

The best online project management software allows you to delegate tasks to team members as well as set priorities and deadlines. When due dates are added to activities, a notification is automatically sent whenever the scheduled completion date approaches and the activity is still incomplete.

Secure File Sharing

A large project team may include tens or hundreds of people, each of whom is responsible for certain duties and has specialized expertise in a separate sector.

Project team members are frequently required to access each other’s work in order to supplement their own. That is, it is critical to build an ordered and timely communication channel through many channels.

Communication within the team

Some software suppliers have included a message app inside their project management software. Slack is a great tool for easy and speedy team communication.

Dashboards for teams

Choose a software solution that allows you to create team dashboards that everyone can access if at all possible. You may customize your dashboard with graphs, charts, visual metrics, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Customer data sharing

It is critical to keep and manage your customer data if you operate in an agency. The best project management solutions will help you with this by allowing you to generate a customer card that you can share with other team members.

3. Documentation

You don’t manage all of your project data in Excel spreadsheets, do you? Did you know that errors may be found in up to 88 percent of spreadsheets? Examine all of the business processes for which you require an Excel alternative.

Simple access to your data

Having all of your data in one place means you can simply share it with your team and access it with a few clicks. There’s no need to switch between spreadsheets to find data.

When looking for the best project scheduling software, inquire about the types of information that their solutions can save and handle. Not all project management (PM) tools incorporate customer relationship management (CRM) or invoicing automation.

4. Reporting

To properly manage your projects, you must be aware of any flaws or difficulties that demand immediate attention. To get a complete picture of your project’s development, you’ll need at least two features: informative reports and a KPI dashboard.

Customized Reports

The best project scheduling software provides reporting features that collect previously entered project data and allow you to create customized reports.

Reports provide a rapid snapshot of how the project is progressing, as well as the best-performing project teams. If you notice a poor trend on your graphs, you can take fast action. You can determine the issues by comparing multiple reports and discussing with your team members.

KPI dashboard for a project

The simplest approach to keep track of your project’s progress is to construct a project dashboard that automatically updates the information in real time. Include critical metrics such as projected and actual project value, schedule deviation, and task completion percentage.

5. Resource Management

Not only does your team’s time need to be managed, but so does your own. You will most likely require a solution to keep track of additional project resources, such as meeting rooms and supplies used in the project process.

Suggestion for Software: Project Dashboard

Plan your project’s resources

A superb project management application contains a resource management feature that lists all scheduled and planned resources and calculates the cost of their use. This helps to avoid over-assignments and potential disputes caused by a shortage of resources.

You will immediately detect when a resource is being over utilized and will be able to decide whether to limit its use or establish new standards for its exploitation.

As a project manager, you can manage and allocate resources to specific projects, as well as guarantee that everyone has the necessary resources and tools.
To Summarize

So, what are the essential project scheduling software characteristics that you must have in order to properly manage a project team?

Look for project scheduling software that has all of the capabilities that are crucial to you, and supplement it with specialized tools like a time tracker or accounting software. There is no such thing as a flawless tool, but you can get quite close if you try.

With Talygen’s accurate and efficient “Timesheet” feature, you can increase your team’s productivity and efficiency. Not only does it provide clarity on your team’s time spent but also results in increased awareness on how your team can save more time.