Project Manager Training

Selecting Project Management Software

What Kind of User Are You?

Project management software that will run on your PC or network is available at many different levels of sophistication and at prices ranging from $25 to $10,000 or more. All the packages will produce pretty Gantt and PERT charts. If that's all you want, there is not much sense in spending more than $25. But the capabilities of the more expensive packages vary widely. Most of the more sophisticated packages not only cost more, but require a substantial learning investment. It's best to decide what kind of user you are before you go shopping or spend the time to learn to use a project management program. I think the following three categories of project managers divide the world up pretty well.

The Multi-project Environment

I define a high-end user organization not just by the raw size of their projects, but also by their need to manage multiple projects simultaneously. These organizations want to schedule and track a pool of people working on multiple projects. This process is a lot more complicated than it sounds. It requires software that can identify conflicting demands for the same resources as well as allow the manager to set priorities among projects that require the same resource. This category of user also generally wants to create detailed project budgets and have the software come pretty close to mimicking the company's cost accounting system. But they want actual cost data a lot sooner than the accounting department provides it. In this category, users often want sophisticated risk assessment tools, learning curve and resource loading features as well as detailed performance tracking.

If you want a lot, you've gotta spend a lot. Software for these multi-project users runs from $2,000-$10,000 or more and requires a big investment in time to master all the features. There are dozens of products in this range including: Primavera Project Planner, Artemis Views, Open Plan, Cobra, Enterprise PM, Micro Planner X-Pert, . If you want some phone numbers, e-mail us and we'll send them. At these prices, I'm sure you'll get a call back from the vendor very quickly!

Mid-range Project Managers

These users manage large projects with up to about 2,000 tasks. They may have a couple of projects going at the same time, but the emphasis is not on multiple projects. They spend $200-$500 and want software that gives them the full range of project management tools on their PC. These software packages offer a tremendous range of planning, scheduling and tracking tools and produce a mind-numbing array of reports.

Packages in this price/capability range include the big seller Microsoft Project® (available in Mac and DOS versions), Micro-Planner Manager and Primavera's Suretrak. In this range, you usually buy from a retail store or an 800 number shopping service.

Pretty Pictures

For the project manager who wants to automate the process of laying out plans, prepare occasional status reports and produce some simple Gantt and PERT charts, the low end is just fine. Without investing the time to master the more sophisticated tools, there are plenty of packages that will automate the basics for you. For under $100 there are products like: Milestone Simplicity, Project Vision, Quick Gantt. Most computer and business supply stores carry these less expensive products.

Now That You've Slotted Yourself

The last step before using that credit card or issuing a PO is to think about how you'll plan and manage your projects. Some of the packages are designed with a strong emphasis on work (resource-driven scheduling). If you want to plan and track using detailed work estimates (i.e., it will take Pat 427 person-hours to do this task), then buy software that provides scheduling based on work.

On the other hand, if you schedule with durations (i.e., it will take John 3 months to do this task) be sure your software provides efficient handling of durations. Many packages provide both, but they generally have a bias toward either resource-driven or duration-driven scheduling and this will affect how easy the package is for you to use. Send your comments, good or bad, about project management software products and we'll include them.