Project Management Software

Project managers often wonder if they are measuring the right things on a project. It’s difficult to know how much time to spend evaluating past performance and how much time to spend on keeping the work moving forward. Of course, there are many indicators of project success, but what do you need to be measuring while the project is in motion? At various points during the project, you want to evaluate five points: schedule, quality, cost, stakeholder satisfaction and performance against the business case. You should be doing this informally anyway. A formal project evaluation is of use during the end of a phase or stage as it can give you a clear indication of how the p…

All businesses want to improve, or at least they should do so constantly to be competitive. Complacency might feel good in the moment, but that moment quickly passes, especially in the business world. Don’t be left behind. The question is how can one improvethe operations of a business to make it more efficient and profitable? There are many answers, from educational and physical fitness to spirituality. But is there a unifying theory of process improvement, and if so, can it be sustained? Have you heard of the kaizen method? It’s a set of principles and techniques for continuous improvement that helps organizations across industries be more productive. But before we div…

Goals are set easily enough, but reaching them takes work. Sometimes that work is falling short, and project teams need to figure out why and how to get back on pace to meet their goals. For that, they use something called a needs assessment. But what is a needs assessment, often called a needs analysis? We’ll answer that first before going into when one should take place and how to do it. To better understand, we’ll share an example and even a template to help readers get started. What Is a Needs Assessment? A needs assessment is a systematic process to identify and evaluate gaps between a current situation and desired outcomes. It helps organizations, teams or individ…

You’re probably here because you’re looking for Microsoft Project for Mac. Unfortunately, Microsoft Project, also known as MS Project, wasn’t designed for Mac computers, so its desktop-based editions (Microsoft Project Standard and Microsoft Project Professional) won’t work on any Mac operating system (macOS). Is There a Microsoft Project for Mac? Microsoft Project for Mac doesn’t exist, but there are alternatives for those who want to work with Microsoft Project Plan (MPP) files on an Apple computer. The two most commonly used workarounds are trying one of the inferior, web-based versions of Microsoft Project or installing a virtual machine, a software that allows users…

Looking for free project management software? Here's our list of the top free tools to help you plan, organize, and execute projects in 2023. The post 10 Best Free Project Management Tools to Boost Team Efficiency in 2025 appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

If you’re looking to manage a project and facilitate better collaboration with your teams, chances are you’ve heard of and are thinking of trying Microsoft Project and Microsoft Planner. To help with that decision, we’ve set up a comparison with Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner. May the best app win. The stats when comparing Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner tell us that the former is a robust project management tool and the latter is more of a stripped-down version. MS Project integrates with MS products such as Office and has financial management tools and Gantt charts. However, it doesn’t have a mobile app and is expensive and complicated to use. Microso…

Project portfolio management software differs from project management software in that the former has to oversee many projects while the latter only involves one project. That’s going to require specific project portfolio management tools that can manage all those projects at once. To understand which is the best project portfolio management software for your organization, let’s first list the must-have project portfolio management tools and why they’re so important. Then we’ll rank the top 15 project portfolio management software products, detailing each. What Features Make the Best Project Portfolio Management Software? Project portfolio management (PPM) isn’t drastic…

Creating and maintaining roadmaps is essential for aligning teams, setting strategic direction and communicating priorities across departments. Whether you’re planning IT initiatives, product development or broader business objectives, having the right roadmap template can save time and ensure clarity. In this roundup, we’ve gathered a selection of the best roadmap templates designed to support different functions and project types. These free roadmap templates provide structure while remaining flexible enough to adapt to your unique planning needs, so you can focus more on execution and less on formatting. Why Use a Roadmap Template? Using a roadmap template streamline…

Projectsl businesses and even life itself are defined by a series of decisions. Each decision should, ideally, be the result of thorough research, counseling from the team and historic data. Managers use a decision log to keep stakeholders updated on who authorized a decision and how it came about. A decision log is a critical communication tool that all project managers, business managers, team leaders and decision-makers of any kind need to understand. You can use project management software, templates or simply a notepad to track decisions. But before we get into how to make one, let’s better understand the definition of a decision log. What Is a Decision Log? A deci…

Construction project management is designed to deliver projects on time and on budget while maintaining or improving quality. Value engineering in construction is one method general contractors use to achieve those goals. What is value engineering in construction? We’ll answer that question and show how to implement it through various techniques. Then it’ll become apparent why this benefits anyone involved in construction projects. What Is Value Engineering in Construction? Value engineering in construction is a systematic method aimed at improving the value of a project by optimizing its function while reducing costs. It involves analyzing project components, processes…

Defining the project scope is a critical part of the project planning process. That’s because the project scope defines the boundaries of what will and won’t be part of the project work, which is essential when making the project budget and schedule. Naturally, scope management is an important area of project management and there’s a lot to learn about it. But before we jump into that, let’s start with the definition of project scope. What Is Project Scope? The project scope is the total amount of work that needs to be done to complete a project. To define it, project managers must break down the project into the tasks and deliverables that’ll be executed to meet goals …

Creating a project baseline is critical in effective project management, as it sets the original plan against which progress and performance are measured. It includes key components like scope, schedule and cost, forming a fixed reference point that guides decision-making throughout the project lifecycle. We’ll begin by defining a baseline in project management, its components and how to create one. This is important, as establishing a baseline helps teams stay aligned, manage expectations and quickly identify when things are veering off track, making it an essential tool for maintaining control and ensuring successful delivery. What Is a Project Baseline? A project bas…

If you don’t have the funds, you’re not going to complete the project successfully. That’s why a project budget is so important: it’s the lifeblood of the project. Follow these steps to secure the funds necessary to support the project through every phase. But first, we need to define what a project budget is. What Is a Project Budget? A project budget is the total projected costs needed to complete a project over a defined period of time. It’s used to estimate what the costs of the project will be for every phase of the project. Creating a project budget is a critical part of the project planning process. The project budget will include such things as labor costs, mate…

The best project management software for 2025 with our expert comparison of top tools. Explore features, pricing, and the best picks for your team! The post 10 Best Project Management Software For 2025 By Experts appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

Projects might have a roadmap, but when executed, they rarely go as planned. Internal and external factors can impact the project’s scope, budget, schedule and more. To address these issues before they even occur falls under project contingency. Let’s start by defining project contingency and what makes up a contingency plan. Then, we’ll show how to execute that plan to avoid scope creep, budget overruns and schedule delays. Finally, we’ll share a few free templates to help facilitate the process. What Is Project Contingency? Project contingency refers to a reserved amount of time, money or resources set aside to address unexpected events or uncertainties that may arise…

Before defining an issue log, let’s define project issues. An issue is any roadblock or unintended impact that directly affects your project’s timeline and or performance. It’s different than a risk, which can be defined as a potential problem or future issue that might happen in your project. An issue is something that has already come up in your project, and you need to identify and track that issue immediately. What Is an Issue Log? An issue log is a simple list or spreadsheet that helps managers track the issues that arise in a project and prioritize a response to them. We have created an Excel Issue Log template you can download for free. It’s an easy way for you to…

Stakeholders are anyone who has a vested interest in the project. They can be internal, such as project managers, teams, owners or investors, or external, such as clients, customers or suppliers. There can be a lot of stakeholders in any project and managing them requires stakeholder management templates. ProjectManager is project management software that helps you manage projects and stakeholders. If you’re not ready for a free trial of the software, we also offer dozens of free project management templates for Excel and Word that can help with every phase of your project. Here are some free stakeholder management templates. 1. Stakeholder Analysis Template There may b…

Projects that employ contractors or work with suppliers and service providers need to manage their procurement process. This is usually started by an invitation to tender that the organization initiating the project will send out. Why do they send an invitation to tender, what is it and who uses it? We will answer those questions below. We’ll also outline what goes into a thorough invitation to tender and then illustrate the process with an example to make it clear. What Is an Invitation to Tender? Let’s start with a definition. An invitation to tender is a formal document issued by a company or organization to invite suppliers, contractors or service providers to submi…

Risk is always present in construction projects. By definition, construction risk feels unpredictable and damaging, but you can identify and manage them. You may feel you can control risk in your organization and construction management team—but what happens when you’re working with independent contractors? Suddenly, the success of the construction project rests on the shoulders of those who are less accountable to you. However, you can minimize and mitigate contractor risks through a process known as contractor risk management. Just as contract administration, contractor risk is important to understand. It requires screening and protecting yourself from issues that mig…

Meeting agenda templates are valuable tools that help teams stay organized, focused and productive. We’ve collected some free management templates on our site that relate to meetings. These meeting templates provide a clear structure for planning meetings by outlining topics, time allocations, discussion leaders and desired outcomes. Use this roundup of free meeting agenda templates for Word and Excel to make it easier to plan and execute efficient meetings. They can be used repeatedly to consistently improve collaboration, accountability and overall meeting effectiveness—without the extra time spent creating documents from scratch. 1. Meeting Agenda Template Download t…

An abundance of information is created, transferred and stored over the project management life cycle. Without a way to organize the documentation that’s produced, your project may be doomed to fail. That’s when PMIS comes in, an acronym for project management information systems. A PMIS enables an organized and controlled flow of information so nothing is siphoned off or misplaced. Project management software that’s collaborative and offers unlimited file storage, such as ProjectManager, is a given. Our tool can organize your documents and make them accessible to the project team on any of our multiple project views. For example, the list view allows teams to share file…

Construction contracts define how owners pay for work done by contractors on a construction project. One of the most popular contracts is called a fixed-price contract or lump sum contract, where a contract defines what will be done and sets a specific and final price for that work. However, this popular method doesn’t work when the construction project timeline and material requirements are unknown. That’s when a time and materials contract is used. What Is a Time and Materials Contract? A time and materials contract is a legally binding agreement that outlines how an employer will pay a contractor for the time and materials they spent on a project. A time and materials…

All projects are embedded with the potential for problems or opportunities. This is called risk, and project management has created risk management tools to address these uncertainties. One technique is bowtie analysis. We’ll break down the bowtie model and explain when to do a bowtie risk assessment, including a bowtie diagram in an example to make the concept fully understandable. We’ll also include a free template to download so you can try it on your own. What Is a Bowtie Analysis? The bowtie method is a risk management technique used to visualize and analyze the potential risks and their controls within a system or process. It’s called “bowtie” because the resultin…

A clear project scope is essential for delivering work on time, on budget and to stakeholder expectations. Scope templates help define what a project or program will and won’t include, ensuring everyone is aligned from the outset. By standardizing how scope is documented, these templates and documents reduce ambiguity, prevent scope creep and provide a reference point throughout the project lifecycle. In this roundup, we’ve gathered a range of scope templates designed to support various project and program needs. Whether you’re managing a small initiative or a complex multi-project program, these free templates, documents and Excel spreadsheets will help you outline deli…

Some people excel at job interviews, and then there’s the rest of us. The truth is, you are being judged, and it’s normal to feel anxious when you’re under the spotlight. So, given these stressful circumstances, how can you relax and show your best self during an interview? The STAR method can help, but that’s not all you can do to prepare. First, you should be equipped with the requisite experience and a resume that sums it up. Then there was the cover letter that was attached, where you expanded on why you’re a good fit for the position and the company. The interview is the last hurdle, but unlike those other steps, you can’t take your time composing the perfect pitch…