Software Search

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

 

Ever ponder what features and attributes you would include in the perfect project planning and management software? Recently I did exactly that. While this tends to indicate I need to get a life (or at least that I have far too much time on my hands), I found the result interesting and worth putting into words. Part 1 of this article addresses the project planning aspect of PPM (project planning and management, not to be confused with project portfolio management) software. Part 2 addresses the project tracking and management aspects of PPM software tools.

From time to time, organizations entertain acquiring new project planning and management software. Next time you find yourself evaluating project planning and management software products you might find this article useful as a checklist on what to look for.

The perfect project planning and management (PPM) software tool would come complete with a cadre of customizable templates for profiling:

• Organization
• Stakeholder
• Labor Pool
• Project Prioritization Criteria
• Environmental
• Life Cycles, Deliverables & Tasks
• Status Reporting

In addition, the perfect PPM would provide a comprehensive facility for generating and managing work, communication and risk & failure analysis plans based on the profiles created. Finally, the perfect PPM would provide processes for performing …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.