In the highly competitive business environment today. Effective project management is a critical task deciding between enterprise ventures’ success and failure. By using advanced project management tools and methodologies, enterprise teams can no keep a close eye on the risks. Tasks associated with ongoing projects, and the scope of the same to practice optimized project management approach.
While there are reliable methodologies that help to complete largely and complicate projects. Over the years, even small projects with a certain level of intricacy and integration need to be executed with perfection. As a result of this increasing need, the number of software tools. Applications geared towards keeping the enterprise projects on track has exploded lately.
IT decision-makers have become so hard to choose the best project management tools for their organization with plenty of choices out there. So, here we are trying to unveil the essentials of choosing the best project management software.
Analyze your needs first Tools
At the first point, you need to analyze and understand your actual needs to identify the apt project management tools for your purpose. So, identify what types of projects you handle and what needs track using the tool.
Consider cloud-based services
Deployment of the project management tool and the cost of ownership. Two significant considerations while planning to adopt a new project management tool. However, cloud-based tools usually come out much cheaper than on-premise deployments.
Mind the need for scalability Tools
When adopting any technical system or tools, remember that the number of users may increase as your organization grows. The tools you adopt should be upward scalable to tackle this challenge in the long run.
Easy integration with your other apps
Most enterprises may be using many business-critical applications already in place, so your newly adopted project management tool should go well in tune with these existing applications. So, integrability is a significant consideration when you are bringing a project management tool into place.
Along with these considerations, you may also consider the fact that the adoption of Salesforce can also help you house your client’s data, project info and facilitate effective team collaboration on this platform. This makes good sense while adopting a project management tool that can incorporate the Salesforce’s already existing information and avoid or minimize the need for data duplication and mismatch. Usually, there are two fundamental types of project management tools that work well with Salesforce. These are the ones that integrate well with the platform by using their controls and further establishing Salesforce connections. The other set of project management tools may exist inside the Salesforce ecosystem itself by adapting to the same standard controls and leveraging the tools that are part of the Salesforce platform. Next, let us explore the project management tools which can integrate with Salesforce.
Salesforce integrated project management tools
There are many choices in project management tools that standalone or well in collaboration with platforms like Salesforce. All these applications offer optimum flexibility to the users and provide integral content management, accounting, sales, and other business applications. One key aspect of these PM tools kept in mind is that majority of these tools are capable of establishing a connection outside the application and may maintain various integration points across the enterprise landscape. If not done well, this can sometimes backfire by creating more work to the process and support teams.
By considering these challenges, too, you may think of standalone solutions that may satisfy your project management’s needs. Here we will discuss some such top stand-alone project management tools that integrated with Salesforce and many other applications.
Wrike Tools
Going beyond merely project management, Wrike is more of an all-in-one software for collaboration. Wrike can offer solutions for sales, marketing, product management, and creative teams too. While some organizations may be advantageous to get a wide range of tools under one roof, for some other enterprises, they may be using only a few of the available sets of tools among these. However, Wrike’s project management tools have got many features out of the box, including Gantt charts and many other resource management boards. For integrating Wrike with Salesforce, the users may follow the instructions from the Wrike team. Once the setup is done, user teams can then be siloed to provide access to the needed project information. For authorized users of Salesforce, you can assign the Wrike tasks, and the status of such tasks can be tracked by being on Salesforce itself.
TrelloTools
Trello is another innovative and exciting approach to enterprise project management. This is a SaaS (Software as a Service), made in a board format, much like the Kanban board. These boards are highly flexible as they can represent various projects, modules, teams, workflows, or any other set of entities or tasks required to complete a project. Within each unit or board, the users can custom create lists. Like the boards, these lists are also highly flexible and can be organized in various possible manners to reflect the project teams and administrators’ needs. Within the boards, there are cards, which represent tasks, projects, and other work units. Cards may include the team members working on each task, which can be further set with deadlines, checklists, and other essential documents and communication threads related to the job in hand.
Trello’sapproach to integrations is called Power-Ups. Power-Ups get added at the board level, so each board needs to be connected to the Salesforce for integration. Once on getting added, each card will have a Salesforce button, which can add a contact, lead, or opportunity to the given card. Salesforce info is thereby made available on Trello cards, which means the project managers, administrators, and project team members can view the info directly from the Trello card without the need to switch to Salesforce.
Clarizen Tools
Clarizen is another robust Salesforce integrates project management tool, as suggested by FLOSUM. It has advanced planning features that include highly effective automation and resource planning and project features like schedule reporting, stakeholder collaboration, timeline reporting, risk monitoring, and scope management, etc. Clarizen time tracking done at a team level, and expense reporting did through the centralize document hub. There is a high degree of flexibility offers by Clarizen. Along with many customizable fields and action tab. However, these available features limited base on the licensing available by the users.
Considering the project management packages at this category, Salesforce is the most extensive feature. Using Clarien, once it is implemented, the project data easily viewed in Salesforce. And also the project reporting can be done through the same. The users can trigger the workflows and actions right within Clarizen with access to the Salesforce events. This integration of data may further create custom reports and dashboards to access by the executive, clients, and other stakeholders.
Native project management tools for Salesforce
For some enterprises, sharing only minimum data between the Salesforce suite and project management tool may be the need. For them, it is highly advantageous to choose the apps which are native to Salesforce. A native project management application will share the same Salesforce database, and there are no synchronization issues or missing data using the same. The significant advantage is that data is the store at Salesforce itself with needed protection and simplified backup.
The native Salesforce project management applications also share the same controls and interface with the mother platform, which means the users will quickly pick up with its usage without the need for any additional training. However, most importantly, the native app users will be working with the same vendor dedicate to Salesforce. There will be a commitment to customers regarding how the application works in line with Salesforce without ongoing support. Some native project management tools are below.
1. TaskRay Tools
This native project management tool offers many features like automation of the sales process parts, cloneable project templates, repeatable tasks automation, etc. TaskRay can also support various project information visualization and also work in alight with Agile methodology, Kanban boards, Row View, Calendar View, and Plan View, etc.
2. Cloud Coach Tools
Being a native app to Salesforce, Cloud Coach can take up a wide range of project management activities beyond just timelines and tasks. Resource allocation base on the availability of resources and skills and Gantt charts, which can offer better visibility to various simultaneous workstreams. Time and cost can track easily on Cloud Coach by resource-wise.
3. FinancialForce Tools
It is an integrated Salesforce professional services app that has advanced project management capabilities. This application can connect the projects’ opportunities and transfer relevant info. As and when the project creates. Effective resource management done base on schedule and skill. This done within the application itself with a full view of the project revenue and time. Which can access throughout the project lifecycle?
4. Xpeditor tools
This is a brand-new approach to Salesforce project management, which addresses the same from a different school of thought. Xpeditor has a process-driven approach to project management. It functions as a standalone tool that can support both the elements as projects and processes. There is no need to import any information from one application to the other or need to duplicate the data with a lack of integration for the users. Xpeditor can enable creating a well-designed and repeatable process, which can be used during distinct executions.
Project needs may differ from organization to organization, and in many cases, it will be the same in case of different departments inside the orgs. No matter how large or small your enterprise and the project management needs are, one thing stays the same that your processes act as the supporting mechanism against the projects executes. So, you can narrow done your options for project management tools by well defining and enumerating your process needs to identify which solutions may work for you the best.