Dear Dan: I’m called “Project Queen” around our fast-growing small company because I’m the one who keeps all of our projects on track. But my current tools – mostly Excel – are pretty much tapped out, and I need a better way. Any ideas?
– Project Queen
Dear Project Queen: In the big business world, project management has become a highly specialized discipline. There’s an explosion of technology to help management projects, including software and Web-based services. The online solutions in particular are attractive to smaller businesses because they let you get projects up and running instantly without the hassle of software installation and training, and give you more spending flexibility since there are no up-front investments or long-term commitments.
First, some PM basics for small business:
Here are some project management resources and solutions that can help:
Clarizen (www.clarizen.com) just launched a new Web-based solution for small and midsize businesses. It’s essentially a Web-based home for your entire project, where you can manage it from start to finish. The cost is $50 monthly per user, with discounts if you sign up for 6 or 12 months. There’s a 30-day free trial available.
One nifty feature is Clarizen’s “ProjectMail” which lets you collaborate with team members, vendors or other outside sources via e-mail without having to buy more subscriptions. ProjectMail also lets you view and edit tasks, get updates and mark items completed without having to login.
@task (www.attask.com), which received the 2007 “Gold Award” for project management software from Top Ten Reviews, is a Web-based service that offers versions for different sized businesses starting at about $32/month. @task likes to tout its customer support that includes a hotline, forums, training boot camps, phone coaching and more. Their motto: “We’re more dedicated to you than your dog.”
Celoxis (www.celoxis.com) is another complete Web-based solution to manage projects with teams of 5 to 100. Celoxis is also largely geared to small and midsize businesses, with many users in industries such as IT development and outsourcing, Web design, healthcare, tourism and engineering. You can create customized applications such as bug/issue tracking, sales tracking and others to suite your needs. Time sheet and expense features let you do billing and project costing with online approvals.
For PM software you buy and install on your own computers, consider Microsoft Project, which is a bit pricey at around $600, or a low-cost alternative called MinuteMan (www.minuteman-systems.com), which is just $49.95 via electronic delivery. •
Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@business.com.
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