Finding software can be overwhelming. We've helped project teams choose the right planning software so they can roadmap projects and set baselines for scope, budget and timeline.
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NetSuite OpenAir offers buyers a collection of applications designed to support every stage of the professional services delivery lifecycle. Offered as Software-as-a-Service, the platform includes applications to manage projects, resources,... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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Workzone is a project management solution that offers document management, project collaboration, customizable reporting, resource and task management and time tracking. The software is cloud-based and offers automated emailed reports... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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NetSuite Services Resource Planning (SRP)
NetSuite SRP is used by professional services organizations to optimize their project-based operations. The software offers integrated project management, resource management, project-based accounting and time & expense tracking applications. Users... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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Using Clarizen’s leading collaborative work management solution for the enterprise, businesses can solve challenges far beyond traditional work, project or resource management. With Clarizen’s enterprise-grade solution, teams are... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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KeyedIn Projects is a cloud-based project management solution for enterprise-level companies offering a suite with features, such as program management, professional services automation and project portfolio management application.... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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Viewpath is a cloud-based project management solution that allows teams to view team availability, assign tasks and collaborate with teams in real time. With everything hosted in the cloud, the platform can be utilized by global teams,... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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monday.com, an award-winning collaboration and project management platform, helps teams plan together efficiently and execute complex projects to deliver results on time. monday.com team management and task management tool allows for... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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Smartsheet is a work execution platform and collaboration tool with a familiar spreadsheet-like interface that helps teams plan, track, and manage projects in real-time. Smartsheet features include a range of project management tools,... Read more
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Deployments: Cloud
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BigTime is an online time and billing solution designed to serve professional service firms like accounting, engineering, government contracting, legal and IT services. The integrated solution offers features like time and expense... Read more
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Deployments: Cloud
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inMotion ignite is a creative project management software built specifically for the needs of creative and marketing teams. Combining the most powerful elements of task and workflow management with the collaborative features of online... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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Cora Systems provide enterprise project and portfolio management solutions to global organizations and government agencies, such as Honeywell, Elanco, PwC, City of London and the UK’s National Health Service. Their solution, Cora... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: CloudOn premise
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Sciforma is a cloud-based project and portfolio management solution for enterprises that allows to strategically track and analyze project data and make relevant decisions. It can be sold as a stand-alone portfolio management, project... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: CloudOn premise
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Easy Projects is a cloud-based project management platform suitable for midsize organizations and enterprises. Easy Projects provides every contributing team member, project manager, executive, stakeholder or customer with access... Read more
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Deployments: CloudOn premise
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Project Insight (PI) is the work management hub helping companies manage projects, allocate personnel and track what work is being done throughout the entire organization. The intuitive software aggregates data from high-productivity... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: CloudOn premise
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Deltek Vision is a cloud-based project-based solution for professional services firms that is available for cloud or on-premise deployment. It combines project accounting, resource management, project management, time/expense management... Read more
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Deployments: CloudOn premise
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Workamajig is a cloud-based HTML5 project management solution designed for creative ad agencies and in-house advertising teams of all sizes. Key features include opportunity tracking, project management, time tracking, resource management... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: CloudOn premise
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Replicon’s cloud-based TimeCost solution, part of the Time Intelligence Platform, helps organizations manage multiple projects activities simultaneously. Organizations can manage resource productivity and assign specific people... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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WorkOtter is cloud based and built to make your collaborative work easy and visible to the organization. Keep projects in the light and gain traction. Get the tools you need to simplify your work, focus on people, move projects to... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
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Procore manages your projects, resources and financials from project planning to closeout. Our platform connects every project contributor to solutions we've built specifically for this industry—for the owner, for the GC, and for... Read more
Platforms: MacWin
Deployments: Cloud
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Wrike is a cloud-based project management platform for teams of 20+ that is suitable for both large enterprises and SMBs. It supports remote work for various teams. This solution comes with Gantt charts, calendars, workload view for... Read more
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Deployments: Cloud
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Whether or not a project is successful largely depends on how well the project is planned. In fact, in a recent analysis of project management (PM) software buyers who contact Software Advice, 86 percent request systems with strong project planning capabilities.
We've created this guide to help buyers better understand project planning solutions and how they factor into the larger PM software market. Here's what we'll cover:
What Is Project Planning Software?
Common Capabilities of Project Planning Software
Benefits of Project Planning Software
What Is Project Planning Software?
Project planning software helps managers and stakeholders map out and visualize a project's critical path, or the sequence of activities and tasks required to complete a project, the duration of those tasks and the way they relate to one another.
This high-level "roadmapping" process helps managers:
- Identify key resources
- Pinpoint task dependencies and constraints
- Determine essential project milestones
- Set baselines for the project's scope, budget and timeline (the three benchmarks used to determine project success)
Businesses can purchase stand-alone project planning applications (often referred to as "mind mapping" or "story mapping" tools), or invest in an integrated PM suite. A comprehensive PM solution typically contains project planning capabilities in addition to other core PM functionality, such as:
Among the best project planning tools are Gantt charts, which are used to visualize a project's schedule and determine the critical path. These digital charts are vastly less labor-intensive to update than Gantt charts created using manual methods (more on this below).
Managers also use Gantt charts after the project planning stage, in order to monitor task progression and resource usage over the course of the project life cycle. These charts are used to keep internal and external stakeholders up to date on the accuracy of initial scope, timeline and budget estimates. Many top PM software vendors include Gantt charts as part of their platform.
Common Capabilities of Project Planning Software
The following are some common capabilities of project planning tools:
| Gantt charts | Represented as cascading bar charts across a timeline or calendar. During planning, managers use Gantt charts to visualize the project schedule; determine the critical path; spotlight task dependencies and potential risk areas; monitor personnel workloads; and assign staff to tasks. They can also help track performance and progress on tasks once projects are underway. (See screenshot below table for an example.) |
| Resource scheduling | Some platforms include resource management functionality, allowing managers increased visibility into personnel availability and skill set. Managers can schedule resources to tasks, or assign a “placeholder resource” for roles they know they’ll need, but haven’t been able to schedule yet. |
| Calendaring | Managers can easily reorganize a project’s schedule by clicking-and-dragging work items on the calendar (see screenshot below). If the update causes a conflict later in the schedule, this conflict would be flagged for further attention. |
| Work item color-coding | Allows users to set rules for color-coding tasks on the calendar. These rules use variables such as the employee responsible for completing an item (e.g., Tom’s tasks are blue and Tammy’s are green) or the task status (in-progress tasks are green, overdue tasks are red etc.). |
| Risk identification | Allows users to flag potential risk areas, such as dependent tasks (e.g., if task B can only start once task A is complete, these tasks would be flagged). |
| Automatic alerts | Lets managers schedule in-app or email alerts. These can be used to notify employees about upcoming task due dates, or to alert staff assigned to a dependent task that the preceding work item is nearing completion. |
| Communication tools | Help facilitate collaboration among users via in-app comments, group chat streams or discussion forums. For example, users can comment and add status updates directly to tasks or flagged risk items, or loop in a team member on a question posted to a project discussion board. |
Gantt Chart in Wrike
Benefits of Project Planning Software
There are several benefits of using project planning software as opposed to manual methods. These benefits include:
Increased visibility into individual and team workloads, skill sets and current and future availability. This benefit is best realized when using a comprehensive PM suite with both project planning and resource management capabilities.
Improved communication and collaboration. Project planning tools act as a shared hub where managers, team members and stakeholders can store all project-related communication. This provides a permanent record for important decisions and project changes.
Using visual tools, such as Gantt charts, helps managers with early risk detection. This allows managers and stakeholders to plan risk management strategies ahead of time and combat any potential obstacles.
Easy access to historical archives. The information in project plans and status reports can influence future business decisions. Managers and stakeholders using planning software can look back on previous projects to see why decisions were made, and to compare timeline and budgetary measures.