A project manager’s role is to plan and carry out a project. For this, they frequently divide projects into smaller tasks, allocate them to team members, manage job statuses, and monitor progress. Investing in project management software can help you properly manage these fundamental job activities.
However, when it comes to selecting the best project management software, understanding the major project management features can help you make an informed decision.
To assist you in your search, this article lists five major project management software features based on ratings provided by verified program users. We’ve also included the top-rated project management software for each feature.
1. Task management
Task management in a project management solution helps you organize and track all your project tasks. With this feature, you can assign tasks to project team members, set deadlines, and monitor progress in real time. It allows you to view each task’s status, which helps effectively manage the team members’ time and workload and meet project milestones. This feature also enables collaboration by allowing team members to share files, provide updates, and communicate directly within each task.
What business problems does task management solve?
The task management tool assists project managers to handle the following challenges:
- Project overload: Having to manage several activities in a short period of time can cause stress and burnout. The task management function allows you to prioritize and order tasks. It ensures that important projects receive the attention they require without overloading the team.
- Miscommunications: Assumptions or information silos among team members can result in errors and delays in tasks. The task management tool centralizes all project information, making messages, changes, and feedback available to everyone involved. This clarity puts all project team members on the same page, reducing confusion and ensuring that everyone has up-to-date information.
- Lack of visibility: Difficulty tracking progress and determining who is responsible for certain tasks can make it difficult to monitor progress and comprehend task ownership. The task management function addresses this by giving you a clear, real-time picture of all tasks, their statuses, and allocated workers. This transparency enables you to rapidly identify delays or concerns and alter plans or resources accordingly.
How users benefit from task management
Here are some excerpts from the reviewers of task management features describing how it helps them:
“It offers several preset templates for organizing a project and also allows including/tagging people to send them notifications of their roles and deadlines about the project and milestones.”
“Having a breakdown of open tasks assigned to each individual tech vs all open tasks allows each tech to understand what they are responsible for, and allows the managers to add or move tasks as appropriate.”
“The Task Management allows me to create a list of tasks, assign a person and due date for the task, and I can even make that task into it’s own card if it becomes more complex.”
2. Project planning and scheduling
The project planning and scheduling tool in project management software helps you to clearly define your project’s phases, tasks, and milestones. You may specify start and finish dates for each job, link dependencies, and allocate resources to ensure that every aspect of your project is properly mapped out. This function also includes budget tracking, which allows for precise financial management. The updates occur in real time, so any changes you make will be immediately visible to your team. It allows you to foresee probable delays and make modifications.
What business problems does project planning and scheduling solve?
The project planning and scheduling tool assists project managers with the following challenges:
- Unclear project goals: Inadequate early planning, a lack of stakeholder alignment, or ambiguous project scopes can result in confusion and misdirected efforts since team members may not understand what they are working for. Project planning and scheduling enable you to establish precise, measurable goals and milestones from the start. This clarity links the team’s efforts with the project’s objectives, resulting in efficient development and the desired outcomes.
Inefficient resource management: Inadequate allocation of time, budget, or manpower can result in project delays or cost overruns. The project planning and scheduling feature enables you to effectively assign resources to each activity, ensuring that every component of your project receives enough support without overextending. Addressing these allocation concerns allows you to prevent bottlenecks and ensure more efficient project execution.
Missed deadlines: Uncertain project objectives or underestimated work time can result in project delays, increased expenses, and stakeholder unhappiness. Project planning and scheduling assist you in creating realistic timetables for each activity, which are aligned with the project’s defined objectives. This alignment ensures that each team member understands their deadlines and can work efficiently toward them.
How users benefit from project planning and scheduling
Here are some excerpts from the reviewers of project planning and scheduling features describing how it helps them:
“This is the key feature of this app to get an overview of the schedule and task associated with it and to be able to visualize it for th client”
“Project scheduling enables identification of required resources and relationships between tasks, facilitating further planning and scheduling.”
“It helps in tracking and adjusting the timeline based on recent development”
3. Reporting and project tracking
The reporting and project tracking features in a project management system allow you to properly follow the development of your projects. You can view customizable reports that include essential indicators such as task completion rates, time spent on tasks, and overall project status. This function keeps you up to date on the status of your project, allowing you to identify any areas that may require further attention and resources. It also enables timely decision-making by offering insights into patterns and potential problems before they worsen.
What business problems does reporting and project tracking solve?
The reporting and project tracking tool assists project managers with the following challenges:
- Ineffective strategic planning can result in misaligned objectives, poor resource allocation, and missed opportunities. The reporting and project monitoring function in project management offers thorough analytics and real-time data on all project components. This visibility allows you to examine the effectiveness of your present methods and make adjustments as needed.
Difficulty with performance assessment: The lack of clear measurements and real-time data on team and project performance makes evaluating individual contributions and overall project progress difficult. Reporting and project tracking capabilities address this by providing specific numbers on work completed, time spent, and other critical performance indicators, allowing for more accurate assessments and encouraging team accountability.
Compliance and accountability issues: Failure to keep a detailed record of project activities and decisions might result in potential violations of rules and internal standards. Reporting and project tracking features keep a detailed, timestamped record of all project operations and changes. This paperwork helps to adhere to regulatory requirements and hold team members accountable, ensuring that project objectives and compliance guidelines are accomplished.
How users benefit from reporting and project tracking
Here are some excerpts from the reviewers of reporting and project tracking features describing how it helps them:
“I like that it offers valuable insights into progress, team performance, and task completion. Its visual interface facilitates data-driven decisions, optimizing workflows and ensuring transparency, leading to improved efficiency and project success.”
“You can track the productivity of each project assigned. It will help you and your business to see the productivity and know the estimated time of the project’s progress”
“It provides visual analytics and metrics that helps me and my team assess our progress, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions. This feature evaluate our performance and make improvements for future projects.”
4. Prioritization
A project management system’s prioritization tool lets you select the order in which tasks should be completed to maximize efficiency and fulfill critical deadlines. Evaluating the relevance and urgency of each activity enables you to arrange tasks in a way that is consistent with your project’s goals and deadlines. This tool also allows you to update priorities when project dynamics change, ensuring that you are focused on what is most important at any given time.
What business problems does prioritization solve?
The prioritization tool assists project managers with the following challenges:
- Goal misalignment happens when team actions do not complement the project’s overarching objectives, which is frequently caused by initial project goals that are imprecise or shifting. This separation can result in wasted labor, resources, and, eventually, project failure. A project management tool’s prioritizing feature helps match daily work with long-term project goals, ensuring that all efforts are focused on strategic outcomes.
- Stress and burnout: Overwhelming workloads, unclear and unrealistic expectations, and poorly defined project goals can all contribute to your team’s feelings of stress and burnout. The prioritization tool in project management software helps to avoid these complications by clearly classifying tasks based on their urgency and relevance. This structure assists with task management, lowering stress and the risk of burnout.
Quality control: Uncertain priorities might result in rushed or missed activities since teams do not focus on the most important components of a project. The prioritizing tool in project management software helps to alleviate this by explicitly stating which activities are most important, allowing teams to commit the necessary time and resources to them. This focus guarantees that critical deliveries achieve the necessary criteria.
How users benefit from prioritization
Here are some excerpts from the reviewers of prioritization features describing how it helps them:
“Its vital for efficient task management and resource allocation. It ensures focus on critical objectives, improves productivity, and leads to faster project completion and better outcomes.”
“I love prioritization features for its flexibility and visual appeal. The platform allows users to customize and visualize their workflows, making it easier to prioritize tasks. The ability to assign deadlines is such a stress reliever.”
“This feature lets me realize the weight of my tasks and it provides me the compartmentalization I need in order to fulfill what needs to be prioritized from my list!”
5. Workflow management
The workflow management feature in project management software allows you to create a systematic sequence of tasks, establishing the path from beginning to end for each project. This feature enables you to tailor workflows to your project’s specific needs, ensuring that tasks flow logically and effectively from one step to the next while also managing dependencies between them. You can define conditions that will initiate the next stages, automate repetitive processes, and notify team members when their involvement is required. This systematic approach decreases the likelihood of things being neglected and keeps your project on track.
What business problems does workflow management solve?
The workflow management tool assists project managers with the following challenges:
- Process inefficiencies: An unclear project workflow might result in repeated duties and lost efforts because team members lack direction. This is addressed by workflow management tools in project management software, which automate and optimize task flows. Setting up clear, automatic stages ensures that each action contributes successfully to the project’s goals, avoiding the possibility of wasted effort.
- Error rates: High error rates in projects can be caused by unclear goals, which can lead to misunderstandings and blunders because team members do not completely grasp their jobs or how they integrate into the wider project. Workflow management tools streamline repeated operations while providing clear rules and checkpoints. This precision guarantees that tasks are completed correctly the first time, which improves overall project quality.
Fragmented communication results in poor work coordination, leaving team members unaware of their roles and timetables. The workflow management tools clearly describe each task’s sequence and assign responsibilities. This framework guarantees that everyone understands their individual duties and deadlines, allowing for better team coordination.
How users benefit from a workflow management
Here are some excerpts from the reviewers of workflow management features describing how it helps them:
“The ability to automate reminders and process records through online workflow reduces administrative workload, and email traffic, while keeping work moving easily without manual intervention.”
“As you delegate the task for ech project, you can conveniently work on the workflow of each project and track the progress and monitor the productivity.”
“I like this feature for its ability to enhance productivity by providing a structured platform for task management. This streamlines my overall workflow within tax and accounting practices.”
