Much of your success in project management depends on your ability to manage and share information in the fastest, safest and most constructive way possible. This chapter will discuss the importance of providing staff with complex information that is current, formatted and actionable while offering team information management and communication systems that are state-of-the-art, accessible and effective.
By the end of this topic, you will understand:
- The many benefits and features of a digital project management information system
- How to choose a PMIS that suits your organisation, stakeholders and project-type requirements
- How to involve stakeholders in the PMIS selection process
- How to set up a PMIS and deploy a PMIS
- How to ensure stakeholders have the required knowledge to manage project information and communication through a centralised project management information system.
Note
Digital project management tools (like Wrike, Asana, Monday and TeamGantt) have revolutionised communication and information management. These systems are designed to improve teamwork, networking, workflow management and communication between teams, leaders and stakeholders.
Project management systems offer a wealth of benefits to PMs in terms of helping to streamline and manage information and communication on projects, including the ability to manage multiple projects at once across multiple teams and departments.
Popular, cloud-based software options offer a secure and centralised platform for storing, accessing, exchanging and managing information and communication and for automating, organising and streamlining many of the more tedious or complex project management tasks and processes.
Many web-based digital project management tools will offer the following:
- Task List Management - create new tasks, assign responsibility, track task status to indicate progress and completion of tasks
- Scheduling - schedule work using Gantt charts, assign tasks, dependencies and schedule work in bulk where needed
- Task Management - Gantt chart and Kanban board provide visual and efficient task management
- Customisable workflows
- Time tracking - team members can log hours worked
- Collaborative editing - allow project team to contribute to share and view files and documents in real time
- Communication tools - team members can post comments against projects and tasks
- Easy resource management
- Easy task assignments
- File sharing, version control, storage, indexing and management
- Reporting tools - the ability to report on projects, completion of tasks, time and resource usage and more
- Integration with other tools - integrate with Gmail, Zoom and academic or professional resource databases
Further Reading
Read the article Top 20 best project management software in 2021: An overview by Erin Gilliam Haje of mOpinion to learn more about available project management tools.
We will discuss each of the key areas listed in the diagram.
The size of your team and the associated costs per user
Some project management systems allow you to assign different account types depending on the type of user and the access that you assign to that user role. You might need all of your internal project team members to have full access and your external users, such as contractors, suppliers, clients and so on, to only have limited access.
Alternatively, you may decide that only your project team members need access to the project management system, and that information will be shared with other stakeholders in another way.
How information is shared and stored in the system
Running on from the last point, you will need to consider how information is shared and accessed in the system.
If you decide to only provide your internal users with access to your project management system, then you
will need to have established procedures for sharing reports and updates with your clients and other stakeholders in another way. Ask yourself: how will files be shared and accessed?
The training needs of the system
Ask yourself: how complicated is the system to use?
If you are planning on using the project management system for multiple dynamic projects that will see several external users, clients and project team members come and go, you will need to ensure that the platform is streamlined, intuitive and easy for even the relative layman to access (as needed) and use.
Factors to consider include:
- What happens when a new user is invited to the system?
- Will you need to run a training session for each new user when they start using the system and is this feasible?
- How much training information will you need to provide each new user?
- What options do users have to customise their notifications?
- Is a user’s dashboard clear and simple to understand?
The features of the system
Of course, a major consideration when choosing a project management system is understanding its features and how they suit your unique team and project requirements. Many project management systems on the market these days have very similar features; however, there are some small differences between them.
While the features may seem similar, certain systems are targeted at handling smaller, simpler projects. In contrast, others are designed so that an organisation can extensively customise the user experience and run highly complex projects.
Note
Often, using a system through a free trial period is the best way to find out what system’s features you value. You may find that a system lacks one vital feature. For example, the platform might lack embedded time tracking. Still, the logistics of implementing secure and monitored tracking through another app is more than you are prepared to tackle, given the size and nature of your team.
The following project management system feature checklist may help you to analyse the features of a project management system.
| Function | Feature | Included? | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project scheduling | Break projects into tasks and multiple levels of subtasks | ||
| Set task start and end dates, and estimated task durations | |||
|
Set task dependencies and have tasks start and end when the dependency starts/ends |
|||
| Assign resources to each task | |||
| Track project milestones as well as tasks | |||
| Budgeting | Allocate a budget to each task | ||
| Track the cost of each task | |||
| Documents and files | Upload files and documents to specific tasks and projects | ||
| Keep track of the most recent versions of documents | |||
| Portals and dashboards | Personalise dashboards | ||
| Customise notification settings | |||
| Communication and collaboration | Tag team members to discuss issues and questions relating to tasks and projects | ||
| Hold virtual meetings and communicate via voice or video-chat options | |||
| Permission and access | Customise access levels | ||
| Reporting | Report on project milestone | ||
During the process of choosing your project management system, be sure to get input from all stakeholders about their needs and preferences in a project management system, as its implementation will likely represent a marked shift in their way of working.
Here are some tips about consulting with stakeholders:
- One effective way to do this would be to create a checklist of common project management system features.
- Ask stakeholders to mark a tick for features they require, an ‘o’ for features they are unsure of and an ‘x’ for features they will not need. Be sure to leave room for people to suggest features that were not on the list.
- If you prefer a more reciprocal approach, gather the input in a meeting or through informal discussions with individual stakeholders.
- Use the sum total of stakeholder requirements to inform your choice of PM software (based on system feature profiles) to trial with key stakeholders.
- Once trialled, gather feedback again from all stakeholders to determine whether to purchase the subscription or work through another free trial.
Involving stakeholders will help you to get buy-in from those who might otherwise meet you with resistance when implementing the system. You must consider the needs of your users and your team, who often have different perspectives or requirements that you may not have thought of because of your lack of subjective experience in their particular work role.
Remember, work experience during the first software trial or the first few weeks of using a system, whether already purchased or not, may shed light on team requirements, likes and dislikes that stakeholders were unaware of before, so always seek feedback. This will allow you to make a more informed choice should you need to implement a second product trial and, finally, purchase your designated project management system subscription/software.
Platforms such as Wrike, Monday, Basecamp, etc., are designed to streamline and automate many management processes, and thankfully, this often extends to the process of setting up and organisational deployment.
Often Consultants are involved in guiding the process of deployment. Read the Wrike Deployment Guide to learn the phases of adopting an electronic project management system.
You have learnt about important considerations and key steps that should be part of your setup or deployment process. If you don’t involve consultants, there are hundreds of tutorials online that will walk you step by step through the simple setup process. Read the Beginners Guide to Wrike by Dara Fontein to learn more about the setup processes.
If you are engaging in setting up and implementing without expert consultation, which many project managers do, then there are numerous areas that you will need to be mindful of. Once you have chosen the system, certain steps must be taken to ensure that the system is implemented consistently.
Most PMIS come as a blank canvas, and it will be up to you to decide on numerous details about how the system will be used to organise your projects and information.
You can often work this out by logging in and trailing how the system can best categorise the information you need to organise.
You could run a few pilot projects through the system with a small team before it is rolled out to the wider organisation. Alternatively, you could familiarise yourself with the system by running a personal project before you start to train others in its use.
User Training
Whichever route you take, all users will require training. To implement the system, you must ensure that your team and all users of the system know:
- How project information will be stored
- The process for scheduling projects and assigning due dates
- The collaboration tools available in the system and any rules on how to use them
- How and where documents are stored and if there are any naming conventions required for documents
- Privacy and security settings. Ask yourself: Are there areas of the system for internal users and areas for clients and/or external users?
- User permissions and access settings
Be mindful, as getting to know a new system is a hefty undertaking for many people. Some members of your team may excel at learning new systems, while others might find navigating their way through an unfamiliar interface to be a daunting experience, especially with the stress of due dates looming.
Key Points
You cannot assume that one or two training sessions are enough for the entire team to reach proficiency. Implementing a new digital project management system should be seen as a long-term project of at least six months before everyone can confidently use the system.
Your implementation plan should include initial user training sessions, including regular review of user feedback and checking if users can correctly use the system without asking for assistance from their peers. If necessary, follow-up training may be required.
Training and feedback segments should be included in your weekly or fortnightly meetings. Discuss the project management system, answer queries as a team or cover certain areas of the system to extend team knowledge.
