Implementing project management software

There are no foolproof measures, but some ways are certainly sounder than the others. Here we undertake to review some of best practices for implementing project management software. In the process, we will cite three leading project management software— monday.

Tip: You can quickly sign up for monday. Implementing a new project management software must come from a definite business need, a solid value proposition, along with a gain or benefit after implementing the software. Typically this benefit will come in the form of a return on the investment ROI the company made to procure and install the software. Calculating the benefits of implementing software is always the first step; a definite business requirement has to be established before any idea of buying new software is laid on the table.

To put it in another way, ask yourself: what is the purpose of project management software to your company? While personal decisions to purchase new systems may occur at the flick of a whim, doing so in business setting is equivalent to planting the seed of corporate suicide.

What business would want that? Once actual business requirement is established and management gives the green signal to commence with the project, the next step to take is to survey the solutions available in the market and select the vendor.

Set up an evaluation team. At this point, you may also consider bringing in a neutral consultant for additional inputs that your first members may overlook.

Current processes and practices review. Looking at a new project management software and ways to successfully implement it means you are going to scrap or change those old ways by which your company do and accomplish things. Many companies have these processes on record, but if yours does not, then you need to list down all your current processes and how they are going to be affected once the new project management software is installed and running.

Some of these practices will definitely fall by the sidelines, while some that proved successful in the past may have to be modified for much improved results. Shortlist your available solutions. Create a criteria to evaluate the available solutions and shortlist to the ones that are the most promising for your needs. Criteria can include feature sets, pricing plans, platform, and other things that matter to your users and objectives.

The key is to establish a way to measure the importance of each item, so score each on the degree of importance to your business—5 for very important, 3 for important, and 1 for less important, for example.

Assigning definite numbers to each item in your criteria enables you to find the total value of each and factor them in your final purchase decision. You may score the vendor for: industry expertise, support for multiple sites, support for your existing legacy systems, ease of migration, total cost of ownership TCO , if the system is actively finding ways to integrate with other current and future solutions that you will need down the road, and customer support.

Ask for or determine specific references. Check out independent user forums or specific case reviews. Or get them to provide you with client companies in your industry and try to set up a visit to get a solid input about the solution.

Getting your hands dirty on background research will pay dividends in the end. How to start project implementation once the vendor is selected? With monday. The following are five best practices to consider as you work toward a successful project management software implementation with your team.

Leadership buy-in is paramount. If you are trying to implement project management software or any software for that matter , the directive for change must come from the top down. Without leadership backing, just a few negative people on the team could derail the entire project. Once leadership affirms this directive, negative feedback is no longer seen as negativity toward the new software, but instead as negativity toward leadership -- which greatly decreases the risk of pushback.

Embrace your naysayers. Instead of trying to stifle them, give them the floor to air their grievances, fears and points of contention. This will not only make them feel heard, but it will also serve as your risk register for the implementation project. What are all of the things that could possibly go wrong and what will you do about them?

Address them, record them, and as you hit new milestones in the project, cross off the ones that become irrelevant. Maintain reasonable expectations. This group will be responsible for crafting an organizational change plan designed to engage stakeholders throughout the implementation. Identifying a need for change: Taking an active rather than a passive approach to change is a defining leadership quality.

Actively searching for ways to improve small inefficiencies will not only improve output, it is also a great way to help you advance in PPM maturity. You should engage with executives and senior leadership to define an organizational strategy and tie project initiatives to business goals. Once you know what organizational goals project teams are trying to achieve, you can home in on an issue and work with stakeholders to decide if a new PM tool can help teams achieve their objectives.

Perform stakeholder impact analysis: Make a list of every person, team and department that will use the new tool. This includes day-to-day users, as well as leaders who consume data the tool will produce. Be sure to not only address who your stakeholders are, but how they will be impacted and the timing of the impact. Brad Kriter, manager of the project management office at ZTR Control Systems , says that getting buy-in from stakeholders is key to a successful implementation.

When stakeholders know why a change is occurring and how it will impact them directly, they are more likely to be motivated by and engaged with the new tool. Now you can go about creating a shortlist of products that meet these needs.

Be sure that tools address immediate needs and align with your PPM maturity. Once you have your shortlist of products, the next step in facilitating adoption is ensuring that the end users are involved with vetting each product. This involves setting up vendor demos tailored to the needs of your stakeholders. For example, setting up a demo for project team members, another for project managers and another for executives.

This will allow each group to compare products by asking:.