Project management: what special solutions can give

All well know that the project is the activity limited to time frames which purpose consists in creation of a special product or service. Project management is a knowledge domain, the skills, tools and acceptances used for achievement of goals of projects within the approved parameters of quality, the budget, terms and other restrictions.^[1]

In order that project management in the company earned, it is necessary to implement a set of managerial tools: it and accurate problem definition with focusing of contractors on keyword parameters, and change of functional structures on matrix forms of management, and change of a system of motivation of employees. At the same time a key factor of successful implementation of project management is the correct application of the software tools supporting him.

Many analysts agree in opinion that implementation of project management reduces costs for projects for 15-20% while this amount averages 5-10% of project cost so economic effect will not keep itself waiting.

Requirements to automation

If to analyze management practice by projects in terms of automation, then the key place of use of IT tools is project planning, assessment of its cost efficiency and control of its execution. The success of the project in general and correctness of the made decision on its start in many respects depends on the accuracy of the made plan.

For this reason the project manager in this or that type uses an information system when planning for critical path analysis, alignment of project resources, calculation of cost, formation of optimistic and pessimistic versions of the project plan. At the same time the majority of these tasks can be made in the local version of a project management system, for example - MS Project or even in spreadsheets - the MS Excel.

Difficulties face when there is a need to manage a project portfolio and to analyze loading of several commands working in different projects. Here to manage only the local application becomes impossible and it is necessary to deploy the multi-user tool on project management within separate division or even all company. It is necessary to consider that the project management system does not live in a lead over other ICs of the company therefore it needs to be integrated with the systems of a business intelligence - for data analysis on projects, with the portal solution - for ensuring convenience of work of users, with the accounting systems for synchronization of design data, with a mail system for mailing of notifications.

One more key moment during creation of a project management system in business company is understanding of economy of the project. If project activity is a business basis, then and the manager who is responsible for operational efficiency and then the information system supporting project activity will be one of key users of the reporting of this solution, and data in it become very critical for adoption of the correct solutions.

For this reason full implementation of project management systems happens in those companies where core business is anyway connected with project management.

Levels of a maturity of project management from Gartner analytical company

• 0. There are no formalized processes of management of projects, specialized tools are not used
• 1. Only critical processes of management of projects are formalized, users use local versions of a project management system
• 2. Management of programs of projects is formalized, multi-user tools for work in projects which can be different in different parts of the organization are implemented
• 3. All processes of management of projects are described and there is a procedure of improvement of a project portfolio, selection of projects to start is formalized. Several project management systems with some centralization are used
• 4. Procedures optimization of loading of resources and management by objectives are used. In the company several project management systems are applied, but all tools are available to employees
• 5. Procedures of project management and optimization of a project portfolio cover all company, one integrated project management system is used

Who is present at the Russian market

From "the heavy systems" for management of large-scale projects most often it is possible to see Oracle Primavera if tasks in projects are not so large-scale, then the multi-user version of MS Project - Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management Solution meets.

One more serious player in the market of project management systems are producers of ERP systems where it is possible to find the modules automating project management. The functionality supporting project management is also in the system of SAP, there is also in "a 1C - Management of Project Office". At the same time abilities to integrate modules of ERP systems among themselves allow to synchronize easily project management with accounting model of the enterprise and purchasing process that is important.

For automation of small IT projects tools are used including by open source. An example is application of JIRA for collective work with requests within the project and also cloud applicaions, for example Clarizen service.

At the same time the information systems located in "cloud" seriously change the cost of the solution and options of tariffing, as a result the monthly subscription to work in the tool of one user can be the companies not more expensive of 25 dollars.

If to analyze in what direction the automation equipment of project activity develops, then it is possible to notice that for the last few years appeared a set new cloud and open source of solutions. They are often aimed at automation of small projects in medium-sized companies, but anyway such systems became much: Basecamp, Daptiv, Huddle, LiquidPlanner, Wrike, Comindwork, etc. And though many of them can not endure the next decade, it is quite possible that for project management which are planned during the next period, their functionality will be more than enough.

Analysts of Gartner company in the reports predict that the trend of development of project management systems will be in their industry specialization that is already confirmed by the fact that for IT project management use some tools, for management of construction projects others more often, and for small projects the third. But how to be told will show time, the more tools, the competition is higher, so it is more convenient to the user.

Notes