Finding the Right Project Management Tool When You’re Spoiled for Choice

I was involved in helping an itgroove client with choosing the best project management tool to help manage the growing list of projects in their portfolio. The Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society owns and operates a Victorian era bonanza castle, a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike. At the time, they were overwhelmed with options – and wanted to bring in a trusted advisor to help them make an informed choice. From the list of robust, industry-standard software options used for building a fleet of ships down to the lightweight, standalone web-based and mobile apps for planning staff parties, they were spoiled for choice.

Leader of the Pack

The clear leader of the pack was Microsoft Project with the largest customer and user base, and positive reviews amongst certified Project Management Professionals. However, even with registered charity pricing which allows not-for-profits like the Castle to access cloud-based enterprise software (including Microsoft Project Online) as a service and at a significant discount, the per user subscription still carried a big-ticket price tag.

You see, Microsoft Project Online is bursting with features, which translates to big value for those that need the advanced functionality. However, for many organizations that are looking for the basic elements of project management, the interface is jam-packed with buttons, making the experience overwhelming and difficult for the average end-user. The cost of training staff makes Project Online an expensive investment for a small organization, and drops it from the list of viable contenders.

Know What You Want

Knowing what you want makes this decision easier. The Castle wanted to avoid creating another silo that was separate from their current Microsoft Cloud platform. This eliminated dozens of options and narrowed the list down to only include tools available to them within Microsoft Office 365. Their shortlist included SharePoint Project site, Outlook Groups, Microsoft Planner, Wunderlist, OneNote, or Outlook tasks. (At the time of this project, Microsoft To-Do and Microsoft Teams weren’t available yet.)

Curious what they chose to do?

Read the Craigdarroch Castle’s Client Success Story to discover what they chose to do: “Integrating Business Tools to Bring the Big Picture to Collaborative Project Planning”.

Learn More…

• Watch a walk-through Video of the Project Registry in the itgroove Gallery.
• Check out the itgroove April 2017 video Newsletter to see Screenshots from the Project.