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Adopt Project Management Software

23 January 2009

Adopt Project Management Software

Software for project management is often part of the project management information system (PMIS). A PMIS is the set of tools, software, databases, and knowledge bases that receive, store, and present project management information.

This page shows how to prepare the Software Execution Plan. The next two pages do the same for the Database Execution Plan and Knowledge Base Execution Plan. When the work described on these three pages is complete, the PMO team has defined its PMIS. The PMIS may include more than one software application. It is best to have one software application for each function, but project management may involve several functions, and therefore call for the adoption of several software packages. The three most common packages are project management scheduling tools, complete project management life cycle solutions, and executive dashboards.

n	Project management scheduling tools allow for the entry of tasks, activities, and milestones, and then automatically calculate and adjust the schedule. They are often called project management applications, but this overstates their capability. The most common project management scheduling tool is Microsoft Project®.
n	Complete project management software solutions provide tools for planning, scheduling, document management, and more. They typically cost a great deal more than the simpler scheduling tools. They require extensive configuration, and sometimes customization.
n	Executive dashboards display summary status information from one project or aggregated from a program or portfolio. The primary display is visual, using dials and colors, similar to the dashboard of a car. They are useful for communications to executives, customers, and other non-technical stakeholders.

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