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Software Project Management tools: A Comparative Analysis
Mrs. Sonali Nemade Pad.Dr.D.Y.Patil A.C.S. College, Pimpri (India)
Mrs. Madhuri.A. Darekar Pad.Dr.D.Y.Patil
A.C.S. College, Pimpri (India)
Mrs. Jyoti Bachhav Pad.Dr.D.Y.Patil A.C.S. College, Pimpri (India)
[email protected] ABSTRACT:
In industrial sectors, project management has essential element in successful delivery of project. Software project management tools can be applied to improve the probability of meeting the project goal. This paper discusses the different software project management tools and comparative study and analysis.
A short review of tools and by the comparison between different toolsit providesus with the tool which are best suited for a given projectsituation. While this review is not extensive, it does provide a distinction in whichtools are best suited for supporting a certain size project.
Keywords: Software project management tools, Project Management, PM, SDLC. Introduction
Project Management is the process and activity of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals in daily problems. Software project management is the art and science of planning and leading software projects. It is a sub-discipline of project management in which software projects are planned, implemented, monitored and controlled.Project management software is software used for project planning, scheduling, resource allocation and change management. It allows project managers (PMs), stakeholders and users to control costs and manage budgeting, quality management and documentation and also may be used as an administration system. Project management software is also used for collaboration and communication between project stakeholders.Software is said to be an intangible product. Software development is a kind of all new streams in world business and there’s very little experience in building software products. Most software products are tailor made to fit client’s requirements. The most important is that the underlying technology changes and advances so frequently and rapidly that experience of one product may not be applied to the other one. All such business and environmental constraints bring risk in software development hence it is essential to manage software projects efficient.
INCON – X 2015 213 Fig: Software Project Management Process
Software Project Manager
A software project manager is a person who undertakes the responsibility of executing the software project. Software project manager is thoroughly aware of all the phases of SDLC that the software would go through. Project manager may never directly involve in producing the end product but he controls and manages the activities involved in production.
Let us see few responsibilities that a project manager shoulders – 1) Managing People
• Act as project leader
• Lesion with stakeholders
• Managing human resources
• Setting up reporting hierarchy etc. 2) Managing Project
• Defining and setting up project scope
• Managing project management activities
• Monitoring progress and performance
• Risk analysis at every phase
• Take necessary step to avoid or come out of problems
• Act as project spokesperson
We analyzed a set of project management software tools .Then we compare these tools by using a set of criteria. These tools are mainly used in planning ,monitoring and controlling project.
Software project management tools: 1. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-easy online project management tool with an unlimited number of FREE collaborators. Power your team with automated reminders, attachments, Gantt charts, and a mobile app.
• Automate workflow with notifications & reminders
• Google Apps integration - Drive, Calendar & Gmail
INCON – X 2015 214 Features of Smartsheet :
a) Autofill formulas
b) To create web form with spread sheet c) Roll up several sheet into master sheet
d) Using spreadsheet interactive Gantt chart capabilities e) Sharing your sheet makes it easy to collaborate f) View and work with dates from your sheet 2. LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is a powerful project management tool to any digital agency, and will help you and your team stay on top of a wide range of projects. Most importantly, using LP helps you keep your clients happy and your team engaged in their work. LiquidPlanner is unique because it helps every level of the organization meet the demands of projects
Features of LiquidPlanner: a) Priority Based Scheduling
b) Advanced Timesheet
c) Mange team resource Accurately.
3. Apollo:
Apollo is a web-based project-management and customer relationship management (CRM) software application developed by Applicom. Apollo was launched as public beta in 2010; it was formally released (out of beta) on the 11th of April 2011.
Features of Apollo: a) Create To-do list b) Notes on contact c) Task on contact 4. RedBooth
RedBooth is same as a TeamBox. Teambox is an online collaboration web application tool for team productivity. While the objective of this web application is for team productivity and online project management, the features built in to this application can be used for student group projects because the basic element of industry projects and student academic projects are the same; that is projects are temporary with start and end dates and a unique product is created, be it a service or result.
Features of RedBooth: a) Task Mangement b) Status Update
c) File and content management d) Integration with other system e) Time tracking
INCON – X 2015 215 f) HD video conferencing
5. SwiftKarban:
SwiftKanban is a visual project management tool based on the Kanban Method. SwiftKanban helps software or IT organizations or any other business functions like HR, sales, marketing, procurement, legal, construction, insurance to adopt Agile/Lean principles to manage their work. It assists organization both during the early Kanban adoption phase and also during the phase of scaling when distributed teams need to be engaged and availability of metrics becomes critical for continuous improvement.
Features of swiftkarban:
a) Visual Management of work using Kanban Board b) Process definition ease
c) Collaboration
d) Reports and Dashboards e) Integration
f) Mobile Access 6. web2project:
web2project is a web-based, multi-user, multi-language Project Management application. It is an open-source software and free for any uses and is maintained by an open community of volunteer programmers. web2project, as collaborative software, allows for real-time interaction between task assignees and updates for stakeholders.
Features of web2project: a) Projects and Tasks
b) Contact Manager with vCard support c) Resource / Asset Manager
d) Gantt charts, Export via PDF or simple JPEG images
e) Calendar with User-based Timezones, Syndication via iCalendar (supports Outlook, Thunderbird, Google Calendar, etc.)
f) Reporting
g) Project file manager h) Related Weblinks Manager i) Forums
7. Basecamp:
Basecamp is nearly synonymous with the term project management, and one could argue they invented the space for the Web. They know their customers and prospects incredibly well—just about everything you might ask is stated on the homepage, above the fold. Pricing, length of trial, a list of features, and best of all, a question to you: “Which best describes how
INCON – X 2015 216 you work with other people?” The three answers you can choose from describe a problem almost all of us face, and by clicking one of the answer boxes you get some pain relief. Features of Basecamp: a) Project organization b) Email integration c) To-do lists d) Group discussions e) File upload f) Task creation General Analysis
Software Web Based Hosted on
primisses
Programming Language
Apollo Yes No Unknown
BaseCamp Yes No Ruby
SmartSheet Yes Unknown Java
swiftkarban Yes Yes Java
RedBooth Yes Yes Ruby on Rails
TestTrack Yes Yes C++
Web2Project Yes Unknown PHP
Feature Comparison and Analysis Software Collab rative Softwa re Issu e Trac king Syst em Sched uling Projec t Portfo lio Mana gemen t Resou rce Mana gemen t Docum ent Manag ement Wor kflow syste m Repor ting and Analy sis Apollo Un known Yes Un known Un known Un known Un known Un know n Un known
BaseCamp Yes No No No Yes Yes No No
SmartShee t
Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes
Swiftkarb an Yes Unkn own Unkno wn Unkno wn Unkno wn Unkno wn Yes No
RedBooth Yes No Unkno
wn
Yes Yes Yes No No
TestTrack Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes
INCON – X 2015 217 ect
Conclusion :
While the number of Project Management Software Tools (PMSTs) is increasing, managers must choose a suitable tool for their projects. In this study, we have chosen a set ofProject management tools and analysedthem. We further identified criteria that can be used to compare the chosen tools and other tools in the market.
This study enables project managers and team members to get a quick understanding of the tools subject to our study and to assess the strengths and weaknesses ofthem. In this study, project managers and project team members specify how they should choose PMSTs. In addition, we would like to identify their needs in a project management software tool. The identification of these needs will help tool developers. In this paper we study development of a framework for PMSTs. With this framework, we will able to categorize the tools and further enhance our understanding of how these tools are actually used.
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6. http://softwaresuccess.org/SERP10_Demir_Comparison_PM_Tools.pdf *****
