MBA642 Project Initiation, Planning & Execution: Software Evaluation

This presentation evaluates five project management software options: Smartsheet, Celoxis, GanttPRO, TeamGantt, and MS Project, assessing their benefits and shortcomings. It explains how each software addresses the requirements of project initiation, planning, and execution stages. The evaluation includes the use of screenshots to illustrate the features and functionalities of each software, offering insights into their capabilities in supporting project performance and compliance with quality standards. The presentation focuses on the practical application of these tools, providing a comparative analysis to aid in selecting the most suitable software for various project management needs. It highlights features such as project scheduling, resource management, progress tracking, and team collaboration, with a focus on how these tools can enhance efficiency and streamline project workflows. The analysis includes a discussion on the software's user-friendliness, customization options, and integration capabilities, making it a valuable resource for project managers and students alike.

Project management is a process of initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing a
team's work to accomplish ambitious goals and meet certain criteria for success at the
given time. The project management's primary challenge is to meet all the project objectives
within the specified constraints.
A project is the temporary undertaking designed for producing the unique product, function or
result with the predetermined beginning and end dedicated to achieving particular objectives and
targets, primarily for bringing about the beneficial change or the added value and the project
management tools are very helpful to support an entity or team coordinate work effectively and
to handle the projects and tasks (Binder 2016).

Project management is an activity that are particularly important in corporate organizations.
Project management is utilized for many types of the projects
To effectively implement a project, a set of tools will help the project manager or the team
of project management (Meredith, Mantel Jr and Shafer 2017). Such techniques can be designed
specifically software or daily productivity tools which can be used for project management
function. Using such methods typically makes it easy for the team leaders to work and
standardizing a project manager's job and schedule. Smartsheet, Celoxis, GanttPRO, Team Gantt
and MS Project are some of the project management tools, which can be used by managers of the
project in all domains:

Smartsheet is a project execution tool with a common spreadsheet-like interface which lets
the teams schedule, monitor and manage projects in the real time (Kirilov 2016). The interactive
framework provides a variety of project management resources, including paper and resource
management, progress analysis, and schedule monitoring.
Smartsheet helps in standardizing the project cycle, maximize the speed and boost teamwork
with solutions that suit the job needs of the employee. Monitor programs, control personnel and
delegate activities to enhance the overall performance and productivity of the project.
The benefit of using the tool can be this tools helps to view assignments and submit e-mails
about automation. The tool can be configured to reveal project schedules, and who is accountable
for what.

To support them prepare and handle complex and varied project sets, Celoxis provides a robust
integrated project management system for midsize to large companies. The integrated software
provides tools for resource management, budgeting, estimating sales, schedule and
budget tracking, posting, and cooperation with teams.
Celoxis provides features including the advanced scheduling that incorporates real-world
conditions along with multi-time zone, time off resource, work weekends and part-time
resources etc. into one plan (Oliveira, Tereso and Machado 2014). Users will automatically send
files as the attachment to the group of users and roll up data as well that is collected from
specific fields to the sub-tasks to overview tasks and programs.

GanttPRO is the cloud-based solution for project management for small to medium-sized
enterprises and individual users alike. The software features Gantt maps, routing, monitoring
progress and more. GanttPRO helps administrators to plan tasks using the visual interface. Users
will reschedule several project assignments instantly along with the drag-and-drop features of
GanttPro (Mohan and Greer 2018). As well, users to create new tasks, delegate them to project
team members, track progress, establish task priorities and goals, and chart essential pathways.
GanttPro can handle every intraday hour, rendering it an excellent flexible resource for groups
working under Agile rules. The lifespan line shows the cycle underway and it is appropriate for
the team members to have different access profile rates, enabling, even, to make the data
accessible for review without dealing with administrative enterprise level errors.

TeamGantt is the project planning and Gantt chart system developed in the cloud for small, mid-
sized and large enterprises. This provides collaboration support for the mission, such as shared
Gantt charts, file sharing time, tracking and connectivity capabilities at the project stage (Seabra
and Almeida 2015). Gantt charts from TeamGantt feature the drag-and-drop option which allows
the users for building activities by dragging the calendar over the dates. Users could see what
increasing team member is focusing on, and how many roles each team member is performing on
a daily basis.
Some of the benefit of using the tools are this is very user friendly, flexible and customizable as
per requirement.

Microsoft Project is the project management system targeted to organizations of all sizes. This
feature of project management allows the project managers to identify project activities, delegate
them to project team and monitor projects in progress. Microsoft Project often involves project
budgeting that lets administrators estimate the value of the project for the entire period
(Desmond 2017). Managers can also run the analysis and measure their project cost efficiency.
The app offers models built in, preparation resources, and device-wide connectivity to boost the
efficiency for project managers. Project is simple to use and can be quickly picked up. The
fundamentals are simple to use and appreciate, but how many apps and functions this app
provides beyond traditional project management is incredible. Visualization applications are
extremely useful for predictive gantt chart and network diagrams.