Best Project Portfolio Management Software Buyers Guide

Project Portfolio Management Software Review

Pro WorkFlow

Pro WorkFlow has been a great practice. Their online chat and help assistance always helps when users get stuck trying to update something or do something specific in a report. The customers have found it very easy to use, which is a massive plus for the users as they deal with hundreds of customers a month and multiple clients per project. The ability to be the administrator and see everything for messaging, time reporting, time auditing, etc., have also been an excellent tool for their business and the team.

Pros: The ease of functionality of this software makes it likeable. Users can toggle between the work and the users and categorize projects, tasks, etc. The archive function is impressive and very easy to use. The ability to communicate between customers and staff with the software is very smooth as well. Also, the power of customers to respond directly in the email inbox was a game-changer. In a world where everyone has a million sites and passwords to remember, they don’t necessarily have to remember this to do business with us. 

Cons: It’s a bit hard to operate to particular projects, and the view is a lot diverse than the website, so it’s hard to interact with clients where they require to go.

Jira

It is highly recommended for a bug tracking tool and mainly for Agile software teams. It does make a difference in team collaboration, Agile methodology adoption, decreased time to market new projects/new features, and the overall teams’ spirit. A wide adoption for the various departments as well, non-software development is recommended.

Pros: Users have used it in several bug tracking activities due to its user-friendly interface. It provides an excellent user experience – Agile SCRUM/Kanban support out of the box – extendable through custom scripting built-in or via add-ons – extremely configurable on almost everything – very collaborative – there are hundreds of add-ons in the marketplace. 

Cons: The learning curve for admins is a little steep, being so flexible to be configured. The value is based on the number of users, and if they experience wide user adoption in a big company, users end up paying more for upgrading to the next tier than if they would pay for that tier the first time.

Smartsheet

 It is so easy to use. The developers create training for the software and consistently reach out to the organization to see whether there is a requirement for additional training. User can do multiple types of documentation within Smartsheet. It is effortless to create. This software has allowed users to eliminate various software in strictly utilizing the software alone, extremely impressive!

Pros: Users can create forms, and that they have pre-determined templates that allow them to build out all kinds of documents. They can keep a checklist, and they have rules that they can create to email directly from the actual software. Users have created a complete document tracking system within Smartsheet with ease!

Cons: Honestly, there is nothing that can be termed as a complaint with the software, which is entirely exceptional. It will definitely replace many programs.

Project Portfolio Management Software

Project portfolio management software supports businesses conduct risk analysis, budgeting, and reserve allocation for project acquisitions of all dimensions. It automates the means of accumulating data from recurring projects, interpreting the collected information, and using individual results to streamline project preparation, achievement, and performance across portfolios.

The software allows organizations a high-level summary of project progress and prioritization. It benefits:

• Identify latent returns on various projects
• Promote seamless project presentation and collaboration
• Implement a comprehensive picture of the rank and profitability of numerous projects in a portfolio

Advantages of Project Portfolio Management Software

Here’s a list of the various advantages granted by project portfolio management software:

• Balanced resource allocation beyond portfolios: The software extends the resource tracking characteristic, which implements a real-time view of how many affiliates are working on project responsibilities and how many are ready. This permits project managers to maintain optimal resource capacity by adjusting resource allocation for short-term and long-term schemes across portfolios.
• Enhanced decision-making: The software maintains envision project progress, so you can better plan timelines, resource and workload allocation, budgeting, etc. It also promotes the appropriate review of project performance, which lets you distinguish noncontributing schemes in advance. This guarantees the project decisions you make are straightened with company intentions.
• Improved project success rate: While planning project delivery timelines, the software considers factors like resource capacity, estimated costs, expected turnaround time, and technical requirements. It decreases the chances of project failure and assists deliver projects on time.

Features of Project Portfolio Management Software

• Portfolio management: Create risk-return plan profiles, investigate potential returns, and guarantee all designs in a portfolio are aligned with enterprise aims.
• Resource management: Designate resources to project collections based on skill conditions and availability.
• Risk management: Identity, appraise, mitigate, and report on the risks associated, including project performance.
• Task management: Design project businesses, assign them to team members, and pursue their completion situation.
• Project planning: Create a project design to organize and catalogue tasks, set project aims, allocate sources, and manage subordinates and workload.
• Budgeting: Plan, designate, forecast, and rearrange funds based on the requirements of multiple plans in a portfolio.
• Dashboard: Trace and visualize the advancement of projects against measures such as outline budget, timeline, and discoveries.

Price of Project Portfolio Management Software

Most products in this market are priced on a “per user, per month” basis. Pricing can be divided into three tiers based on the starting price. A premium product is priced higher may have additional features like advanced analytics, proofing and approvals, and timesheets.

Considerations while Buying Project Portfolio Management Software

• Scalability: When choosing a project portfolio management tool, take into account current as well as future project requirements, i.e., the number of departments and users the software is demanded to help not only now but also in the future. Software scalability will allow you to provide team expansions or stakeholders’ addition without further advances in a software upgrade.
• Collaboration and communication requirements: The project portfolio management software you choose should provide members from various teams to communicate with one another and engage in discussions. It should also facilitate external stakeholders to participate in the conversations if needed. 
• Mobile accessibility: Indicate if the software you intend to purchase allows mobile apps for iOS and Android gadgets, like smartphones and tablets. A mobile app will permit you to manage project portfolios, record tasks, and shuffle resources, even while you’re on the go.

Project Portfolio Management Software Trends

• Cloud-based project portfolio management resolutions observe rapid maturity: Businesses are frequently adopting cloud-based project portfolio management solutions due to advantages such as a more significant scalability level, lower cost of implementation, according to of infrastructure among multiple users, and continuous improvement. These benefits are expected further to drive the completion of cloud-based solutions across enterprise verticals.