What are the best project management tools?

The choice of a project management tool requires particular attention.

If they represent a real springboard for performance, choosing the wrong software for your business is a risk not to be neglected if you don't want to lose your investment.

 

Once your company's needs have been defined, it's time to take a look at the different types of project management software available on the market.

To help you, we present the different tool categories, as well as the best tools for each problem.

 

What are the 4 categories of project management tools?

Resource management software

Resource management software helps to allocate resources- in other words, people, technologies, budgets or investments.

By providing an overview of the project or portfolio of projects, these solutions enable resources to be allocated strategically.

 

Resource management involves analyzing available resources, skills and competencies, and allocating them as effectively as possible. Controlled coordination of resources is essential if project objectives are to be achieved, and budgets respected. This makes resource management particularly strategic. All the more so for cross-functional teams working on several projects at the same time.

 

Project portfolio management tools

Project portfolio management software gives you the big picture.

These tools provide a macro view through reporting and project management dashboard functionalities. In this way, they help to create an optimal combination to achieve the company's strategic and financial objectives. 

 

PPM tools have a number of functions: helping to assess the project pipeline, prioritizing projects according to urgency or importance, and ensuring that objectives are met for each project.

For this reason, portfolio management software is essential to enable the company to develop several projects simultaneously. 

 

Project financial management software 

Financial project management tools focus primarily on achieving budget targets.

These solutions enable you to analyze, control and anticipate, thanks to advanced reporting, report generation and forecasting functionalities.

 

What's more, some tools incorporate new technologies such as artificial intelligence to take simulations and forecasts even further. 

Project financial management software helps you make decisions and take corrective action. 

 

"Simple" project management tools

In this article, we define simple project management tools as those solutions dedicated essentially to project management, from a micro point of view.

With their generally simple interfaces and few advanced features, these tools enable tasks to be planned and tracked as efficiently as possible. This type of solution is particularly well-suited to small structures, freelancers or even personal use.  

 

Stafiz: the best project management tool

🏷️ Tags : Service company, resource management, PPM, FP&A, SMEs and SMBs

🗂️ Categories : resource management software, project portfolio management software, project financial management software

Features 

Stafiz is an all-in-one solution organized into 3 building blocks: resource planning management, project management and activity management.

On the project management side, the software includes the following functions: 

• tracking tasks and costs,
• forecast management (comparison of forecast vs. actual situation),
• real-time data visibility,
• alert system.

 

Stafiz offers additional resource planning and activity management functionalities: 

• load visibility,
• automated resource planning assignments,
• financial impact of planning changes,
• analysis of time spent.

 

Why choose Stafiz? 

Stafiz offers a solution for project and portfolio management, with comprehensive interactive dashboards.

Financial management is made easier thanks to a real-time vision, facilitating comparisons between actual and forecast. This study of project progress is used to calculate a realistic landing.

Its strength lies in its ability toanticipate and prevent risks.

 

Designed specifically to meet the needs and challenges of professional services companies, the tool is designed to adapt to your scalability.

Whether you're a small team or a large international group, our intuitive interface is easy to learn, and lets you control your projects from one view to another for greater flexibility.

👥 Users: VSEs, SMEs, large corporations, marketing agencies, consultancies, software publishers or integrators, architectural firms, IT Services and IT consultancies, training organization.

 

Planview: a solution for program management

🏷️ Tags : enterprise, PPM, resource management

🗂️ Categories : resource management software, project portfolio management software, project financial management software

Features

More than a project management tool, Planview is a task, project and product portfolio management software.

This tool offers the following features: 

• profit tracking,
• performance analysis,
• schedule for programs,
• visualization of dependencies,
• executive dashboards,
• financial forecasts,
• scenario planning,
• forecasting capacity requirements.

 

Why choose Planview?

Planview is a powerful software package for large companies. It is particularly effective for program and portfolio management.

What's more, its financial planning functions support executives in their decision-making. Planview helps to improve productivity in large structures.

 

However, it should be noted that implementation of this solution can be cumbersome, as can configuration for integration with other tools. 

 

Alternative

The Acuity PPM software offers a relevant alternative, less cumbersome in terms of implementation and familiarization.

 

Workday Adaptive Planning: amodule dedicated to planning

🏷️ Tags: resource management, FP&A, Enterprise, EPM

🗂️ Categories : resource management software, project portfolio management software, project financial management software

 

Features 

Workday Adaptive Planning is an EPM(Enterprise Performance Management) software package.

It is part of the Workday software suite, made up of several bricks organized into a dozen products: Finance, HR, Planning, ERP, and Operations for Industries.

 

The Workday Adaptive Planning solution offers the following functionalities: 

• budget planning,
• workforce planning,
• operations planning,
• modeling, reporting, analytics,
• simulation scenarios.

 

Why choose Workday Adaptive Planning? 

Workday Adaptive Planning puts planning at the heart of the product. It's all part of a complete structure with many other functionalities, accessible in the Cloud.

Relatively costly and cumbersome to set up, this planning-based project management software is aimed at mature companies. Indeed, it can take some time to get to grips with and implement.

 

Alternatives 

Other planning tools are proving to be credible alternatives to Workday Adaptive Planning. 

 

Anaplan offers a platform organized by function: finance, sales and marketing, supply chain, HR and workforce.

She specializes in financial markets, consumer goods, manufacturing, technology industries, media and telecommunications.

 

Adobe Workfront is part of the Adobe suite. This workflow solution focuses on 3 main functions: marketing, IT, project management and services.

 

Smartsheet: an all-industry work management platform

🏷️ Tags : all sectors, task management, resource management

🗂️ Categories : simple project management software, project portfolio management software

Features 

Smartsheet is a work management platform offering the following functionalities:

• workflow automation,
• dashboards,
• reports,
• workload monitoring,
• portfolio management,
• workflows.

 

Why choose Smartsheet? 

Smartsheet is designed for small and medium-sized businesses as well as large enterprises. 

This software enables project management and project portfolio management.

With its focus on collaboration, it enables high reactivity thanks to real-time visualizations.

Smartsheet is ideal for the public sector, construction, financial services, healthcare and higher education. 

 

As this tool focuses on project management, it does not allow for in-depth financial management.

However, two complementary products in the suite complement the basic functions: the digital resources management module and the human resources management module. 

 

Alternative 

The Basecamp project management tool is an alternative to Smartsheet.

This project management software focuses solely on project management: "not everything under the sun, just the stuff to get it done".

 

A simple task-tracking tool: Trello

🏷️ Tags : VSE/SME, task management

🗂️ Categories : simple project management software

Features 

Trello is a project task management tool organized in columns and cards, inspired by the Kanban model.

It tracks tasks and offers the following functions:

• member and date assignment,
• automations,
• kanban view,
• models.

 

Why choose Trello? 

Trello is a simple, intuitive and collaborative tool.

Organized in table form, this software doesn't offer any advanced features. In fact, with this task tracking software, there's no calendar view, limited reporting, no interdependency management... but it's easy to get to grips with.

 

As a result, it's perfectly suited to the management of less complex projects, for small teams, freelancers, and even for personal management of everyday tasks.

 

Alternative

An alternative to Trello might be Notion, also focused on project management. However, Notion works more like an interactive, collaborative notebook and offers more features.

 

 

Monday.com and its dedicated project management module

🏷️ Tags: Task management

🗂️ Categories : resource management software, project portfolio management software

 

Features

Monday.com is a tool organized into several bricks to handle work management, CRM and development.

 

The work management solution offers the following functions: 

• task management,
• resource management,
• portfolio management,
• views,
• dashboards,
• automations,
• work processes.

 

Why choose Monday.com?

Like Trello or Notion, Monday.com is a widespread tool, especially in the startup world. As a result, documentation is extensive and resources are plentiful. 

Monday.com is suitable for both small and large teams. This multi-sector project management tool is comprehensive and easy to use. 

 

However, it does take some time to get to grips with, and its relatively high price tag means it's best suited to companies with large budgets. 

 

Alternatives

Airtable and Liquiplanner are relevant alternatives to Monday.com.

Airtable functions as an interactive database facilitating collaboration. Liquidplanner is a project management tool focused on risk management.

 

Oracle Primavera, software designed for program management

🏷️ Tags: FP&A, capacity planning

🗂️ Categories : resource management software, project portfolio management software

Features

Oracle Primavera is one of Oracle's planning solutions. It enables resource management and offers the following functionalities:

• program planning,
• modular views,
• reporting and alerts.

 

Why choose Oracle Primavera?

Like Planview or Workday Adaptive Planning, Oracle Primavera is a planning tool designed for large organizations.

This project management software enables you to prioritize, plan, manage and execute projects, project portfolios and programs. 

As a result, this solution is designed for large projects requiring advanced project management and detailed financial tracking.

 

Expensive and difficult to get to grips with, it is aimed at complex industries such as construction, energy, aeronautics and transport. 

 

Alternative

Microsoft Project is an easy-to-use alternative to Oracle Primavera, integrated into the Microsoft tool suite.

 

A task management tool: Asana

🏷️ Tags: Task management

🗂️ Categories : resource management software, project portfolio management software

Features

Asana is a project tool offering the following functionalities:

• resource management,
• objectives and reports,
• project views: tables, list, calendar, Gantt chart,
• dashboards,
• automations,
• multi-project tasks,
• centralized communication.

 

Why choose Asana?

Intuitive and flexible, Asana is an easy-to-use project management software. It facilitates team coordination and easy task tracking.

Like Trello, it is aimed more at small, agile teams requiring a high degree of flexibility. 

 

What's more, it's one of the most widely used software packages, such as Trello, Monday.com, Notion or Airtable, and therefore benefits from extensive documentation. 

 

Alternatives

Wrike and ClickUp are interesting alternatives.

Wrike facilitates project management, especially in an agile context.

ClickUp offers a complete interface for project management, product development, documentation and resource management.

 

Comprehensive project management software: Zoho Projects

🏷️ Tags : Project management

🗂️ Categories : resource management software, project portfolio management software

 

Features

Zoho Projects is a task management software with the following features:

• portfolio dashboard,
• task automation,
• task views,
• time tracking,
• graphics and reports,
• task workflows,
• dependencies and recurrences,
• reminders.

 

Why choose Zoho Projects? 

Zoho Projects is part of a complete project management solution. This project management software offers powerful collaboration features and can be adapted to any company size. 

Its interface can be complex and less easy to get to grips with than other tools like Asana, which is much more widespread and therefore better documented.

 

Alternative

Freshworks is a relevant alternative to Zoho Projects. A complete suite integrating customer service, IT service management and CRM, Freshworks is based on generative AI.

 

Choosing the right project management tool is a major undertaking. Carefully consider your organization's needs and your budget.

Indeed, the more features the software offers, the higher the cost and the longer the learning curve. 

 

While opting for the most comprehensive software may seem tempting, it can actually be counter-productive. You need to consider not only the time it will take to implement the tool, which may sometimes require the involvement of partners, but also the time it will take for your teams to adopt it. 

We recommend clarifying your company's expectations, testing solutions with free versions and, above all, involving your teams to facilitate adoption.