What are the Different Project Management Software Types

Summary: Understand different project management software types, along with their unique functionalities and limitations. Identify and implement the one that best suits your project, teams, and organization’s requirements.

Manual project management only results in unsuccessful projects with delayed timelines, duplication of tasks, mismanagement of resources, and a lot of unwanted paperwork.

All this can be easily eliminated by using the right project management software that is best suited for your business. So, no matter if you are a solopreneur or an enterprise owner, there are different project management software types for you.

You can opt for individual or collaborative project management software that is cloud based or on-premises. Further, you can choose between free project management software and premium versions depending on your budget and project complexity.

Let’s understand what’s unique about every type of project management software and if it is suitable for you or not.

What Is Project Management Software?

What are the Different Project Management Software Types

Project management software allows businesses to manage project scheduling, planning, and budgeting. Its main purpose is to track project-related tasks and facilitate real-time collaboration between employees. Users can easily assign tasks, mention their peers, upload & share documents, add links, and do a lot more using the software.

In addition to this, project management software helps leaders estimate the project timeline along with making accurate cost assumptions. Moreover, users can also track the time spent on a project and its individual tasks.

Statistics About Using a Project Management Software that You Can’t Miss

– Companies often waste 12% of their resources because of bad project management which can be minimized with a software
– Even now, 54% of companies don’t have access to project KPIs in real-time
– Somewhere about 36% of organizations spend one or even two days every year collating project-related reports manually
– About 61% of organizations have started providing project management training
– 77% of projects that are high performing are managed through project management software

Different Project Management Software Types

Project management software helps freelancers, small businesses, and even large enterprises manage their tasks, timelines, resources, and more while ensuring successful project deliveries. However, you might not find a one-size-fit-all solution for your specific projects.

That’s where you need to make a well-informed choice and select project management, best solution from different project management software options available in the market. Let’s understand what’s unique about the different types of project management software.

Individual Project Management Software

This is one of the best project management software types that is typically used by one user, generally a project manager. This software could be in the form of a stand-alone application or even a spreadsheet.

This software type helps individuals create their own to-do task lists, and track and close them. This makes them more organized and allows them to keep a tab on the status of ongoing tasks and time.

Collaborative Project Management Software

The collaborative project management software focuses on improving collaboration among team members. It facilitates communication through various mediums with project managers, teammates and other stakeholders.

The software helps project managers to plan, schedule, and execute projects with seamless collaboration. You can also assign work to the team members, track project progress, and analyse productivity.

Integrated Project Management Software

Integrated project management software is a good choice for businesses that are simultaneously working on multiple projects. This project management software works on a dashboard-style interface where all the team members can access and work on the same projects, using a permission-based login.

Along with this, the integrated project management solution also comes with functionalities like time tracking, portfolio management, in-app scheduling, messaging, and more. In fact, project managers can also define task dependencies and timelines using this project management software type for better coordination.

Desktop Project Management Software

Project management software is a single-user application that runs on the desktop of an individual, who can be a project manager or a subject matter expert. However, it is not a good choice when multiple users or teams are working on the same project.

It is usually a single user system where only one person can edit a project plan at a time. This type of project management software is usually preferred by small businesses where a limited number of people are involved in project planning.

Web-Based Project Management Software

Web-based project management software overcomes the limitations of desktop project management software as it allows multiple users to collaborate in real time and work together on projects. This works great for organizations that work on distributed projects across multiple departments.

In addition to this, web-based project management software is great for teams that work remotely. This project management software type will help them get real-time information regarding any changes, modifications, or updates on a project.

Cloud-Based Project Management Software

Cloud-based project management software makes accessibility to data fast and easy. They can simply access the project management platform through an application and manage their projects on the go. Moreover, cloud-based software also offers additional benefits like customization options.

Free Project Management Software

Free project management software comes with the basic functionalities of a project management tool. These may include task management, defining project timelines, assigning tasks, creating a customized workflow, etc.

These project management software types are best for freelancers and even small businesses that simply want to try out the project management tool. While some project management software are free forever, others are available as the starter plan with limited features.

Industry-Specific Project Management Software

A standard project management tool might not completely fulfil the requirements of every industry. So, if you are looking for project management software with greater customization options, this project management software type is your go-to option.

Organizations can choose industry-specific project management solutions to suit their needs, like project management software for construction, architects, accounting firms, non-profit organizations, and more.

Conclusion

Project management software enables businesses to manage and track their tasks on a centralized platform. It helps in increasing inter and intra-team coordination across departments, resulting in timely project deliveries.

However, it is equally important for managers to select the right PMS functions from different project management software types that best suits their business. For instance, solopreneurs can go for an individual project management software, where a single user can manage all their tasks.

However, if you work in a team, you can choose to implement a collaborative PMS. In addition to this, if you are just getting started with using a PMS tool, you can start by implementing a free project management software.