Posts Tagged ‘people’

Spreadsheets are the king of project management support tools because they are the most convenient tool to use and the most frequently used tool. How do they compare to project management software? What are the benefits of each and when should you make the switch to project management software? While only you can make the determination as to when you should make the switch, this article will walk through the benefits of each and provide some guidelines.

Depending on which research you rely on, the market for project management software is between $1.5 billion and $3.5 billion. That is for software that is specifically designed to support project management. Most organizations that have made significant efforts towards effective project management have recognized that it is very difficult to manage a greater number of projects and people, or a larger project, without the support of technology.

Yet there is no tool for project management that is more popular or widespread than the spreadsheet, despite the fact that spreadsheets are not designed to be project support tools. Even in organizations with an established project management tool, spreadsheets are used. There are obvious reasons for this. A spreadsheet program is on almost every computer in every organization, people are familiar with spreadsheets and how to use them, and people are pre-disposed to use these “office” types of software tools to solve problems. And I am right there with them. I love using spreadsheets to track all kinds of data. It is easy, convenient, and I admit ego-boosting to show off what I can do in a spreadsheet.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the differences between these two different types of tools. For the purposes of this article, I selected six criteria by which to make the comparison. These were selected from the feedback of customers and prospects as well as learning what is important for the successful adoption and implementation of project tools within an organization.

Data Mining

Data mining is a huge part of project management tools. The whole reason for having a tool is to collect data, so that you can look intelligently at that data, make sure your processes are performing as advertised, and make good decisions. You need to know which projects and tasks are slipping through the cracks so that you again react. You need to know when you will not have enough resources to meet demand so that you can allocate them properly or manage the demand. You need to know which issues are lurking so that you can address them now before you lose the favor of a critical customer. And you need to see how your processes are working so that you can continuously improve your processes.

In today’s economy, competitive landscape, and accountability standards you must have the data. Managers are getting blindsided because they do not know what is coming and what is going on. This is where the right project management software tool shines and spreadsheets fade. A good project management tool will be database-oriented and should allow for different types of ad hoc reporting across multiple projects. This enables the mining of all kinds of data. You simply cannot do this in a spreadsheet at the same level. If you really, really know what you are doing it is possible to tie spreadsheets together and generate some integrated data. But that is not the same thing. You simply cannot, on a whim, mine into the data represented in your multiple spreadsheets. And in today’s environment, this is critically important. Gone are the days when not having the right data is acceptable.

Advantage: Project Management Software

Ease of Use

There are project management software systems that are easy to use. However, spreadsheets clearly have an advantage here. Most people are familiar with how to use spreadsheets; they are comfortable with them, and even like using them. A big reason is because spreadsheets have no structure. People are not usually “forced” into how to use them. They are free to use them however they want. Of course, there is a downside to this. It is very difficult to standardize a process or have any sort of standard data structure when there is no structure in the tool itself. However, from a strict ease of use standpoint, spreadsheets cannot be beat.

You can counter this in project management software by employing good, relevant, and periodic training, keeping your implementation simple, and using helps such as templates. But we’ll give the advantage of this one to spreadsheets.

Advantage: Spreadsheets

Centralized Access

One of the things that organizations are doing today to become more competitive and more efficient is to provide everyone access to the project information that they need. Marketing organizations are putting all of the information online about each client project. Engineering organizations are tracking all schedules and immediately identifying problems. Government agencies are putting all of the various required data online with their projects. And on it goes. The value of immediate access to information is profound. An engineer can look at one system and immediately find the specifications he needs. A client manager can track the status of his client’s projects and identify issues early. A professional services manager can look up the contract information and scope of work for a key project before answering a question.

Productivity means yielding results, bringing things about, or making things happen. This type of centralized access enables those on the front lines of yielding results to know which action to take when.

Project management software, especially online project management software, wins this one hands down. Spreadsheets are not designed for access by multiple people from multiple locations. They are designed with a single file / single user scenario in mind.

Advantage: Project Management Software

Maintenance and Administration

Time and again, I talk with organizations that are spending an amazing amount of time maintaining spreadsheets. There is so much time spent on activities attributable to spreadsheet usage:

• Tracking down the right spreadsheet
• Tracking down the right version of the right spreadsheet
• Tracking down the email with the right version of the right spreadsheet
• Emailing out the right spreadsheet to the people that don’t have it
• Tracking down the people who have the information that is needed to update the spreadsheet
• Actually updating the spreadsheet
• Maintaining the formulas and formatting of the spreadsheet
• Updating the standard format of all the spreadsheets to accommodate a “process enhancement”
• Creating new spreadsheets

And the list goes on. The point is that while any tool will take time to maintain, spreadsheets take an inordinate amount of time because they are single-user focused. Only one person can update them at a time. They also take time because they are file-based, meaning that you have to maintain separate files. Unless an organization is really good with a process to manage these files (the exception not the rule), the files tend to be stored in a hodgepodge of locations with non-standardized file names and even non-standardized layouts. If you take the time to study the amount of time people take to maintain these spreadsheets, you will be amazed.

On the flip-side, project management software also takes time to maintain. I cannot say otherwise. It takes time to make sure the data is correct in the system, that processes are being followed properly, and to simply get information in the system. One of the flip sides of this is that many project management software systems enable the entry of information by everyone so that one person does not have to both find and enter the information. In this scenario, the maintenance is more truly maintenance than continual, non-stop data entry.

There are some ways to minimize the amount of maintenance and time spent on project management software systems, and these are focused on the initial setup. If you setup the system well, the maintenance time is reduced. Using items such as templates and pre-setup reports really help to minimize the amount of time spent in the tool.

While both types of tools require time, a well setup project management software system definitely has the edge over spreadsheets.

Advantage: Project Management Software

Flexibility

Flexibility in this context refers to the ability of the tool to adapt to your processes. In practicality, this refers to things such as being able to track any type of data peculiar to your company (i.e. adding fields), or implementing a new project template.

This is a harder attribute to measure, especially with the variation in project management software tools. Many tools are very rigid, meaning what you see is what you get. Some tools have become more flexible and allow a great deal of adaptability – such as being able to adapt screens and data structures. This has become increasingly important.

It is difficult to perform a direct comparison because it really depends on the project management software system that you are evaluating, but in reality many systems will not be as flexible as a spreadsheet. In a spreadsheet, you can create a new column or row on a whim or create a brand new spreadsheet to track new information. Obviously there is a downside to this flexibility, specifically the difficulty in standardizing a process. However, from a strict look at flexibility, we have to give spreadsheets the nod. But I caution you to test your project management software system for flexibility and do your own comparison.

Advantage: Spreadsheets

Resource Allocation and Forecasting

This is similar to data mining, but it is so important that it gets its own billing. The management of which resources are assigned to which projects and tasks is a critical component of project management and one of the big differences between spreadsheets and project management software.

There are three critical pieces to ensure good resource management. These include:

• A good work breakdown structure (breakout of the tasks in a project)
• A good estimation of the effort (not duration) to be expended on each task (and thus project)
• A composite view of this information across all projects

Because of the single-file focus of spreadsheets, a good project management software system should win this hands down. A good system will provide views and reports with insight into resource allocation so that you can view problems and do future forecasting. That isn’t to say that you cannot do this with spreadsheets but it is difficult at best and you need to have a very, very good setup.

Advantage: Project Management Software

Final Thoughts

Only you can decide the right tool for your organization. Certainly using spreadsheets is better than using absolutely nothing. They do have value, and they may be a good fit for some organizations. However, good, project management software (especially enterprise-level) clearly has the advantage for the following types of organizations:

• Organizations with more than a handful of projects to manage
• Organizations with more than a handful of people working on or managing projects
• Organizations with large or complex projects

Spreadsheets are primarily used because of convenience. However, convenience is not a great reason to use a tool that supports your critical processes. Be sure that you select and use a tool that adds to the efficiency and productivity of your people and processes, and not the other way around. This will far outweigh the benefits of convenience.

While spreadsheets do have a couple of inherent advantages, such as a natural ease of use and flexibility, you can employ best practices to minimize any downside to project management software. For example, use templates as much as possible, simplify screens as much as possible, document clear processes, focus on those processes instead of features, provide good training, and create good, relevant reports. Combining this with the inherent advantages in project management software will help to create efficiencies, increase productivity and resource utilization, and to become more competitive.

Mark Kenny is the President and Founder of Team Interactions, Inc., the developers of the EnterPlicity Project Management Software System. He holds a Certificate in Project Management and is passionate about the proper use of technology to support good project management processes. He writes articles and routinely writes posts for the Projects Management Software Tools blog at http://blog.teaminteractions.com. He can be contacted at 760-655-4055 #211. Find out more about EnterPlicity at http://www.teaminteractions.com.

Author: Mark S Kenny
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Excise Tax

When talking of how best, precise and fast any job can be performed; you can then refer to the suitable software for that particular job. For one to get suitable software for a particular business, one needs to consult the software expert or engineer for that particular types of niche or business.

Buying software requires one to really understand how you want the job to be performed. Having the knowledge of the niche or business is paramount; so you can explain to the software engineer how you want the software to perform the specific function/s.

If you do not know what functions should the software have and how best the job should be performed. Then, you can go on internet and consult Google to search for software engineers on that particular field. You will definitely see many of them; but for you to select the best among the entire engineers, requires a serious home work and foresight.

Before then, you need to have studied on how to manage such niche / business on internet, or should have attended seminars on that field to have some basic knowledge on how to practice such business. The knowledge acquired will enable you to advice the software engineer on how you want your software to be designed for you.

The need to search for software engineer on that particular field can be performed on the internet where you can find many of them. When you are searching for the software engineers, you should be specific i.e. You intend to get software for multilevel marketing, then you should have a certain numbers of people to be under each customer to reach a certain level and what the commission should be etc.

Or as a doctor, getting a certain software to detect a symptoms for a particular disease and diagnose a certain solution for such disease; then you should have a certain way the software should detect the problem and to as well diagnose for that particular ailment.

If you are very specific or precise in your search, you will not have any problem getting perfect software for your business.

After getting many of them on internet; you can write them by email, but telephone contact is faster; talk it out on one on one with the series of engineers found from your search. By the time you talk with few of them, you should arrive at your choice of the software needed to perform your business.

Furthermore, you can also make some offline inquiries from those who are presently practicing such business to have the required knowledge insight on the business; before embarking on such business. To avoid wasting of money, and successful business; research is very paramount.

Summary: For you to have a good software tool for your business, you must be very specific and precise in looking for the right engineer; as software is a very wide niche market, by contacting specialized software engineers for a particular niche or business, you will not have problem to achieve your goal.

Written by: BO. Olatunji

You can find series of software windows here that will lead you to series of engineers or experts, where you can select your needed professional or your required software tool at Articles Desk

Author: Boluji Olatunji
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Low-volume PCB maker

It is important to point out, right from the outset, that when we talk about desktop and single application software, we are talking about two types of collaborative software (but which are nonetheless commonly integrated). Separately, what we are looking at on the one hand is not ‘just desktop software,’ but rather ‘desktop sharing software.’ When you talk about desktop software, all you are referring to is the software which can be worked on/with from a desktop: pretty much the ordinary software we all have on our computers. But when we talk abut ‘desktop sharing software’ what we would be looking at is a much more unique type of software, which enables people to – you won’t believe this – share their computer desktops! It is the type of software with whose help you can let someone else, working on another computer, access your desktop and actually do stuff there. Meanwhile, single application sharing software would allow you to have someone, working on another computer, to access, and actually work with, applications that are only resident on your computer.

Just the simple elucidation on what desktop and single application software is instantly opens one’s minds to the huge benefits that can be had, by leveraging on such software.

Through the use of desktop and single application software, it becomes possible for organization to save huge sums of money they would have spent on rarely used, but essential software. As we all know, software tends to be priced on the basis of the number of copies installed. So, if this software is essential, but only rarely used, the organization can decide to purchase a single copy of it, install it on a given computer (or on its server), and through the single application sharing software, have anyone who wants to make use of that particular application access it. The beauty of this is that with the right type of single application sharing software, it would be possible to remotely access the said application without interfering with the work of the person sitting behind the computer where the application is resident. That means that in this way of doing things, the organization can implement the applications sharing system without having to purchase any new computer hardware.

Through the use of desktop sharing software, it becomes possible to make office work more convenient. Rather than having people on whose computers copies of certain applications are resident, you can have them access the applications from their own workstations. Instead of having people move to their colleagues desktops to be ‘shown’ various things, they can – through the use of desktop sharing software- be shown those things from the comfort of their own computers. This reduces the need for movement around the office, and makes the office more professional and sophisticated-looking.

Through the use of desktop sharing software, it becomes possible to bring about a degree of remote collaboration hitherto unimaginable. Through this kind of software, especially when run over the Internet, it becomes possible to work on projects in real time. This would translate to major time savings on various projects (as participants are able to access each other’s desktops as needs arise, and literally be on the same page); which would also increase effectiveness.

People can participate in live meeting in a virtual fashion by making use of some of the remote support tools.

Author: Marqus Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Low-volume PCB Assembly

If you want to make a backup copy of your own personal DVD’s, there are plenty of copy DVD software programs on the market created to burn flawless, complete copies in just a matter of minutes. These days, using such software is actually pretty easy. One doesn’t have to be a computer expert to learn how to burn copies of DVD’s. Since there are so many to choose from, though, the best thing to do is to read copy DVD software reviews.

Copy DVD software reviews normally evaluate the following: success rate, quality, ease of use, copying speed, update frequency, customer support, and features. Some of these factors are more important to some people than others. Some people only care about the ease of use and speed, while others care about the quality of copied DVD’s and whether or not all the features are included on the copied version.

Another thing to check out when reading copy DVD software reviews is whether or not a particular DVD copying software is worth its price. Most normally are, but there are still some that are not. Some are being sold for way more than their actual worth, so thankfully one can get the best for their money’s worth by reading copy dvd software reviews.

So how much is DVD burning software? Well, prices vary from $29 to $150. Buyers shouldn’t necessarily go for the cheapest, though. Once again, as any copy dvd software review will mention, it’s better to dish out a bit of money for a good program rather than buy a cheap, bad one.

So what can be copied with this type of software? DVD’s, CD’s, other software, videos, pictures, documents, and more—most people, of course, use copying software to make backup copies of their DVD collection. Sometimes discs can become scratched, dirty, or broken. Instead of going out and buying new copies at the store, all one has to do is make an extra copy with software! Even if the original disc IS scratched or dirty, or skips for any reason, the copies can come out perfectly. The DVD owner can read copy dvd software reviews to find out which software packages burn high quality copies.

Unfortunately, DVD’s don’t burn perfectly 100% of the time, as there are some occasional errors. Copy dvd software reviews explain the error rates of different programs. Any buyer’s aim should be to get DVD burning software that makes high quality copies with a high success rate. To be on the safe side, one should always have a few extra blank DVD’s around just in case his or her copies don’t turn out.

All in all, copy DVD software reviews are very informative and usually spot on. Anybody who wishes to make copies of movies, software programs, etc., needs to read copy DVD software reviews to help them determine which burning software will best suit their own individual needs. The money DVD collectors can save over the years by not having to actually go out and buy new copies of their favorite films is well worth the initial investment of good DVD copying software.

Disclaimer: Copying a DVD movie for any reason other than to backup up personally owned copies violates international copyright laws.

Matt Henderson, owner of DVDCloningSoftware.com has worked with nearly every dvd copy software on the market. You can read his reviews on each company and their product at DVDCloningSoftware.com

Author: Matthew Henderson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Cellphone news

In the not to distance past, antivirus firewall software did not exist. You would have to purchase antivirus software, firewall software and spyware all separately. There was not an all in one package containing all three together in the same suite like there is today. Software manufacturers are now making software in combination packages that are a perfect fit for small business owners and home computer use too.

Antivirus Firewall Software comprises three parts. One is the antivirus portion that keeps viruses from attacking your system and can remove those already on your system. Another part of the system is the Firewall software that prevents any information from your computer or to your computer without your permission in the prescribed code written into the software. The third part of the software would be the Spyware Software to prevent and remove Spyware from your system.

Why do you need all this protection you ask? Antivirus Software is to prevent and remove viruses from your computer. Firewall software is to prevent hackers and hacking software from accessing your personal information like bank account numbers or your identity. Spyware software is to prevent and remove Spyware from your system. Spyware tracks your movement on the Internet for reasons that can be good or bad. The good is depositing cookies on your computer to recognize you when you revisit a site. Banks use this type of cookie to help keep other people from accessing your information for example. Some sites use cookies for advertising purposes. Some of these are harmless and some are not.

How does each of these work you ask? Antivirus Software scans all incoming data from email, Internet downloads and file sharing you may have with other people. Any good Antivirus program updates itself often to keep up with all the new known codes viruses are written with. Without keeping current the software can not know which codes to exclude. New viruses are written constantly in very large numbers. Virus codes can be very complex and creative but are written in code just like beneficial software. Keeping up to date is critical for good protection.

All computers talk to each other using data packets. This is where Firewall Software comes in. It is the job of the Firewall Software to monitor this data for corrupted or altered packets of info. It will not allow any data to enter your system if it notes any packets that are not written into the software to accept. The software can even pop up a box to ask if you want to accept this type of data if it is not recognized. Good Firewall Software is needed to keep your system safe.

The third part of this software suite is Antispyware Software. Spyware programs are not designed to crash your operating system but are designed to spy on all your activity on the Internet as well as files on your computer and gather that data for someone else’s benefit. Antispyware Software is to keep this software from attaching to your computer system and to remove any of this software already on your system. Spyware can cripple your system performance over time if it allowed on your system. I have seen computers with hundreds of spyware cookies on the system and the computer was so slow it was unusable. After the spyware was removed the computer operated at normal speed.

My advice is to purchase good Antivirus Firewall Software and keep it updated. With this type of software loaded on your system you can enjoy your computer for surfing the Internet and for file sharing with your friends or for business purposes.

Posted by LaZinnia Manley on December 08, 2009

Please visit Antivirus Firewall Software for more information. If you need this software Please go to Antivirus Firewall Software and follow the instructions.

Author: LaZinnia Manley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Credit card currency-exchange fees

my computer upstairs keeps restarting itself, when i turn it on it loads up fine but when it gets to the bit where windows xp is loading it restarts itself, anyone have any idea why it might do this? some people have said to me it might be because the fan is broke in the computer or my windows xp might be corrupt, i cannot even enter the computer in safe mode or any of that. Thanks http://proxysource.cn/top-10-antivirus-bitdefender-mcafee-kaspersky-f-secure-symantec-norton-antivir-avg.html http://proxysource.cn/top-10-antivirus-bitdefender-mcafee-kaspersky-f-secure-symantec-norton-antivir-avg.html http://proxysource.cn/top-10-antivirus-bitdefender-mcafee-kaspersky-f-secure-symantec-norton-antivir-avg.html http://proxysource.cn/top-10-antivirus-bitdefender-mcafee-kaspersky-f-secure-symantec-norton-antivir-avg.html http://proxysource.cn/top-10-antivirus-bitdefender-mcafee-kaspersky-f-secure-symantec-norton-antivir-avg.html

Answer:
Lol, its not a virus, they don’t work like that, possibly could be yes a curropt copy of windows, or even the cpu is overheating…

i notice some people have thousands of folks who have checked out there uploads;videos and what have you…,i was wondering if im not doing all that requires me to ,so others can see my stuff i post on you-tube..anyone can help me with this one.thank you.

Answer:
you gatta spread the word man Word of mouth email myspace.com facebook.com Even right here you gatta tell people left and right you cant just leave it there once people see it some where then they will want to see it again if its good post it up in different websites or something post up the link

Is there a multimpul license you can get?

Answer:
brisray is right, but there are some people who get licenses for unlimited use, usually repair techs and the like. I know a guy who a college sold an unlimited license and he will put it on for $70, but I can get him to do a good price for quantity on a number of them if I do it myself. I think that is the best legal bet. He actually hired me to put them on my own computers, legal, taxes paid and all that … if you’re into that kind of thing anyway : ) Good luck