Enhance your teamwork with powerful project management tools
Manage your resources, streamline your workflows, and collaborate with your team in the most efficient way possible. Discover how our powerful project management solutions can help you achieve your goals.
What is project management?
To be successful, any type of business venture requires careful planning. Without a defined strategy, a project can easily miss deadlines, go over budget, or fail to reach its aims. Failing to bring a project to a successful completion can be disastrous for small to medium enterprises. Project management entails developing a plan that avoids risks, makes the best use of time and resources, and ensures that a project achieves its goals.
Project management is the act of precisely allocating and organizing company resources so that a certain task can be achieved within a clearly established timeline. The task may be a one-off project or may involve ongoing business goals.
A project manager will define the objectives of the task and then set about creating a strategy to maximize productivity and minimize costs. This involves allocating duties to personnel, managing resources, monitoring workflows, and determining quality control measures. Project managers use sophisticated project management tools and a variety of techniques to assist them in overseeing the launch, execution, and final stages of a project.
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Manage every aspect of your next project effectively with innovative online project management software from Dassault Systèmes. Our applications allow you to keep track of your progress, better manage your workflows, and seamlessly collaborate with your team.
ENOVIA Project Planner
Reduce resource and overall project execution costs by enabling lean optimized team planning
ENOVIA 3DSwymer
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DELMIA Lean Team Player
Make collaboration effective, intuitive and easy with a cloud-based whiteboard designed to fuel innovation
Why is project management important?
The principles of project management can be applied to almost any type of enterprise. However, effective project management is of particular importance to smaller to medium-sized businesses.
If a project goes over costs, fails to meet its goals, or misses its deadline, a small or medium-sized business may not be able to absorb the associated costs as easily as a larger enterprise. With an effective project management strategy, you can avoid risks and effectively manage your time, finances, technology, and people.
Consider these examples:
- An architectural firm must design a building and oversee the construction phase.
- A small manufacturer receives a large order that must be delivered by a certain date.
- An IT firm is asked to set up a telecommunications network for a new company that is set to launch within a month.
- A catering company is hired to provide food and drinks for a two-day festival.
All of these projects will require the careful allocation and monitoring of resources and duties to avoid delays or cost overruns. With the right project management, these businesses will be able to achieve their objectives.
How can project management software help my organization?
The effective organization of people, finances, and resources is essential to any project management strategy. Business leaders can ensure the success of their ventures by using software to develop and implement an effective project management plan. With the latest web-based project management software, managers can ensure that all stages of a project are carefully planned and monitored.
The features of project management applications are designed to simplify and streamline every phase of a venture. Objectives, timelines, and work processes can be laid out in an easy-to-understand format. Time-tracking features help managers keep track of when a project milestone is achieved and show them where they may need to allocate resources. Cloud based collaboration tools allow teams to be more dynamic and agile and work together securely regardless of where they are located.
Avoiding risks and achieving your objectives requires more than just technology, however. Ultimately, the success of a business venture depends on using the right project management software in combination with an effective project management methodology.
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Common project management methodologies and frameworks
There are different types of project management, methodologies, and frameworks. Choosing the right one will depend on your specific needs and the nature of your industry.
Waterfall project management
The waterfall process is the most well-known project management technique. Using the waterfall method, all stages of a project are completed linearly. Once a stage has been completed, a team can move on to the next phase. This methodology ensures that tight timeframes are adhered to. Waterfall methodologies often make use of Gantt charts. A Gantt chart tracks the tasks that have been completed during a certain period.
Prince2 is a common variation of the waterfall technique. Prince2 is an acronym for Projects In Controlled Environments. It focuses on ensuring that each stage of a project is completed in the most highly organized and controlled manner.
Agile project management
This technique was first developed by the IT industry and is now widely used throughout a variety of sectors. The agile project management technique involves continuously evaluating and improving deliverables. This technique does not employ a stage-by-stage timeframe, but instead requires teams to complete certain tasks in parallel.
What is a project management plan?
Precise planning and scheduling are essential in project management. The project plan sets out the objectives of the project and outlines how these objectives will be achieved. The project planning process often makes use of scheduling tools and task management software.
When creating a project schedule, project managers use critical path analysis to separate tasks and allocate time frames. The project plan can then be visualized as work breakdown structures that provide an overview of the project, often in the form of Gantt charts or PERTS diagrams. These tools are used to organize, allocate, and schedule tasks.
The first step in creating a project management plan is to determine the goals and objectives you wish to achieve. All risks and obstacles must then be identified, and deliverable tasks assigned to team members. The resources and time required to complete the tasks are analyzed and listed. A project manager will then develop a communication strategy, a budget, a schedule, and other documents that guide the workflow.
How to achieve effective resource management
Effectively managing project resources is critical. A project manager must consider how many personnel will be required to complete the project objectives and the individual abilities of each employee. Every team member needs to be allocated tasks that are within their skill sets.
The equipment or technology required to meet the project objectives is also a major factor. A project manager will have to ensure that all equipment required is available or made available to the team. Any materials required will have to be sourced in the most cost-effective way possible.
Common resource management techniques include:
Capacity planning
A project manager will define the tasks that need to be done and the timelines involved and then determine the resources required to complete these tasks.
Resource leveling
Resource leveling involves managing time, people, equipment, and money to avoid scheduling conflicts or over-allocating tasks.
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The 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud gives you access to a various set of applications that allow you to design, simulate, inform and collaborate on a project.
The importance of risk management
To avoid delays or cost overruns, a project manager must be able to accurately identify and mitigate any project risks. A careful risk identification process should be followed. Any occurrence that may impede the project should be identified and listed in a risk matrix.
All identified risks should then be assessed to determine the likelihood of them occurring and the severity of their impact on the project. A detailed response plan needs to be developed to eliminate the risks or to determine what steps to take to mitigate their effects on the project.
Communication and collaboration in project management
The importance of effective communication and collaboration in project management cannot be overestimated. If there is poor communication between stakeholders, then a project will not be successful. Sadly, many projects fail to reach their goals due to communication problems.
Fortunately, ensuring effective communication between team members is simply a matter of using the right communication and collaboration tools. Dedicated project management software often has features where team members can share files and work simultaneously. Team messaging apps are highly useful in ensuring that all members are kept up to date with project developments. Video conferencing tools are ideal for hosting meetings between team members who are working remotely.
Project monitoring and control techniques
Effectively monitoring and controlling the progress of a project will ensure that it stays on schedule and within its budget.
Common project monitoring and control techniques include:
Earned value management
This technique involves considering the schedule, scope, and costs of a project to predict its future success. Typically, a project manager will calculate the earned value of a project by multiplying the percentage of tasks that have been completed by the overall budget amount for the project. This will provide them with an idea of what the actual costs of the project are as compared to the predicted costs.
Performance metrics
A project manager can track a project by comparing actual results to a set of predetermined performance metrics. For example, the manager of a construction project may envisage that a certain part of the building will be completed by a certain date.
What are the features and benefits of project management software?
The best project management software should include a range of features that allow managers to effectively monitor the progress of the venture, assess the productivity of the teams involved, and control the allocation of resources. Everything a project manager needs should be at their fingertips, such as budget and time tracking features, the ability to store and share work, reporting capabilities, and scheduling and planning tools.
Using sophisticated project management software vastly improves the ability of a manager to plan a project and create a schedule and a project plan. The increased visibility and control that project management software provides enables managers to more easily manage resources. Better resource management results in reduced costs and enhances efficiency.
Improved collaboration and communication between team members can be achieved using cloud based project management applications with built-in communication channels. The most recent project management applications allow for total data integration and feature customizable dashboards. This enables project managers to have full control of all aspects of the project regardless of the devices or file types that stakeholders work with.
Advanced project management software from Dassault Systèmes
Regardless of what industry you work in, Dassault Systèmes offers you the project management solutions you need. Our innovative project management software integrates fully with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, delivering unrivaled storage, sharing, and communication capabilities.
Project Planner
A dedicated project management tool that provides you with the ability to coordinate teams, manage tasks, and monitor milestones.
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Lean Team Player
Cut down on waste and maximize your efficiency during every stage of your project with this unique collaborative application.
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3DSwymer
Connect all stakeholders in a project seamlessly and securely. Stay up to date on your project with automated real-time alerts and intelligence reports.
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Project management : conclusion and perspectives
Employing good project management principles is the best way to safeguard your enterprise against cost overruns, missed deadlines, and unmet expectations. The only way to avoid the failure of a project is to determine your goals, identify any potential issues, and carefully plan how you intend to use your people, your time, and your resources.
Choosing the appropriate project management methodology is vital. Once you have a project plan in place, you will be able to more accurately monitor your progress, control your costs, and make sure that you finalize the project on time and within budget.
To ensure success, business leaders need more than just a set of principles. They also need the tools to create, implement and monitor their strategies. It is essential that you choose the right project management software that can give you the tools to fully control all aspects of your project.
Why choose Dassault Systèmes for your project management needs?
The power of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a versatile and powerful tool unlike any other on the market. This cloud based platform provides you with a digital environment that can be used to communicate, collaborate, and innovate like never before.
Remote working is seamless with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Team members can store files securely and work on projects simultaneously in real time. Regardless of where your team may be or what devices they use, they will be able to work together easily with the web-style interface provided by the 3DEXPERIENCE.
Project managers can have complete control over how much access individual team members have to files and will be able to monitor their work at any time. By using a unified data model, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform ensures that all stakeholders are kept up to date and are working on the latest version of a project.
Over 40 years of experience developing business solutions
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Professional designers, engineers, and project managers in industries as diverse as the automotive sector, the aeronautical industry, the construction sector, and the manufacturing industry rely on the applications developed by Dassault Systèmes.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Managing remote teams can be made easier by using the 3DEXPERIENCE from Dassault Systèmes. This cloud based platform allows you to connect and collaborate with team members anytime, anywhere, using any device.
Project managers often fail to define goals properly, allocate enough resources, or make the best use of their team. Having a clear methodology and using dedicated project management software can help you stay organized.
Following earned value management principles and setting clear performance metrics can help you to accurately monitor the progress of a project.
Stay on top of multiple projects at once with advanced project management software and the innovative cloud based communications platform from Dassault Systèmes.