Can You Deliver on your Project Deadlines?
Then Think MS Project Professional 2013; it’s a great way to communicate with those working on your projects
SoapBox Rants
By Pamela Bratcher-McMillan
President, Chair & CEO, of PETAL et al.
Do you find that you sometimes fall short when trying to meet those important project deadlines? Is your staff up to par as to requirements and delivering of their responsibilities daily? If not, you may need a project manager. If you have one that’s not effective, you may end up doing it yourself. No need to worry, there are several tools out here that can help you with that. It will only require a little time to sit down and figure out just how to use the software; but if you do, it could bring more efficiency to your organization, get those milestones met and services or products delivered on time.
Try using the granddaddy of them all – MS Project Professional 2013. This product is used by many corporations to track projects and communicate with those working on the project. It is also a place where managers can check in and see how things are going, close tasks, update and add tasks. It is a great way to communicate with team members whether they are in the office with you or in another country. And it’s a great way to stay organized and collaborate with co-workers. And, it integrates well with other MS Office products. You can use it on the cloud, a server or as a standalone on your desktop. You can buy one for about $1200.
So when planning your next project, you might want to take the trial version of MS Project Professional for a spin and see if it helps keep your project on track and whether it would be worth the investment for you.
If you don’t have the $1200 to spare right now, there are several open source project management systems available at no cost to you. One of them is dotProject. Simply install it on your web host or server and you are ready to go.  It is not as robust as the MS Project, but it gets the job done. And there are plenty of tutorials available on how to use it. I’ve found it to be very beneficial with my projects. Try it out and let us know what you think. Whatever you use, get started today on getting those projects delivered on time or ahead of time!
And it’ll be smooth sailing in getting your projects out on time!
Pamela Bratcher-McMillan is a technology Expert and President, Chair & CEO, of PETAL et al. She is also a weekly columnist for CopyLine Magazine
