Custom Project Management Software Development Guide

In the modern era, project management has become one of the most essential aspects of any development process. Planning and management are the first two steps to ensure in terms of any project, especially, when it comes to software development and IT outsourcing.

Therefore, it is vital to make these activities as simple and useful, as possible. To do so, many companies and niche-experienced developers came up with the idea of project management software development, i.e. creating an IT project management platform, which will help to automate some aspects of the job and keep up with all the changes, giving a more clear understanding of what is going on at the moment during the development.

Besides, before such robust task management systems emerged, a wide range of various project management concepts and methods were invented. As a result, many modern project management solutions for software developers are somehow based on some of these ideas.

Nevertheless, the world does not stand still, as well as task and project management don’t. To find out what has changed in this field, we have to take a closer look at the best examples of modern software for PM process tracking and monitoring, learn some basic concepts, and finally figure out whether custom project management software development as a service can bring more benefits than integrating a ready-made project management SaaS?

Project Management Software in a Nutshell

So, what is PM software and how exactly does it help project managers to improve the efficiency of the project lifecycle and track task progress and performance of dedicated teams?

To cut a long story short, project management is similar to regular management procedures. Still, due to the impact of the IT outsourcing industry specifics and trends, project management term is automatically associated with the IT and software development fields.

Project management is a set of procedures and tasks, which are designed to improve efficiency and enable making better analyses and predictions in terms of a single software product development outsourcing lifecycle.

Today, there is a wide variety of different ideas, concepts, approaches, and tools, which are more suited for specific tasks. For instance, the iron triangle method helps to better plan and estimate future products. However, it can be used in agile methodology or a plan-driven development approach, having no impact on which one to choose.

Instead, the development approach is chosen at the same time, when the triangle is being balanced, to achieve the best possible results and meet all the project software requirement specification.

Yet, planning is just one of the steps of discovery phase of project. It plays its actual role during the development stage, as an instrument of control and maintenance.

Summing up all the above, PM processes are used during the whole IT project lifecycle, from the very beginning (draft of an idea) to the very end (production stage).

Key Features of PM Software

Despite the variety of approaches and concepts of project management solutions, it is possible to name a list of the must-have features, which are presented in any example of such software. For an even better illustration, it is possible to define a few main categories of features by their purposes:

• Strategic Planning and Scheduling tools are designed to make these processes easier and store them in the same place.
• Real-time Collaboration instruments, that help to enable better communication within the software development team, and give extra possibilities to somehow collaborate, including documents or data sharing.
• Reporting capabilities, which include the possibility to report issues, the current status of the task list, and sharing data for KPI or other analysis.
• Management toolset itself.

Planning and Scheduling

This type of PM tool includes calendars, spreadsheets, and other ways of data storing and monitoring.

Calendars or similar project schedule features allow project managers to better plan the nearest task completion and make at least approximate predictions on when a certain assignment must be done.

Besides, it enables the possibility of repetitive task prioritization and the visualization of the priorities, by starting with easier or harder tasks, and gradually switching to the rest. Eventually, the order of tasks is determined individually for each project, depending on the context and other subjective aspects. Still, this does not deny the fact, that calendar-like or other additional features are vital for planning and scheduling processes.

Team Collaboration Tools

Another important aspect to take care of during complex project management is to enable collaboration among team members in clear and convenient ways, an intuitive interface, and resource allocation within a centralized platform.

Of course, it is always possible to use various ready-made third-party messengers. However, one of the best practices for successful team collaboration and communication is to use specific software, that provides all needed instruments for a work environment.

Among the most popular choices, there are such effective collaboration platforms for ongoing projects as Jira, Asana, Slack, or any other similar app. Frankly, all the foregoing are just great examples of project management SaaS software development applications, designed specifically for such purposes and proposing far more advanced features for a better PM experience. Also, they are great case studies for business owners, who are considering their project progress management software development.

Nevertheless, most previously mentioned project management software as a service solutions lack an important service - the ability to store and share documentation, different types of files, spreadsheets, or pieces of information. For example, Slack proposes the possibility of file sharing, but it stores it for a limited period. Besides, most of these platforms are operated like messengers, which makes it harder to find required data or files after some time.

Thus, for more convenient data and documentation sharing, we propose you consider project management tools that are known as Notion-like apps, which also can be used as Google Drive variations.

Reporting Options

Additionally, it is important to have a way to report an issue in real-time.

It seems, that this can be done by simply writing a message to your project manager, or in a group chat. However, when it comes to the IT project timeline, you have to understand, that the number of issues or bug-tracking results can be surprisingly big.

Therefore, to make a more structured approach to issue reporting, it is better to implement a convenient method of doing so. Also, issue resolution requires communication with QA project remote software development teams, i.e. it is not enough to just notify your PM. Besides, it can include daily reports on project progress.

This is why it is highly important to make sure, that such processes as issue reporting and resolving won’t take much time and will be easily accessible.

Management Functionality

Finally, any project management software development includes the establishment and creation of management options.

All the foregoing processes and functionality types are included in the overall management. Still, it is also important to create a user-friendly environment for project managers to simplify all the processes of any project.

To cut a long story short, apart from designing each activity and functional option, you need to make them, as well as all related data easily accessible in one task management app.

Additionally, don’t forget about some time tracking and monitoring features like To-do lists, resource management, or employee attendance and working hours information.

An application, that includes all these features can be already defined as MVP for a project management app.

Why Create a Custom Solution for PM Proceses?

After getting acquainted with the list of project management's most essential features, as well as the best examples of project management software, you may ask yourself:

“

Why do I need to develop a custom task management system, if there are numerous ready-made solutions?

This question is fair, yet the answer is obvious and simple.

On the one hand, it gives business owners the ability to define all features to include and, what is even more important - full control over the application. For instance, as an owner, you will get a chance to implement a variety of features on demand, upscale your app, or even distribute it as a SaaS software development solution, having an additional income. Also, it gives you the possibility to maintain unlimited projects without the need to pay an extra fee or adjust to the pricing plans of software development project management SaaS.

On the flip side, it is more expensive, compared to paying a fee for a ready-made solution. To add some more, having full control over the application also requires maintaining it, i.e. you will need a dedicated team of developers to take care of all potential bugs or issues, which may occur.

Nonetheless, it is cheaper in the long term, compared to ready-made project management SaaS. So, before starting your project management software development, it is better to discuss this idea with niche-experienced remote software development team, who have proven experience in such technologies.

This will help you to define all the benefits and drawbacks and can save you time and effort. The same is true for cases when you are thinking of choosing already existing software solutions.

Custom Project Management Software Development

So, what do you need to take care of, if you have decided to build your application for IT outsourcing project management?

Apart from the foregoing features, which are essential and can’t be ignored, you have to define your requirements.

For example, AI is a very common and beloved functionality in most applications nowadays and can be considered as one of the possible “extras” for your software. We recommend you consider at least a few practices of HR automation with the use of artificial intelligence.

Frankly, one of the most important advantages of custom task management software development is the possibility to extend its competencies. Project management software has a lot in common with different solutions, designed for human resource operations. Therefore, you can consider developing an all-in-one app for both departments, which will upscale the functionality of your future project and will help to save some extra resources, bringing more value to the final product.

Either way, it is hard to argue, that you will need the help of professionals in this field to make an informed decision, and potentially finish project management software development successfully.

Fortunately, here at Incora, we have a group of niche-experienced app developers for hire, who would gladly help you with everything you need. To prove our experience, we propose you check our latest case studies or contact us directly for more detailed information.