Here are the top 15 project scheduling tools I’ve included in this review: Show
Project scheduling is one of the basic skills any project manager should have. It is the mechanism we use to shine in front of our stakeholders by showing how we’ll approach a new project. It starts at a high level when we create the master schedule and give the client a rough idea of what to expect. After guiding the first couple of conversations, we then use the result to inform our detailed project schedule. Finally, having gathered internal feedback, we present the final version which can be resource loaded, and it becomes the baseline against which you’ll be measuring project progress. That’s a lot of pressure and the reason why it’s important to have software that properly supports your scheduling, from tasks to resources. Your job as project manager is to ensure everything runs smoothly—from putting a team together, allocating those resources, running meetings, budget planning, and forecasting. How I Picked The Best Project Scheduling SoftwareWhen selecting software, I research and analyze certain categories which are relevant to the project management app. In this case, I weighed different factors and used the following criteria to shortlist the best software.
The Best Tools For Project Schedulingmonday.com is a project management platform with intuitive collaboration features that are easy to learn and quickly understand. It’s a highly customizable tool that helps you clarify the sequence of work and see the progress and status of your projects at a glance. Why I picked monday.com: Most of the project scheduling features in monday.com are in the “timeline” feature—this is where you
can plan projects, set deadlines, assign team members, break down tasks, and set dependencies. You can reassign tasks by simply clicking and dragging, and you can view your timelines as spreadsheets, as lists, on a map, on a Kanban board, and other views. With monday.com you can create summary charts and export and share project plans in a variety of formats (XML, PDF, etc). Apart from that, the platform enables big-picture views using reporting dashboards that collect data from multiple
boards, allowing better progress tracking. All said and done, monday.com technically doesn’t enable you to make Gantt charts in the very traditional sense (nor can you import or export MPP files). However, it’s a flexible, intuitive schedule management software tool that helps you see where tasks are bottlenecking, understand who’s currently working on what, etc. What’s more, the customizable fields and the drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to quickly set up and start using. monday.com Standout Features & Integrations Features include automations, shared documents for real-time collaboration, file management, dashboards, Gantt charts, and 5+ views so you can see your project information the way you want to. Integrations include apps like Slack, Excel, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and thousands more accessible via Zapier. monday.com Plans & Pricing Pricing starts at $10 /user/month and comes with a free 14-day trial. They offer a free plan for up to 2 users. Pros
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Kantata is a resource management & PSA software with modules for project scheduling and management, accounting, resource management, business intelligence, and team collaboration. Why I picked Kantata: It offers a system of dashboards, live time and expense tracking features, and a great document management system. All of these best-in-class features are delivered through straightforward and minimalistic design. For project scheduling specifically, Kantata offers a complete set of useful features. As you make detailed project plans, the tool support a multi-level work breakdown structure that lets you define the project by a series of granular tasks and subtasks. Other scheduling features include: Gantt chart-based project plan capabilities, schedule management, multi-level WBS, workflow planning, task assignment and scheduling, and critical path and variance analysis. It also has some good contextual collaboration features to communicate around tasks, projects, and many other project objects. It’s a full suite that takes time to truly master, but the simple, streamlined UI shortens the learning curve significantly. Kantata Standout Features & Integrations Features include resource management features (real-time utilization, resource forecasting, capacity management), analytics (built-in reports, custom reporting, trend analysis) and accounting tools (project costing, budget management, invoicing). Integrations include pre-built integrations with tools like Expensify, G Suite, Xero, Salesforce, Netsuite, Jira, Hubspot, Slack, Concur, Dynamics 365, Qualtrics, and Quickbooks. They also provide an integration platform called M-Bridge to help you build your own integrations. Kantata Plans & Pricing Kantata offers plans to meet your needs. Choose from resource management to complete PSA with advanced BI. To receive accurate pricing information, contact Kantata directly. Pros
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Hub Planner is a resource management software with a full suite of project scheduling, time entry, and reporting features. Why I picked Hub Planner: The core feature is the simple and usable Scheduler, which allows for project and resource planning and visualization. Users can drag and drop to plan projects and schedule resources. The tool also offers a multi-function menu, powerful filtering, and a dynamic team capacity bar. Multiple view modes allow for both high-level birds-eye views and granular views of projects. Hub Planner has a powerful reporting engine with 70+ pre-formatted templates. If you can't find what you're looking for in a template, you can create reports from scratch. Hub Planner also has a number of inline workflows for timesheets, requesting vacation time, and a slick resource requesting & approval option. Their Unassigned Work feature is great for scheduling and forecasting ahead of the pipeline, and users can create custom fields at the resource or project level. Users can also customize schedule notifications and reminders. Hub Planner Standout Features & Integrations Features include timesheets and approval, vacation and lead management, reporting, skills matching, and resource management. Integrations include apps like Basecamp, Slack, and iCal. Thousands more can be accessed using Zapier, and its REst API can help you build custom integrations. Hub Planner Plans & Pricing Pricing starts at $7 /month/resource (annual billing) and offers a fully featured 60-day free trial. Pros
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Wrike is an award-winning, easy-to-use project scheduling software trusted by 20,000+ organizations worldwide. It's suitable for teams with anywhere from five members to an unlimited number of team members. The tool is highly configurable and allows users to customize workflows, dashboards, reports, request forms, and more. Wrike’s simple project scheduling software enables users to plan and schedule projects on Kanban boards, interactive drag-and-drop Gantt charts, or traditional workload views, as well as switch between them. Wrike also features task lists, subtasks, calendars, and real-time collaboration. Unlock advanced insights with performance reporting tools, time tracking, and more. Wrike has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface and navigation with distinct spaces, folders, and tasks. Toggle quickly between the home screen and timesheets, dashboards, calendars, reports, and the activity stream. Wrike has a dedicated help center with interactive training, videos, a ‘Getting Started’ guide, and a thriving community. Wrike offers 400+ pre-built native integrations, including integrations with the most popular file management software from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software from Salesforce and Marketo. Pricing starts at $9.80 per user per month. There are four different price points, including a free version and plans which offer the ability to invite free external collaborators to a paid account. Pros
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Resource Management by Smartsheet is a high-level resource management and scheduling software that helps modern teams make confident decisions about project planning, team capacity, budget forecasting, team utilization, and hiring needs in real time. Why I picked Resource Management by Smartsheet: Built-in timesheets, mobile time tracking, and expense tracking, enables you to create rich project reports by filtering project data with just a few clicks. Reports can give insight into historical data or offer a forecasted view of team utilization, actual vs. planned time reports, budget tracking, expense reports, and projects in the pipeline. Over 1,000 of the most innovative companies in the world rely on Resource Management by Smartsheet, from 10-person shops and 100-person teams within global brands to 1,000+ person professional services firms. Resource Management by Smartsheet has been recognized for its design excellence with awards from FastCo, SXSW, IxDA + IDSA. RM by Smartsheet Standout Features & Integrations Features include project and resource matching, dynamic reporting, time tracking, a resource management panel, and a resource timeline for projects. Integrations include apps like Slack, Brandfolder, Workplace, Microsoft Teams, and Facebook Ads. It additionally has a flexible API you can use to build custom integrations with the tools you use and automation through Zapier where you can connect to 1000+ apps. RM by Smartsheet Plans & Pricing Pricing starts at $9/user/month and offers a 14-day free trial. Resource management is a premium add-on that you need to purchase on top of your Smartsheet plan. Pricing is available upon request. Pros
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Runn is a real-time project scheduling and resource planning tool with integrated time tracking and powerful forecasting capabilities. Why I picked Runn: Scheduling is easy and intuitive in Runn–simply drag-and-drop to create project phases and allocations. Create project milestones, project notes and add project budgets. Flick between monthly, quarterly and half-yearly views to plan for the short and long term. If you don’t have the right person at the right time, use placeholders to define the requirements for the project. Runn makes planning dynamic and visual. Watch the charts and reports update as you plan your projects. You can see visualisations of capacity, workload, availability, and billable and non-billable utilization. Plan out tentative projects to see how your resourcing plans might change if the work gets confirmed. Track projects, view forecasts, and get relevant metrics within Runn. You’ll have up-to-date data in one place to keep tabs on insights like utilization, project variance, and overall financial performance. Use Runn’s built-in timesheets to understand how much time was worked on your projects compared to what was planned. Runn Standout Features & Integrations Features include resource scheduling, project planning, capacity management, project forecasting, timesheets, and reporting. Integrations include apps like Harvest, WorkflowMax, and Clockify for importing project, client, and people data and syncing time entries. With Runn’s API, you can build your own integration to send data across your favorite tools. Runn Plans & Pricing Pricing starts at $10/user/month and has a 14-day free trial. There is also a free plan for up to 5 people. Pros
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Resource Guru is a dedicated resource management software. The tool allows team members to visualize tasks on calendars, shows what everyone is working on, and clearly displays availability so project managers can maximize utilization. Why I picked Resource Guru: Project managers can make resource bookings simultaneously while ensuring they aren’t overbooking resources. Resource and project clashes are automatically prevented. Bookings can be added to a waiting list and used for capacity planning later. Each staff member gets their own resource dashboard so they can log in and know exactly what they should be working on. Powerful reporting features allow users to monitor utilization and business performance, as well as help with capacity planning. Resource Guru Standout Features & Integrations Features include resource scheduling, resource management, leave management, project scheduling, capacity planning, and forecasting reports. Integrations include calendar apps like Outlook calendar, Calendly, and Google calendar. Thousands of additional apps are accessible through Zapier. Resource Guru Plans & Pricing Pricing starts at $3 /user/month. Pros
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Zoho Projects is a project management and project scheduling software from Zoho. It offers flexibility and customizations to suit the needs of traditional project managers as well as agile teams. Why I picked Zoho Projects: It has multiple ways of viewing information, like lists, kanban, or Gantt charts. With task tags and custom views and filters, you can organize your tasks and find them with ease. In addition to timeline planning, you can plan your resources effectively with the drag-and-drop resource utilization module. Keep everyone in the loop right inside Projects via inbuilt chat, forums, and comments, or take the social route with the project portal feed. Add to that the integrated advanced analytics capabilities to generate more than 50 types of charts and reports. The colorful dashboards are fully customizable so that users can make Zoho Projects their own. The interface and modules are highly customizable. All aspects of the UI from theme colors to arrangement and visibility of the various modules can be changed to suit a user’s preferences. Zoho projects also offer free onboarding for customers and a comprehensive online help guide for all users. Zoho Projects stands out in cases where there are multiple hand-offs involved. It is especially popular among IT companies, consultants, and education organizations. The tool is trusted by over three million users and hundreds of big brands across the globe. Zoho Projects Standout Features & Integrations Features include task management, task automation, blueprints, time tracking, team collaboration, charts, and reporting. Integrations. Being part of Zoho’s ecosystem allows Projects to connect to several of Zoho’s own services such as Zoho Books, Zoho CRM, and Zoho’s finance suite. The new Zoho marketplace allows 3rd party integrations as well. Zoho Projects Plans & Pricing Pricing starts at $5/user/month and has a 10-day free trial. A free version is also available for up to 3 users. Pros
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Forecast is a brilliantly simple combination of resource management and project management tool built on the foundation that successful projects require a combination of short and long term planning. It does not dictate how you work so you can mix Scrum, Kanban, and traditional Gantt scheduling. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) built into Forecast enables you to easily spot projects that are at risk of delay or veering off track. Build and share your own powerful dashboards, reports, and insights so you can put real-time information right at your team or clients’ fingertips. Effortless resource planning enables you to track utilization and capacity. In the upcoming work view, the connection between prioritization and scheduling easily lets team members focus on the most important tasks. Forecast is currently used in 40+ countries worldwide, by agencies, consulting companies, and enterprises – has Lite, Pro, and Enterprise options that cost from $29/user/month (14-day free trial). Pros
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Microsoft Project is a project management software built over 35 years ago to help you keep track of all your work. Why I picked Microsoft Project: It can be purchased with Office 365 (which many companies use) or as a stand-alone item. Microsoft Project has the honed functionality of an Excel file with scheduling-specific tools for project management pros. If you need project scheduling help, try their intuitive and robust Gantt chart generator to navigate product timelines. Adapting to our current needs, MS Project is available in both cloud-based and on-premise flavors. MS Project Standout Features & Integrations Features include three types of views, coauthoring on project schedules, pre-built reports, interactive roadmaps, resource management, portfolio modelling, and communication using MS Teams. Integrations include other Microsoft software, like Outlook, Excel, Skype, and more. MS Project Plans & Pricing There are three cloud-based plans and pricing starts at $10/user/month with a free 30-day trial. Pros
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Paymo is a project scheduling software for small and medium businesses to help creative and marketing teams own their entire project cycle. Besides planning and resource scheduling, Paymo is strong on task management, time tracking, and invoicing functionality. Paymo allows you to define the critical path by taking lead and lag time into account for project planning. Resource scheduling-wise, you can view your entire team’s workload across several projects, thanks to the multiple views by user/project/ungrouped tasks. Instead of manually setting up bookings, Paymo creates them automatically (ghost bookings) based on your previously entered task details to cut the data entry process in half. The built-in leave planner can also be used to mark leave days directly from the scheduler and save your company precious time and money. Paymo integrates natively with popular apps such as Slack, Google Suite, QuickBooks Online, Xero, JotForm, and Shift, to name a few. Other integrations are available through Zapier or by syncing with their fully-documented API. Free for freelancers and teams of up to 10 users. Paid plans start at $9.95/user/month. Paymo comes with a 15-day free trial. ProjectManager.com is a well-rounded, award-winning software used by some big names like including NASA, Volvo, Brookstone, and Ralph Lauren. This is a great solution, especially for managing multiple projects at once. This tool delivers a ton of useful project planning and scheduling features: using this tool, you can create project plans (Gantt charts), manage tasks, create reports, and manage timesheets, expenses, and workloads. This project planning application also provides a useful feature that lets you easily switch between views—between gantt chart, task list, and Kanban board views. You can use the in-app communication features to comment on tasks and assign them to team members. Their real-time reports are easy to use—get pre-set reports (project status, timesheets, expenses) in a single click, or set up your own custom reports. You can also use the real-time dashboard to get a glimpse of your current project stats. And you can use all of these features to schedule and report across multiple projects, as well. ProjectManager.com integrations include native integrations with GoogleApps like Drive, Gmail, Calendar, etc. as well as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Project. For 400 other integrations, you can use Zapier to connect with additional tools. Pricing for ProjectManager.com starts at $15/user/month, with their basic “Personal” plan requiring a minimum of 5 users. They offer a 30 day free trial (a credit card is required to sign up for a free trial). Pros
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ActiveCollab is a project management software with a simple interface approach to helping you keep track of work. Why I picked ActiveCollab: You know when every stage of the project is due and establish your own processes that work well both for your team and your clients with features like drag-and-drop task lists, collective updates across gamified social feeds, time and cost estimation tools, and billing solutions. ActiveCollab is a simple tool at its core. They even have sample projects that cover anything from web design to editorial calendars to help project management newbies thrive. ActiveCollab Standout Features & Integrations Features include time and resource management, notes, discussions and real-time chat for collaboration, client management, and billing. Integrations include Google Drive, Dropbox, Trello, Basecamp, Asana, Wrike, Slack, Hubstaff, TimeCamp, Quickbooks, Xero, Authorize.Net, Braintree, PayPal, Stripe, and hundreds of other third-party apps using Zapier. ActiveCollab Plans & Pricing ActiveCollab starts at $11/month and has a 14-day free trial. Pros
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Built by creative professionals for the creative industry, FunctionFox features user-friendly tools to help you create detailed project schedules, track your progress through interactive Gantt charts and calendars, manage your resources with action assignments and to-do lists, and communicate and collaborate through the project blog. FunctionFox is entirely web-based so it allows both in-office and remote users to work together seamlessly. Their intuitive project scheduling software allows you to allocate work to your team through action assignments, mark out important dates within a project using milestones, and schedule project meetings. You can keep an eye on your team’s capacity through to-do lists and the availability tool, and monitor project timelines using their interactive Gantt charts and project calendar. The project blog allows your team to communicate in real-time, and they offer flexible, comprehensive reports that can be exported in Excel format. FunctionFox is easy to use and made even easier with the tutorials and support provided. All customer support is unlimited, ongoing, and included in your subscription cost. If you have account-related questions or would like to review specific features, the customer success team is happy to assist you over the phone, by email, or via scheduled webinars customized to your needs. Their website also includes a help center, and there are detailed help files included within the software itself. The project scheduling tools are included in their FunctionFox Premier platform. Compatible with all up-to-date web browsers, you can also schedule projects and monitor deadlines while on the go using their mobile site, iPhone/iPad, and Android Apps. FunctionFox Premier is $50/month for the first user, plus $10/month for each additional user. You can sign up for a free demo as well. Pros
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Adobe Workfront is a project management software that helps enterprises connect projects and tasks to strategic goals. Why I picked Workfront: One of the strongest points of this tool is its ability to sync with other products in the Adobe ecosystem. It has an impressive project scheduling tool that can create tasks, milestones, and predecessors, and allocate resources while monitoring progress within set time frames. It is a great collaboration tool where team members stay in sync through threaded conversations, status updates, and comments. They can even assign milestones to each other and get live notifications of any changes taking place. For reporting, Workfront offers 50 report templates to analyze and share the status of your project. You can even create your own dashboard and combine multiple reports into one. Workfront Standout Features & Integrations Features file sharing, goal alignment, scenario planning, customizable reports, workflow automation, resource management, capacity planning, and collaboration tools, reporting dashboards. Integrations include out-of-the-box software, like Adobe Creative Cloud & Experience Manager, Jira, Slack, Salesforce, and MS Teams. You can also build custom integrations using Workfront Fusion, an integration platform for any web-based application. Workfront Plans & Pricing There are three plans and pricing is available upon request. Pros
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Best Project Scheduling Software Summary ChartWe go into detail about the pros & cons and main features of each project software scheduling tool based on our criteria. Here, the info is summarized in a simple chart:
Other Tools You Might Find UsefulThere are many project scheduling tools out there and here are a couple of honorable mentions that we haven’t included in this review. Check them out!
7 Reasons Why You Should Use Project Scheduling SoftwareEspecially if your organization is scaling. Here are a few key benefits of project scheduling software:
There are many more benefits—and they will continue to grow in number as technology evolves, providing more opportunities for automating tasks and making smarter decisions. Project Scheduling Software FAQWhat does project scheduling software do?Scheduling software helps you plan not only your projects but also get a grip on what’s currently happening as the project unfolds. It also allows you to centralize all work-related activities such as planning, task allocation, resource management, and reporting. In addition, project scheduling tools create transparency with stakeholders and team members who want to know what’s expected of them. What is project scheduling in software project management?Project scheduling in project management is part of project planning. It’s the process of defining a project’s phases, milestones, resources, and workflow. In addition, you plot these key components on a timeline that factors in the dependencies between the different parts. Throughout the lifecycle of a software project, you refer to the project schedule to understand its critical path and track progress on deliverables and the project as a whole. When there are changes, a well-made project schedule helps you to factor in the effects of any changes. This can be done through dependencies laid out initially, providing a visual tool to understand the relationship between different roles, tasks, and phases of a project. Which tool is used for project scheduling?The most common tool used for project scheduling is the Gantt chart. The reason is that this view gives a large amount of numerical and visual information in one glance. A Gantt chart view is commonly arranged in 2 panels that live side-by-side. The left panel contains a table with detailed information on the tasks, due dates and dependency between tasks. The right panel contains bars along a timeline that visually represent task duration and show what happens when. Therefore, this right panel is useful to quickly understand the sequence of events that must happen for successful completion. What features can I look for when selecting scheduling software?Let’s review some of the features that we can find in project scheduling solutions.
What are some common project scheduling techniques?Most project scheduling techniques make use of a Gantt chart or similar chart, and they include:
What's Next?In reference to the last bullet point above, you can learn more about resource leveling, so you can get the most out of your project scheduling software. I also heard through the grapevine that you might not be subscribed to our Insider Membership newsletter. It is a weekly email that you receive with useful information and reflections for DPMs, fun facts, songs for your work playlist and more! What are the main uses of scheduling and work management software select all the apply?Work management software is the tool that lets you plan, monitor, organize, review, and report both project and non-project activities to support team performance and results. Work management software can be used for projects, too.
Which three of the following best practices can help you choose tools for your project?6 Steps To Choose The Right Tool. Step 1: Define Your Project's Needs. The first step is to take a step back and analyze your project. ... . Step 2: Consider Your Team's Needs. ... . Step 3: Determine Your Budget. ... . Step 4: Consider Integration and Ease of Use. ... . Step 5: Evaluate Features and Functionality. ... . Step 6: Try Before You Buy.. What are some of the benefits of closing a project Select all that apply?“Close Project or Phase is the process of finalizing all activities for the project, phase, or contract. The key benefits of this process are the project or phase information is archived, the planned work is completed, and organizational team resources are released to pursue new endeavors.
What are some of the features of common project management software?6 PM Software Features That Will Skyrocket Your Project Performance. Project planning and scheduling.. Team collaboration.. Time tracking.. Reporting.. Project budgeting.. Billing & quotes.. |