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The Project That Blossomed: A Tale of Switching to a New Project Management Tool

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Once upon a time in a bustling city, there was a small but dedicated marketing team working at CreativeCo, a design agency known for its innovative and eye-catching projects. The team was passionate about their work, but they found themselves struggling with an old and outdated project management tool.

Their legacy tool, “OldTasker,” was notorious for its inefficiency. It lacked features for collaboration, reporting, and scalability, which became more apparent as their projects grew in complexity. It was a cumbersome relic in an era where speed, precision, and teamwork were crucial.

As frustration mounted, Sarah, a project manager with a knack for embracing change, decided it was time to explore the world of modern project management tools. She believed that switching to a new tool could reinvigorate their projects and make work enjoyable once more.

Sarah tirelessly researched and presented her findings to her team. They were hesitant at first, fearing the disruption that change might bring. However, Sarah’s passion and a demonstration of the benefits soon won them over. They decided to make the switch, and they opted for a new state-of-the-art project management tool designed for teams.

The transition to the new tool was smoother than expected. Its user-friendly interface and comprehensive onboarding support made it a breeze to adapt. The team quickly noticed several compelling reasons why it was worth making the switch:

Effortless Collaboration: The new tool allowed the team to share ideas, files, and feedback in real-time. No longer did they need to rely on cumbersome email chains or clunky file-sharing processes. Collaboration flowed seamlessly, resulting in a newfound spirit of teamwork.

Streamlined Workflow: The new tool automated repetitive tasks, freeing up time for more creative endeavors. The team was no longer bogged down with administrative work, and projects moved forward faster than ever before.

Enhanced Reporting: The new tool’s analytics provided invaluable insights into project progress and resource allocation. The team could make data-driven decisions, leading to improved project outcomes.

Scalability: As CreativeCo’s reputation grew, so did their projects. The new tool seamlessly scaled to accommodate their evolving needs, eliminating the limitations of their old tool.

Improved Accessibility: Whether they were working from the office or remotely, the team had access to the new tool from any device with an internet connection. This newfound flexibility was a game-changer, especially during challenging times like a pandemic.

The benefits of switching to a new tool were evident in their projects. Creativity flourished, deadlines were met, and clients were delighted. What was once a source of frustration had transformed into a catalyst for success.

CreativeCo’s clients took notice of the enhanced efficiency and quality of their work. They praised the agency’s ability to meet deadlines and deliver stunning results consistently. This newfound reputation attracted new clients and opportunities, further fueling the team’s enthusiasm for their new project management tool.

The story of CreativeCo is a testament to the transformative power of switching to a new project management tool. It was a journey filled with hesitations and uncertainties, but in the end, it was a change that led to growth, success, and a renewed passion for their craft. The lesson they learned was clear: when your old ways hinder progress, it’s worth embracing change and setting sail toward the promise of something better.

Conclusion

This story, albeit fictional, reflects the real world most organizations are living in today. Trapped by inefficient tools with a high initial investment, too many organizations are failing to realize the loss and move on.

The tools a project manager uses can significantly impact the success of a project. Subpar tools, whether due to budget constraints, organizational limitations, or inertia, can hinder efficiency, communication, and overall project performance. Project managers must advocate for the adoption of high-quality project management tools that align with the project’s requirements and objectives. By investing in the right tools, project managers can help ensure the smooth execution of projects, improved collaboration, and better outcomes for all stakeholders involved. After all, a project is only as strong as the tools used to manage it.

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Changelog

Nov 18, 2024

  • New – Task Template
  • Improved –  Search can find checklist items in tasks
  • Improved – Budget. Cell-assignment has, for each resource, an added total and total to date field.
  • Improved – Adding user to project  has a new interface where multiple team member can be added by selecting form a list
  • New – Timesheet report export has an added option to export all months on record.
  • Improved – Outlook Integration now has the ability to sync your Out of Office Availability
  • Improved – My Availability can be set in hours as well as days
  • Fix – Various bug fixes and UI tune-ups

Oct 16, 2024

  • New – Outlook 2-way Integration
  • Improved –  Forecast calculation
  • Improved – Allocation. When effort-driven is enabled, Task s in allocation now show start/end dates
  • Improved – Timesheet functionalities
  • Fix – Various bug fixes

Aug 29, 2024

  • New – Users Calendar. Unified view of all user’s calendar
  • New – Vacation calendar. Visualize your resources’ vacations in a searchable centralized calendar
  • New – Allocation Gantt. A new view that represent resources’ allocation in a Gannt chart
  • New – My Availability. Each user can set their own working time and days off. The availability is fully automated with the schedule, forecast and allocation
  • New – Effort based schedule. You can now assign effort to tasks in the schedule and report them in the Timesheet. Timesheet entries are automatically calculated and pre-populated.
  • New – Task based Timesheet. You can now report time against assigned schedule’s tasks. This functionality is tied to Effort based schedule.
  • New   Each project has a dedicated general chat
  • New –  Timesheet custom entries. Add non-billable hours to the timesheet and visualize reports. For example you can track a resource’s vacation days.
  • New   Added new interactive resources’ effort reports with time/cost views
  • New – Multi-Language support
  • Improved –  Timesheet reports now include “To Date” tally
  • Improved – In the resource view, actuals and forecast are now displayed side-by-side
  • Improved – Vendors logos are now automatically added to the vendor component.
  • Improved – New schedule, forecast and actuals triggers have been added to improve the warning engine
  • Improved – Search functionality now includes RAID items
  • Improved – Gantt charts have a new rounded look and have the resource(s) assigned visible in the bar
  • Improved – Raid. You can now hide all RAID items, while in list view, that are closed with the click of a button.
  • Change – Allocation calculation are no longer tied to the project end, and instead rely on the allocation calendar
  • UI tune-up– All dashboards have bigger graphic counters and a new coloring scheme to clearly separate the budget data from the rest.
  • Fix – Various bug fixes

Jun 7, 2024

  • New – Change Request impacting the schedule are now automatically updating the “Approved end date” of the project and are clearly flagged. 
  • New – Project duration (in days) is now displayed in the overview page and in the status report. 
  • Improved – Schedule and RAID filters have been improved
  • New – Baseline capability has been added to the schedule
  • New – Schedule history is now available. The schedule automatically save itself and provides multipole restore points
  • Improved – New triggers have been added to the warning engine to better support more use cases
  • New – Search is now available across the entire site  and covers multiple items
  • Improved: project search now includes RAID items
  • New: In the Simplified view, we have added the Tasks Kanban view. The Kanban view is now the default one

Apr 20, 2024

  • New – Document search is indexed and fully integrated with external drives (OD. GD. etc).
  • Improved – Schedule and RAID filters have been improved 
  • Improved – Milestones in gantt chart are placed in different level when colliding
  • Improved – CSV exports data improvement
  • Improved – Dashboards columns are also customizable “per user” and can be set directly in the dashboard.
  • Fix – Fixed bugs in schedule and RAID where resources couldn’t be copied via context menu

Mar 16, 2024

  • New – OneDrive Integration (2-way) 
  • New – Google Drive Integration (2-way)
  • New – Schedule Kanban view
  • New – Tracking and Operational initiatives have been simplified and add the ability to migrate to a full project
  • Improved – Document templates can now be organized into folders

Jan 29, 2024

  • Improved – Site Settings’ UI has a new look with explanation and guide
  • New – Portfolio status can now be exported unified 
  • New – Jira Integration (2-way)
  • New– MS Project Integration (2-way)
  • New– Simplified view – Record is committed automatically

Dec 22, 2023

  • New – Introduced a FREE plan
  • New – Introduced a new trigger-based Warning engine
  • New – Added charts for budget’s status
  • New– Added Portfolio Manager role
  • New– Added Portfolio view in My Dash for assigned Portfolio Managers
  • New – Project type can be hidden if not in use
  • Improved – Status reports now export in PDF landscape for better readability

Nov 25, 2023

  • Fix – Bugs and UI tune-ups
  • New – RAID Cards in Kanban mode have an updated look
  • New – Added 5 custom budget fields. You can track your own custom financial targets and display them in the various dashboards and status reports
  • New – Budget templates can now be created by importing directly from MS Excel
  • New– When, in a project, components are hidden, all related options are also hidden
  • New– Added a Resource view for Portfolios

Nov 5, 2023

  • Fix – Bugs and UI tune-ups
  • New – Introduced Operational and Task Tracking as type of initiatives
  • New – Project type tags are now colored differently for a better experience
  • New – Project types are now tracked in the Dashboards
  • New– Added ability to show/hide all details’ components separately in the Overview page 
  • New – Added a “Note” field in vendor expenses.

Oct 5, 2023

  • Fix – Bugs and UI tune-ups
  • New – Introduced Financials lock
  • New – Dashboards: added alert icons for values over the baseline 

Sep 6, 2023

  • Fix – Fixed FY calculation in PM Dashboard
  • New – Introduced a new Trial start Welcome guided setup
  • New – Table’s headers have a new and improved look
  • New – Added option to include/exclude any given project in the overall Budget and/or Financials calculations
  • New – Added option to enable/disable the budget fiscal on a per project basis

Aug 25, 2023

  • Fix – Bugs and UI tune-ups
  • Update – We updated all internal libraries to the latest version 
  • New – Introduced a Simplified project type to be used for task tracking type activities
  • New – Increased the number of components that can be turned off separately
  • New – Tasks can now be added directly from the dashboards
  • New – The Trial plan has been simplified by turning off, by default, all advanced components. All features can be turn back on in the Site settings
  • New – Individual users can now customize their dashboards by show/hide columns of data. Go to “My Account” to customize it.

Aug 10, 2023

  • Fix – Bugs and UI tune-ups
  • New – Grouping of resources in MyTeams
  • New – Pre-built budget “Estimates vs Actuals”
  • New – Status report now has a new widget: Summary bar
  • New – More components can be turned off separately
  • New – New tasks can be added directly from the dashboard

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