Monday, February 8, 2010

Projects on time, within budget and with high quality

ProjectCompanion provides overview of projects and support for delivering projects on time, within budget and with high quality. This is important in order to get satisfied customers and a profitable business.

It is essential that project management tools are easy to use. Business results are improved only if the tool is used. This insight is important for us. ProjectCompanion is "as simple as possible" but still provides key functions to improve results.

Let us know if you want to try ProjectCompanion online.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Improving Small Business Performance One Project at a Time

ProjectCompanion has launched a new version of its web-based project management service that allows small businesses to manage projects more profitably.

ProjectCompanion, a Swedish developer of project management software, has launched a new version of its web-based project management service that allows small businesses to manage projects more profitably.

ProjectCompanion, available as a free download or as a hosted solution, is a web-based collaboration and project management solution that helps business owners understand projects from a business perspective. Teams can manage a portfolio of projects, plan and track projects and share information.

The benefits include improved overview of project priorities and status, improved focus on deliveries, improved control of project budget and access to key performance measures such as debit ratio, sales, productivity and profitability.

“Our clients consistently told us they needed a product that was less complicated than Microsoft Project Server and more robust and business-focused than Basecamp,” said ProjectCompanion co-founder Martin Andersson. “The cost of the service is small and the business benefits are tremendous.”

ProjectCompanion is available as a hosted solution for $15 (USD) per month for up to 15 registered users and 2 GB of document storage. With the hosted service the system is automatically connected to the Internet, communication is encrypted, data is backed up and the system is updated automatically when new features are added.

“We could get these functions free if we installed ProjectCompanion on our own server, but when the total cost is $15/USD per month, it was cheaper to just use the hosted service,” said Ben Bradley, managing director of Macon Raine, Inc., a Chicago, IL-based marketing consulting and PR firm. “More important than the cost, however, is the support we’ve received with business planning, benchmarking our debit ratios and daily fees against comparable organizations and creating a monthly budget.”

A free Consulting business planning download and interactive worksheet is available for professional services firms that want to optimize their business performance using project management. It is available online at www.projectcompanion.com.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Small business collaboration

We are introducing a web based collaboration and project management service for small businesses. No local installation is required, you only need a web browser.

With this solution, you can plan and track your work, and share information using the web.

Our new start package will make it possible to collaborate in an unlimited number of projects with up to 15 people.

The cost will be only US$15 / month including up to 15 users.

It is simple, useful, and affordable.

Communication is of course encrypted and data is backed up every day.

Contact me if you have any questions about this service.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Project methods - it is all about "mind"

As you know there are myriads of project management methods and frameworks.

Many initiatives to introduce new project methods and processes fail. The reason is simply that none of these have any direct influence on project results.

So, what do we have to do to improve results?

The answer is simple, we have to influence mind.

For example, let us say that we want to reduce the time it takes to develop a new product or system. How can that be done? We can develop and introduce a project management method, which provides a series of phases or steps to take to perform an "ideal" project.

This method will only make a difference in results if the employees find this to be a relevant tool for them in their work and it starts to influence their thinking.

That is, we need to influence processes within mind, such as framing, judging and deciding. Only then can we influence action, and thereby results. In most cases the project method only becomes a "paper tiger". It sure looks good on paper, but it has no real influence on results.

A project method is not "implemented" until it has become an integrated part of how people view and think about their projects.

When you work with introducing project methods, make sure that you do it in a way that makes people mentally involved.

One thing that is important in this context is the "meth-ends". A meth-end is the end or goal that is behind certain parts of a project method.

- Why do we have that activity in the method? Why do we have to fill in the customer requirements form?
- We do that in order to save time, because if we miss a requirement early on it will delay us later when we have to integrate it in the solution. In other words, the activity to fill in the customer requirements form is really about saving time and cost in the end.

If people start to see the ends behind the design of the method, it becomes much easier to motivate people to work with the method. It becomes easier to see the points.

One very straightforward way to improve project results is to increase awareness of the ends or goals with the project methods that are used. This is something that you can do today without any investment.

What are the key goals when we carry out our projects? What goals are driving the design of our work processes? If people know these goals and stand behind them, they can find ways to reach the goals.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

ProjectCompanion - FREE Project Management Software

What is ProjectCompanion?

ProjectCompanion is an Enterprise Project Management software. It helps companies to manage a portfolio of projects. It supports administrative processes such as orders and invoicing. It is also a tool for management reporting and control.

You can install ProjectCompanion on your own Windows server and use the free version entirely without cost. You get modules for project management, action management, document sharing and project diary. This functionality provides an excellent platform for project management in an organization.

You can learn more about ProjectCompanion at http://www.projectcompanion.com/.