project managment tools

  

	Used for:	Advantages of this tool:	Disadvantages of this tool:
Gantt charts	A Gantt chart is used to help visually show the scale of the project and on what date tasks and activities need to be met. It also helps show possible overlaps of dates.   Alternative – Microsoft project and Github	Helps show where there might be overlaps of dates which will allow you to make sure they are properly maned.   It shows how long different assignments should take to complete.	Simplifies the task possibly making it seem easier than it is.   Doesn’t allow much flexibility, possibly leading to stress   Doesn’t also show the dependency of the task.
Flowcharts	A flow chart is a diagram of actions or tasks that need to be completed that will allow you to progress on to the next one. It shows ways that you can come to a solution with either multiple ways or maybe just one.   Alternative – excel	It can simplify a complex process to make it more understandable  makes the process clearer on how to reach an outcome.	If it is a big project, might be hard to understand the flow chart  Any changes that might happen might require a complete re-draw.
Stakeholder power interest  Matrix	This is a strategic tool that classifies stakeholders based on their level of power and interest in a project.   Alternative – excel	Allocating resources is easier as it will get allocated depending on importance  Better identifies possible risks to the project and can remove them before it becomes a problem.	Bias could be involved   Stakeholders power could change   Oversimplified, causing you to overlook factors like emotion strength and agendas.

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	Used for:	Advantages of this tool:	Disadvantages of this tool:
Budget sheets	Budget sheets allow the project manager to know what is being spent and to make sure they don’t run out of money through the project.  Alternative – Microsoft project	Easily tracks what can be spent  Can help prepare you for the future.	Rarely automatic   Time consuming to draft up  If not properly secure, people may use it to their advantage.   Can cause stress
Research another example: Kanban boards	These helps visualize work, limit work-in-progress and help maximise the flow of the project.   Alternative - Trello	An efficient way of visualising progress that is being made   Very good at allowing multi-tasking	There are usually no dates on them so its unclear when tasks need to be done.   As it isn’t time bound, it can also easily be out of date.
Research another example: Microsoft project	A project planner made by Microsoft that has almost all the features listed above.   A good alternative to using this is GitHub	Lots of project tools   Good for small and large projects  Seamless integration with teams, SharePoint, cloud, etc.	Office 365 is expensive   Although good, its to much for small projects  Mainly designed for windows, not great for Linux.

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copyright or other proprietary notices.  

 

Notes from the book: 

Evaluation tools  

• Quantitative – tools used to measure how many, how much, how big and so on  

• Qualitative – tools used to measure things like awareness, attitude, appreciation characteristics, and qualities. 

 

Marketing analytics tools  

. tools used to measure things like marketing data and is used to improve performance  

. could be used to improve performance on an app, social media or a website  

 

Search analytics  

. used to research customer interactions  

. it’s used by website owners to review performance on search engines and see where they could improve  

. usually looking at interactions, trends, common searches relating to it, ease to use, etc 

 

 

 

Social media analytics  

. businesses can use this to see where people are talking about an advert they have put up, how many people it has reached, viewer retention, and more.  

. it will help the business understand what views might like about parts of their adverts and what they don’t.  

. they can see what people think about them in the comments and see where the public might want them to improve.  

 

Financial tools  

. these are used to evaluate a company’s financial situation and make sure that they are making profit on top of the investments that they are making.  

. These tools make sure that the company are making the most amount of profit that they can 

. some of the tools that they can use is a SWOT analysis.  

 

Reporting tools  

. dashboard software enables an organisation to produce critical reports that are important to the successful functioning of the business  

. visualisation software allows a business to visually see what their performances  

. score carding relates to performance data and helps identify high achievers  

 

 

Data mining  

. this is the process of scanning big sets of data and converting it into a more useful and readable information 

. tracking patterns – recognising patterns in data  

. classification – categorising attributes of the data, allowing you to draw conclusions from the results 

. association – looking for correlations between one set of data and another  

. anomaly/outlier detection – finding something that doesn’t match a trend e.g. a spike  

. clustering – data being grouped on similarities  

. Prediction – analysing previous trends to try and get an estimate for future trends  

 

Communication tools and techniques  

Intranet  

. private secure networks  

. Usually used in an organisation to share documents  

. centralises information so increases productivity 

. usually set up to centralize information, improver internal communication, provides a platform for employees, and make repetitive tasks less repetitive 

 

Shared workspaces  

. can be accessed by remote employees who don’t have a workspace  

. virtual and collaborative – environments that allow virtual workers to use to communicate in real time  

. virtual and shared – this is a simulated environment where colleagues can share information. An example is Google drive.  

. physical and collaborative – this is a physical area made in an office to allow co-workers to work closer together.  

. physical and shared – these are spaces that are shared by multiple people but on an individual basis.  

 

Shared documents  

. these can be documents that are shard across a network, organisation or even a city 

. it allows multiple people to access, edit, and alter a document.  

. However, it is up to the original author of the document on who will have access to alter it.  

 

Discussion threads 

. This refers to two things that are related to each other  

. they are usually managed by a software, and they can relate to a group of people who are roughly talking about the same thing  

. they also allow people to reply to individual threads.  

 

Online storage  

. this is the storing of data and information via the internet.  

. this is usually a more cost effective than using physical storage as you don’t need to pay for the hardware.  

. this is often referred to as cloud storage.  

. this is usually paid for monthly (subscription) 

. this can be accessed from anywhere in the world if there is an internet connection.  

. because it’s stored on the internet, you don’t have to worry about physical damage as it stored on the internet  

. however, the data could be subject to outages and might take a long time for it to come back on because the host will have to focus on fixing it for everyone and not just individuals  

. very secure as the data is encrypted  

. key examples are Microsoft’s cloud and Googles drive.  

 

Mark up  

. comments that are tracked changes within a document/file  

. this is so that changes made can be tracked  

 

Track changes  

. this tracks what gets added and deleted  

. useful when multiple people are working on a document 

. changes are usually shown in different colours  

. allows everyone to see what has been changed  

 

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