Software Project Management Plan
It is hard to think of the successful completion of a business software project without the support of a Software Project Management Plan (SPMP). Such projects require adequate planning, monitoring and controlling to meet the objectives of a high-end enterprise solution. At the same time, one must take into account the total time required and manage the resources in an efficient manner to deliver the project well within the stipulated time. It was found that the most problematic areas in meeting the exact user requirements were the difficulties in articulating the needs of the clients and the incorrect estimation of the needed resources. These two and several other concerns spearheaded the development of a robust SPMP, which is still in evolutionary stage.
A software development process is concerned more with its production aspect than its technical aspect. This is why such processes look similar to general project management processes, such as risk management, change management, release management, and requirements management. The focus of the concern with all these management processes remains the proper identification of the scope, estimation of the work involved, and the creation of a work schedule. A software project development plan cannot serve a meaningful purpose of its existence unless it is not optimized for project planning, monitoring and control. The exact estimation of requirements must precede the development of a project plan to deliver the successful completion of the tasks involved.
With the project monitoring and control, the software project development plan enables the team members to work in an integrated environment where they can easily contribute to the progress of the project and be aware of its overall progress in real time.
It helps the project manager keep a focus on the planned development process with valuable inputs from its team members. If a change in plan is required at any stage of the process, the manager finds it easy to implement the same and keep abreast with the changing requirements.
Project Software
Project Management Software, or simply Project Software, is a tool that is designed to help when you are to deal with a large and complex project. Such a large project usually requires you to keep an eye on a range of details – project estimation, planning, scheduling, resource allocation, cost control, budget management, and an effective communication with team members. The project software really helps in meeting the varied requirements of a large project and provides assistance in completing the tasks involved. These tools exist under a variety of design approaches. Chief among them are Desktop, Web-based, Personal, Single User, Collaborative, Integrated, and Non-Specialized tools.
The reason why we find such a large number of project management software is simple. No specific software is suited for all project requirements. This means the moment you start working on a different project, you may need to switch to a different project management tool. Though there are some exceptions, you may find this lack of versatility in most web based tools that are available under open source license and come to you absolutely free. It is a better idea to invest in some quality project software products to have something of value that you can trust no matter what your need is.
Brooke Mueller is an author of Binifire (http://www.binfire.com/), one of the best Companies of Project Management Solutions. He is writing articles on Software Project Management Plan since long time.
