Project Schedule Tracking Tools in Software Engineering

Project Planning is an important activity performed by Project Managers. Project Managers can use the tools and techniques to develop, monitor, and control project timelines and schedules. The tracking tools can automatically produce a pictorial representation of the project plan. These tools also instantly update time plans as soon as new information is entered and produce automatic reports to control the project. Scheduling tools also look into Task breakdown and Risk management also with greater accuracy and ease of monitoring the reports. It also provides a good GUI to effectively communicate with the stakeholders of the project.

Features of Project Scheduling Tools

• Time management: The project scheduling tools keep projects running the way it is planned. There will be proper time management and better scheduling of the tasks. 
• Resource allocation: It provides the resources required for project development. There will be proper resource allocation and it helps to make sure that proper permissions are given to different individuals involved in the project. It helps to monitor and control all resources in the project.
• Team collaboration: The project scheduling tool improves team collaboration and communication. It helps to make it easy to comment and chat within the platform without relying on external software.
• User-friendly interface: Good project scheduling tools are designed to be more user-friendly to enable teams to complete projects in a better and more efficient way. 

Benefits of Project Scheduling Tools

• Defines work tasks: The project scheduling tool defines the work tasks of a project.
• Time and resource management: It helps to keep the project on track with respect to the time and plan.
• Cost management: It helps in determining the cost of the project.
• Improved projectivity: It enables greater productivity in teams as it helps in smarter planning, better scheduling, and better task delegation.
• Increased efficiency: The project scheduling tool increases speed and efficiency in project development. 

Criteria for Selecting Project Scheduling Tools

• Capability to handle multiple projects: The scheduling tool must handle multiple projects at a time.
• User-frinedly: It should be easy to use and must have a user-friendly interface.
• Budget friendly: The tool should be of low cost and should be within the development budget.
• Security features: The tool must be secured and risk-free from vulnerable threats.

Top 10 Project Scheduling Tools

1. Microsoft Project
2. Daily Activity Reporting and Tracking (DART)
3. Monday.com
4. ProjectManager.com
5. SmartTask
6. ProofHub
7. Asana
8. Wrike
9. GanttPRO
10. Zoho Projects

Let’s start discussing each of these tools in detail.

1. Microsoft Project

Microsoft offers a Project Management tool named Microsoft Project for Project Planning activities. It is simple to use Microsoft Projects for scheduling projects. It generates a variety of reports and templates as per Industry standards. It can produce data in diagrams or charts in pictorial form. Themes and templates can be customized as per the user. It supports cloud services and can share data remotely with other users.

Features:

• Creating the project.
• Assigning resources to the task.
• Tracking the process.
• Managing the cost of the project.
• Analysis of the project.
• Automatic / Manual Scheduling for specific tasks or the entire project.
• To accomplish the tasks, deadlines are set.

2. Daily Activity Reporting and Tracking (DART)

DART Daily Activity Reporting Tool, enables you to track the changes to record made by users. Many organizations use the DART tool which monitors the progress of the software project. DART collects the project data and keeps track of the activities in the process. DART which tracks the progress of the project is called an indicator that computes the project plan. The DART is used to scale the software project stakeholders regarding the performance and updates of the project. 

Features:

• Defines work tasks and their Interdependencies.
• Provides the ability to dispatch the email with a summary of changes.
• Tracks the process and changes in the project plan.
• Analyzing the project plan.
• Manages budget for the project.

3. Monday.com

Monday.com is a free project scheduling tool for small businesses, startups, and freelancers. It’s a project management application to schedule and manage the project. It provides a report for project development. It allows us to share files, discuss feedback on projects and get teams onboard on the management tool.

Features:

• Consists of various customizable templates for projects.
• It helps in executing processes in the project plan.
• Has various automated functionalities for the development of projects.
• It assigns and schedules the tasks accordingly.
• Easy workload management.

4. ProjectManager.com

ProjectManager.com is a very simple and useful application for project planning. It plans and schedules the project easily. It is cost-friendly and suited to various types of project development. This projectmanager.com also provides the functionality for tracking the productivity of the team in project development. 

Features:

• Provides Gantt chart to track the schedule of processes.
• Easily updates available.
• Can create a  detailed project plan using this tool.
• Budget-friendly tool.
• Can integrate with Office 365, slack, and more applications.

5. SmartTask

SmartTask is an all-in-one project management application that manages projects easily. It can automate project workflows. It has task management, time tracking, CRM, team collaboration, multiple project views, analytics, and reporting features. It has an auto-scheduling option for project scheduling.

 Features:

• Auto scheduling.
• Reminders and updates notifications.
• Team collaboration.
• Analysis of project planning.
• CRM functionality.

6. ProofHub

Project management can be time-consuming, especially if you have a large team. ProofHub helps you manage your projects, deadlines, and tasks so that you never miss another deadline again. It makes it easy to collaborate with your team – whether it’s to plan, track and deliver projects on time. The intuitive interface helps you create complex activities like milestones and tasks, then group them into bundles to easily prioritize your work.

Features:

• Organize project tasks and schedule meetings.
• Easily track employees’ and ProofHub’s progress.
• Provides an easy way for multiple people to collaborate on and complete the tasks.
• It gives Gantt chart, boards, table view, task management, and time tracking tool for managing your tasks.

7. Asana

Asana is a collaborative tool that allows users to easily track their projects.  Asana is used for managing tasks, clients, and documents, but there are no shared calendars or direct messaging features. What makes Asana unique is that it offers a simple online interface where users can chat with each other about all of their tasks in real time.

Features:

• Asana combines all your spreadsheets, email, and other documents in one place.
• It is a cloud-based project management software.
• It includes content calendars, ongoing recruiting processes, and project reporting in sprints.
• Asana even creates a report easily for teams to know how things are progressing.

8. Wrike

Wrike gives teams of all sizes instant access to a powerful task management system and project scheduling tool. Wrike helps the team to create the right size project, estimate and plan with smart drag-and-drop features, when it’s time to do sprint planning, it’s all in place with Gantt charts and dynamic project timelines that save a lot of time on manual iterations.

Features:

• Wrike is a fully-integrated and collaborative CRM for a project.
• It lets you track the progress of your projects in real time, share files securely and collaborate with other team members.
• Wrike helps to create fully functioning, smart, and scalable tasks.
• Wrike is a complete and innovative digital communication solution that helps teams to perform more effectively by making it easy to collaborate and share information in real time between teams.

9. GanttPRO

GanttPRO is a Gantt chart-based project management software that allows teams to plan, track and manage their business activities in a clean and easy-to-use interface. GanttPRO is a leading scheduling software that can be used by teams of all sizes and skill levels. It is one of the most popular project management solutions out there and is integrated with some of the most used project management tools like Google Chrome, Microsoft Outlook, Basecamp, and Jira.

Features:

• GanttPRO is a useful tool that helps in managing large-scale projects by offering project portfolio management features, team collaboration features, and communication features.
• It is a free, open-source project management app that lets team organize their tasks, deadlines, and actions in a Gantt chart.
•  GanttPRO comes with free templates for project management.
• Teams can add notes or comments, attach files from the cloud and send notifications to clients via email or push notifications with priorities so they get all the updates in real time.

10. Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is easy-to-use project management and project scheduling software, with a modern interface that’s ideal for organizing complex projects. With project management and scheduling software from Zoho, teams can truly customize their projects. To prefer to prioritize tasks in a grid view or a timeline, collaborate with team members, track your budget and keep track of expenses and operations spending, or analyze the performance of the team.

Features:

• Zoho Projects is a robust task management application.
• Customization of Project available.
• Team Collaboration.
• Generates automated charts and reports.
• Several Integrations and add-on services are possible.