Are your teams lacking decent intranet project management software? Our recent report would suggest this is the case, with 29% of workers stating that they urgently need decent project management tools to improve their productivity and feel supported whilst working from home.
Your remote workers are most likely doing their job using digital workplace solutions like intranet software, video conferencing, and instant messaging but, as our report shows, there’s clearly a gap in dedicated project management tools that enable them to work through their task list.
So what do decent project management tools actually look like? And how do they relate to intranet software? Let’s take a look.
Intranets and intranet project manager apps – how are they related?
If you’ve been tasked to create an intranet project plan, you’d be forgiven for not assuming that this extends to project management features too. After all, traditional intranet software had always centered around document management and information sharing tools – not workplace task management
However, the same cannot be said of today’s company intranets, which are miles apart from their predecessors. Now, you can expect to see intranet features such as collaboration spaces, communication tools, content-rich employee profiles, e-learning software, workflow automations, and – last but not least – project management tools.
This means you’ll need to update your current or new intranet projects to reflect the advances in intranet technology, as well as the needs of your teams, who are in desperate need of better project management tools. For your project managers and project teams especially, intuitive software that makes their lives easier will go down a storm.
What tools should intranet project management software include?
Like we mentioned above, modern intranets provide much more than just a digital filing cabinet or company news feed. Amongst other intuitive and collaboration-boosting features, intranet software is packed full of project management tools that will enable the productivity improvements teams are craving.
With that in mind, here are the tools that are essential to any intranet project management app:
Project dashboard
Any intranet project management software worthy of its name must include an interactive dashboard that centralises all of your teams’ project-related data. The dashboard should give staff an overview of their workload, pending tasks, and project plans, as well as display a project timeline, upcoming deadlines, and associated documents.
For the internal communicators in your project team, a dashboard that displays the latest comments and feedback about project progress will be especially useful. This allows them to see if any urgent updates or interventions are needed to make sure the project is delivered smoothly.
Project management dashboard in Claromentis.
Project planning tools
Where would your project be without meticulous planning? Given that effective planning is the cornerstone of project management, a budding project probably wouldn’t get off the ground without it.
On that basis, planning tools are an intranet project management app must-have. Shared calendars on your intranet, for example, will be invaluable for your project team, by providing complete visibility of everyone’s availability. This will make it easy for project managers to plan ahead and schedule the best staff for the job.
Shared calendar feature in Claromentis.
Task management
Task management features are an essential element of intranet project management software. Not only will it simplify the task allocation process for your project managers, it will also improve accountability within your project teams. Simply put, when everyone can see exactly who is working on what and when, there’s no hiding!
As a bonus, interactive elements like drag & drop Kanban boards – a staple of agile project management – help teams to visualise work. When tasks move through your workflows, staff can simply drag & drop the task card into the relevant columns, such as “in progress” or “complete”, so that others can easily spot which tasks need their attention next.
Drag & drop tasks around using Claromentis’ interactive Kanban boards.
User management
An important aspect of effective project management is understanding your team’s diverse skill sets, career goals, and expertise, and matching these to the skills needed to complete a task or project.
User management features such as content-rich employee profiles – which include details about your team members’ skills and experience – will arm your project managers with the knowledge to assign the most qualified staff to the task at hand. Doing so will improve team productivity, lead to faster project delivery times, and ultimately reduce costs.
Content-rich employee profiles in Claromentis
Collaboration tools
And finally, no project can be a success without team collaboration. At every step of your project, your internal communicators (i.e. any intranet users involved in the project) must have a forum for sharing ideas and user feedback. So you should be on the lookout for intranet project management software that includes collaboration and communication tools.
By having a continuous feedback loop, this will help project managers understand how the project is progressing, if client expectations are being met, and spot if anyone needs any help.
