Jira
IT Project Management Software
IT department project management software is simply a specialized form of PM software. Its primary goal is also to increase efficiency, and it does so partly by helping keep all team members on the same page and IT projects on the right track.
Compare All IT Project Management Software
Freshservice
Freshservice
Freshservice is a powerful IT Service Management solution from Freshdesk. This cloud-based system frees IT departments from clunky, server-based solutions, offering on-the-go mobility, powerful features, and flexible pricing....Read more
monday.com
monday.com
monday.com, an award-winning collaboration and project management platform, helps teams plan together efficiently and execute complex projects to deliver results on time. monday.com team management and task management tool allows ...Read more
SpaceRunner
SpaceRunner
SpaceRunner is a cloud-based facility management platform that helps small to large enterprises monitor employee occupancy across corporate workspaces. It enables users to maintain employee logs with details including room number,...Read more
MeisterTask
MeisterTask
MeisterTask is a cloud-based project and task management solution that caters to businesses of all sizes. Key features include file management, time tracking and reporting. MeisterTask offers a dashboard that helps users view...Read more
Software pricing tips
Read our IT Project Management Software Buyers GuideSubscription models
- Per employee/per month: This model allows you to pay a monthly fee for each of your employees.
- Per user/per month: Users pay a monthly fee for users—normally administrative users—rather than all employees.
Perpetual license
- This involves paying an upfront sum for the license to own the software and use it indefinitely.
- This is the more traditional model and is most common with on-premise applications and with larger businesses.
Rated best value for money
Zoho Sprints
Zoho Sprints
Zoho Sprints is a cloud-based product roadmap solution for businesses of all sizes. The solution is designed to be used by agile teams and offers features such as user dashboards, reporting, scrum boards, timers and timesheets. Zo...Read more
Planview Clarizen
Planview Clarizen
Planview Clarizen is an award-winning enterprise work management solution for project portfolio management (PPM) and professional services delivery teams. The solution enables PMOs, EPMOs, PSOs, and ESOs to gain real-time visibil...Read more
ProWorkflow
ProWorkflow
Founded in 2002 and acquired by ProActive Software Ltd in 2003, ProWorkflow is a cloud-based project management and time tracking software that caters to companies of all sizes. ProWorkflow includes all the features of a trad...Read more
Toggl Plan
Toggl Plan
Toggl Plan (formerly Teamweek) is a project management solution that helps businesses manage tasks, projects, client requirements and more. The solution comes with a drag-and-drop interface, which allows managers to create/modify ...Read more
Project Insight
Project Insight
Project Insight (PI) is award-winning work & project management software that helps companies manage and visualize projects, allocate personnel, streamline accounting, and track what work is being done throughout their entire orga...Read more
Popular IT Project Management Software Comparisons
Buyers Guide
Last Updated: March 08, 2022Project management (PM) software is one of the most popular genres of software among small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and enterprises alike. And among all the PM software buyers we speak with at Software Advice, the largest group (roughly 20 percent) are looking for software to manage their information technology (IT) projects. This shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, IT projects can rival all other business projects in terms of scope, complexity and the number of participants they involve.
IT project management software is a specialized form of PM software. It's designed to mesh well with the tasks, workflows and collaboration methods used by teams that work in IT fields and particularly software development.
This IT project management Buyer's Guide will help software buyers make better purchase decisions. It discusses the following topics and questions:
What Is IT Project Management Software?
Common Features of IT Project Management Tools
Questions to Answer Before You Purchase IT Project Management Software
What Is IT Project Management Software?
General PM software can be used to manage a very wide variety of business projects. Of course, small projects that can be completed in a day by a single person don't typically need much in the way of management. So it's understandable that most companies use PM software for longer-term projects, like those that are expected to take weeks, months or years to complete.
The main purpose of PM software is to increase a company's working efficiency, allowing it to launch, revise and complete projects faster. It accomplishes this by improving the visibility team members have of project as a whole and of its various related components. At the same time, team members can customize how their individual tasks are presented, letting them prioritize their work while still meeting the project's overall timeline and goals.
Project dashboard in Workfront IT Project Management
IT department project management software is simply a specialized form of PM software, so all of the above holds true. Its primary goal is also to increase efficiency, and it does so partly by helping keep all team members on the same page and IT projects on the right track. How does it do this? By using the applications and features highlighted in the following section.
Common Features of IT Project Management Tools
The field of project management software is very wide and includes solutions with varying degrees of customization for the management of IT-specific projects. As with all software purchase decisions, your long-term success will be determined mostly by how well the software aligns with your existing and planned workflows and management goals.
| Project planning | Gives an overview of all ongoing projects, providing details on each regarding timelines and deadlines, collaboration, team-member participation and more. |
| Access control | Gives management the tools needed to control account and team member permissions to specify which users can access, create and change specific PM items. |
| Deadline alerts | Set up automated alerts based on project deadlines and progress to help team members complete more tasks on time and keep complex projects on schedule. |
| Charts and timelines | Know the status of any project at a glance. Timeline tools give quick visual representations of project and task statuses with Gantt charts and scrum boards. |
| Collaboration tools | Provide forums and communication tools (such as chat) with which team members can collaborate on projects in real time, even if in different offices and time zones. |
| Time and expense tracking | Time and expense tracking tools are especially helpful when using outsourced developers and when billing third-party clients for development work. |
| Project templates | Reuse common project outlines and workflows, so that they don't need to be created from scratch each time. |
| File management | File management apps help organize project files, ensuring team members can access files when needed, helping track changes over time and manage permissions. |
| Request forms | Templated forms for request submission that help ensure requests are monitored, organized and implemented into the correct schedules and workflows. |
Remember that vendors name and describe their product features differently. The above list provides a basic outline of features and applications and can be used to begin your search. Alternatively, call our advisors for a free FastStart consultation (844) 680-2046 and we'll help you tick off all the right boxes in 15 minutes or less.
Project Gantt chart, schedule and workload overviews in Sciforma Project Management
Questions to Answer Before You Purchase IT Project Management Software
- Are you looking for a cloud or on-premise IT project management solution?
While many vendors still offer on-premise PM solutions, a majority of buyers in the SMB space are opting instead for cloud-deployed solutions, also termed Software-as-a-Service or SaaS. Cloud PM solutions have many advantages, including faster deployment and lower startup costs, easier access (especially for remote workers) and the fact that the vendor handles security and updates for you and behind the scenes. - What is your current method of IT project management?
Companies upgrading existing PM solutions have different requirements and expectations than companies buying for the first time. The most full-featured IT PM solution will not always be the best fit, especially if your team is used to using manual methods (spreadsheets and emails), as are a majority of the buyers we speak with.
Current management methods used by buyers we speak with
- Does your company prefer a particular project management methodology?
Agile, waterfall, scrum and PRINCE2 are a few examples of PM methodologies. Some PM solutions work better with particular methodologies; some can be used more broadly. Ensure that whatever solution you choose will work well with your company's chosen or preferred management tactic.
Aside from matching your PM methodology, you'll also want to ensure that you choose an IT PM solution that can seamlessly support your team's preferred communication channel, whether that's email, chat, Slack or something else.
Have questions of your own? Give us a call at (844) 680-2046 for a free no-obligation FastStart consultation. A specialist project management advisor will answer your questions and provide you with a shortlist of products to help you narrow down your search.