Going Online – The Basics
First off, let’s define what we mean by an “online project management tool” and clarify some of the lexicon being all-too casually thrown around here. By the OnlinePMTools.com Dictionary (ahem, unpublished…), an online project management tool is “any application designed to provide project management-related capabilities while being primarily accessible and manipulated via a Web browser.”
That obviously leaves a lot of wiggle room, with some applications focusing on document collaboration, time or task management counting alongside applications that provide deep planning and workflow management capabilities for an entire enterprise. You’ll find a bit of each, and lots of variety in between, on OnlinePMTools.com’s review pages. The important distinguishing factor is the use of the Web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc) as the primary user interface.
What about some other terms we loosely toss around:
- Tools vs Applications vs Services: We largely use these interchangeably, though some more knowledgeable and pure in discipline than us are probably shaking their heads. In the context of Software as a Service (SaaS), the three terms are reasonably interchangeable.
- Hosted vs Self-Hosted vs Desktop: Hosted in this context means the application and usually your data resides on the vendors servers and is accessible via Web browser. A common example is Google Apps, or most any Web-based email such as Gmail and Hotmail. Hosted applications are what we focus on here, though some vendors provide options for Self-Hosted applications, whereby you download the application and set it up on your own servers and then make it accessible to staff via Web browser. Note this is distinct from Desktop applications, such as Microsoft Project, where a single copy is installed on each laptop or desktop computer and licensing is generally managed on a per seat basis.
- Software-as-a-Service (Saas): Essentially a more marketable name for hosted applications, at least by our off-the-cuff definitions. According to a much more exhaustive explanation on Wikipedia, SaaS means “a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. SaaS software vendors may host the application on their own web servers or download the application to the consumer device, disabling it after use or after the on-demand contract expires.”
Why Go with an Online Tool?
Depending on what you’re using – if anything – now for project management, shifting to an online, hosted solution can offer significant benefits. For example:
- Save money on licensing, training, and maintenance fees via more flexible pricing options
- Remove the dependency on standardized desktop environments
- Enable access from anywhere, and from any device
- Dramatically improve the ability for remote staff or distributed teams to work together
- Better integrate with other hosted services, such as content management systems, bug tracking, and invoicing
- Shift your data off the desktop or in-house storage for easier management, backup, and disaster recovery
- Provide an easy and professional solution for inviting clients and partners into the project
The benefits are legion, and assuming you have a crisp idea of what you’re looking to accomplish, can be easy to distill down into a compelling Return-On-Investment (ROI) analysis to convince your company’s bean counters.
That all sounds great! But surely there are some drawbacks to consider – so what are they?
- You must be online to use the tool - in most cases, online project management tools are Web browser-based with little or no functionality or data available to you if you don’t have Internet access. Continuous connectivity is the baseline assumption. Keep this in mind if, for example, you have some road warriors who may need access to the project plans in places with spotty connectivity options. Also note that some vendors provide downloadable client applications that may provide offline access.
- Mind the bandwidth - As with any complex Internet application, keep in mind any bandwidth caps or charges you may have through your Internet service provider (ISP). Most of the apps on this site are pretty lean, but often it’s in the transfer of large supporting files that you run the risk.
- Security should always be a concern - Most of your data won’t live on computers or servers you control (it will be “in the cloud” aka on your vendor’s server farm or that of the hoster they use); You will need to keep tight control over user access, permissions, and login credentials as with any Web-based application.
In short, you face the potential drawbacks of any Web-based application such as remote email and content management systems. Do the benefits outweigh the concerns? Judging by the growing popularity of online project management tools and the proliferation of vendors, the answer seems to be a resounding yes. The power and flexbility of the collaboration options, on-demand pricing, great client-facing sites, etc. all tend to trump concerns about accessibility and security and make investing in online project management tools worth consideration.
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