Dec 4, 2006
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4 Benefits of Project Management Software for Education & e-Learning
Educational institutions, e-learning companies and providers of educational curriculum face specialized challenges in project management. A coherent project management strategy can increase the efficiency of developing educational product and educational programs. Project management software can be the foundation for this strategy.
Product development groups in these companies can work on upwards of 120 new projects at any given time. These projects are generally the development of new educational programs that will be offered to hundreds of thousands of students overtime –programs that are crucial in those students’ academic or professional development. The programs can range from vocational or technical programs to graduate and undergraduate courses.
Project management software enforces a unified project management strategy across the product development groups in education and e-learning companies, and brings several benefits.
1) The ability to make apples-to-apples comparisons of the status of multiple projects and budgets.
2) The ability to make better resource allocation decisions by providing a complete picture of where people are deployed, track time and where their time is already accounted for/allocated for ongoing or future educational projects.
3) Provide a mechanism to generate projects metrics, measure results and optimize product development processes.
4) All of which reinforces greater accountability, operational efficiencies and facilitates better project planning by having business intelligence at management’s fingertips.
While there are many project management software solutions available, web-based or online solutions can serve up this kind of information anytime, giving management complete and transparent access to the status of multiple projects or the entire educational product development portfolio.
Many educational providers have evaluated competing project management solutions, including Microsoft Project Server and chosen Vertabase Pro. The decision is often based on functionality, ease-of-use, cost-efficiency and the quality of training and post-sales support.
Why we use Project management software in educational institute ? but our work has to be completed with email .we send report to our Project Guide (i.e Faculty or Professor) and communicate via chat server ………or online chat .there is no facility to send error location …………..
plz answer my Question
Hi Sameer,Project management software allows you to create and manage project plans. It sounds like what you are doing right now is more task management.There are many advantages to building and working off a plan, rather than task list. These advantages include better visibility into the future on resource needs, better visibility into potential risks and greater lead time in addressing things that may need to change.In an educational institution, a plan (and project management software) allow you to capture budget, schedule and time tracking information about projects, people and tasks. This valuable information when setting annual budgets and when reporting to a Board of Governors.
Hi Mark,
I am a computer graduate working as an I.T analyst. I am thinking about getting a Project Management certification. Do you think it will help me in moving up on the ladder. Would the combination of these 2 different fields be beneficial for me?
Thanks.
Hi Viv,
Yes, project management certification can help you move up the ladder as a manager. The benefit comes from two places.
1. The education you get while studying for the certification will give you powerful tools for managing projects, people and budgets.
2. The certification itself is recognized by many employers as having value.
It also shows a level of commitment to being a manager and wanting to move in that direction.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that for some certifications, like the PMP, you will need to have a certain amount of documented experience in working on projects before you can qualify for the exam.
Here is a link to the PMI’s requirements for a PMP: http://www.pmi.org/Certification/Project-Management-Professional-PMP.aspx.