Project Management Software as a Service

Introduction to Project Management Software
ASP Project Management Software
Project Management Software as a Service
On-Demand and Online Project Management Software
Project Management Software Lists, Links, Comparisons and Reviews


Software as a Service has become a popular term in project management software. It is reminiscent of the trend of ASP (application server provider) software which was popular in the late 1990's and early 2000's. It also gets thrown-around with terms like on-demand project management software, online project management software or web project management software.

SaaS project management software, as mentioned previously, is still very much about customers using software which is hosted on someone else's servers. Like the ASP approach, it is meant to remove IT department head-aches from purchasing project management software. However, it has several other connotations.

The first is that the application itself is "lighter" and easier-to-use. The functionality is generally focused on core project management needs rather than providing a large set of tools which most people generally don't ever use. It's more of a bottom-up or right-size approach to building project management software versus a top-down, expert driven model. So, for example, there may be tools which focus specifically on the fundamentals of planning projects or on project collaboration or document sharing. Others may focus on task lists or web to-do lists. But very few SaaS type project management softwares try to re-create the depth, breadth and complexity of desktop or client/server pm tools.

Another key aspect is low minimum contract commitments and the ability to test drive a project management product before buying. There is an overall philosophy of making it easy and relatively risk free to purchase and implement a tool.