Project Management Software, Part Deux

Couple of guys are using Asana. I tried it for a few days but then stopped. I should've been more committed to giving it a shot. I keep falling back to my whiteboard and spreadsheets.

We use tsheets.com for time tracking and scheduling, it integrates really well with QB, is Web based and also has a nice mobile app. Using wunderlist for tasks and you can assign due dates and reminders for team members. It also can link files to Dropbox but I haven't tried that yet. I looked at as asana but going to try to make due with these. We use some other excel based tools for lists and proposal tracking. An all in one for surveyors would be nice.

Even with my website projects, I've not been able to find a good project management service or software that works for me. I keep going back to the system we used in the surveying department in Tucson. We basically had a spreadsheet on the server that was kept updated by a department manager. Each week, we would meet and discuss the status of each project, then the manager would update the spreadsheet. Each of us kept a printed copy of the spreadsheet by our desks so we could write down updates as they occurred for the projects we were working on. Those notes could then be taken to the weekly meeting for update.

I think I have a pretty good system for organization in my web business, but I want to take it to the next level. But I keep going back to the Tucson-style of project management. It worked and it worked well. Nothing really ever fell through the cracks because we revisited everything every week. I also think there's something to be said about physically writing notes; something in my brain seems to click when note-taking is more physical. When it's just a checkbox or typing into a computer screen, it doesn't seem to have the same impact.

Check out itrade, tradify and workflowmax.

I think the last is more expensive but these should be LESS detailed than the others out there and more easy to work with. Basically job address etc etc and customizable. Click complete when completed etc.

I'm still searching myself actually. I have a call in to a few for some questions so when I find out I can report.

JWCole, post: 409095, member: 10389 wrote: We use tsheets.com for time tracking and scheduling, it integrates really well with QB, is Web based and also has a nice mobile app. Using wunderlist for tasks and you can assign due dates and reminders for team members. It also can link files to Dropbox but I haven't tried that yet. I looked at as asana but going to try to make due with these. We use some other excel based tools for lists and proposal tracking. An all in one for surveyors would be nice.

We use taheets as well, but i need something besides QB to import hours miles, progress, status, and a few other things for future reference. The Tsheets works well when you work it correctly, ie good notes everyday...but there has got to be something to manage the whole picture...ill try the spreadsheet thing and see what I come up with....thanks

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C.Tompkins, post: 409171, member: 975 wrote: ...but there has got to be something to manage the whole picture...

I couldn't agree more.

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Rich., post: 409168, member: 10450 wrote: Check out itrade, tradify and workflowmax.

Tradify and workflowmax look like they'd be very handy for a survey firm. Both of them integrate with Zero, not quickbooks...any one using Zero? Looks about as cheap (if not cheaper) as QB when you factor in the payroll cost and software upgrades.

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We use the free version of Asana currently but I consider that to be more of a project staff & deadline scheduler than a "project management" tool. Maybe the paid version has more horsepower and can handle the hours and budget end, can't comment on that. Based on several comments in a similar thread a few weeks ago we've been looking into EngineerOffice/ArchiOffice and BillQuick which are both offered by bqe. It seems to integrate all these functions very well from the demo's we've done so far. It has limited capabilities to handle CRM tasks though which is a bit of a bummer. We use Nutshell for that currently mostly to track leads, proposals, sales & pipeline.

I've looked into this extensively. We have stuck with WorkFlowMax mainly because of its detailed project accounting. It's not great for much more but it's really flexible and good for that. We work just north of NYC where we have about 6 different cost rates per employee due to prevailing wages, this is the only reasonably priced software that does this. We also use it for our time keeping and invoicing. We used to use Xero but my account has successfully insisted that we use Quickbooks. We're having custom web scripts written so it interacts with Quickbooks and we don't have to double enter data.

This is different than project communication and tracking software (WFM is just not good at this). We use Trello for midsized or bigger projects but for most small projects we just use our weekly meetings to stay on top.

If you don't need the flexibility of WFM try Harvest. Great software.

For the person who uses spreadsheets... Try Smartsheet.

I couldn't get into Asana but if you like that style try MavenLink.

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We're developing something in-house right now because nothing in the market has worked for me. I expect to have something for demonstration in the next month. The program will allow timesheet entry for multiple users, expense tracking, project costs tracking, invoicing, and project milestone and task completion tracking. I honestly haven't seen anything like this available on the market today and will be interested to get feedback from potential users if you're interested in seeing it.

geopro_consultants, post: 409220, member: 9959 wrote: We're developing something in-house right now because nothing in the market has worked for me. I expect to have something for demonstration in the next month. The program will allow timesheet entry for multiple users, expense tracking, project costs tracking, invoicing, and project milestone and task completion tracking. I honestly haven't seen anything like this available on the market today and will be interested to get feedback from potential users if you're interested in seeing it.

Interested

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geopro_consultants, post: 409220, member: 9959 wrote: We're developing something in-house right now because nothing in the market has worked for me. I expect to have something for demonstration in the next month. The program will allow timesheet entry for multiple users, expense tracking, project costs tracking, invoicing, and project milestone and task completion tracking. I honestly haven't seen anything like this available on the market today and will be interested to get feedback from potential users if you're interested in seeing it.

Also interested.

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Interested as well

I just got back from a conference.

Search for "Surveystars"

Surveystars.com is the address.

Seemed to be designed specifically for surveyors. Job tracking software and everything else pretty much packed into one.

Crews can get the app on their phone, even plug in EC numbers and the office can click a button which generates the finished EC complete with pictures.

Very neat and seems perfect but I don't like the subscription Web based software. I would rather pay $3500 and own it in house. That way I don't worry about them going out of business etc. Then I'd even pay monthly a small fee if I wanted the cloud capabilities to use with crews.

I just looked at the site though, their 'problem' is their pricing.

I'm a 4 person operation and I won't even say how much a month I'd be paying based on their pricing arrangements. I'd be paying them more than I pay my employees.

geopro_consultants, post: 409220, member: 9959 wrote: We're developing something in-house right now because nothing in the market has worked for me. I expect to have something for demonstration in the next month. The program will allow timesheet entry for multiple users, expense tracking, project costs tracking, invoicing, and project milestone and task completion tracking. I honestly haven't seen anything like this available on the market today and will be interested to get feedback from potential users if you're interested in seeing it.

Interested as well. How'd you get on with your task?

I use proworkflow which integrates with quickbooks.

antcrook, post: 427332, member: 6417 wrote: I use proworkflow which integrates with quickbooks.

Do you have multiple employees that use this site? Do they each pay $20 per month or everyone uses the same login?

DandaMan, post: 427325, member: 11506 wrote: Interested as well. How'd you get on with your task?

It is still in the works. We started with a native windows application and after early success decided to move it to cloud based. This project started as a strictly internal concept and is growing to what I think is a really commercially marketable product. I'll try to do a demo video later this week to show off what we're working with right now and the functionality we're aiming for.