If you are reading this post, then most probably you are looking to change the project management tool that you are using right now, and you have heard somewhere about the potential of Zoho project management software.
If that is the case, then this one is especially for you.
In this blog, we are going to talk about the Zoho project management tool, its key features that it so proudly flaunts, all of the benefits that you get when you use the applications, and what are the limitations in its thick armor.
So let’s get cracking.
What is Zoho Projects?
Zoho project management tool is an incredible cloud-based PM solution that allows managers and team members alike to increase collaboration among themselves and the company as a whole.
It also helps to track all of the tasks and processes included in the project development process and create workflows among many other functionalities.
This amazing application also allows you to manage all of the scope creeps and project risks associated with the project development process and helps you to handle and eradicate all of them easily and effortlessly.
With the Zoho Project management app, you can manage your tasks from anywhere. The Android and iOS mobile apps make it simple to handle remote work and Ad hoc schedules. Don’t you think it’s one of the top free project management software?
Let’s take a look at some of the best features that this amazing project management tool has to offer to its clientele.
Key Features of Zoho Projects
Here is a list of the features that we are going to discuss in this article.
- Resource Management
- Timesheet Management
- Gantt Charting
- Blueprinting
- App Integrations
Let’s take a look at all of these features in a little detail.
1. Resource Management
If you are a part of the project management paradigm, then you would know about the importance of every single one of the resources that are in your resource pool.
Be its mechanical equipment, money, or human labor, every single resource is critically important because you never know what you might need at a specific moment in the project development process.
This is where Zoho shines because it helps its users with an exemplary resource management feature that allows its users to properly allocate all of its resources according to their demands.
And how can the users do that? Well, they use the Resource Utilization chart.
This chart shows the user’s entire workload, all of the resources in the resource pool, and the demand for those resources at a specific moment in the entire project development process.
This incredible chart has two different views.
- Heatmap View
- Bar View
The users can use both of these views according to their taste and get the job done.
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2. Timesheet Management
When you have so many different people working on the project development process, and you have to keep an eye on their productivity, the frequency of their work activities, and the time associated with each of the activities that they perform, you need a tool, and lucky for you Zoho has got you covered.
The amazing timesheet management feature that the application provides to its users allows them to make sure that every activity that the team members perform is tracked and monitored.
This tracking can help the project management to measure their productivity and make better staff decisions in the future.
Here is a highlight of what this timesheets feature can do for you.
- It can help you track the time associated with an assigned list of different tasks or track the time of a specific task
- It can help you to record all of your billable hours
- It can also help you to generate detailed timesheet reports for documentation and a lot more
3. Gantt Charting
Another feature that this application offers is Gantt charting.
Essentially what happens is that the development team members perform many different tasks and activities at the same time, and there is no way to see the dependencies that all of these tasks have on each other, on the project manager.
This is where Gantt charting comes in.
This view provided by Zoho will help you see all of the tasks and processes related to your project development process in a more detailed way, so that the development team can see all of the task dependencies and priorities, and will know what tasks to perform first.
This Gantt charting feature is also going to provide you with a perk called the critical path. Basically, this critical path will help you in executing the project development process in the most effective way possible.
4. Blueprinting
This feature allows you to design a digital sketch board to visualize your entire project development process. This feature automates this visualization and makes it more seamless.
5. App Integrations
Zoho project management application is amazingly versatile and comes with many different app integrations within its ecosystem. These apps include:
- Zoho Sprints: This application allows you to employ the Agile approach and manage all of the sprints included in the project development process
- Zoho Analytics: This application helps the users to create reports that are full of advanced project analytics, which makes sure that your documentation regarding the project is immaculate
- Zoho Invoice: This application helps you to record all of the expenses and invoice time logs related to the project, and it also helps to create project budgets for better resource allocation
- Zoho People: This application helps to balance the workload between your project team members and makes sure that your resources are not exhausted and are compensated accordingly
- Zoho CRM: This application helps to oversee all of the customer relations and project activities related to clients
Change is an essential component of the agile approach. This covers the actual practice. So, while personalization is excellent, if you are going to continuously refine your process after each retrospective, you should keep it simple. It is critical that your tool be adaptable.
With this in mind, Zoho Sprints is a lightweight, adaptable Zoho agile management app designed for big and small teams, agility in IT industries, and seasoned agile enthusiasts as well as newbies.
Before we look at the benefits that this application provides to its vast army of users, let’s take a look at some of the limitations that this app has.
Major Limitations of Zoho Projects
Here is a list of the limitations that we are going to discuss in this article.
- No PDF Annotations or Image Mark-ups
- No Recurring Reminders
- No Offline Access
Let’s discuss these limitations in detail.
1. No PDF Annotations or Image Mark-ups
With all of the features that Zoho has to offer, you’d expect them to include PDF annotations and image mark-ups, but sadly it does not.
2. No Recurring Reminders
This application also doesn’t allow you to set any recurring reminders for any of your tasks and processes included in the app dashboard.
3. No Offline Access
If you’re off the grid and have no access to the internet, then sadly you cannot access any of the data you have to work with on the app dashboard.
But enough with the negative. Here are some amazing benefits that you can enjoy when you use the Zoho project management application.
Major Benefits of Zoho Project Management Application
Here is a list of the benefits that this amazing application has to offer its users.
- Team Collaboration
- Project Planning
- Project and Task Reporting
1. Team Collaboration
One of the most important aspects of any and every project development process is the collaboration and communication that takes between the team members, project managers, and even the stakeholders.
It is one of the most important elements of a project that can improve team engagement and the overall productivity of the gang, because of how everyone is going to be informed and how everyone is going to know what they have to do.
Zoho helps its users to increase their productivity and communication through the collaboration feature that the app provides. This feature is divided into three types.
- Chat: Users can use this to have public and private conversations
- Forum: Users can use this to have discussions about the various aspects of the project development process
- Feed: Users can use this to check out what’s been happening in the project development process other than the work that they are doing
2. Project Planning
If we take a step back and focus on the more pressing feature that the Zoho project offers, then it is Project Planning. The application is an amazing project planner, whether you throw a simple project at it or a complex behemoth.
The users can use the application and create different project tasks, subtasks, task dependencies and also manage all of the assignees that have to work on the tasks included in the project development process.
3. Project and Task Reporting
This is another incredible feature that the app provides, Project and Task reporting. The feature allows users to check out the entire project development process, and everything associated with it.
Then when they have all of the data, they can generate some incredibly detailed reports that are going to allow them to make sure that there are no missing spaces in regards to information among the different key players in the project team, e.g. project managers, team members, and stakeholders.
FAQ’s
- Is Zoho a competent project management software?
A full task management module, simple Gantt charts, excellent resource allocation, and simple communication are just a few of the reasons why Zoho Projects is the best project management software. It is inexpensive both in terms of usage through mobile applications and in terms of pricing.
- What is the purpose of Zoho?
Zoho Office Suite is a web-based online office suite available in India that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, web conferencing, customer relationship management (CRM), project management, and invoicing, and other applications. It was created by Zoho Corporation.
- What is the difference between Zoho projects and Zoho sprints?
Zoho Projects is essentially an online project management software for creating and managing projects, whereas Zoho Sprints is a planning and tracking solution tailored exclusively for agile teams.
- Is Zoho suitable for agile project management?
Zoho Sprints is an agile project management application that enables teams to operate in an iterative and collaborative manner.
Conclusion
The application is an incredible project management tool, but as with everything, you might not like it because it doesn’t suit your needs and requirements. If that is the case, then we would recommend that you try out nTask.
It is an incredible project management and task management software that can do all of this and much more. Check it out and see how it fits your entire project environment.
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