If your organizations team members routinely work on projects that involve multiple users, components, stakeholders and resources, chances are you would benefit a great deal by implementing a Project Management system.  Project Management software can be used in a number of ways but primarily they support planning, tracking, scheduling, communications and documentation of projects from start to completion. 

Businesses, consulting firms, non-profits and other organizations operate much more efficiently with the right Project Management system in place. They all need a way to manage all the moving parts of a project.  In the past, many decision makers hesitated to use these systems believing them to be too big and expensive.  In many cases they were right.  Early PM systems were big and robust and were designed for big operations.  But today there are many options with systems that are ideal for and actually built for smaller groups and projects.  They are easy to use and inexpensive which are often key factors in deciding to use PM systems. There are even free systems that do a great job helping to manage projects from end to end.

Think of your Project Management system as a hub for:

• Organization
  • Store all project related information in one place where it can be accessed and viewed by all team members
  • Have visual timelines so you know what’s been completed, by whom, and what tasks are outstanding
• Communication
  • Maintain clear lines of communication with managers, team members, clients, etc.
  • Provide a means for clients and team members to discuss progress, report issues and make requests
• Planning
  • Delegate tasks to the appropriate employees
  • Determine what time, resources and personnel are needed for specific tasks
  • Make sure deadlines are being met and potential delays avoided

Monitoring and tracking your Project Management system is probably not the most effective use of your time. Your Virtual Assistant can do this for you making sure things are running smoothly. Your VA can make sure team members have the resources they need, input new project information, keep you updated on project status, monitor individual team members progress and step in and provide support wherever it’s needed.  Your Virtual Assistant becomes the Project Manager allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business. Project Management systems are one of the great tools that VAs use to support their clients.

Becky Gregory is an Executive Virtual Assistant and the owner of Virtual Administrative Services (VAS) a full service VA firm. Contact Becky today at becky@virtualadminservices.com  for a free 20 minute Discovery Session