At InLoox, we understand that successful projects have one key element in common: proper planning. A well-thought-out, careful project plan can head off problems before they arise, ensure that all parties involved know their role, and allow for changes without throwing the project into upheaval. While the stages of project planning can vary, our InLoox PM for Outlook platform streamlines planning by providing team members with a simple, Web-based management system where their progress can be viewed, shared, and amended in real time during all stages of a project.
Stage 1: Preparation
Every project begins with an idea, but before work can be done, information must be gathered to support and define the project. This is one of the project management stages in which the manager and stakeholders decide on project requirements and long-term goals. InLoox PM allows users to collect ideas, organize information visually, and have ideas, concepts, and drafts available at a glance. The free-of-charge InLoox PM Resource Editor allows the translation of the entire user interface into any language so all stages of a project can advance smoothly.
Stage 2: Identify the Outputs and Determine Necessary Tasks
Once the necessary background preparation is finished, the second of the project planning stages is identifying what output will make the project a success. In this part of the project management stages, the path to the end goal is determined. Once identified, the next step is determining what tasks are needed for the outputs to be completed. Outlining the necessary tasks for a project is one of the stages of project planning that is important but should not be focused on exclusively, despite the intricacies involved in dividing and subdividing the workload. InLoox PM for Outlook simplifies this stage by providing a visual overview of upcoming tasks, increasing planning reliability, and reducing maintenance through consistent integration with Microsoft Outlook.
Stage 4: Identify Resources and Develop a Resource Plan
One of the stages of project management that is often underutilized, identifying resources, should not be left on the sidelines or considered on an as-needed basis. Once resources have been identified, the project manager should determine how each will be handled. InLoox PM’s Resource Overview allows users to manage resources and workload more effectively by integrating project work packages from inside InLoox with appointments from Microsoft Exchange Server’s free/busy service, ensuring an instant and complete summary of all project resources whenever needed.
Stage 5: Form the Team
Also known as the work breakdown structure, this is the stage during which assigning out work to individuals or smaller groups based on their particular strengths or expertise and communication between team members become vital to project success. With InLoox PM Contact Manager, users have the option of creating an InLoox PM contact for each project member. External project members or stakeholders who do not have a Windows user account can log onto the platform even if they are not available as Outlook or Exchange contacts, ensuring that everyone involved with the project can communicate.
Stage 6: Establish the Timeline
The project has a unified vision, the specific needs of the project have been decided, necessary tasks are identified, and team members have been considered. It is time to determine how long the tasks will take, in what order, and how this will affect project flow. Establishing a timeline is one of the most critical project planning stages: Work that can be finished in a day should not be allowed a week and vice versa. Subdivisions that rely on information from other assignments must be scheduled accordingly. Through InLoox PM, project managers can establish project milestones, monitor project deadlines, and view the progress of each subdivision in real time.
Whether your project is for two or 200, InLoox PM Outlook is the best solution for managing your workload. We offer a no-obligation free trial of InLoox 8 PM for Outlook and InLoox now! 7, our cloud-based project management platform, accessible online via Web browsers and Microsoft Outlook, so you can see how versatile and user-friendly InLoox is before you buy. We also offer the InLoox mobile app free of charge with Universal User access. Compatible with Android and iPhones, our app gives you the power of InLoox on your mobile device so you can stay up to date on the go.
Purchase InLoox and experience a project management platform that has been field-tested across all industries. Whatever your need, InLoox has a platform that will simplify the stages of project management and increase productivity.