Successful project completion requires efficient budget management, smart resource allocation, risk management, stakeholder satisfaction, and quality deliverables. That’s a lot of things to get right.
Things can be easier if you use project controls software to track all the elements in one place. The right project controls software enhances project transparency and improves budget management and risk management throughout the project life cycle. It also tackles the complexity of modern projects, helping you plan your resources strategically to achieve project goals. In this blog, we’ll discuss the top ten project controls software and their features.
10 Best Project Controls Software for Project Management in 2024
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for in Project Controls Software?
When searching for project controls software, project managers should prioritize the following capabilities:
- Comprehensive project tracking: Ensure that the software can track project tasks, timelines, milestones, and budget. It should also offer real-time visibility into project performance and progress
- Resource management: You know how even a mid-sized project can require active resource management to succeed. Select software that enables efficient resource allocation and management, including personnel, equipment, and materials. It should also forecast resource requirements and help you track the availability of resources through the project lifecycle
- Budgeting: Opt for software that supports budgeting and cost management. Look for cost estimation, expense tracking, and financial reporting features
- Cost-effectiveness: Project control software should have cost-effective subscription plans to meet your business requirements and offer premium features at an affordable price. A free plan or free trial is ideal as it gives you time to judge the software’s suitability without committing spends
- Risk management functionalities: Ensure the project controls software includes features for identifying, assessing, and mitigating project risks to minimize potential disruptions to project timelines and budgets
- Collaboration: The best project controls software will offer you seamless project scheduling, planning, collaboration, and communication tools
- User experience: You should also check the software’s scalability, performance, and user-friendliness
Read more: How to apply project controls
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 10 Best Project Controls Software for Project Management to Use
We have listed below the top ten project controls software to ease your project management processes.
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is a robust project management and control software that offers multiple features tailored to your project requirements. It is an all-in-one platform that helps you work closely with your team using connected workflows, docs, real-time dashboards, and more. It helps project teams move faster, work smarter, and save time.
Clickup’s Project Management Solutions help you manage resources, track deliverables, create and assign tasks, monitor progress, and integrate popular project tools—all in one place.
What’s more? Use ClickUp’s Dashboard to visualize project status through cards, tables, lists, and charts. It also helps gather and analyze the entire project data so you can easily track resources, identify bottlenecks, and stay within the budget. Customize the dashboard to your liking using any of the 50+ available widgets.
Efficient project control involves elaborate meetings and discussions. You may not be able to avoid all meetings, but you can save time with ClickUp Brain, the integrated AI assistant. Use it to summarize notes and meeting conversations, create project briefs and reports, automate task updates and action items, and auto-fill data into tables.
ClickUp best features:
- Automate workflows: Generate subtasks automatically based on task descriptions, summarize comment threads, get automated updates, project insights, and more with ClickUp Brain. Streamline actions, such as status changes, project handoffs, reviews and approvals, and more, to increase your team’s focus
- Collaborate effectively: Collaborate with your teammates on project execution with ClickUp Docs, the native documentation feature that lets teams create, edit, and share knowledge bases and more.
- Streamline project communication: Use ClickUp Chat View for real-time communication with team members, sharing updates, embedding webpages, and assigning tasks to resources
- Track progress in real-time: Monitor project progress and ensure timely delivery with 15+ ClickUp Views such as Gantt chart and Timeline view
- Efficient resource planning: Allocate resources effectively, visualize tasks, optimize workloads, and align team collaboration throughout the project lifecycle with ClickUp’s resource planning templates
- Flexibility: Flexibly organize and control everything from small teams to enterprise companies with the ClickUp Hierarchy
- Project scope management: Streamline project scope change management and assess the need for any changes with Clickup’s Change Control Management SOP template
With this template, you can:
- Create a standardized process for requesting, reviewing, and approving changes
- Track the status of each change request and ensure timely resolution
- Maintain a comprehensive audit trail of all changes for compliance purposes
ClickUp limitations:
- Customizability can feel overwhelming to you initially
- The mobile app doesn’t yet have all the features as the desktop app
ClickUp pricing:
- Free Forever Plan: Best for personal use
- Unlimited: Best for small teams; $7/month per user
- Business: Best for mid-sized teams; $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Add to any paid plan for $5/month per Workspace user
ClickUp ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)
Also read: Free project management templates to get your project started quickly
2. Asana
Asana is another user-friendly enterprise project controls software. Its key capabilities include project management, goals and reporting, resource management, and workflows and automation. Users love its intuitive interface.
This task management platform lets you develop and plan projects, assign and track tasks, and view projects in Kanban, timeline, and other views. It also provides an overview of tasks across different teams, making it suitable for cross-functional team collaboration while handling large projects. Asana also integrates with over 270 apps for project control automation.
Asana best features:
- Manage projects end-to-end and keep the team in sync and on schedule to hit their goals
- Connect every team’s work to a larger company objective while tracking progress with real-time data in reports
- Make the team more efficient with automated workflows and processes
- Plan accurate timelines, adjust workloads, and stay on track to achieve your project development goals
Asana limitations:
- Import and export data is available only in JSON and CSV file formats
- Only one person can assign tasks, creating a challenge for large teams with multiple project stakeholders. You also can’t assign tasks to multiple assignees
Asana pricing:
- Free: Forever
- Starter: $13.49/month per user
- Advanced: $30.49/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
- Enterprise+: Custom pricing
Asana ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.3/5 (9,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (12,000+ reviews)
3. Smartsheet
Smartsheet combines the flexibility of a spreadsheet with the power of a project management tool, making it one of the most versatile project controls solutions. You can easily visualize and customize project management with Smartsheet’s user-friendly interface. It’s really easy to get started, especially if you’ve had any experience working on Excel.
It helps track all project data in one place, collaborate with your team in real time, automate workflows, and analyze key project performance metrics. SmartSheet also enables smart decision-making for projects with auto-generated data visualization. However, it doesn’t have other essential project management features like documentation and goal-setting.
Smartsheet best features:
- Plan projects meticulously using Kanban, Gannt, Card, or Grid views
- Set project budgets and monitor thresholds to increase project profitability
- Divide your project into different milestones, phases, tasks, or assignments for better project management
- Simplify collaboration with document sharing, proofing, notifications, and conversation threads
- Standardize and automate project creation and reporting to scale complex projects
Smartsheet limitations:
- You need to purchase additional features like Pivot Table, etc.
- You need to buy new licenses to purchase its advanced model
- It lacks enough support for formula and data storage
Smartsheet pricing:
- Free: Forever
- Pro: $9/month per user
- Business: $32/month per user for a minimum of 3 users
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Smartsheet ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.4/5 (15,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (3,000+ reviews)
4. Runn
Runn enables smooth project planning, resource allocation and tracking, and capacity management, making it an excellent project controls software to manage your project resources efficiently.
Use Runn to set project timelines, forecast resource requirements, and track costs for successful project outcomes. Its robust reporting capabilities help you stay on top of your resource requirements and utilization, separate billable and non-billable hours, and work efficiently towards your targets.
Teams can use its Chrome extension for instant and accurate time tracking.
Runn best features:
- Balance the workload of each team member and plan around existing allocations and scheduled time off and holidays
- Manage both time and money for different project types with predictive insights on all your financial metrics
- Maintain an overview of all your resources to track team performance and identify resource utilization trends easily
- Accurately measure project progress and expenses using timesheets
- Plan for various what-if scenarios to stay prepared for any changes
Runn limitations:
- It has limited customization options, and you may not be able to adapt it to specific project elements
- You may find it complex to integrate it with specific external systems
Runn pricing:
- Free: Forever
- PRO: $10 per month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Runn ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.5/5 (Not enough reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (30 reviews)
5. Float
Float is an integrated platform for centralized resource management and project planning. You can use it to manage project tasks, set budgets and billable rates, and define project phases and timelines.
With its intuitive interface and drag-and-drop functionality, you can create detailed resource schedules, allocate resources efficiently, and identify potential bottlenecks. Its time-tracking feature provides an overview of the estimated vs. actual time for tasks, which helps control project budgets and timelines.
Float best features:
- View your team’s project schedules live to plan capacity and assign work efficiently
- Allocate tasks, set due dates, and assign budgets with an overview of everyone’s utilization rate
- Track your team’s progress and project budgets in real time while your team members log and edit their actual work hours easily
- Get notified about non-billable work trends and potential losses
Float limitations:
- It can be expensive for small teams
- You may not find it mobile-friendly and face trouble scrolling on a handset
- It offers limited integrations
Float pricing:
- Free: 14-day trial
- Starter: $7.5 per month per user
- Pro: $12.5 per month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Float ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.2/5 (1,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1,500+ reviews)
Also read: How to calculate resource loading
6. Teamdeck
Teamdeck is a comprehensive project resource management and scheduling platform for creative and technical teams. It helps manage resource availability, track billable hours, and forecast requirements easily. You can track your team’s current and future workload in real time on team calendars and allocate resources accordingly.
Teamdeck best features:
- Assign projects on your team’s calendar and define their hourly schedule based on availability, job position, skills, and your own defined attributes
- Manage your team’s vacations and track their hourly availability to know when to expect them to be at and off work
- Customize reporting templates for different teams like PM, HR, Finance, and Operations to save time
- Track individual member’s times across multiple projects with ease
- Plan better for upcoming projects by getting a complete view of your current pipeline and resource use
Teamdeck limitations:
- It does not notify anybody when a team member takes a day off, making it difficult to track team attendance
- Users have found data errors in reports
- There is no free plan, only a free trial
Teamdeck pricing:
- Free: 30-day trial
- Light Member: $2 per month
- Full Member: $6 per month
Teamdeck ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.6/5 (12 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (42 reviews)
7. Jira
Jira is an issue-tracking and agile project management tool for software development teams. You can plan, track, and release software projects effortlessly with Jira. It uses agile methodologies that enable teams to respond quickly to changing requirements, thus increasing project success rate. Integrate it with other development apps to map company goals and spot bottlenecks across different departments.
Jira best features:
- Keep your team and stakeholders in sync by adding epics, mapping work items, dependencies, and releases on a timeline
- Use scrum boards to break large, complex projects into manageable tasks so that your teams, working in sprints, ship faster
- Create customizable workflows that map to any style of work
- Set up DevOps and integrate Jira smoothly with other Atlassian products
- Get real-time data about risks and project progress to keep optimizing performance
Jira limitations:
- It cannot automate projects completely
- Users have found Jira inflexible and hard to customize
- While you can import ideas into a project using a CSV import, you cannot transfer field settings, views, or project settings with this method
Jira pricing:
- Free Forever: Up to 10 users
- Standard: $7.16 per month per user
- Premium: $12.48 per month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Jira ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.3/5 (5,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (14,000+ reviews)
8. Basecamp
Basecamp is another project management and project controls software that offers various project planning, tracking, and managing tools such as message boards, to-do lists, group chats, and card tables for project scheduling. Its biggest draw is its simple UI that focuses only on online collaboration.
With Basecamp, you can create auto check-ins for repetitive team tasks and view the overall progress of multiple projects. It also lets you schedule events, deadlines, and project milestones, ensuring project efficiency and transparency.
Basecamp best features:
- Organize all your projects, assignments, and schedules in a simple, one-page dashboard
- Use organized spaces to create, share, and discuss docs, files, and images
- Communicate effectively with real-time group chat
- Set up automatic check-ins to reduce time in meetings
Basecamp limitations:
- It lacks essential project management features like time-tracking, task assignment, and Gantt charts
- You cannot add label tags to prioritize, allocate, or categorize action items
- There is no free plan
Basecamp pricing:
- Free 30-day trial, no free plan
- Basecamp: $15 per month per user
- Pro Unlimited plan: $299 per month
Basecamp ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.1/5 (5,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (14,000+ reviews)
9. Hub Planner
With Hub Planner, you can plan and schedule your resources for different projects and track their performance by comparing forecasted time with actual time. This helps you track team performance against set goals and assess each resource’s skill set. It also provides intuitive dashboards and report templates to track project progress and profitability.
It also helps users quickly request and approve resources within the system with the help of a workflow extension.
Hub Planner best features:
- Track project timelines with Hub Planner timesheets by comparing scheduled time and the reported time for each task
- Schedule projects with ease across internal and external teams
- Use the dynamic heat map to quickly identify gaps in your project schedule and visualize your team’s workload
- Manage your project spending and gain insight into your project profitability
Hub Planner limitations:
- You cannot edit an error in your project timesheet
- Some users find project reporting a bit complicated
- While it is useful for small teams, the software may not suit the complex requirements of larger teams
Hub Planner pricing:
- Plug & Play: $7 per month per user
- Premium: $18 per month per user
- Business Leader: $54 per month per user
Hub Planner ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.2/5 (19 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (100+ reviews)
10. Saviom
Saviom’s Enterprise Project Portfolio Management solution helps organizations manage multiple projects simultaneously. You can track project status and deliverables in real time, identify project risks early on, and reduce bottlenecks.
Moreover, Saviom analyzes project performance against set budgets to increase profitability. By helping you forecast bench strength and project requirements, it helps you minimize overheads and improve billable utilization.
Saviom best features:
- Complete more projects with fewer resources with its Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) solution that can generate forecasts of resource requirements, helping you maximize utilization
- Allocate and move tasks with a simple drag-and-drop movement
- Make better decisions with detailed real-time dashboards and customizable reports with filters and custom fields
- Generate various scenarios to anticipate and plan for business challenges
- Build automated sequences and custom workflows to save time and effort
Saviom limitations:
- The documentation is limited; hence, getting things set the way you want them involves some trial and error and can be time-consuming at first
- Users have found the interface a little clunky and old-fashioned
Saviom pricing:
- Power License: Custom pricing
- Lite License: Custom pricing
- Non-User License: Custom pricing
Saviom ratings and reviews:
- G2: NA
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (20 reviews)
Summarize this article for me pleaseEnsure Project Success With ClickUp
Project managers can use project controls software to ensure the success of complex projects by enabling transparency, efficiency, and accountability. ClickUp offers a wide range of features to streamline project management processes. From capacity planning and allocation to task tracking and reporting, it optimizes the workflow for successful project delivery.
Sign up on ClickUp for free to achieve project goals!
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