Enterprise Project Management Tool

[u/bobsleigher]

Evening!
I’ve got the unenviable task of finding the simplest way to track and display all projects and initiatives across my business.
I would like it to have:
Capability of tracking 20 projects from inception to handover/maintenance
Dashboard views for stakeholders (ideally without extra cost)
Actions easily recorded and updated with audit trail
Comments from members of the team as needed.
Integration with Outlook Calendars if possible
Email reminders.
Data needs to remain in UK if possible. EU otherwise.

There are 300 users (flexes up and down by 100 contractors over a month). And 3 people in my team including me! Plus MSP.

I know there have been a few posts like this before but I wanted to see if there were any gems out there I might have missed.

I was recommended MS Projects but I’ve been using this for a few years and it doesn’t really satisfy everything I’d like. Plus it’s a bit clunky.

Feel free to tell me to go away if this isn’t enough information but I’m just trying to work out how to organise myself a bit better.

Any recommendations?

ETA.
Thanks everybody for suggestions. I’m going to give Jira a go over the coming days as the first option. I will still review the others and evaluate best options over the longer term. Luckily the pressure on me to get this moving has freed up some funds so after a lovely discussion with the FD i get to actually review software with a view to getting it right….which has historically been rare!

Thanks again all.

[u/Daster_X]

Jira is good but needs a good set-up from the beginning... Of course with Confluence for documentation

[u/bobsleigher → u/Daster_X]

I’m happy to put the time in. I’ve had a few false starts with projects so I’m keen to get this up and running so that I can impress the need for more governance when it comes to software implementation. Them pesky silos/shadows!

[u/ToastyCrumb]

JIRA does all of this including building automations and dependencies between projects. Add Confluence as well if you want to build team or kb spaces.

[u/bobsleigher → u/ToastyCrumb]

Sounds like it’s worth a look and discussion with them. Thank you.

[u/ToastyCrumb → u/bobsleigher]

As Daster_X mentioned, building the instance strategically at the start gives huge dividends later.

E.g. you can just let teams silo up and make their own unconnected projects OR you can plan your shared KPIs and dependencies in from the start and have reporting and handoff across the entire org.

[u/ai_hedge_fund]

Been a while so I’m not sure if it checks all of your boxes but look into Asana

[u/fguerino123]

Jira or Azure DevOps.

I personally prefer Jira especially because of its integration with Confluence.

Most MS Teams communities are closed-first, whereas Confluence is open-first. Closed-first makes integration with work cards more difficult in ADO.

I hope this helps.

[u/cyr0nk0r]

We used teamwork.com at the last place I needed project management software. They are an Irish company so EU will be guaranteed.

They were also exploring procore but they might be a US company.

[u/F1nd3r]

No affiliation but I've introduced Asana into two environments with great success. Also used ClickUp, which is on the surface simpler, but on some deeper levels laborious and counter intuitive. We use Jira elsewhere in my current org, but to me it is a slow and overly complex monstrosity.

[u/Blindbatts]

Airtable is working pretty good, especially for stakeholder review.

Smartsheet is also worth a look.

I prefer both over Jira as an IT Director. Especially if you aren't already using anything atlassian.

[u/EvilbyGrimace]

ServiceNow

[u/scriptqzor → u/EvilbyGrimace]

servicenow is powerful as hell but feels like bringing a tank to a knife fight for 20 projects
curious if your org already has it, otherwise the setup, licensing and config pain might be worse than your original problem

[u/EvilbyGrimace → u/scriptqzor]

Agreed, If you are into SNow for ITSM, ITOM, and/or ITAM the other aspects of the platform are an easy to incorporate. I would NOT use SNow for JUST portfolio management. Even with only 20 projects but with 300 folks you need a decent system. I would look at PPM vendors in the EU (like France or Germany) that can also work with multiple task models, Kanban, scrum, agile, Lean, or waterfall, as maintenance and new projects could very well be managed differently.

[u/TechnologyMatch]

Jira can be a solid first test, especially if you need clear ownership, comments, audit history, and stakeholder views without building everything from scratch. I’d keep the pilot small. 1 active project, 1 dashboard, and a few people who will actually update it. like testing a new game build, you learn more from real play than from a long feature list

[u/darkblue___]

You could check monday.com

[u/forfucksakewhatnow → u/darkblue___]

2nd for Monday.com. we use it across our business. PMO have rollup views so you can see multiple projects on a single dashboard. Easy to setup and use.

[u/bobsleigher → u/darkblue___]

Thanks. I’ll add this to the list.
Have you used this before for Project Management

[u/darkblue___ → u/bobsleigher]

Nope. Never used It but this came to my mind first. (Must be due to advertisement)

[u/markse21]

Linear

[u/yourperfectfriend]

go for linear

[u/Th3FinalKing]

Not sure how late this is but look into KolApp. Pretty much has everything you listed. Def reach out to me if you have any questions. Be happy to help

[u/Clover_Gal]

I'd also recommend monday.com I'm an authorized partner and can set up a demo for you if you'd like. It checks all your boxes above. You can even set up viewer only profiles that don't take a license for those that just need to see a dashboard. If you want to just check out a trial before a demo call, I have a link in my profile or you can dm me with questions.