In an ideal world, you would know exactly where each and every stage of your project stands at all times. Understanding how the budget and resources are being allocated, the existence of any risks, and the tasks that need the most attention is central to project success.
In our article how to improve project visibility we looked at why the visibility of resourcing and risk is important for project delivery. However, if you want to answer even simple questions about the status of your project with confidence, it’s essential you have access to the project data you need, when you need it.Project resource management software provides comprehensive reports that give you complete visibility and control of your resources. With visibility of key data, the PM can then drive the project towards to success.
Here are 10 reasons why visibility of your data plays such a crucial role in your project’s success.
1. Improved capacity planning
Having access to all the data you need improves high level views of future workloads. This allows for the simple modelling of the utilisation and requirements of your resources and gives businesses the ability to swiftly assess the impact produced by current and future projects.2. Increased confidence
Understanding exactly what’s going on with the work you’re responsible for can improve the management’s, stakeholder’s and team’s confidence in your ability to deliver the project on time.
3. Questions can be answered quickly and accurately
Complete data visibility gives project managers the understanding and project knowledge they need to answer questions from stakeholders and customers quickly and accurately. This keeps the project on schedule and improves customer confidence.
4. Less time is wasted
Precious time can be wasted when attempting to corral project updates from the various members of your team. Data visibility gives you access to the data you need, without having to rely on updates from project staff.
5. Decision making is improved
Educated decision making is crucial to the success of new and existing projects. It’s impossible to make reliable decisions about a project without all the data you need. Having the data at your fingertips allows you to make smart and savvy decisions based on the complete project picture.
6. Resources are allocated appropriately
There’s no way of knowing whether your resources are under- or over-assigned without data about your team’s performance. The delivery of accurate, reliable and timely data allows you to reallocate resources elsewhere or increase the resources in particular project areas.
7. You can identify risks
Being able to access the appropriate project data as and when you need it allows you to identify potential risks and adjust the project plan accordingly. This helps to keep the project on time and within budget.
8. Team members understand their roles
A regular complaint and common reason for project failure is the lack of visibility from the team’s perspective. When team members lack visibility, it can be difficult to understand their role in the project. Data visibility improves each individual’s understanding of their role and helps to produce a cohesive unit
9. Team members take ownership of the project
Having a clear understanding of the project’s objectives allows members of the team to take ownership of the project and to work more effectively. This is particularly important when resources are spread across more than one project.
10. Corrective action is reduced
Data visibility reduces the amount of corrective action that needs to be taken as a result of poor decision making or unseen project risks. This helps to keep projects on track and improves success rates. Improve your data visibility Hydra is a project resource management software solution that allows you to display project data on your terms. You can customise the parameters, charts, filters and searches to give you the data you need at your fingertips.
10 ways data visibility improves the success of your projects
- Improves capacity planning
- Increases confidence
- Questions answered faster and more accrately
- Reduces wasted time
- Better decision making capability
- Improves resource allocation
- Enhances risk identification
- Greater understanding of team roles
- Increases project ownership by team members
- Reduces corrective action
