Choosing the Right Project Management and Scheduling Software for Your Construction Company

Creating something new is difficult, especially when that something new is a 30-story building, paving a 20-mile stretch of interstate highway, or just about any other large construction project.

To keep things on track and moving forward with large construction projects, harnessing the power of robust project management and scheduling software is a must.

There are many options out there, but which one is the best solution for your construction company or project?

Our experienced team of process management consultants has identified ten critical capabilities a construction project management and scheduling software tool should provide:

  1. Identify critical and near-critical activities
  2. Analyze the schedule for out-of-sequence, missing, or incorrect logic
  3. Easily update the schedule with accuracy and identify activities that are falling behind
  4. Cost load the schedule and project monthly cash flow
  5. Resource load the schedule and determine the overallocation of resources
  6. Comparison of the current schedule against the baseline schedule and previous schedule updates
  7. Easily filter and sort the schedule
  8. Populate reports and different schedule layouts
  9. Analyze the impact that delays/modifications have caused to the schedule
  10. Help manage your project and reduce the risk of error

Top Two Contenders

In our experience, there are two primary project management and scheduling software tools that meet the above criterion:

Oracle Primavera P6

Microsoft Project

Each of these software suites is a powerful project management and scheduling tool with a hefty set of features and add-on capabilities. 

However, while they do similar things, they are quite different, and organizations often prefer one over the other for various reasons.

Which one is right for your organization?

Well, that depends on a variety of factors, including:

  • Budget
  • Project Management preferences
  • IT Infrastructure
  • Software training requirements
  • Onboarding time frame
  • Quality Control measures

Both pieces of software allow more multiple users, both offer stand-alone or server-based options, and both support the import and export of information.

Microsoft Project offers formulas for custom fields and the ability to add additional values to them. WBS levels and activities are all the same, and you can even link an activity to a WBS level. With Microsoft Project, you have a complete overview of the project budget and costs during project execution.

Primavera P6 allows for a breakdown of complex activities into smaller parts, while maintaining the simplicity of a Gantt Chart. Multiple projects can be created and tracked, with cost and unit calculations. Primavera P6 comes installed with over 200 columns, each giving you different information (including EVM, Budgeting, costs, etc.)

As you can see, each software program offers varying degrees of customization and functionality. Which software you use depends on your needs.

Choosing the right project management and scheduling software is a big decision. 

The software is expensive, but the time and money spent on implementing the software throughout an organization is an even bigger drain on resources.

ACE project management consultants can help you reduce the time and expense required to get your team up to speed with your project management solution. 

Unbiased Recommendations

At ACE Consulting, we have certified project management experts who work with both Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project.

We aim to help you with the right project management or scheduling tool. As a result, we provide you with unbiased recommendations about the best option to meet your current and future needs.

We don’t get paid based on which software you choose. We simply want to equip your team with the right tool.

If you are thinking about investing in new project management or scheduling software for your organization or improving your team’s existing efficiency, contact us today to discover how we can be an asset to your team.

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