A CHAOS report, published back in 1995 after a large-scale study conducted by The Standish Group, painted a rather unpleasant picture of the overall state of the IT industry at that time. According to the report, only 16% of IT projects were truly successful, while nearly 53% faced significant difficulties, and 31% failed spectacularly.
Ten years later, the organization conducted a second large-scale observation of the current state of the software and IT sector. The findings revealed that 43% of IT projects exceeded their original budget, 71% failed to meet deadlines, and this resulted in a loss of $55 billion in the U.S. alone.
The truth is that, even after 30 years, this report still largely reflects today’s reality. The challenges an IT project may face are numerous, often involving tight deadlines and budgets, delays, poor assessment of the team's capabilities, scoop, or available resources, inadequate organization, and mismanagement. These are all issues that could easily be resolved with better-structured IT project management.
It is clear that every IT project can benefit from the many advantages offered by effective and detailed project management, significantly preventing errors and delays. And if such issues do arise, they can be handled correctly with minimal consequences. How can you take advantage of Artavolo’s features for managing your IT projects? Stay with us to find out.
Artavolo for IT Project Management
IT projects involve tasks, cases, and resources related to IT infrastructure, information systems, and computers. There are many types of IT projects, which can generally be grouped into categories such as web development, software and mobile app development, network configuration, hardware installation, database management, software implementation, and IT issue and bug resolution.
Why are Artavolo’s project management features crucial for the smooth execution of every project and its sub-tasks? Project management deals with organization, setting realistic work schedules, execution, monitoring, and analysis of results for every IT project. Nearly all industries and business sectors have at least a small IT component as part of their operations, which is why successful IT project management is of paramount importance.
Due to their often large scale, which usually extends beyond the work of just one department, IT projects require management tools that offer far more than standard software solutions. This is where Artavolo’s role becomes truly indispensable, as this platform provides numerous functionalities specifically designed to meet the unique needs of every project, regardless of the industry.
What are the six key phases an IT project goes through, and how can Artavolo be a reliable assistant in each of them?
Initiation
It all starts with the initial idea, assignment, or request. At this stage, the main question is: what is the task and goal of this project? This is a convenient and appropriate moment to create your first workgroup in Artavolo to understand exactly how the platform works and what functionalities it offers. After that, you can easily create a workbook. At Artavolo, we have thought of everything, allowing you to choose from our ready-made IT project templates or simply create an empty workbook that you can later modify, transform, and adapt to the specific needs of your project. Don’t worry, all these options are completely free, do not require in-depth coding knowledge, and do not obligate you to use the platform in any way. You can simply explore, experiment, and decide.
Defining
At this stage, it is important to define every detail related to the IT project, its goals, and requirements to ensure its successful completion, as well as to determine what success means for this project. This is usually the moment when the project’s scope, budget, deadlines, necessary resources, and required specialists are determined.
If we relate this stage to Artavolo, it is time to make some more detailed decisions about your database. Start by selecting the appropriate view. Depending on the type of project and its associated tasks, you can choose between a Grid table view or Kanban, which consists of separate cards.
When selecting the Grid view, you have the option to create the first columns of your database. You can create columns of different types based on the information and data you will enter, including text, numeric columns, date and time columns, and various metrics such as amounts and currencies. You can also add columns for uploading and storing visual elements, among other things.
At this stage of your IT project’s development, it is advisable to create key columns such as deadline, budget, assigned team members, project type, progress status, development phase, additional notes and comments, visual elements, etc. Each column in the Grid view has a title, an option for adding descriptions and notes, and the ability to be filtered, sorted, moved, edited, grouped, and formatted. You can use the Gridview not only for tracking projects but also for logging issues, tracking bug fixes, managing assets and resources, sprint planning, and monitoring the time spent on each task.
The Kanban view is a more suitable option for visualizing all related subtasks and for projects that include multiple phases or involve collaboration between different departments. Each Kanbancard can represent a specific project phase or an entire project if specialists are working on multiple projects simultaneously.
Again, you have the ability to track deadlines, budgets, progress, activities,and other parameters by creating separate Kanban cards. Each card can be moved, filtered, grouped, and edited with descriptions and notes, making it easier to prioritize tasks and visualizeongoing work. A list of subtasks can also be added to each card.
One of the many conveniences that Artavolo offers its users is the ability to control access to stored information in tables and cards. For example, you can invite participants as active editors, restrict them to observer mode (without editing rights), or even hide certain workbooks, columns, or cards from specific users. This helps protect sensitive information while also improving the visibility of relevant tasks for each specialist, reducing unnecessary distractions and visual clutter.
Design
You enter the design phase of the project when specialists begin working on developing the best solution to achieve the set goals. For an IT project, this often means creating multiple prototypes and initial designs. Once the best option is selected, each specialist can receive individual tasks and assignments related to development, along with deadlines for their completion.
Artavolois an excellent solution when a project or task requires contributions from a large number of specialists across different fields, or from remote workers, including external contractors. Thanks to automation features, every assignee can promptly receive notifications about their assigned task or any changes and edits made. This significantly simplifies collaboration for everyone involved in the project while eliminating risks of errors, misunderstandings, and delays, ensuring smooth and seamless execution.
Development
The development phase involves assigning new tasks and allocating the necessary resources and tools for their execution. Additionally, this is the stage where all remaining details are clarified, and final decisions are made regarding project goals, functionalities, and product type.
At this point, it is a good idea to create a Grid table for the product backlog, where you can store lists of accumulated features, product improvements, and bugs. This will help you save valuable time and resources.
Execution
The execution phase is usually the most time-consuming, as this is when the final result needs to be completed. While development specialists focus on fulfilling all tasks, the project manager typically monitors the overall progress, ensuring that everything is completed on time and in accordance with the specified parameters and criteria.
Tracking multiple interim and final deadlines is never an easy task, especially considering that this is not the only responsibility in a manager's daily workflow. To simplifythis process and provide clearer visualization during these intense work periods, we at Artavolo have developed theCalendar view.
As the name suggests, this feature allows you to view tasks and deadlines day by day over specific periods, helping you maintain better control over work processes. You can also migrate data and information from other tools and platforms directly into Artavolo, and this process is quick and easy. Here is how to do so.
Follow up
The final stage involves delivering the completed product to the client. The follow up phase includes all necessary work that needs to be done once the final version of the product is ready and handed over. This includes setting up a support team, training end users, and more.
Your Artavolo workbook will store all information and history related to every task from the different stages mentioned in this article. This data can serve as both a reference and a plan for future projects, as well as a tool for analyzing potential challenges that arose during the process, helping you prevent similar issues in the future.
Want to learn more about how Artavolo can effectively support every stage of your IT department’s work? Don’t hesitate to contact us today!