| A guide to making a wishlist for your best PSA and for selecting your vendor. How you approach the making of your wishlist will decide whether you get lost in the feature set or you keep a clear head. Here is an example. |
Whichever Professional Service Automation Software (PSA) platform you choose, it is going to have a significant operational and strategic impact on your company.
Therefore, talk to the practitioners -those who develop and implement and those who use it – and make your wishlist before you decide on any PSA software.
Important tip:
Instead of a feature set, focus on the capabilities that you need your PSA software to bring to your organization and your teams. Here are some key capabilities that you are going to need.
Project management that doesn’t limit you
Your best PSA software should not only let you carry out the core functions like plan, tracking, and executing projects but it should also support granular-to-task-level breakdown structures (WBS).
The WBS should be reusable after modifications to other projects. Additionally, the software should provide tools for collaboration and communication between team members, such as shared calendars and task lists.
One feature that is missing in some PSA software packages is proposal preparation. Your best PSA software should enable your teams to build on previous experience while preparing proposals.
The ability to access information about past projects, such as project timelines, budgets, and team member roles helps in preparing realistic proposals. It should provide workflows for collaboration and review and approval of proposals.
Resource management is its core
The ability to track and manage the availability, skills, and utilization of all resources is at the core of your operations. A centralized view of resources’ schedules and the ability to assign tasks and projects to the appropriate team members based on their availability and skills is essential. Integration of leave and timesheets prevents blind spots that lead to missed deliveries and revenue leakage.
Some PSA packages leave out tracking the progress of individual employees in acquiring additional skills. Revenue or profit generated by each individual is missed too. These powerful tools let you assess how well you are managing resources.
HR management should tie in with resource allocation management
The employee information like employees’ benefits and compensation and skill sets should be integrated with employee performance information coming from resource management. This should be used for managing employee training and development.
Current and future resource utilization trends should guide talent acquisition plans.
Don’t fly financially blind
Your PSA software should provide tools for tracking project-wise revenue and expenses, generating invoices, and managing payments in real-time.
It should also provide financial reporting and forecasting capabilities to help managers make informed decisions. Furthermore, the PSA should be able to integrate with accounting systems and ERP systems for accurate financial reporting.
A single version of the truth for collaboration and decision making
The ability to provide a single version of the truth to all is crucial for quick and sure-footed decision-making. All data and information within the system need to be consistent, accurate, and up-to-date. A single version of the truth can’t be a separate feature because it results from all the above capabilities of the PSA software.
Build a project management culture
Your PSA software and its vendor should help in building a project management culture in your organization.
Choose your PSA vendor who can partner with you during its implementation. Your PSA partner should be able to guide you to decide the phases of implementation and build on the successes of each phase before moving forward. A capable PSA partner is as important as the PSA software.
If you make your wishlist for the best PSA software using the above principles, you will stay on top of the selection process.
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