When I was younger I used to do puzzles with my dad. One of the most hilarious things I remember him saying about puzzle making was to try the piece in a spot one way first, then twist it around to see if it fits another way, and if it still didn’t fit, ram it in with a mallet.
Although this was just light hearted humour over the occasional puzzle piece, unfortunately this also seems to be the way many construction and engineering companies view their project management software. The software happens to be the piece of the puzzle they pick up at the time, either because their project managers have used it before, or it seems to be what everyone else is using. But despite it not fitting with the particular needs of the organisation, they force it into their operations anyway. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
This isn’t entirely the fault of the AEC industries though. Up until recently, project management software has been fairly limited to specialised systems that fit the processes of only a handful of organisations, and are not easily adaptable to others. But although project management is a highly specialised field, that doesn’t mean the software available also has to be highly specialised with limited ability to adapt and evolve.
When choosing project management software, you should always look for how well it fits your organisation’s processes. Not all out of the box solutions will though, so that’s where the importance of customisation comes in. With numerous possibilities available through Microsoft Dynamics custom workflows and customisable forms, software can be tweaked and twisted to fit the needs of each organisation. And that means there is no reason now why organisations have to continue using project management software that doesn’t fit their needs and can’t evolve.
As a product Certified for Microsoft Dynamics and built on the MS Dynamics CRM platform, IPM also has access to these brilliant customising features, which we use to tailor our software to fit like a glove for each and every organisation that uses IPM.
For more information on the benefits of customisation, check out our Business Benefits page.
