Resources, in any organization, are important assets that should be allocated in an efficient manner. Efficiency of resource allocations may be defined in terms of assignments being aligned with business priorities and in a way where their associated costs are expended wisely. Costs can be efficiently managed by viewing them in multiple contexts.

Business management tools facilitate intelligent resource allocation based on prioritizations. Costs can be managed with efficiency because they are viewed in terms of actual values and their impacts on current and planned initiatives. Financials on projects or programs based on extrapolated data can accurately predict future states based on current conditions.

Why Use Business Management Tools?

Business management tools help executives see what is going on and provide the necessary information to decide, when appropriate, what actions are needed. Information, from a cost perspective, on how much work should have been done in comparison with what has actually been accomplished. What does the business expect the project to cost when it is completed in comparison with what the initial estimate was. These too are examples of important financial data. Of note is that with good business management tools, this information can be provided taking into account multiple related factors: Actual costs, project expenditures, resources and their allocation impacts on initiatives and projects.

Business management tools also allow users to view what-if scenarios to improve the decision making process. For example the business management tools can show what would happen if resources from one project are allocated to another. It could display the results from multiple perspectives including financial.

Timely reviews and approvals of key artifacts can be another plus of business management tools. Business management tools have the capability of tracking, for example, a design submitted as it passes through multiples Subject Matter Experts (SME) for review and functional managers for approval. The tool can inform management where the design submitted is, who has reviewed, who has approved or rejected it and what is its current status. This functionality can be very useful to project and program managers.

Monitoring the review and approval process of important documents helps project management professionals as, oftentimes, these approvals are scheduled dependencies. These dependencies are typically linked to other activities in the schedule and may be on a critical path.

The business management tool capabilities to monitor paper flow, resource allocations and costs represent a powerful combination of tools that facilitate the work of management. The tools ability to sort, filter, calculate and extrapolate data augments the assistance provided by business management tools.

When business management tools are coupled with other application modules the suite becomes more comprehensive. In this way, artifact flow tracking, cost monitoring and resource data can be complimented with collaboration, task management and schedule modules. This powerful combination is useful from the team member level to the project manager level and beyond to the executive level as well.

The business management tool, fully integrated, empowers project and program managers. It enables them by outputting practical information they can use to successfully bring projects to closure.