Project management desktop software and mobile-based solutions

Project management desktop software is designed to help project managers and planners to efficiently deal with project scheduling, cost control, budget planning, resource allocation, team collaboration, document management, and project reporting. Comparing to solutions designed for mobile devices (like smartphones and pocket PCs), project management desktop apps allow using desktop computers, laptops and nettops to manage and track project data locally. Project management desktop software is widely used in many offices providing users with powerful and convenient solutions.

There are many disputes about usability and efficiency of project management desktop applications and mobile-based solutions. Using mobile-based project management solutions seems to be convenient and even efficient but only in some cases. For example, when you’re not at your desktop computer it will be convenient for you to use your mobile device (Blackberry, iPhone) to receive short messages showing the latest status of your tasks. Even being out of your office you can continue tracking new assignments and exchanging messages with your team.

But when you’re at your workplace in the office, mobile-based solutions are not as efficient as project management desktop tools. The key reasons are that desktop computers show much higher performance and give you other benefits such as access to local area network and higher usability. Project management desktop software makes you feel more efficient when you do your tasks and assignments.

Obviously mobile-based solutions are great when you can’t use your project management desktop application. But for your daily practice of project implementation such solutions are likely to be less efficient as compared to project management desktop tools.

VIP Task Manager is a great example of free project management desktop software (a 30-day free trial period). VIP Task Manager will help you with planning project tasks, tracking assignments, collaborating with teams, setting up budgets, scheduling working time and creating reports. The software allows using templates, checklists and to-do lists for better project planning and implementation.

VIP Task Manager is a client-server solution. The client portion of the software can be installed on desktop computers, laptops and nettops. The server portion can be installed on your server and users will access this server over LAN. VIP Task Manager also supports Internet-based collaboration so users can connect to the server over Internet. You can try a project management desktop free edition of the software before making your decision on purchasing.