COMPUTER-AIDED PROJECT MANAGEMENT:CAPM IN THE 21st CENTURY

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CAPM IN THE 21st CENTURY

With the rapid development and introduction of software onto the marketplace, some of what has been described above may soon be out of date. One thing that will surely not vanish, however, is the ever-increasing need of project managers and organizations for tools to help them accomplish their complex and difficult jobs. While once just nice to have, these tools are now a necessity. So what does the future hold for computer-aided project management?

More and more tools are expanding from those aimed at individual use to those available for workgroups. Projects are, after all, team endeavors. MS Project 2000 includes an Internet browser module called Microsoft Project Central that is aimed at allowing the collaborative involvement of project stakeholders in planning and tracking projects, as well as access to important project infor- mation. With the ever-increasing demand for accurate project information, coupled with the cross- geographical nature of many project efforts, Web-based project communications tools will surely also become a requirement and not just a convenience. The author has worked with a few companies that have already developed these tools for their internal use. It is also inevitable that at some point in the not too distant future, complete tool sets that incorporate and integrate many of the varied ca-

pabilities described in the paragraphs above will also become available for commercial use. It is only a matter of time before such software applications will be developed and appear on the shelves of your electronic shopping sites.

However, despite the advances in technology that will inevitably lead to this availability, the age- old problems of successful selection, introduction, and implementation of these tools will remain. If organizations take the time to accomplish these tasks in a cogent and supportive way, the tools will continue to be a significant benefit in the successful implementation of the project management processes.

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