Hi Micah, and everyone on the thread.
I too run a small architectural office, and we all do it a little differently, here are my 2 cents:
AccountingReading your past comments I would re-think the desire to connect QuickBooks to the project management software. For an office that size is it really necessary? Does it save time? We use a standalone QuickBooks setup.
SchedulingTo me, MS Project is overkill, if you're looking for a scheduling Gantt chart program there are a bunch of free to low cost options that others have mentioned. We've resorted to Smartsheets for this task, but always looking around for better solutions. Smartsheets offers all sorts of custom spreadsheet-esque data tracking, so that's cool.
Project managementWe've tried many cloud based project management systems, Skype, Asana, Wrike, etc. The best software that we found is
Basecamp. It is very user friendly, requires little to no training, quick to setup, super flexible.
The best feature by far is that
it is not industry specific so you can think of other ways to approach and solve your project management needs. IMO the nature of an architect is to be inventive and revolutionary. Using an industry based product takes the fun out it and is a step towards becoming a lemming.
You can create client portals so they can access client side areas of your project (I haven't tried this). We use it daily with our consultants and engineers, it ends up being a project management system for everyone involved in the project. (No extra costs for consultants or engineer access too!) One great feature is that you can create a project template, so that you can start up a new project in a couple of seconds and the baseline workflow is already mapped out.
Yes, I'm a fan boy, but it keeps us organized, our projects moving forward, and my sanity.
I just checked their website, Basecamp currently has a 12 month free trial period and the pricing is competitive.
We have many active projects of various sizes in a 10 person office. It works. Cheers and good luck! -Mike
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Michael Swain AIA
Swain Architects
Long Beach CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-11-2020 01:33 PM
From: Micah Smith
Subject: project management software for a small firm
I am looking for the best project management software for a small firm (principal plus drafter). Would that be Microsoft Project since I have MS Office 365? I would have to pay for the Project $10 or $30 per month subscription, depending if the Reports and desktop interface are worth paying 3x the basic subscription price.
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Micah Smith AIA
Architect
MS Architecture
San Luis Obispo CA
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