A Review of Smooth Projects

Written by:  • Edited by: Marlene Gundlach
Published Mar 29, 2009
• Related Guides: Project Management Software | Web-based Software | Windows
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Smooth Projects is a web-based project management software tool with exclusive personalization, categorization and project collaboration features. Owned by Remedysoft, Inc., it has some great tools for project tasking and project planning.

Smooth Projects is an easy-to-operate, unique piece project management software that offers the maximum level of collaboration in this segment. This web-based software hosting service is offered by Remedysoft, Inc. It is compatible with all the recent versions of Windows and is affordable for smaller organizations too. It can handle high user volumes and offers incomparable levels of personalization. Some of its most recommendable features include:

Project Accessibility & Ownership

The makers of Smooth Projects realize that a single project is handled by many people with different levels of authority and assigned responsibilities. To ensure smooth workflow without users impinging on each other’s work, different log-ins are provided across the stakeholders of the project including — the team members, clients and project managers.

  • Every project can be broadly categorized under Public, Private or Participant-based to establish its level of accessibility among the users.
  • Each users’ privileges are clearly defined and each of them can access only specified sections of the entire program.
  • There is also a provision for providing some limited access in the form of information with the ‘Read Write’ and ‘Read Only’ access tags.
  • There is no limit to how many users can log-in at a single time and use the software.
  • Every project’s creator and the users to which related tasks were assigned are clearly displayed.

Project Categorization

This straightforward application is very effective at systematically dividing and categorizing the entire project into separate assignments/tasks according to the preference that can be defined by the project manager. If there aren't too many instructions loaded, then in accordance with the respective industry norms, it divides the entire project-related activities across 8 categories by default.

The names of these categories can be altered according to the convenience of users. The default categories are — In Progress, Not Defined, Proposed, In Planning, On Hold, Complete, Archived and All.

Project Collaboration

Any ongoing project can be carried out in partnership with the client or any team member/department. In case of any issue arising in terms of extending/limiting log-in rights to someone, access can be defined and controlled within the software. The interaction level is further enhanced in the form of a project-centric Discussion Forum.

This gives the organization an opportunity to create discussion areas that promote healthy communication across the various users. Any ongoing discussion is also displayed on the Forums tab to keep all the team members updated.

Project Tasking

This feature ensures that the execution of various tasks assigned to different team members is being continuously monitored. There is a provision for creating Task Target dates and track the time consumed in the form of hours or days. This helps to keep track of the level of task completion achieved within a given timeframe.

Smooth Projects Screenshot
click to enlarge

Task List another feature is the hierarchically-created Task List. This list helps the user to define dependent tasks and the entire hierarchy across which it passed before being completed. This makes it simpler to observe at which user stage, the task was put on-hold or hampered for the maximum time and who was able to deliver the fastest. Gantt Charts — all the ongoing projects and their level of completion, inter-dependencies is displayed on an perceptive interface and explained via Gantt Charts

User-Friendly Tools

  • File attachments — files can be attached with any task undertaken by a user and can be saved on the server. These files can be accessed from the ‘Files’ tab
  • Calendar — all the ongoing projects have a calendar displayed along with them. This is no ordinary date system but an organized graphical interface showing various active projects and the results can be filtered by a day, week, or a month.
  • E-mail Notification — any update done of the software by a user is automatically notified to all the related users via e-mail.


 
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