In the global economy where project outsourcing is the way of doing business, good collaborative tools are critical for the success of projects. While inputs and outputs continue to be important entities, planning and   ‘process’ plays an important role for the success . The project teams operate from different locations in different countries, continents with varying cultures and time zones. It is very important that everyone in the project, including the stake holders see the same and latest real-time data, in their own time zones. Based on what they see, they should able to take decisions quicker than earlier. In traditional project management, the tasks allocation and issue management are done during face-to-face meetings. Project status is reviewed in frequent face-to-face meetings. The teams collate   project status data in advance for status meetings. By the time they are discussed, part of the data is already redundant or ‘old’. Face to face meetings are practically not possible in a global environment. Use of collaborative project planning and management tools help project leads Plan, Execute and Manage project information  in real time under collaborative environment without having to go thru’ long hours of project review meetings. Issue updates and notifications are handled through message-boards, or better still, through sophisticated program management tools that manage repository of messages. The concerned project members are notified thru’ notifications. Issues are resolved thru’ efficient collaborative issue management systems.

Unlike traditional manual or computer assisted  project management styles, the collaborative project management scenario focuses on not only using Project Management as a  planning or reporting tool, but also helps project managers in activities like execution progress, Project lifecycle management, project health,  Issue management, change management, knowledge capture, use of best practices,  resource management, deliverables management and so on.   

Gathering real-time project related information helps conduct meaningful analysis of projects and re- use experiences/ best practices in new projects. It provides right information to the management in terms of business planning, infrastructure issues and training needs.