Many of our clients have an ongoing need for project management solutions. We recently did a quick review for a client to answer four key questions:
- What tools are out there for Project Management?
- Can those tools integrate with Salesforce?
- SHOULD my tool integrate with Salesforce?
- What happens if the tool I like best can’t integrate with Salesforce?
Before you run to integrating any data with your Salesforce instance, it’s important to know the Why. How does this new data / tasks intersect with what you currently track in Salesforce? Do you need to understand long term trends about this data, or is this more about getting the current job done?
Ask the big why questions before evaluating the integration specifics of any tool (read Integrate, Import or Leave it Out) and start percolating on what makes sense for your organization.
Ready to get into the nitty-gritty on project management tools? Read On.
(Note: all pricing quotes are estimates, based on nonprofit pricing and publicly available documents for reference only and should be reviewed directly with the vendor.)
No ‘out of the box’ Salesforce Integration, but a favorite nonetheless:
$9.99 per user/per month
Despite no Salesforce integration, this tool tops our list due to its highly customizable nature, and ability to link data with other file and messenger apps – meaning productivity can reign supreme.
- Add custom fields with Premium version
- See high level view of progress across all projects [great for work plan]
- Integrate with other file and messenger apps to keep everything in one place
- Connect with Salesforce through a third-party tool such as Zapier [$20 per month]
Salesforce integration included:
$23 per user/per month
TaskRay is the best solution for managing projects/tasks directly in Salesforce.
- Completely native to Salesforce [best access to linking to standard and custom objects in Salesforce]
- Multiple ways to view a project [Gantt, Calendar view, Kanban, list]
- Create dependencies/relationships between tasks
Requires premier pricing for advanced integrations including Salesforce
Mavenlink is a promising tool with all the bells and whistles for project management. The Salesforce integration should be tested for accessibility to Contacts/Leads, as an initial review Shows the integration focuses mostly on Project data with Accounts.
- Extensive project management capabilities including Gantt charts, resource allocation and project reporting
- Easily assign more than one person to tasks
- Easily share files and track and notes/updates by project in the Activity feed
- Can also track budget per project
$9.99 per user/per month
Trello is built from a task management perspective, which may mean it can’t meet the project management requirements of some users [example: you can add users to a ‘project’, but you can’t assign specific people to checklist items].
- Create multiple boards for different projects
- Add contacts/leads to boards from Salesforce
- Keep track of checklist, to-do lists, comments, files etc. for each project all in one place
Others reviewed:
$50/month [total]
Basecamp is more oriented towards large companies with multiple departments. Basecamp aims to replace all external tools and offers calendar scheduling, a messaging app, file storage and message boards. This tool has a lot of capabilities, but may be overwhelming for a small team. A Salesforce integration could be worked out with their own add-on, Bsync, or through a third-party tool such as Zapier, which may allow for more customizability.
Assembla
$75/month [depends on number of users, may have a nonprofit discount]
Assembla was created with agile methodology in mind and is oriented towards teams with technical deliverables. It contains many features for code reviews and easy collaboration on technical work. A Salesforce integration could be configured through Zapier.
Not reviewed but worth a look as well:
Clarizen
Workfront
MileStone PM
Wrike
Theresa Hall has deep skills in digital marketing and nonprofit community management that she applies to her work with all clients. She has three years of experience helping nonprofits maximize their systems through the use of Salesforce. Building on a digital marketing consulting role and international development fieldwork, Theresa most recently served as the Community Engagement Manager for the Full Circle Fund - a foundation and member-led capacity building initiative for nonprofits. She loves implementing and designing systems for scaling nonprofits and coaching leaders through the highs/lows that come with doing work you love. Theresa graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Marketing and Spanish and completed her Masters in Social Entrepreneurship from Hult International Business School . In her free time, you can find her further north camping and enjoying the crazy terrain California has to offer. Theresa is a Certified Salesforce Administrator.
Hi Therese,
There is another great Salesforce-native project management app available – Inspire Planner (https://appexchange.salesforce.com/listingDetail?listingId=a0N30000000prucEAA).
Price – $15/user/month, 10 free licenses available to Non-Profits
1) Benefit from a 100% Salesforce-native solution (e.g. syncs with Salesforce tasks, Chatter, etc.)
2) Share your projects with Salesforce users or contacts
3) Multiple predecessors to easily manage complex dependencies
4) Save time with project templates
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Thanks Tim for letting us know about your product. We’re looking forward to digging in to it to evaluate use cases for our clients.
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