| With the concept of remote offices, | | | | need at least 5). Maybe paid service will suit your |
| telecommuting, and working from home and | | | | business needs |
| Virtual Assistants gaining momentum, it is | | | | MyClientSpot |
| imperative that we come up with a governance | | | | The Project Management system has been |
| model that best suits our needs to manage | | | | designed for freelance virtual assistants who |
| projects within the team, and with the clients. | | | | operate independently. Short, small, and sweet. It |
| If you are a part of a large organization (lets | | | | is a very intuitive interface and up to 5 users |
| assume it's an MNC) which approves | | | | sharing enables better interaction with team or |
| telecommuting and the remote office framework, | | | | client. If you handle 2 projects at a time (20MB |
| then there is nothing to worry. The office will | | | | space), then this is certainly for you. Otherwise, |
| take care of custom management tools and will | | | | you might want to go for the paid version. |
| inform you about it. This post is not for you | | | | BaseCamp |
| On the other hand, if you are an independent | | | | A very clean dashboard that gives Project |
| virtual assistant then my guess is you will be | | | | overview of things without any frills and |
| relying on your mail threads to keep track of | | | | fireworks. The tabbed interface places Message |
| conversations and using spreadsheets to keep | | | | board , files area , Milestones and To-do lists are |
| track of the project status. If you are a bit | | | | just a click away. Try the free account to get |
| smarter, you will be using labels (as in Gmail) or | | | | the feel of things. |
| folders (as in Yahoo and Hotmail) to sort mail | | | | VirtuaAssistantManager |
| threads for easy access. Mail attachments may | | | | The demo gives a fairly good idea about what to |
| be stored on your desktop. Again, if you are | | | | expect when you actually signup. The list is lined |
| smart, you will share the documents rather than | | | | up according to existing clients, giving you a |
| mail them. | | | | picture of project status regarding a specific client. |
| Being a Virtual Assistant, means all of your work | | | | This is a paid service starting from 39$ /month |
| will be online. You may be handling more than one | | | | for 1 Virtual Assistant. Their clients include Pepsi, |
| project for the same client, or you have more | | | | Time Warner, and Comcast, among others. |
| than one client at any given point of time. Perhaps | | | | Personally, I think they are charging a premium. |
| you might be interested in some of the online | | | | Certainly not fit for freelancers, unless you are |
| project management tools. Most of these are | | | | minting money. |
| free (with limited features for a single user), and | | | | EasyProjects |
| comes at a reasonable price (if you want | | | | This is especially good if you have a team, and |
| advanced features). The list below is my top 10 | | | | want a single command center for all the client's |
| recommendations for online project management | | | | projects and also for in-house projects delegated |
| systems. | | | | to the team. The Employee Timesheet and |
| ProjectInsight | | | | Hierarchical Role Based Permissions are |
| They have all the "required" features for a | | | | noteworthy features. Again, this is a paid service. |
| Project Management System. Try their demo. | | | | Sorry, no freebies here. |
| This is a little more than basic, and little less than | | | | Project.net |
| advanced. So if you are a virtual assistant with | | | | This is a complete enterprise edition of project |
| average working knowledge of how a project | | | | management system. The demo gives an |
| management system works, then chances are | | | | overview of features from the Project Manager's |
| you might get to like this. Strangely though, I | | | | point of view. However, it remains to be seen |
| could not locate the pricing page. If you can locate | | | | how this can be modified to suit a single user with |
| it, please pass me the link. | | | | multiple clients. They do offer customization of |
| AceProject | | | | tabs and form fields. But you never know until |
| The best project management system I have | | | | you try. |
| encountered so far. | | | | IdidWork |
| They have about 22 features out of which I rate | | | | I will not call this a project management tool, but |
| the Discussion Forum, Task dependencies, and | | | | if you are a part of a team that requires you to |
| Multiple Project and Task management to be of | | | | submit regular work updates as long emails or |
| the greatest value. They offer web-hosted and | | | | shared spreadsheets, you can make use of their |
| self-hosted option if you want it in your business' | | | | Twitter like interface, to communicate your work |
| intralink. You might be overwhelmed initially, but | | | | status. Moreover all accumulated "status |
| once you get to know it, things are a breeze. I | | | | messages" can be emailed to the manager of the |
| would say this is a "complete" system for single | | | | team. This also allows a performance overview |
| and multiusers (e.g.: - Virtual Staffing Agencies) | | | | over a period of time. Worth a try, though |
| alike. | | | | individual preferences might differ. |
| CoMindWork | | | | SmartSheet |
| I would say that this is the second best project | | | | If you are extremely comfortable with using |
| management system on the web based on the | | | | spreadsheets, then this Project Management |
| features like project-specific Wiki and | | | | System is definitely for you. The concept of |
| project-specific blog that are being offered. They | | | | workspace is used to aggregate sheets for the |
| allow integration with other PMS such as | | | | same project and the likes of it. You can |
| Basecamp and Salesforce, and also integrate with | | | | collaborate with clients and upload files for |
| Gmail and OpenID. So with so many "dream | | | | discussion. It does take a bit of time to get used |
| features", why I rate this as second best is | | | | to the system. This is free and they have the |
| because free users have only one project. ( I | | | | beta version underway. |