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Project management software for architects is specially designed for architects, engineers, and construction managers to manage their projects efficiently. One of the main perks of architecture project management software is a centralized file-sharing system with other team members, stakeholders, and clients.
The architecture field involves lots of documents such as site drawings, documentation, blueprint, proposals, among others, and it gets tough to manage them all.
Standard features included in project management software for architects are
• Secure file sharing across teams and projects.
• Collaboration with clients, contractors, stakeholders, and vendors
• Automatic Payments and invoicing system
• Time trackers to manage time spent on tasks
• Planner and schedulers like Gantt charts
» Things to Look For Before Considering Architecture Project Management Software
› Cost
The cost is an essential factor for the architect's business. Calculating software costs is not as easy as looking at subscription costs or license fees. There might be hidden fees such as customer support, data migrations, and software training. Before considering the software for your architectural firm, make sure the software is within your budget, and there are no hidden costs that may bring challenging surprises later.
There are many free architecture project management software available in the market for single-person use. These are the best options for individual architects who take clients on a contract basis.
› Ease of use and flexibility
This is the thing that many businesses do not consider before purchasing the software. What is the use of project management software if you can't even wrap your head around its interface? It will just waste most of your time searching for different functions instead of planning the project.
There are many software available that are user-friendly and come with an intuitive interface, so you don't have to keep guessing how to run the software every time you start planning.
› Integrations
Integrations with other third-party apps are essential. You might be already using accounting software like Quickbooks or CRM, and you might need to integrate these with your project management software. Always looks for software that can integrate your existing tools without any fuss or extra cost. The integration provides smoother data transfer among the system.
› Accessibility
Is the software cloud-based or server-based? Is it full-service project management software or provides basic project management functionalities? In case you are a small architect firm with 100 or fewer employees, you might want to consider cloud-based project management software as the vendor company handles all the maintenance, hosting, and security issues.
However, suppose you are a midsize or large business form with more than 100 employees. In that case, you might want to consider full-fledged project portfolio management software as many ongoing projects are running at a single time. Large businesses also have teams to maintain the software; hence maintenance is not an issue.
» Top 5 Architecture Project Management Software
Below we have listed architecture project management software comparison so that you can choose the best fit for your architecture business.
1. Monograph
Former architects and engineers Alex, Robert, and Moe, created Monograph in 2018. They were running an agency that provided and built tools for architectural and construction firms. But they faced problems managing the workflow due to their nonexistent project management system. And in their quest to simplify managing architecture and construction projects, they came up with Monograph. The Monograph is a clutter-free and visually attractive, interactive architecture firm project management software.
› Features
• Tracks budget and time in real-time with MoneyGantt chart
• Convert data into intuitive charts to manage the project efficiently.
• Budget calculator to calculate schedules and budget
• Say goodbye to excel sheets. Monograph's project planner helps you plan the project in a single place.
• Smart invoice feature
› Benefits
• Smart invoicing features help you create invoices automatically and lets you track the payments. It also allows you to bill by work or phase.
• With the resource manager, plan your team's weekly activities in one click.
• Monograph's Timer tracks your billable and nonbillable hours across the projects.
• View-based Gantt charts to assign project tasks, create milestones, and accurately access the project's progress.
› Pricing
Monograph follows a single pricing model. The pricing starts at $25/user per month.
2. Accelo
Accelo is a modern-day cloud-based architecture project management software. They aim to provide service-based businesses with a robust system to run operation, streamline client work, automate processes and most importantly, focus on the work you love. It is designed to keep small businesses in mind. Accelo comes from a digital marketing background, which is a service-based business similar to architecture projects.
They understand the problems faced by service-based businesses and hence came up with a project management solution specifically built for engineers, architects, and other service-based businesses.
Their main aim is to provide professionals like architects, engineers, designers, and consulting firms with a system to keep up with industry leaders at a fraction of the cost.
› Features
• Construction CRM
• Customizable templates
• Client portal
• Cost to completion tracking
• Budget and time tracking
› Benefits
• Accelo's CRM is continuously updated to help manage professional client relationships. Furthermore, the CRM also streamlines the workflow process as CRM reflects any company client's conversation instantly.
• Automatic forecasting and flexible billing features save time and effort, which goes into billing and invoices.
• Interactive Intelligent reports help provide clarity for making decisions.
• A centralized email inbox system where any team member can access client information.
• Accelo also provides iOS and Android apps to access the project information remotely.
› Pricing
• It provides a 14 days free trial. No free tier is included.
• The basic plan is divided into Sales, Projects, Retainers, and Services. All these start at $39 per month per user.
• All-in-one ServOps: Starts at $79 per user per month. Best suitable for managing every business operation from one place.
3. Birdview
Birdview PSA was first launched in 2003 to meet project management needs for internal projects. Since then, they have worked with 3000+ clients worldwide and managed to create their robust project management ecosystem. It is a web-based suite of project management software that runs from the browser.
Designed for medium and enterprise firms, from tweaking workflow to fit your project to keep all the conversations archived to be initiated, it can handle all the complexities involved in project management. They have worked with top brands such as Bosch, Toyota, Continental, and Lear Corporation.
› Features
• Kanban boards
• Business Intelligence
• Machine learning and AI Forecasting
• Critical paths
• Team collaboration
› Benefits
• Machine learning and AI Capabilities to forecast project completion.
• Reduce project costs while optimizing resources.
• Portfolio management tools allow the management of various ongoing projects and organize them according to the team, customers, and department
• A business intelligence package allows large businesses and enterprises to analyze large amounts of data and organize them into reports and dashboards.
• Easy integration with Zapier, Outlook, Excel, Jira, and other 1000+ third-party applications and allow RESTFUL API to connect your choice applications.
› Pricing
• Lite: Starts at $9 per month per user billed annually. Allows vital project management. CRM, finance management not included.
• Team: Starts at $19 per month per user billed annually. Includes everything from the essential plan with extra features such as scheduler, outlook and calendar integration, finance management,
• Enterprise: Contact them for pricing. Includes everything from essential; and business plans along with CRM integration, knowledge base, help desk.
4. Wimi
Started in 2010 by Lionel Roux and Antoine Dubosc, Wimi is the leader in project management. When most companies were coming up with new file sharing and design tools, Lionel and Antoine's first thought was that the tools were incompetent and wasted a lot of time juggling between software.
With 30 plus years of combined experience in consulting, management, and entrepreneurship, Roux and Dubosc believed that there should be a more efficient way to manage the project tasks without juggling between software. And hence they created 'Wimi.'
Although Wimi was not explicitly created as a project management software for architecture, it does target the pain points of architecture firms and projects. It hence is suitable for use by those working in architect fields.
› Features
• Kanban view for agile methodology
• Third-party integrations with 100+ apps
• Automatic notification and reminders related to projects
• Meeting and communication management
• Accounts syncing and comes with a mobile app for easy use.
› Benefits
• Accessing Wimi anytime from any device makes it flexible.
• Centralize the calendars, discussions, tasks, and projects. Keep all your processes in sync.
• Automatic reminders help keep team members updated on the project's progress.
• A robust collaboration system helps in effective communication.
• Restricted access to files and folders according to member's privileges helps.
› Pricing
• Free- This is a forever tier that can be used by three users. This tier includes 10 GB of space with eight workspaces. It does not provide customer support.
• Team - Starts at $15 per month per user. It includes 250 GB of space and unlimited workspace. This plan also comes with coaching support.
• Enterprise: Starts at $18 per month per user. Come with dedicated customer support. Allows usage of 500 GB and unlimited workspace and guests.
• Armoured: Best suitable for large teams. For pricing info, contact the Wimi team directly.
5. Workzone
Two friends Rick and Allan, founded WorkZone in the early 2000s when the concept of project management software was not much popular. They realized that there should be a better way to manage workflow and productivity.
Workzone aims to provide a perfect balance between power and simplicity so that everyone can get their work done. It is known for its best customer service. Its ability to manage real-world business scenarios and more than two decades of experience keeps it ahead of other management tools.
WorkZone has worked with global clients, including Boston University, Sephora, Well Fargo, World Wildlife Fund, University of Pennsylvania, and Allianz.
› Features
• Unlimited free support
• Task dependencies
• Custom branding
• Project overview dashboard
• Expense tracking
› Benefits
• Powerful collaboration to handle multiple teams.
• A personalized to-do list helps keep the focus on the project and allows you to update them.
• Robust reporting capabilities to get a real-time view of your project.
• Workzone significantly benefits service firms such as Architecture firms due to their ability to create distinct accounts for each client or department or even team members.
• Quickly review project status updates with project dashboards.
› Pricing
Workzone does not offer a free trial or a free tier. Instead, their team walks you through the demo of the software configured for your use.
• Team- Starts at $24 per month per user.
• Professional - Starts at $34 per month per user
• Enterprise- Starts at $43 per month per user.
» Conclusion
Architectural projects require efficient communications, usually across an array of stakeholders, team members, and vendors. It also needs logs of every conversation that might be useful for a final result.
You can automate many repetitive tasks by replacing messy excel spreadsheets and bulky project planning tools with the best architecture project management software.
Unlike general project management software, Architecture project management software accommodates individual architects and firms' needs. It can help streamline workflow, processes, and projects for architectural firms and service firms.
As the architecture field deal with many other architecture software such as AutoCAD, ArchiCad to develop designs and the software must be able to integrate with your architecture project management software
The above article lists the best architect project management software tools for your architect project.
However, every business has unique needs, and there is no one size fit for all. In the end, you must do your due diligence before purchasing the architecture design project management software.
