How Workflow Management Software Can Power Up Business

There is no doubt, workflow automation moves business further. Workflow management software makes it possible by allowing to monitor each process to the tiniest details, boost productivity and eliminate errors. Each process becomes transparent and easy to analyze.

Are you looking for the best project management software or wish to understand it deeply? Don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you.

In this article, we’ve allocated the list of the most popular project management tools, analyzed which features define them and what technologies can make them even more powerful, unopposed, and indispensable.

Depending on the project needs, each business may choose this or another project management tool. It can be a lightweight application or a complex workflow management ecosystem that, basically, includes all sides of the usual business process functioning.

Let’s find out what the best project management tools are distinctive for!

Jira Software is created by Atlassian and represents a whole ecosystem for various needs. More specifically, Jira is recognized as the number one project management tool for software development.

The application provides various features like scrum boards, Kanban boards, roadmaps, agile reporting, etc.

Users define the following Jira benefits:

• One-of-a-kind backlog management via kanban board
• Intuitive and easy-to-use customization of the basic feature set
• An all-in-one solution with a large community and multiple integrations

However, even a solid project management solution like Jira has its cons:

• A confusing collection of products that makes it hard to understand
• Too strict with limited graphics visualization
• No idea management for tracking new hypothesis

The groundbreaking technologies under the Jira platform are Java, Node.js, React, AWS, jQuery, etc.

Asana is a dynamic project management tool that can help to manage various product delivery, marketing campaigns, diverse events, and any other business objectives.

Among the distinctive feature, Asana has is to offer an intuitive user interface, a visual project timeline via the Gantt charts able to show tasks on an XY plane and an extremely wide range of possible integration with literally any software.

Based on functionality, Asana is beneficial because of:

• Distinctive project timelines
• Diverse third-party integrations
• Convenient drag-and-drop functionality

But Asana is also limited by:

• A narrow range of functions within a free version
• Pretty hard for the team collaboration
• Can not handle complex project management

The Asana project management software was created using Javascript, React, Node.js, Python, Java, etc.

Monday.com is an online project management platform that can be used for managing projects in various industries like software engineering, marketing, event planning, HR, creative and design, etc.

Monday.com is distinctive for its third-party collaboration feature that allows adding as many third-party participants to the project as is required. The communication flow within the app is pretty easy and well-organized – users can comment on the project specifics or share over certain social media. Besides, the platform is open for custom integrations.

Therefore, the Monday.com benefits are:

• Custom integrations due to open API architecture
• Enhanced reporting with clear details
• Easy addition of third-parties

On the other side, there are Monday.com flaws:

• Unable to cope with complex projects
• Only a 14-day trial with concurrent paid plans
• Unable to jump between views in the same project

The Monday.com tech stack includes React, Node.js, Next.js, etc.

The ClickUp project management tool can brag with a big variety of features. It has a mixture of project views like agile project management for software development teams and another 9 different views. The same as Asana it has Gantt charts for project tracking. Besides, it allows assigning custom statuses and creating custom dashboards.

Overall, the list of the most prominent ClickUp benefits is as follows:

• Saving layouts from custom views
• A wide range of third-party integrations
• Resources allocation with Workflow View

Like any other project management tool, ClickUp has certain limitations:

• Hard learning curve
• Overloaded customization
• Mobile app with the Table View

The ClickUp’s tech stack includes PHP, AWS, Alpine.js, etc.

Trello is a lightweight version of the Jira software, created by Atlassian. Compared to other such tools it is indeed a simple version of the others, however, it is widely used and can not be underestimated.

The distinctive features correspond to the simplicity of the app itself: it is easy to understand and allows adding tags for tasks, the easy drag-and-drop functionality, and certain power-ups that enhance the functionality.

The distinctive benefits of Trello are:

• Easy-to-use and simple user interface
• Simple scheduling and task management
• Additional enhancements for features

Being a simplified version of other project management tools, it has the respective flaws:

• Only Kanban views
• Absent reporting feature
• Just simple projects to manage

The tech stack of Trello includes Node.js, Backbone.js, Demandbase, etc.

Read more: How to Save Money on a Web Project for Businesses

Learn how to select the best tech stack for your web application

As you know from the previous chapter, each project management tool has a list of distinctive and shared features.

We won’t list here the trivial ones, but the ones that actually define the project management category.

#1. Task Management

Probably, the most important target-specific functionality of this kind of workflow automation software is task management. Any project has a list of tasks to do for its successful completion.

The task management feature allows to monitor the project execution, see the progress every step of the way, report automatically on the work done, and tighten team collaboration while moving forward to the common goal.

Most of the well-known project management tools allow users to see the project in multiple ways – from a simple task list to a specialized Kanban board or a calendar view. To implement this solution, developers often use some frontend technology like React or additionally include the 2D/3D WebGL for enhanced visualization.

#2. Planning and Scheduling

Not all tasks should be implemented right away and some of them should never be completed. To be flexible in this changing world when an urgent problem can arise at any time, it is crucial to have the ability to prioritize tasks. Good planning software with scheduled time slots allows to easily reschedule the whole project.

This feature required a touch of interactivity when everything may be changed instantly.

#3. Team Collaboration

It goes without saying that an innovative cloud-based solution allows accessing important data for everyone from any place. Moreover, it can enhance the team spirit and move faster towards the launch of a new product. A set of shared functionalities like a calendar, various user roles when each one supports the other team members and team dashboards with KPI allows bringing transparency to the process.

This is where app gamification can be a distinctive advantage that can boost user experience and the popularity of the project management tool itself.

#4. Report & Analysis

Convenient, automated, and easily compiled custom reports help to analyze the whole project progress based on the previously gathered data. It includes tracking time, budget, resources, completed tasks, and team performance.

The best solution here can be a project dashboard with diverse KPI reports that keep updated in real-time. This is actually a complex feature that may be reconsidered over time and based on the business objectives. Quite often such features require implementation of scalable software architecture, excellent graphics, and trunk based development approach.

#5. Third-Party Integrations

Project management software covers so many aspects that at some point it’s much easier to integrate an existing solution on the market than create a custom one. Besides, the 3rd party integration allows managing the project in one place without the need to log into some other specialized software.

The most common integrations include messengers, email, calendar, accounting, content management platforms, etc. It all depends on your project needs.

Besides the mentioned features, there is much more to add. Innovative technologies uncover huge possibilities for growth for all the market players. For example, the platform can enhance the user experience by creating 2D animated flipping of task cards. WebGL technology can make a contribution to this purpose. Moreover, it can make the reporting charts more interactive and graphics-rich.

Project management software is a complex ecosystem that is supposed to provide end-users with both common and unique features. This goes far beyond a certain industry domain or some predefined project development path. There’s always something specific going on.

However, certain technologies are already at the disposal of such platforms to elevate the end-user experience and overall competitive edge.

This app development approach is getting more and more applause from giant tech companies like Google, Meta, etc. Why, you ask?

Trunk-based development allows making the app development process flexible, delivering new app updates faster, and switching to the necessary feature set using the feature flags.

Just for the record, such an approach in app development allowed our engineering team to make up to 10 updates per day for a certain project – metaverse for remote collaboration. Each update takes no more than 25 minutes and doesn’t require terminating the work of the application. The update is conducted in real-time and users just see the results instantly.

Project management tools can no longer be tedious. The WebGL technology allows the implementation of 2D and 3D graphics with pixel-perfect visualization and great performance. Even if a user flips a board card or creates a complex reporting chart, the results can be overwhelming.

Such technologies as Unity, PlayCanvas, Babylon.js, A-Frame, and three.js help to make stunning 3D graphics for any common or distinctive functionality of a project management software. Likewise, Pixi.js and Phaser technologies help to create beautiful digital content through 2D WebGL rendering and graphics optimization.

These technologies form a perfect combination for a web-based project management tool. React is responsible for building interactive user interfaces. The code written with React is easy to use, update and handle. The web interfaces become user-friendly and pleasant to surf through.

Node.js allows the creation of a solid brain of the web application. It connects all the parts of the application, enables the whole application to function, generates dynamic page content, collects and modifies data in a database.

These are two parts of a single whole – the frontend and backend sides of a web application. The project management software development using React and Node.js provides the web app scalability, flexibility, ability to withstand heavy loads, and ensures a great user experience.

Workflow management tools have never been as popular as these days. Each project be it a high-tech product development or a humanitarian initiative requires proper management. Project management tools add transparency, flexibility, and fast progress to any activity.

To attract a wider audience to any existing or a brand new workflow automation app, it should have distinctive specifics that single out the solution among competitors and anticipate the bravest user expectations.

Interactive gamified solutions delivered to the target audience without interruptions in real-time will definitely hit the strike.
Wanna test the hypothesis? Let’s discuss your options in the project management market!