Using Software to Assist in Project Integration Management

What software to use

When using software to aid in project integration management there are so many different types of software to help with almost everything that has to do with project integration. Do you need to create documents for the company? You can use word processing software like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Do you need to give a presentation? You can use any of the thousands of free software like Google Slides, Microsoft Presentations, Prezi, Canva, or LibreOffice online to compile everything you need to present. Do you need to display data? You can use any kind of database, spreadsheet, or charts.Tableau, Qlikview, FusionCharts, Highcharts, Datawrapper, Plotly, and Sisense are some of the most popular data visualization tools. Another massively useful piece of software that has come into popular use recently is the cloud. Google Drive, pCloud, Mega, iCloud, and Dropbox are some of the most popular and best rated cloud storage softwares. Companies can use cloud software to store all of their data somewhere else safely. Cloud storage not only helps store all of the important data data for a company but can also be used to distribute the data. If all of the company's data is stored locally an employee would have to send out the information to each person in the company who needs it. With the cloud you can give access to anyone who needs it in the company and they can access all of the data.

How to pick a software

When picking a specific software to use for the company a few things should be thought of, Is the software already used by the company? If yes then great! If not, is the software easy to use? If the answer is yes then that is great! If not maybe try switching to a different software that is easier to use. Is the software free is another question to consider when picking what software to use. If the software is not free how much will it cost to use it? Will you be using the software for just this project or for the company's lifespan? All of these questions should be asked and answered before choosing a software for the company.

Personal Experience

I've used a lot of software to do a whole bunch of things. I've used Google slides and Prezi to create presentations for class.

Google slides which is shown in the image above is a free, extremely user friendly presentation software. You can customize the background, the title, the subtitle, the transitions between slides, pretty much anything you want to customize you can using Google Slides.

Prezi is another free slideshow presentation software that offers extreme customization and is also very user friendly

Prezi is similar to Google Slides in a lot of ways but I believe that Prezi has quite a bit more customization options than Google Slides but is a bit more complicated to use. If your employees are more familiar with technology and making slideshow presentations I would suggest using Prezi.

When it comes to presenting data with graphs and charts I have used two different types of software. One type of software I have used requires the creator of the graph to be able to code in JavaScript or Python. The other type of software does not require the creator to be able to code.

Plotly which is a free python based data visualization software is shown in the image below.

Plotly is a wonderful software that can be a little difficult to use depending on the user's experience coding with python. If the user is experienced in coding in python then they should have a very easy time picking up how to use this software. Any type of graph that needs to be displayed can be displayed with plotly it is an extremely versatile data visualization tool.

FusionCharts is another free data visualization tool displayed in the image below

The biggest difference between FusionCharts and Plotly is that FusionCharts is a JavaScript based data visualization software. I find that Plotly has it's advantages because since it is Python based and Python is a more beginner friendly language it's easier to use if you have any coding experience. With that being said if more of the employees are comfortable with JavaScript then FusionChart is just as good.

Tableau is another free data visualization software that falls under the category of data visualization software that you do not need to know how to code to use. Tableau which is displayed in the image below is more user friendly since users do not need to know how to code to use the software.

If the users need to create graphs and tables despite having no coding knowledge I would suggest using Tableau.

When it comes to cloud storage I've tried so many "free" cloud storage applications. The three that I am most familiar with are Google Drive, Mega, and GitHub. These three pieces of software all have their benefits over each other.

Google Drive which is displayed in the image below, is probably the most well used of these three is the most user friendly and easy to use out of these three. Google Drive allows you to share documents with individuals and offers up to 15 Gigs of storage.

Mega which is displayed in the image below

Is a less well known software however it offers the same functionality and user friendly experience as google drive with a lot more storage than Google Drive. If security of the files is more important I would recommend Mega over Google Drive since they use a very secure form of encryption.

Lastly is GitHub, GitHub while it can be used to store files like a cloud is more for sharing coding projects. With a team of developers who are constantly changing and updating code I find that Github is an amazing application that allows for a team to download the most recently updated version of data and then edit it and upload the new edited version. On top of this, if anything ever goes wrong with the data all of the previous versions are always accessible. (GitHub Displayed Below)

The biggest downside I have experienced with GitHub is that it is a bit less user friendly and a little intimidating when you first begin to use it.

Summary

Software can help a company with the project integration process by streamlining some of the necessary steps. Since I am a college student I tend to prioritize free software over anything else so all of the recommendations and examples that I use are free to use and they may offer a premium version or even a way to pay for more storage if it is needed.