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Asana vs. Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Asana

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AAsana is a web and mobile project management app. With tasks, projects, conversations, and dashboards, Asana lets an entire team know who's doing what by when, enabling workload balancing. Users can also add integrations for GANTT charts, time tracking and more.

    $13.49

    per month per user

    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board

    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    Social Squared is a SharePoint Discussion Board App that can be deployed across SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams. Social Squared improves productivity and efficiency by providing structured discussion forums for employee and student discussions. For Microsoft SharePoint Social Squared is a SharePoint discussion board application where users can post questions within relevant forums and receive answers to their questions from subject matter experts. The…

    $2,200

    per year per installation

    Pricing
    AsanaLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Editions & Modules
    Starter
    $13.49
    per month per user
    Advanced
    $30.49
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    Contact Sales
    Personal
    Free
    Social Squared Discussion Board
    From $2200
    per year per installation
    Social Squared Discussion Board Enterprise Edition
    POA
    per year per installation
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AsanaLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.Prices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. $2.20 per user/year on top of base price. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    AsanaLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Considered Both Products
    Asana
    No answer on this topic
    Lightning Tools
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    88%
    Would buy again
    98 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    86 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    107 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    72 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    78 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    AsanaLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Asana and Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Feature
    Asana
    8.5
    179 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Task Management9.2179 Ratings00 Ratings
    Resource Management8.1152 Ratings00 Ratings
    Gantt Charts9.261 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scheduling8.3162 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow Automation9.3132 Ratings00 Ratings
    Team Collaboration9.4178 Ratings00 Ratings
    Support for Agile Methodology8.57 Ratings00 Ratings
    Support for Waterfall Methodology8.57 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document Management8.7150 Ratings00 Ratings
    Email integration8.8142 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Access8.8149 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Timesheet Tracking6.16 Ratings00 Ratings
    Change request and Case Management8.44 Ratings00 Ratings
    Budget and Expense Management7.377 Ratings00 Ratings
    Search00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Professional Services Automation
    Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Asana and Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Feature
    Asana
    6.8
    48 Ratings
    12% below category average
    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    -
    Ratings
    Project & financial reporting5.51 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with accounting software8.047 Ratings00 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of Asana and Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Feature
    Asana
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Chat00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Notifications00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Discussions00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Asana and Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Feature
    Asana
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Versioning00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Video files00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Audio files00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Document collaboration00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Access control00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
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    AsanaLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
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    Enterprises
    Microsoft To Do
    Score7.9 out of 10
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    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    AsanaLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (209 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.6
    (34 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (37 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    8.4
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.0
    (42 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AsanaLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Asana
    The usability of Asana is broad since it's available in a variety of platforms that are widely used nowadays. I think that it would be great for people who are constantly on the move and switching devices, since it has allowed me to work from my phone, too. I also think that Asana has proven itself to handle a large quantity of work
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Their customer service it top notch and always responsive. I struggled in the beginning a little bit because I'm not tech savvy and we had to add it to our SharePoint site but they helped me along the way and even had share screen meetings with me to assist!!
    Read full review
    Pros
    Asana
    • Through it, we were able to communicate and cooperate with the rest of the team to complete the work in the required manner and at the appropriate time.
    • Available for free on Android and iPhone.
    • Asana has a simple and easy user interface
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Organizing Data
    • Opens up discussion, whether publicly or anonymously
    • Easy to setup
    Read full review
    Cons
    Asana
    • Asana is not really a project management tool, it is good for simple projects only
    • UI has some glitches (doesn't save preferences, etc.)
    • Integration with other tools (Office 365, MS Project)
    • No reminders if the working period you entered is on holidays
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • I would love to be able to assign various people as administrators of different topics (this may be an option now but a couple years ago it wasn't)
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Asana
    • Mobile + Desktop capabilities - Able to use it anywhere, anytime.
    • Task management - Easy to view projects and their progress.
    • Time management - Easy to see what elements require time / how they interrelate and manage the project on an overall basis.
    • Company management - Be able to see from a master dashboard perspective where each project is in its stages of completion.
    • Clear communication - It's visually documented who is doing what at what time so that the whole project gets done.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Asana
    It is very user-friendly. Takes a new employee an hour to start figuring out how the system works. That's an important factor. You don't want to encounter the issue where employees need a week to understand how the system works. For example, JIRA, I tried using it for a week and I still don't understand the complicated layout. Asana has a simple interface. Once you see it, you get it type of program.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Our employees really like the fact that they can find things easily with the search feature and add questions and comments as they see fit.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Asana
    Working with Asana on a daily basis
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Asana
    I haven't had to use their support so I can't rate it. The fact that I haven't needed them reflects the ease of use of the product. I would recommend that any new users schedule a complete demo of the product to ensure that they are using it to it's fullest (there's a lot of useful features).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Asana
    Asana is a top-tier project management software that helps us organize and track projects from start to finish. It allows us to apply tasks/to-dos to multiple projects without duplication, divide complex projects into smaller tasks, and track project progress. It also helps us organize work on Kanban boards or linear lists. It stands out from the crowd in a big way compared to the competition.
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Asana
    I used this tool on a daily basis at work and it runs as a solid rock
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Asana
    • Productivity - Most of all, it allows me to be more productive and have a good sense of where I am with projects and deadlines.
    • Easy to use - I can make the most of my time to get up (and stay) up and running.
    • Project coordination - Allows me to assign tasks to my interns and communicate directly within the platform to keep the work train moving.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • We signed up for a 3 year contract and hope to do another 3yr contract when this one is up. :)
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Asana Screenshots

    Screenshot of Product HomepageScreenshot of Team ConversationsScreenshot of Project CalendarsScreenshot of InboxScreenshot of List ProjectScreenshot of Portfolios

    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board Screenshots

    Screenshot of MODERN, RESPONSIVE SHAREPOINT DISCUSSION BOARD
Discussion Forums can be created for a variety of different reasons. This example is a Forum Group for the Microsoft 365 technologies such as Teams, Planner, and SharePoint. Forums are then created within the Forum Groups for more specific discussions. Under the SharePoint Forum Group, there is a Forum for SharePoint On-Premises and SharePoint Online. Anyone looking to ask a question regarding SharePoint 2019 for example would be able to post their question under SharePoint On-Premises rather than SharePoint Online. This also allows subject matter experts to focus more on the questions that they can respond to and provide value.Screenshot of SHAREPOINT DISCUSS BOARD – TOPICS VIEW
When navigating into a forum, the topics and discussions that are taking place are shown. Any new topics that not yet read will be highlighted. It also displays whether topics have been answered, their average ratings, how many views and posts are within the topic, and also provides the ability to subscribe to the forum to be notified of new posts within it.Screenshot of READING DISCUSSIONS AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK
Social Squared offers a threaded discussion view with the ability to provide feedback to other users.

Posts can be rated, voted upon, or liked by users in order to give feedback to the user creating or responding to a post. Additionally, replies can be marked as answered or marked as featured, which gives readers of forums assurance that the response they are reading is validated to be the correct answer.

Users also receive feedback through the earning of badges. The more users post or mark posts as answered, the more points are rewarded. This makes it easy to spot subject matter experts.Screenshot of SUGGESTED TAGS
Social Squared provides a rich text editor for creating and replying to topics. The Rich Text toolbar provides functionality such as inserting images, YouTube videos, Stream Videos, Formatted Code Inserts, as well as font formatting.

While typing, suggestions on how to tag a post appear. Selecting an existing tag will provide consistency in the tags used making it easier for other users to discover the post.Screenshot of SOCIAL SQUARED TAG CLOUD VIEW
The Social Squared Tag Cloud view makes it easy to navigate to posts within a specific category even if they span multiple forums. The more a tag appears in different posts, the more prominent it will be in the tag cloud. Users can navigate to posts with the tag in one click.Screenshot of DISCUSSION BOARD WITHIN MICROSOFT TEAMS TAB
Social Squared is a Discussion Board App for Microsoft Teams Tab’s and Microsoft Teams Personal Apps. Social Squared provides information workers the ability to post questions within relevant forums, and receive answers from their team. The Discussion Board layout for posts makes it easier to find answers to questions that may have already been asked before. Through features such as “Mark as Answered”, “Forum Moderation”, “Post Rating”, “Post Likes”, “Post Voting”, users will be assured that the answers they are reading are validated.