Projector PSA vs. SmartSuite vs. Traction TeamPage

We think Projector PSA is a great tool to track and manage people in a professional service environment like management consulting. This system is easy to set up, easy to understand and should easily suit the needs of smaller and medium sized firms. It may be less appropriate for firms that rely very heavily on project management through another system (like MS Project) or firms that rely very heavily on a sales pipeline tracking system. While still very much possible to use, you would (I believe) have to do some re-keying between systems

It is best suited to be a google alternative for a google drive due to its multiple functions. Can add action items, upload multiple types of files and assign people responsibilities and tasks. It combines resource platform abilities with project management functionality in order to unite all your needs in one area.

• Time tracking. For a service company that typically bills retainers, it is very important to be able to assign a direct cost to your resources at all levels and analyze your profitability.
• Expense reporting. Projector easily tracks expenses of all types and allows you to categorize them under non-billable projects, client billable projects and/or client development ventures.
• Reporting. Projector has a large list of standard reports right at your fingertips. These reports can be extracted as Excel docs, mdp files and other useful formats. They are intuitive, clear and easy to analyze. For those you need on a standard basis, you can set them up to pull on a recurring basis. It should be noted that all reports are easily customized and Projector's support team is always there to help get you the information you need.

Incentivized

• SmartSuite is a good collaboration tool
• The capabilities of the platform are immense
• The customization features allow users to set up the report type and view it exactly as they want
• The choice of the fields to be used in the records and reports is really wide

• The split between the desktop and web environments was awkward at times.
• While the reporting modules are powerful, creating reports can be complex and required a fairly deep knowledge of the product.
• The appearance and interface of the desktop application appears somewhat dated.

• Need to make video tutorial how to use SmartSuite for new users
• Need to make help articles how to user SmartSuite for new users

We have been using this tool for a year now and find our use of it continually evolves and broadens. We are also very excited about the overhaul that's under way and feel many of the improvements being put in place will help make us that much more effective and efficient. The Projector team is also very responsive and collaborative in terms of user feedback and improvement suggestions, which helps us know they will work hard to help us get what we need out of the tool.

I have a great expereance

Desktop interface feels complex to new users.

The product is usability friendly, easy to use, flexible and has all functions I need for my purposes

In 5 years of use we have never experienced an unscheduled outage.

They have a great tutorial and a lot of hits during the work process

That's easy. Just try

We switched to Projector from Open Air. While Open Air was a good tool, we found it wasn't really designed for project management at the level of detail we needed from our PSA and used MS Project and Excel to supplement Open Air. We also struggled with the invoicing side of it, manually combining invoice summaries with custom time and expense reports in Acrobat. Projector however, was designed for project management. We are able to manage projects, track time and expenses, and invoice all out of one system. The project setup can accommodate a wide range of complexity, including milestones, dependencies, etc. Project and resource dashboards also help see the services portfolio and team at a summary level and allows us to zero in on particulars easily and more meaningfully than we were ever able to with Open Air. Invoice templates are also easily customized and we were able to get several set up quickly to meet our needs. Lastly, Open Air required us to purchase and pre-pay licensing for a year, so if we lost staff mid-way through the year, the unused seat was not prorated. Projector licensing is paid monthly based on actual number of active users that month, which makes more sense for a team with fluctuating headcount.

Well, Asana was just too simple for our use case, we couldn't get into the details as we could with Smart Suite. As for Jira, it is exactly the opposite, it was just too had to use and our team members just stop using it based on the time they need to spend in order to use Jira. I would say Smart Suite is a healthy balance between those two allowing for the business to be super specific with their workflows but not putting a lot of overhead on the employees.

• Even in the small time that I stayed to see Projector PSA reporting I saw ROI projections become more realistic. There was real data to analyze that proved we were spending way too much and charging way too less on some projects.
• Although employees were not used at entering their hours, this single reporting improved operations management and validated employees concerns that more people were needed to manage workload
• Project proposals were more realistic because they were driven by real data.
• Decision making overall for the department became more efficient and effective

Incentivized

• We have to spend less time on checking where the project is at
• We can have less PM's in the business
• Our clients are happier thus leading to more business