The gateway app to an optimized worklife
June 19, 2017

The gateway app to an optimized worklife

Stephen Lalla | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects integrates seamlessly with the full suite of other Zoho apps which makes it a necessity if you're using the other Zoho suite of products. But as a stand alone it functions as well. Consider this, everyone has multiple projects that there managing at all time. It doesn't matter if it's a simple project that you do on a regular basis, that big annual event, or ongoing quarterly projects like preparing reports. The thing is, most projects big and small have multiple moving parts and keeping track of those part is paramount to the successful completion of every project. Zoho Projects allows you to create project task lists on the fly or if you're really smart, you'll build and save a template to use for repeating or similar projects. Now here's where it gets super cool. You can have a project template with a long list that is automatically assigned to different users and can be task or time dependent. So instead of spending all of your time managing the project, Zoho Projects manages the project yet you still get the do the work. There is also a feature which allows you to track time, completion percentages, and billing.
  • We use it to manage our sales orders as there are lots of moving parts which are necessary to get client orders done properly.
  • I use it anytime I have a new idea I want to put into motion. As I can create a list for brainstorming, feedback, specific actions necessary in order to test and or implement the idea.
  • Unrelated to business, it's a great way to plan travel in order to make sure you don't forget those important things like passport, flight arrangement, client meeting confirmation, and meeting prep as far as what specific documents or things do you need to bring with you.
  • And since everyone is on the go and expected to keep up with work, the mobile/tablet app makes it a breeze to keep up, work on, and create new projects.
  • It would be great if some of the project printing functions could be enhanced. I love the way it visually looks on screen but on paper not so great.
  • Pricing isn't crazy expensive at $25/month per user but would be great if there was a discount provided or a package deal if using many of the other Zoho Suite of products.
  • The trial allows for 1 Project which is nice but I don't think it adequately allows someone to properly evaluate the app and to get a feel for it. Seems like allowing about 5 would be a much better way for someone to get the feel for it.
  • Unfortunately, prior to creating Project Task Templates we'd occasionally miss a step and something that was necessary would be overlooked.
  • The creation of the Project Templates was a team collaborative effort to make sure that everyone had some input as different people was integral to specific projects.
  • It took a little while to learn some of the more tricked out features like task dependency but even starting out with the most basic of features was very significant.
We haven't used any other PM type projects so I can't say how Zoho Projects is vs some others but we've always had lists of things to do on ruled pads and white boards and while it functioned, using Zoho Projects significantly made a huge difference to our entire team. Plus, if you need to go back and view history to see something being all cloud based, it's possible. Previously, on the ruled pad, once a task page was completed, it wasn't archived so if there were any issues, there was nothing to reference. Plus, if you wanted to know if something was done, you had to call or email a co-worker to ask and with Zoho Projects, depending on your access/permission level, you can simply look at a project and see it's status.
Any task group that can fall under the heading of a project whether you work it alone or in a team collaboration setting. And if it's something that is repeated as part of the company's normal operations i.e. web design, the creation and use of a template will significantly speed up the process as well as make sure no steps are missed. The challenge is deciding on including the necessary tasks without being too insane. What I've found is it's better to err on the side of insanity initially, and then you can group some tasks together under the same heading if they are typically done at the same time as each other and by the same person.

Zoho Projects Feature Ratings

Task Management
10
Resource Management
8
Gantt Charts
10
Scheduling
9
Workflow Automation
8
Team Collaboration
10
Support for Agile Methodology
Not Rated
Support for Waterfall Methodology
Not Rated
Document Management
9
Email integration
9
Mobile Access
10
Timesheet Tracking
9
Change request and Case Management
8
Budget and Expense Management
8
Quotes/estimates
8
Invoicing
9
Project & financial reporting
9
Integration with accounting software
10