In today’s world, time is everything- time is money. This applies to the discipline of project management as well. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to save previously planned projects and to later reopen them and adjust them to a new project? Imagine the time saving and effectiveness capabilities! Well, with Sinnaps, the project management software tool, you can do exactly that. This article will describe what a project management template is, the different types available and how to use this function within Sinnaps.
Índice
What is a Project Management Template?
A project management template or a project timeline template is exactly what you might think it is. It is a template of a previous project saved by the user or one made available by software such as Sinnaps, that project managers and teams can access and edit to meet their specific needs.
Planning a project is a complex job. The task of organising activities in an effective manner can take up a significant amount of time before even beginning the project. Time is everything in today’s world and templates help to optimise exactly that- your time. It is good to have a template ready with all the basic repeated information at your disposal. Most parts repeat themselves project after project and it is a waste of your time to have to re-do these parts anew every time.
Generally, templates are accessible and come in different formats, some of which will be discussed further in the article. They are pre-planned projects that give you and your team a helping hand when it comes to planning and organising your project. It’s a step in the right direction. All you have to do is fill in the project as required to your specifications. Add the task names, resources etc. that apply to your team and project and off you go!
They come in editable formats so that you can customise them to your needs. This saves time, allows team members to access templates in their free time to see how projects are formed and helps to gain a deeper understanding of what is to come. They fit the needs of small projects and large projects, technical and non-technical and allow for flexibility in the planning of even the most complex projects.
Free Project Management Templates
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Project Scope Template
A project’s scope is essentially the identification of the project as a whole. Here, the project’s goals, objectives, deliverables, resources, deadlines and costs are determined. It is an overview of everything and often is created through a project roadmap template. It is important as it identifies what needs to be done in order to complete the project successfully.
A project scope template contains in it the basics of what a project scope would normally include, ready for you to fill in and apply to your specific project. Sometimes, more information than just the scope is included. This template provides an easy and summarised view of the project scope which ultimately helps team members and other stakeholders involved to understand why the project is being carried out and what is expected and needed.
Project Status Template
We have said it here more than once. Open, honest and clear communication is a key factor in reaching success for you project. A project status report is a key tool in communicating to all stakeholders in a project how it is going and where it is at. It is important to keep people up to date so that they do not feel left behind or uncertain of any aspect to the project which is benefitted through the use of a project tracking template.
For these reasons, project status reports are extremely common and project status report templates are extremely useful in project management. Having a template helps you to save time in creating and adding all the aspects to this report that generally repeat themselves. You can get straight to the point by simply filling in what is relevant to your specific project. Your current work, process, budget control and any issues are all provided for within the templates. Templates also allow you to make these reports at a more frequent rate due to the time-saving advantages. This increased communication will benefit your project leaps and bounds, strengthening your relationships and keeping everyone up-to-date.
A project status report template is easy to adapt to your own project. A weekly, monthly or even daily format can be found which can be exported to Excel with Sinnaps and includes headers, bullets and any tables that are relevant to such a report. All you have to do is fill the project management spreadsheet in. There is also more than just one example, so you can choose which suits your project and team best.
After using and filling in the template, you can send it to all the relevant stakeholders. With Sinnaps, the cloud-based app, the report can be saved within the app and viewed by everyone involved. They will also be updated outside of the app through e-mail that a new report has been added.
Project Schedule Template
The project schedule refers to the work that needs to be performed along a timeline in order for its objective to be reached. It also outlines the resources needed and the timelines within which each of the tasks and the project must be completed. Essentially, it should reflect the whole workload associated with delivering the project successfully and on-time.
Free Project Management Templates
Gantt charts are known as the most popular form of project schedule templates. Sinnaps presents an updated version of the Gantt Chart known as the Gantt-flow. It is widely used by project managers and teams. It includes task names, dependencies, resources, allocated members and transforms that information into a horizontal bar chart. This allows everyone involved to visualise what needs to happen and makes work more efficient and effective.
Project Documentation Template
Project documentation is an essential part of project management. It helps to make sure that project requirements are fulfilled and to have everything done accounted for with evidence of what has been done, when and b whom. It lays the foundation for the quality of the project and gives it a referable history. Every project, big or small will include documentation. Having templates available for these documents serves greatly towards efficiency and time-saving capabilities.
Making and following a standardised project report template comes with major benefits. Experienced project managers are very familiar with their functions and use them a lot for their time-saving advantages. Being able to reuse successful documentation templates along with all of the other project management templates allows them to focus on the key deliverables and core competencies of the project rather than balancing paperwork that tends to repeat itself as well. With the help of project documentation templates, writing project documents and reports is easier than ever.
Some examples of project documentation and their templates include:
- Feasibility Report: This is an important report that needs to be completed in order to understand what the project will take and whether it is feasible and worthwhile. It’s better to know before starting a project it’s likelihood of success and therefore it is a common document in project management and its template very useful. It usually follows a basic structure. Feasibility is measured on technology and system, economic, legal, operational and schedule aspects. The market, resources, culture and financial factors can also be included when determining the feasibility of a project.
- Project Charter: This is sometimes referred to as the Project Overview Statement. It is involved in the deep planning of the project and essentially lays a foundation for the project. It is used as a guide that leads towards milestones and important deliverables and is referred to commonly by all stakeholders to a project.
- Change Management Document: Change is constant in all aspects of life and especially relevant to project management. This document is used to identify all the changes that have been made and how they have been handled. Essentially, this document helps with linking any adverse effects of changes and is important for stakeholders.
- Contract Closure Document: When completing a project for a client, it is important to give a final review of all the terms outlined in the initial contract and whether the project has reached the goal required. This document closes the project and follows a repeated format with specific adjustments. Therefore, having a template at the ready saves time and pleases both the project team and client.
- Lessons Learned Report: This document is extremely useful to project management, both for managers and team members. It should be completed after every project as it serves as a continuous improvement tool. Any success or failures and reasons for them should be accounted so that they can be later referred to and any previous mistakes not repeated in the future. Having a template for this document makes the task less laborious after completing a whole project.
Create Project Management Templates with Sinnaps
Sinnaps, the project management software tool has now introduced templates for project management. These templates are available through the platform and can be created by you and shared or can be taken from pre-designed templates.
There is an emphasis on sharing and improving templates within the community of project management. New templates are being added constantly and there are many to choose from, so that you can find one that suits you and your project best. All templates in Sinnaps can be exported and edited in Excel and then reuploaded to the cloud-based app to share and communicate these templates with your team or even with the wider community. You can also save your own personally created templates for future use.
Free Excel template from Sinnaps
It comes particularly in handy with past successful projects that will be repeated in the future. You can easily open the saved template, customise it to your project and get started! See for yourself the latest templates that have been added by other Sinnaps users. Expand your own horizons by considering what others are doing. It is an innovative and helpful way to manage your projects.
Use the most popular templates as a guide from the experienced Sinnaps community. From a calendar template to a project dashboard template, it’s all there, in Sinnaps Market – Cloud Project Templates Database! A project management timeline template or any other template is a great starting point for planning your project and visualising what completing a project takes.
Overall, project management is a useful discipline used across all organisations and all industries. The benefits that project management software has brought are unlimited and the constant innovation and improvement within project management software further benefits the running and management of all projects. This is something that is highlighted by the introduction of templates and something to which Sinnaps pays great attention. We want to be at the forefront of making your projects as easy and as effective as possible to complete and to create a community of sharing success and helping each other to improve.
Here at Sinnaps, we love hearing your opinion and helping you in any way we can. Be sure to give this article a like if you enjoyed it and feel free to leave a comment with any questions or opinions that you have! 😊
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