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Virtual project management
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Project Management (PM) is a complex and challenging task that strives for solutions and deliverables within time and budget. Virtual Project Management (VPM) is an even more daunting task. PM is the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. VPM is attempting the same, except all project team members are not physically in a single location, possibly spanning different states and/or countries. VPM is the art of bringing together many diverse people to work towards a common shared goal. One can look at VPM as a new dimension of project management, in that it is a new way to manage projects that was influenced by the rise of the internet and the use of collaborative software tools that are used to facilitate projects. Project members can now be organizationally disbursed across the globe and come together as knowledge workers to complete the tasks. VPM has unique challenges. Since team members are often scattered in different locations around the world, they have different schedules, cultures and expectations. Managing a virtual team makes it difficult to micro manage which is a traditional concept in project management. Project Managers often need to manage people for whom they have no first-hand or personal experience with. Project members have to become acutely aware of their team member’s differences and somehow align them to work together. The entire team is dependent on technology to do its job in order for the project to be successful. Project Managers need tools tailored to the challenges of virtual project management. Virtual Project Management Tools The tools that are used in VPM need to accommodate teams in a global work environment. The key task that any VPM tool must accomplish is to allow team members to communicate with one another. Because team members are not physically in the same location, and may have no prior knowledge of each other’s work, communication becomes key. In addition, tools must have the ability to allow team members to collaborate in the virtual space, as that is the only venue open to them being from different locations. Tools need to be equipped with the capabilities to allow the project manager to manage the project - scheduling resources and tracking progress on tasks. Being a project manager in a virtual setting does not allow the PM to micromanage the team, therefore the tool should be equipped so that the PM can manage, track and facilitate the projects with ease and stability. In order to accomplish full life cycle virtual project management, VPM tools were researched and compared. Software Tools must have the following features: * Web based * Creation of schedules and tasks * Assigns resources and activities * Reporting functionality * Document management * Collaborative software * Notification feature 
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