Organizations of all sizes and types are leveraging technology to maximize resources and reduce operating costs. Today’s business environment has enabled companies to operate virtually, increasing their reach and lowering their costs. Companies are collaborating more frequently with internal and external partners, and as a result, distributed project teams are in greater demand than ever before. The adoption of best practices has made project management a staple operation within a company, and how they execute project management initiatives has become a key issue. Project management methodologies - including the very nature of what constitutes a project - are constantly changing. This evolution has created a significant need for project management solutions that are intuitive and incorporate the fundamental methodologies of project management. The five phases of project management, as defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI), are initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. Organizations that require project management solutions should always be aware of the basics of their internal project management and how a vendor’s solution addresses these five phases of project management. Organizations, independent consultants and service firms are networking with more business partners and contractors in order to accomplish tasks and execute projects. Working with several contractors and business partners creates a network of micro workers that must be managed in order for projects to be successful from start to finish. Challenges in collaboration, productivity, execution, financial management and overall management of projects are common obstacles that organizations and independent consultants face. Client interaction must also be managed in order to deliver a successful and effective project. All of these aspects must run coherently and be streamlined in order to manage projects to optimum efficiency. Mavenlink is an end to end Project Management software tool that is offered as a SaaS solution to organizations and service firms. We will examine how Mavenlink provides project-centric application solutions that address the common business challenges listed above, which organizations face when managing projects. This solution profile will take a deeper look into the target markets, pricing, usability, solution analysis and functionality of the Mavenlink project management software tool and deliver a holistic view of the solution. Mavenlink caters to small to mid-sized businesses that use external contractors and service firms with 1-50 employees and subcontractors. Within organizations or service firms, the typical user would be an Owner, Managing Director, Controller, Project Manager, and Team Leads but the solution can also apply to anyone who needs to manage a project from inception to completion. As Mavenlink is a project-based tool, it can cater to any vertical. Mavenlink is a great software as a service for organizations that do not have a formal online project management office (PMO), or employees with project management (PM) designations, such as certified project manager (PMP). It could fit the bill for organizations that require a tool to manage projects but that may not have employees with in-depth project management skill sets or experience. That said, Mavenlink is also a robust enough tool for someone with a project management background to use. Diving deeper into project management needs, Mavenlink focuses on project teams that need robust collaboration, time tracking, expense reporting, on-line payment execution, invoicing and currency localization in one tool. The currency localization can serve the needs of businesses and service firms with internationally based contractors and clients. Mavenlink can also cater to any company or professional that utilizes Google Apps. Mavenlink’s integration capabilities mean companies can add easily project management functionality to their existing Google Apps infrastructure. Common verticals that utilize the Mavenlink project management tool include: Mavenlink is available in four editions; Free, Expert, Guru and Maven. The four editions represent the full scale of the target market that this application addresses, from small to enterprise businesses. The various editions are priced according to individual project-based needs. The following breakdown represents a quick pricing structure of the 4 editions and the main features within each edition. A more detailed matrix of features and functions can be found in figure 2. The pricing levels for the respective packages are as follows:Business Problems Addressed
Target Market
Pricing Model
| Free: | 1 project Creator; 3 active projects , 500MB storage |
|---|---|
| Expert: $39 per month: | 1 project Creator; Unlimited active projects , 20GB storage |
| Guru: $79 per month | 3 project Creator; Unlimited active projects , 100GB storage |
| Maven: $249 per month | 12 project Creator; Unlimited active projects , 500GB storage |
Figure 1. For SaaS based applications, total cost of ownership is calculated differently from on-premise. In our analysis we have identified 11 items that should be included when calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO) for a cloud based solution. This provides the starting point for determining the TCO over the application lifecycle and provides the basis for the calculation of ROI. In a SaaS based offering usually these items are included and if not, organizations should inquire as to how it is priced in addition to the monthly subscription fee. Eval-Source has identified 18 key areas in which organizations should consider when purchasing SaaS and cloud technology. These items reflect areas that will determine the monthly cost of the subscription. From the component checklist below, this is how Mavenlink fared:
Total Cost of Ownership
SaaS Checklist
| Tenancy—multi or single | Multi-tenancy |
|---|---|
| Cloud structure—public or private | Public |
| Subscription terms | See above for 4 editions and pricing packages |
| Data center—online or offline | Online |
| Data security standards by vertical | 256 SSL bit encryption site wide on all logged in pages |
| Business continuity/data recovery | Yes |
| Hardware Maintenance Encryption type | 256 SSL bit encryption site wide on all logged in pages |
| Version release schedule | Features released weekly |
| Current version released | [Mavenlink does not number releases as updates and upgrades are Features are released regularly] |
| Session management | Yes |
| Application level security | Yes |
| User limits | No |
| Offer data migration services | Exports of Project Workspaces, Invoices and Time Tracking data |
| Offer free trials/sandbox testing | Yes, there is a thirty-day trial on all plans |
| Setup fee (admin fee) | No |
| Application customizable by user | Yes, custom branding available for all paying subscribers |
| Application customizable by vendor | Customer Driven Development |
| Charge for additional space | 9$ per extra 10GB |
Mavenlink is a solution that enables collaboration, conduction of business through its transactional nature and is customizable through personal branding from a single application. It is separated into several functional areas: Project Workspace, Project Tracker, Email Integration, Trusted Networks and Dashboards. It also has the ability to integrate seamlessly with Google Apps (see the technical specifications section). Each functional area contains specific project management functionality. The following areas will be examined and a brief description will accompany the main features within each area. The Project Workspace provides an efficient way to manage project communications, documents, schedules, budgets and payments in one place. Figure 2. Email Invitations: Allows you to invite colleagues and clients into a secured custom workspace Transactions: Allows payments from customers online. Due to a partnership with PayPal, customers are eligible for a 35% discount on PayPal fees Project History: Since all tasks are centralized all collaboration, comments and documents are captured and updated in one place for easy tracking Team: Part of the collaboration functionality. This allows you to grant clients and colleagues secured access to your workspace while ensuring privacy Payment Logs: Allows for private communications between colleagues and clients Private Messaging: Allows for private communications between colleagues and clients Permissions : Allows the administrator to assign rights to individual users Invoice: Enables invoices to be created directly from the application for tracked time, materials and other expenses File Sharing: Allows for sharing multiple files across all project users of up to 20GB Scheduling: Allows for scheduling and timetable creation which is compatible with Google Calendars Change Orders: Allows for changes to projects and real-time buy-in to occur while informing the correct project participants View Files: Enables files to be instantly viewed using Scribd technology and any other documents to be shared within the project workspace Budget: Allows allocation of a project budget in almost any currency Real-Time Messaging: Allows for instant collaboration within the project workspace via email Filters: Allows for flexible search options to sort any type of project detail by user and status Time Tracking: Allows for tracking any project-related time, be it billable or not The Email Integration functional area enables users to view and respond to project or network activities via email, or from mobile devices. Any change in project status is communicated through email via notifications. The notification can be responded to directly from the email or an email digest can be created for group activities. This functionality is extended to mobile devices so that real-time collaboration is perpetuated. The Dashboard functional area enables the user to cater to their preferences for any type of project activity. These dashboards can include project feeds, activity feeds, dashboard bar and message center configurations. The Trusted Networks functional area provides a secure area for collaboration with colleagues and clients. The Public Page permits full project details to be shared with all members and external freelancers. An added bonus to the Trusted Networks functionality is that pages are indexed to increase online visibility via search engines. A detailed feature/function matrix highlights the capabilities of each edition. Figure 3. Mavenlink is project-based software, which allows organizations to control projects from end to end including invoicing. This high-level visibility enables the organization to focus on the status of the project so that major stakeholders can be informed and equipped with the most up to date information on any project. The accountability that this provides ensures that projects are not neglected and can be executed effectively. Internal and external colleagues can collaborate and use the secure workspace to foster consistency and accountability and ensure successful project completion. The Dashboards permit any type of status updates pertaining to the project, which may be filtered by user, status, project or milestones. These are just a few of the customizations that users can configure and tailor to their personal preferences. Figure 4. For project-based software, any status or activity is emailed to your personal email so that you are always in the loop. If this becomes too cumbersome for larger projects, all activities can be merged into a daily activity digest that compounds the day’s activities in one email. When a notification email is sent to users for specific tasks, individuals can reply directly to the email, which automatically connects them to the project workspace, making the software easier to use. As this is a secured project workspace, collaborations can be kept private between individual users to ensure privacy and are not shared to the overall project. User security features enable the Project Administrator to control and monitor all project activity but only display information appropriate to the entire project. Once project billing has been created and tracked, PayPal integration is offered as a payment option for clients. This is as easy as associating your PayPal account to Mavenlink. This feature is also very useful for paying external consultants. The instant invoice history created through the single interface means all financials can easily be tracked for later use, thus simplifying the use of multiple systems. Some project software do not incorporate billing functions and timesheets, so information usually has to be exported to a separate financial application. A few key strengths of the Mavenlink project based software application are as follows: Expansive The comprehensive nature of the application allows organizations to manage projects from inception to completion. The platform combines project management, workforce collaboration, time tracking, invoicing, online payments, Google Apps integration, scheduling, budgeting, custom branding capabilities and the ability to create trusted referral networks in one workspace. Custom Branding This functionality allows the users to custom brand the workspace to incorporate the look and feel of their own site so that invited colleagues feel comfortable and secure within a trusted environment. Intuitiveness As Mavenlink is project-based, all features and functions have been created to complement the project lifecycle from inception to billing. Relating these functions to PMI methodology makes project completion easy for a single user as well as for larger project teams. The application interface allows users to quickly scan project updates and changes either by project stream or via several different dashboard layouts, which enable the key stakeholders to control all aspects of the project, keeping it on time and on budget. Security The 256 SSL encryption on all logged pages provide a solution for highly regulated industries such as law practices (client/attorney privileges) and health services such as Hippa. Each project workspace can be configured according to the access level of invited guests. The different levels of application and session management allow for controlled access for companies that use contingent workforce resources. Mavenlink is deeply intertwined with Google Apps as it integrates seamlessly to Google Docs, Calendar and Contacts. This is part of off the shelf integration and can be easily incorporated by following the configuration wizard within Mavenlink to associate Google Contacts, Calendar and Docs, which takes only minutes. Google Apps integration can be easily accessed through the project workspace and can be regulated by assigning the appropriate permissions for either edit or read status to the project. The software also has the ability to link the message document to the Project Tracker. This deep integration enables a Google Apps infrastructure to be extended to encompass also project management capabilities. The Google Apps integration allows for the following functions: There are no set up or administration fees for signing up with Mavenlink, nor are there additional fees to release and extract personal data upon contract termination. Data created can be exported using CSV or PDF formats, which prevent any vendor lock-in. PayPal is a key integration for Mavenlink as it permits online payment of invoices that are created inside Mavenlink. Clients can click a button, provide the appropriate Paypal credentials and then fully or partially pay any invoices created within Mavenlink directly to the provider. The provider receives the funds (minus the Paypal fees) directly to their Paypal account.Solution Analysis
Functional Areas
Technical Specifications
Google Apps Integration
Paypal Integration
Quick Glance Specifications
| Web browser optimization | Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox |
|---|---|
| APIs provided | Open API |
| Security practice included | All areas of the site behind login are secured using SSL 256 bit encryption. TRUSTe App Data Privacy Certified. |
Project Management is becoming more commonly used to streamline and execute business initiatives within organizations. Because project management can be applied to many different verticals and any type of business the need to adapt a software tool is a prerequisite for success. Mavenlink is a project management tool that combines extensive functionality with a very smooth and intuitive interface. The delivery model as a Saas solution means Mavenlink can be easily adopted by a company as the main a tool with which to manage projects. With the integration to Google Apps, Mavenlink can further its functionality. Mavenlink is a good fit for small enterprises without a PMO or certified PMPs on staff. Its application provides a common sense approach to creating projects and tasks, scheduling, planning, and collaborating in order to complete a project. The secure project area provided by Mavenlink and its approach to email based project messaging ensures projects tasks are not overlooked and are fully visible to all project participants based upon user access rights. This application enables organizations to manage projects without hassle, thereby lowering administrative costs. A key differentiator for Mavenlink in the project management space is its tight financial integration. Smaller organizations that utilize remote workers can easily calculate sub-contractors time, project resources, project budgets and expenses without ever leaving the application. It is a tool that not only tracks and manages the project billing, but can also issue invoices directly from the application, which reduces overall administration and simplifies the accounting process. Follow Mavenlink on Facebook & Mavenlink on Twitter.Conclusion
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