Case Study: How we have created a task management software

Running a startup or any kind of business requires extensive practice, skills, knowledge and expertise. Moreover, balancing the time, tasks and people is difficult as well. According to the recent study, over 10,500 projects found that օnly 2.5% of companies complete their projects successfully. Sounds disappointing, right? That’s why using a task management software would be a way out. Thanks to the task management software. Over 77% of high-performing activities have been completed and met with success. Not only does it help you keep all processes smooth, but you can also better plan the day-to-day workload. Having that in mind, almost all companies have opted for the task management software to maintain time accountability, assess the task and better manage them. Sounds impressive, right? Let’s delve into the details below!

What exactly is a task management system?

From its name, companies utilize a task management system to monitor and track the activities of any team member or the entire team. Not only can this system help them better manage all the aspects of a task such as status, priority, the time spent, people involved, etc., but it also allows team leaders or managers to track the tasks better and make wiser decisions based on the progress. More importantly, it divides a project into smaller and manageable chunks.

Task management system and project management system: What’s the difference?

It’s no secret that many people confuse a project management system with a task management one. Unfortunately, these platforms are closely related, but cannot be used interchangeably — a project management system usually includes a task management system. Not only does a task management system help you divide organizational/project goals into tasks and subtasks, but you can also assign tasks to the team members, set deadlines and monitor their progress. Moreover, it is built specifically to focus on task-related aspects only and can be used for a short-term, long-term, or permanent process.

The project management system includes strategic planning, budgeting, resource management, documentation, managing and tracking tasks.

Why do you need a task management system?

Only by having an effective task management system in place can your teams and managers achieve significant control over the task completion. Let’s take a closer look at why it may be a necessity for your business:

• There is a need to create, customize and improve the workflow by better organizing task completion within the teams.
• There is a need to store all the documents in one database so that any team member can access them with a simple click.
• There is a need to increase the overall productivity of your teams by providing uninterrupted communication.
• There is a need to minimize the risk of data loss and increase the efficiency of work.
• There is a need to manage daily tasks anywhere and anytime and prioritize them.
• There is a need to set reminders to execute tasks.

What’s the idea of the project?

Developing and implementing a variety of digital software solutions for logistics and booking, e-commerce and e-learning, fintech, and recruiting business niches, we can build a customizable solution based on your business needs and requirements. If you face challenges when scheduling your projects and tracking their progress, we are here to help you. Not only can you grow your business, but our bespoke solutions enable you to increase revenue. Tracking the progress of tasks manually will never kill an hour. With the task manager, you can better manage the projects and keep track of each team member’s progress in a jiffy. Moreover, you can do the following:

• easily move through the workflow;
• keep teams on the same page;
• meet deadlines;
• prioritize tasks;
• communicate and discuss within the system.

Having that in mind, our team has come up with a great concept of creating a task management system including all the features and functionality you need to monitor and track tasks more efficiently. Sounds interesting, right? So let’s dive into the details below!

Project structure of the task management platform

Below you will find technologies that may be utilized when developing a task management platform. Take a look below!

Development process of the task management system

Here you can find more detailed information about the development process of the task management system. Let’s dive into the details below:

Team

When working on the task management platform, we applied agile methodology that helped us better coordinate and balance the workload among teams. The team consisted of the following specialists:

• 1 Business analyst (BA)
• 1 Project manager (PM)
• 2 UI/UX designers
• 3 Front-end engineers
• 2 Quality assurance engineers (QA)
• 1 Backend engineer

Methodology

When creating the task management system, we have opted for the agile software development methodology taking into account its advantages:

• We could prioritize the client’s needs over the requirements when planning the development process.
• We could adapt to any change in the client’s requirements.
• We delivered a working system providing value at the end of each sprint.
• As a result, we have implemented 24 sprints during which the development team completed the project and reached established goals successfully.

Development

During the Product Discovery phase, Business Analyst gathered requirements and prepared documentation - the functional specifications. In addition to that, BA elicited and analyzed the requirements to make sure that the future system would work as the client wanted. Once all the requirements were identified, the team was able to identify users roles - user and administrator and its key functionality:

• team workspaces
• time tracking
• Gantt chart
• percent-progress
• chat
• to-do list view
• reports

Having reviewed all the documentation, Project Manager provided the client with a preliminary estimate and suggested the roadmap for the development process of the future task management system. Once it was approved, we divided the planned scope of work (so-called Backlog) into smaller parts named 2-week sprints. The team implemented 24 sprints within 12 months. In addition to that, the Project Manager had the overall responsibility for task management, risk mitigation, and reporting to the client and stakeholders. Only after receiving which features from the backlog the team would work this sprint could it start the design, development and testing process. QA engineers worked together with software developers in a spirit of collaboration to detect any potential issues within the task management system and fixed them. Once the system was free of bugs, we launched it, upgraded, and made improvements based on the client’s requirements.

User Roles

Below you can find the user roles within the task management system. Not only will it give you a better understanding of the users’ privileges on the platform, but you can also define permissions for users to perform a group of tasks. There are two user levels you can find: User and Administrator.

• Users are any person who can register on the platform, select a course and pay for it within the online course platform.
• Administrator has the highest administrative responsibility level within the task management system and can customize that access for users.

User Dashboard

Once you have registered as a User, you are redirected to your homepage. Here you will see the workspace you are connected to. For example, it can be a workspace for the design team or the marketing team. Let’s take a closer look below!

Workspace

With the Workspace feature, not only can you safely collaborate, but you can also share important documents or any information you need to better collaborate with the team. Here you can see the following info:

• my team;
• my meetings;
• activity;
• recent communication.

In addition to that, you can see the upcoming meetings and tasks progress.

Boards

The Board feature allows you to see the units of work that form the project. With this feature, you can see what projects the team is working on. Not only does it help you discover the projects within your department, but you can also see what projects are dedicated to your team. In addition to that, you can select a list or grid view, discover the number of the tasks and explore the team working on the project.

Tasks

With the Tasks feature, you are in the know how many tasks have been assigned, and when they need to be accomplished. Each task has a title or description, start/end date, and it can also include details such as task assignees, status, priority and percentage complete. Usually, the tasks are placed based on which activity needs to be completed before others can begin.

Meetings

The Meetings feature allows you to be in the know about the meetings you are involved in. Not only can you see the agenda, start time, linkage to a task, date of the meeting, duration of period, discussion points, follow-up actions, but you can also discover who from the team will take part in the meeting and their decisions.

Timesheets

With the Timesheets feature, you can view project progress using a bar chart that clearly illustrates everything from task lists and individually assigned responsibilities — all within the context of the overall project schedule. In addition to that, you can track, review, and approve timesheets quickly and easily.

Chat

The Chat feature provides advanced collaboration functionality for the users within the task management system. Not only can team members connect, but they can share all the important data related to the tasks in different formats - text, video, etc. In addition to that, they can edit or delete the content of a message sent.

Admin Dashboard

Only by logging in the task management system as an Administrator can you be on the main page. Here you can access important areas of the task management solution such as Workspace, Users, Tasks, Timesheets, Meetings, Reports and System Settings. Let’s find out more details about them below!

Workspace

With the Workspace feature, you can create an environment that brings team members together. Not only can you easily navigate across teams, departments or projects, but you can also better manage multiple departments and teams. Moreover, you can add users to any workspace.

Users

With this feature, you can see all the information about the users within the task management system such as name, position, skype ID, and task completion line. In addition to that, you can explore a team, edit, export, share, and delete information about any user by clicking on the chosen user.

Tasks

Thanks to the Tasks feature, you can see all the tasks within the team. Not only does it help you better understand their status, prioritization and date, but you can also create a new task and assign it to any team member. In addition to that, you can see who the task owner is and track the percentage to complete the tasks.

Timesheets

Thanks to this feature, you can create project plans, visualize task dependencies and set milestones. Not only does it help you identify critical paths, but you can also meet deadlines for various projects. Only by knowing how much time the team members spend on tasks can you spot time-management problems and improve the workflow.

Meetings

Thanks to this feature, you can schedule a meeting and easily set up a collaboration. Not only does it help you pick the most important problem facing your team, but it enables you to put the team together and solve it. Only by setting an agenda can you better prepare for the meeting and discuss with other members of the team some important questions or issues.

Reports

With the Reports feature, you can see a summary overview of the current status of the tasks in any team. Not only does it help you keep up to date on the progress of the project or the task, but you can also be in the know about any pressing challenges the project may be facing. Moreover, this feature simplifies the reporting process and provide a needed head-start on monitoring your tasks.

System Settings

Directly from the main menu, you can reach the System Settings page. Not only can you configure the task management system, but you can also make a change to the directory-specific areas such as Workspace, Users, Tasks, Timesheets, Meetings, Reports, Notifications, etc.

Key features of the task management system

Here you can find out some essential features of the task management platform.

• Time tracking: with this feature, you can keep track of the hours spent on individual tasks and on the project as a whole and have more control over your project costs.
• Gantt chart: with this feature, you can better schedule and plan projects of all sizes, view a start-to-finish project timeline.
• Percent-progress: with this feature, you can see visual percent-progress widgets that offer a quick snapshot of your progress.
• Chat: thanks to this feature. You can communicate and collaborate with the team members in real time instead of writing heavy emails daily.
• To-do list view: with this feature, you are provided with a list of all of the tasks you need to complete during a particular period of time.
• Reports: thanks to this feature. You can get regular updates that allow you to summarize the current status of a project.

Benefits of the task management system

Here we have reviewed some important benefits you can reap of:

• Boost your productivity: with the task management platform, you can locate tasks with their due dates so that any team member can view them and plan activities accordingly.
• Delegate tasks effectively: with this software, not only can you assign the right task to the right person, but you can also monitor their progress and increase productivity, both on a personal and organizational level.
• Simplify the process of task prioritization: thanks to the task management solution through which you can not only prioritize all of the tasks according to importance and urgency, but it also lets workers complete multiple parts of different projects on time and meet the deadlines.
• Better management: with the task management software, you can keep essential information about the tasks in one place.
• Clearly defined goals: thanks to this platform where you can define the goals and objectives in a better way and assign tasks in accordance to them so that your team achieve successful results.

How to choose the task management solution for your company

As you may know, selecting the right task management software is a daunting task. Definitely, you’re looking for new software to solve a problem you faced. Whether it’s information that needs to be managed or a process you are eager to automate or improve, the right task management system comes into play to facilitate working with the problematic area of your business. Think about your daily routine and make a list of all activities:

• What are your daily tasks?
• What are your teams’ daily tasks?
• How do you monitor and track these tasks?
• How do you manage all the workflows?
• How would you want your work to be facilitated?

Only by answering these questions can you identify the problematic areas and map out your company’s current workflow. Based on that information, you can look through the task management platforms and start with a basic trial plan before making a decision on the most suitable software solution. Moreover, you can find a reliable tech partner and develop a custom task management system in accordance with your unique business needs and requirements.

Bottom line: Are you ready to incorporate a task management system?

Running a company, department, or an individual team is a tedious process. Using a time management system is a way out. Not only does it help you increase the task completion, but it will also ensure everyone is on the same page. Only by incorporating a task management solution in your company can you track the time spent on work and better manage workflow. In addition to that, you will be able to see detailed information about the tasks and ensure the team is meeting deadlines. We, at DDI Development, have vast technical experience in developing and delivering a diversity of software solutions that meet any business needs. Let us know if you want to implement a task management system into your company and bring better results by changing the way you deal with task scheduling.