Both are important. But when they’re disconnected, project teams may be spending significant time moving information between systems instead of managing the work itself.

ProjectManager surveyed 142 project management professionals to understand how organizations currently manage project financials and which data connections would be most valuable. The results reveal a clear gap between the information businesses have and the visibility they need.

ERPs Manage Financials, Project Teams Manage the Work

Modern ERP systems can provide a broad range of financial and operational capabilities, including accounting, budgeting, purchasing, time and expense tracking, project accounting and financial reporting. However, project execution requires another set of capabilities.

Project managers need to build schedules, assign resources, manage dependencies, track progress and understand how changes to the work affect deadlines and costs. They also need a practical way to connect planned work with actual project performance.

This creates a distinction between financial management and project execution. An ERP can tell a business what a project has cost. A project management platform can show what work is being performed, who is performing it, when it is expected to be completed and how the project is progressing. The challenge comes when those two views aren’t connected.

Disconnected Systems Create a Reconciliation Problem

The ProjectManager survey found that 89% of respondents spend at least some time each month manually duplicating or reconciling project and financial data.

For 27% of respondents, that work takes over 10 hours per month.

That’s more than an inconvenience. It’s a recurring operational cost created by having information distributed across different systems.

The survey also found that 54% of respondents still rely primarily on Excel or spreadsheets as their financial management system.

The consequences extend beyond data entry. When respondents were asked about the biggest problem with their current financial management process:

• 35 respondents identified delayed reporting and lack of visibility as their biggest problem.
• 29 respondents cited financial errors and reconciliation issues.
• 29 respondents cited high operational costs from manual effort.
• 14 respondents identified audit and compliance risk.
• 12 respondents said they avoid syncing systems because the process is too complex.

The numbers point to the same underlying issue: organizations may have financial data and project data, but they don’t always have those data sets connected in a way that provides timely visibility.

What Do Project Teams Actually Want From Integration?

The survey also asked respondents which data connections would be most valuable in a project management integration.

The results are revealing because respondents weren’t simply asking for accounting features to be copied into their project management software. They wanted connections that would help them understand project performance in financial terms.

The most valuable connection was project-job data, alongside budget-versus-actual visibility.

That makes sense. Project managers don’t just need to know that an expense exists. They need to know how that expense relates to the project plan. Is the project still on budget? How much has actually been spent? Which projects are generating the strongest margins? Where are cost overruns occurring? What happens to profitability if a project falls behind schedule? Those questions require project and financial data to work together.

Customers Are Another Important Connection

Customer and client information was also among the most valuable integrations, receiving 74 responses. Connecting customer data to project information can give organizations a more complete picture of the relationship between the work they perform and the revenue it generates.

For example, teams can connect projects to customers, understand what work is underway for a particular client and evaluate customer profitability across projects. Again, the goal isn’t simply moving records between applications. It’s creating the context necessary to make better decisions.

Financial Visibility Goes Beyond Invoicing

The survey also found that respondents placed a higher value on payments and invoice status (74 responses) and expenses (63 responses) than on invoices themselves, which received 50 responses. That’s an important distinction.

Creating an invoice is an accounting function. Knowing whether a customer has paid, how much revenue remains outstanding and whether project expenses are threatening profitability is a business visibility function.

The data suggests project professionals increasingly need to see financial information in the context of the project, not simply complete individual financial transactions.

Integration Can Close the Gap

The answer isn’t necessarily to make the ERP do everything or to replace it with project management software. For many organizations, the better option is to connect the two.

An integrated setup lets project teams manage schedules, tasks, resources and time in the project management platform they already use, while finance teams continue managing accounting, billing and financial reporting in the ERP. The important information can then move between the systems instead of being re-entered manually.

That means a project manager can see how actual costs are affecting a project without having to dig through accounting records, while the finance team can receive accurate project and time data without asking project managers to recreate it in the ERP.

The difference may seem simple, but it addresses one of the biggest problems identified in the survey: the amount of time teams spend manually reconciling information that already exists in their systems.

Integration isn’t about creating another place to manage data. It’s about making the systems a business already relies on to work together.

Acumatica + ProjectManager: Connecting the Two Sides of the Project

ProjectManager’s Acumatica integration provides a real-world example of this approach. Acumatica can manage the financial side of the business, while ProjectManager provides the project planning and execution environment. Rather than requiring project managers and finance teams to maintain duplicate information, the integration connects the operational and financial sides of the project.

Project teams can manage schedules, tasks, resources and project work in ProjectManager. Approved timesheets can then flow to Acumatica, connecting time worked to the organization’s financial processes.

The integration can also bring actual and committed project costs from Acumatica into ProjectManager, giving project managers more visibility into how actual costs compare with the work they’re managing.

That addresses several of the priorities identified in the survey: connecting project data to financial outcomes, improving budget-versus-actual visibility and reducing the manual reconciliation that 89% of respondents currently experience.

From Data Reconciliation to Project Visibility

The survey makes one thing clear: project professionals don’t simply need more financial data. They need connected financial data.

Nearly nine in 10 respondents are already spending time reconciling project and financial information. More than a quarter spend over 10 hours a month doing it. And when asked what would be most valuable from integration, respondents prioritized connections that would help them understand project costs, budgets, customers, payments and profitability. The opportunity is to move beyond systems that simply store information separately.

With an integrated ERP and project management environment, financial teams can continue managing the financial system while project teams manage the work. The data connecting those functions can move between systems without requiring people to manually recreate it.

Acumatica and ProjectManager demonstrate what that can look like in practice: one connected view of the project, from the work being planned to the money being spent.

That’s the real value of integration; not just fewer spreadsheets or fewer hours spent reconciling data, but better visibility into how project execution affects financial performance.

Are you interested in trying the integration yourself? Whether you’re an existing ProjectManager customer, or you’re looking for a platform that bridges the gap between your project and financial data, this integration is the right fit. Explore our homepage or read more about our Acumatica integration.

The post ERP and Project Management: Bridging Finance and Execution appeared first on ProjectManager.

With so many add-ons available, which MYOB Acumatica integrations are worth it? We’re here to help. Below are the 10 best MYOB Acumatica integrations, including what they do, their key features, limitations and pricing, so you can build the right tech stack for your ANZ business.

If you’re looking for the best way to manage projects alongside MYOB Acumatica, ProjectManager’s MYOB Acumatica integration connects our award-winning project management software directly to your ERP. The two-way sync bridges project and accounting data, so project managers can schedule resources and track progress while finance teams get GST-ready information, invoice billable hours and see clear expense insights. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

What Is MYOB Acumatica?

MYOB Acumatica, formerly known as MYOB Advanced, is a cloud ERP system for businesses in Australia and New Zealand. Built on Acumatica’s technology and localized by MYOB, it manages accounting, finance, inventory, projects, customer relationships and payroll from one system. It’s popular with construction, manufacturing, distribution, professional services and multi-entity businesses.

What Are MYOB Acumatica Integrations?

MYOB Acumatica integrations are connectors that link your ERP to other business software, such as project management, AP automation, reporting, inventory planning and ecommerce tools. Many are built by independent software vendors in Australia and New Zealand and are designed around local requirements such as GST. Most use MYOB Acumatica’s open APIs to sync data in real time or on a set schedule.

Integrating these tools eliminates double data entry, speeds up month-end close and gives every department access to the same up-to-date information.

What Features Make the Best MYOB Acumatica Integrations?

When evaluating MYOB Acumatica integrations, look for:

• Two-way sync: Data should flow in both directions so both systems stay current
• ANZ compliance: Support for GST and local banking, payment and reporting requirements
• MYOB certification: Certified or partner-recommended apps are tested against current releases
• Field mapping: The ability to map data to the branches, subaccounts, projects and tasks your team already uses
• Ease of setup: Prebuilt connectors that don’t require heavy custom development
• Local support: Responsive support in ANZ time zones from the vendor or your MYOB partner

10 Best MYOB Acumatica Integrations

1. ProjectManager

ProjectManager is the best MYOB Acumatica integration for project management. It’s award-winning project and portfolio management software with Gantt charts, kanban boards, resource management, timesheets and real-time dashboards. Its MYOB-certified MYOB Acumatica integration creates a two-way connection that syncs project, operational and financial data between the two systems.

Project tasks, timesheets and resources sync with MYOB Acumatica, along with expenses, billable hours, and revenue and cost recognition. Finance teams get GST-ready information to generate financial reports and invoice billable hours, while project managers automate resource scheduling, cost tracking and reporting. Plus, there’s a free 30-day trial.

Verdict: Best for project management

Pros & Key Features

• Two-way sync of tasks, timesheets, resources and financial data
• GST-ready information for Australian and New Zealand finance teams
• Gantt charts with task dependencies, milestones, critical path and baselines
• Resource management with workload charts and team availability
• Timesheets linked to tasks, with approvals and billable hours
• Real-time dashboards and one-click portfolio reports

Cons & Limitations

• Requires both a ProjectManager and MYOB Acumatica subscription
• Teams new to Gantt charts may need a short ramp-up period

Pricing

• Team: Per user/month, billed monthly or annually
• Business: Per user/month, billed monthly or annually
• Enterprise: Custom quote
• Free 30-day trial, no credit card required

2. TRAILD

TRAILD is an Australian-built accounts payable automation and payment protection tool embedded directly in MYOB Acumatica. It extracts invoice data, codes costs with machine learning and matches invoices to purchase orders and receipts, while AI risk flags help protect against fraud and errors.

Verdict: Best for AP automation and fraud protection

Pros & Key Features

• Embedded directly within MYOB Acumatica
• Enterprise-grade invoice data extraction
• Machine learning cost allocation and coding
• Two- and three-way line-level matching to purchase orders and receipts
• Auto-approval within purchase price variance thresholds
• AI risk and error flags, plus unlimited vendor authenticity checks

Cons & Limitations

• Focused on AP, so you’ll need other tools for expenses and receivables
• Approval workflows and matching rules take time to configure
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote based on invoice volume

3. ProSpend

ProSpend is an ANZ spend management platform that captures expenses, invoices, purchase orders and card transactions before they reach MYOB Acumatica. It applies consistent coding across branches, subaccounts, projects and project tasks, then exports clean data to the general ledger and payables modules.

Verdict: Best for expense and spend management

Pros & Key Features

• Expense, invoice, purchase order and card transaction capture
• AI-powered OCR invoice scanning and duplicate detection
• Purchase order matching
• Multi-level approval workflows with delegation of authority rules
• Syncs suppliers, projects and project tasks from MYOB Acumatica
• Credit card reconciliation and reimbursements exported automatically

Cons & Limitations

• Overlaps with dedicated AP automation tools if you already use one
• Setup of coding and approval rules takes upfront work
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote through ProSpend’s pricing calculator

Related: MYOB Acumatica: Key Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons

4. ezyCollect

ezyCollect automates accounts receivable and payment collection for MYOB Acumatica users. It sends customizable payment reminders, accepts card, direct debit and bank transfer payments, and allocates payments back to MYOB Acumatica automatically.

Verdict: Best for accounts receivable and collections

Pros & Key Features

• Automated payment reminders by email, SMS and post
• Direct debit, credit card and bank transfer payments
• Automatic payment allocation to MYOB Acumatica
• Aging invoice tracking and credit limit management
• 24/7 customer payment portal
• Credit risk monitoring on premium plans

Cons & Limitations

• Payment plans and credit risk tools are premium features
• ERP setup costs vary by installation complexity
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote
• 14-day free trial, no credit card required

5. Velixo

Velixo is an Excel-based reporting and planning tool that pulls live MYOB Acumatica data into spreadsheets. Finance teams can build financial statements, consolidations, budgets and project forecasts in Excel, then push data back into MYOB Acumatica.

Verdict: Best for Excel-based financial reporting

Pros & Key Features

• Live, self-service reporting in Excel
• Drill down into transactions and navigate straight into MYOB Acumatica
• Budgeting, forecasting and scenario planning with writeback
• Push data from Excel into MYOB Acumatica with generated input forms
• Security synced from MYOB Acumatica
• Prebuilt templates for reporting, consolidation, close and project forecasting

Cons & Limitations

• Requires Excel skills to get the most out of it
• Focused on finance rather than operational dashboards
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote based on users and edition

6. Phocas

Phocas is a business intelligence and financial planning platform that integrates with MYOB’s ERP systems, including MYOB Acumatica. It consolidates data from multiple sources and lets users build reports, dashboards, budgets and forecasts without relying on IT.

Verdict: Best for business intelligence

Pros & Key Features

• Self-serve reporting and dashboards with drill-down to transactions
• Automated profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow statements
• Multi-location consolidation
• Budgeting and three-way cash flow forecasting
• Phocas AI to speed up data discovery

Cons & Limitations

• Best suited to manufacturing, distribution and retail businesses
• Can be more than small businesses need
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote

7. Netstock

Netstock is an inventory optimization and supply chain planning tool that connects to MYOB Acumatica. It uses AI-powered demand forecasting to recommend what to buy and when, helping businesses balance service levels against working capital.

Verdict: Best for inventory planning

Pros & Key Features

• Real-time data sync with MYOB Acumatica
• AI-powered demand forecasting
• Automated replenishment recommendations
• Scenario modeling for supply disruptions
• Supplier performance analysis and dashboards

Cons & Limitations

• Only valuable for inventory-heavy businesses
• Implementation typically takes four to six weeks
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote

8. InSyncer

InSyncer connects MYOB Acumatica to Shopify for both B2B wholesale and B2C retail. It syncs inventory across multiple warehouses, brings customer-specific pricing from MYOB Acumatica into Shopify and reconciles orders back to the general ledger.

Verdict: Best for Shopify ecommerce

Pros & Key Features

• Real-time stock sync across multiple MYOB Acumatica warehouses
• Customer-specific pricing, quantity breaks and volume discounts
• B2B catalogs and on-account ordering
• Two-way sync of orders and customers, with credit limit tracking
• Managed setup with Shopify Plus expertise

Cons & Limitations

• Only works with Shopify
• Pricing isn’t published
• Requires a Shopify plan in addition to the connector

Pricing

• Custom quote after a scoping call, plus your Shopify plan

9. Straightsell

Straightsell is an Australian ecommerce platform with a prebuilt connector for MYOB Acumatica. It sends inventory, stock levels and customer pricing from MYOB Acumatica to your webstore, and exports sales orders and customers back to your ERP.

Verdict: Best for B2B ecommerce in Australia

Pros & Key Features

• B2B and B2C webstore templates
• Syncs inventory, stock levels, customers and special pricing
• Supports up to 20 warehouses and multiple units of measure
• Configurable field mapping
• Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) compliance

Cons & Limitations

• Requires at least one MYOB Acumatica Sales & CRM (API) user license
• Less flexible than larger ecommerce platforms for design
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote, in AUD excluding GST

10. PencilPay

PencilPay digitizes credit applications and payments for wholesalers and distributors using MYOB Acumatica. Customers complete branded online credit applications that sync with MYOB Acumatica, and invoices can be paid automatically with auto-billing and payment scheduling.

Verdict: Best for credit applications and B2B payments

Pros & Key Features

• Branded digital credit applications
• Applications synced automatically with MYOB Acumatica
• Auto-billing and payment scheduling
• Real-time sync of customer accounts and credit terms
• Encrypted storage of credit agreements and payment data

Cons & Limitations

• Built for B2B wholesale, so less relevant for other business types
• Overlaps with AR tools such as ezyCollect
• Pricing depends on plan and payment volume

Pricing

• See PencilPay’s pricing page for current plans

Why ProjectManager Is the Best MYOB Acumatica Integration for Project Management

MYOB Acumatica tracks project budgets, costs and billing, but it isn’t built for planning and scheduling work. ProjectManager fills that gap and keeps both systems in sync, so project managers and finance teams never have to reconcile two sets of numbers.

Plan and Schedule on Gantt Charts

Map every task on a timeline, link all four types of task dependencies, set milestones and filter for the critical path. Set a baseline to compare your planned schedule against actual progress in real time.

Balance Resources and Workloads

The workload chart shows how many tasks each team member has, so you can reallocate work in a few clicks. Set team availability, public holidays and leave to plan with the people you actually have.

Track Time and Billable Hours

Team members log hours on timesheets linked to their tasks. Approved time and expenses sync with MYOB Acumatica, so finance can invoice billable hours with GST-ready information.

Monitor Progress With Dashboards and Reports

Real-time dashboards show time, costs, workload and progress at a glance. Generate one-click reports on project status, portfolio status and timesheets, then share them with stakeholders in seconds.

ProjectManager is online project management software that connects teams in the office, in the field and anywhere in between. With our MYOB Acumatica integration, you get powerful project planning and a single source of truth for project financials. Get started with ProjectManager today for free, no credit card required.

Related MYOB Acumatica Content

• What Is MYOB? Uses, Features and Pricing
• ProjectManager + MYOB Acumatica Integration
• 10 Best Acumatica Integrations
• Acumatica for Project Management: Key Features and Integrations

The post 10 Best MYOB Acumatica Integrations for 2026 appeared first on ProjectManager.

But with hundreds of apps in the Acumatica Marketplace, which integrations are worth your time? We’re here to help. Below are the 10 best Acumatica integrations, including what they do, their key features, limitations and pricing, so you can build a tech stack that works for your business.

If you’re looking for the best way to manage projects alongside Acumatica, ProjectManager’s Acumatica integration connects our award-winning project management software directly to your ERP. Project managers plan on Gantt charts, balance workloads and track progress, while approved time goes to Acumatica ready to bill and actual costs flow back onto the tasks that generated them. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

What Are Acumatica Integrations?

Acumatica integrations are connectors that link Acumatica cloud ERP with other business software, such as project management, CRM, ecommerce, tax, shipping and reporting tools. Some are native connectors built by Acumatica, while others are built by independent software vendors and listed in the Acumatica Marketplace. Most use Acumatica’s open REST APIs to sync data in real time or on a set schedule.

Integrating other tools with Acumatica eliminates double data entry, reduces errors and gives every department access to the same up-to-date information. Instead of exporting spreadsheets between systems, a sale in your online store can automatically create an order in Acumatica, or approved project hours can flow straight into billing.

What Features Make the Best Acumatica Integrations?

The best Acumatica integrations do more than move data from one place to another. When evaluating integrations, look for:

• Two-way sync: Data should flow in both directions so both systems stay current
• Real-time or scheduled updates: Choose how often data syncs based on how your team works
• Certified by Acumatica: Marketplace-listed and certified apps are tested against current Acumatica releases
• Field mapping: The ability to map data to the Acumatica fields and cost codes your team already uses
• Ease of setup: Prebuilt connectors that don’t require heavy custom development
• Scalability: The integration should handle growing transaction volumes and additional entities
• Support: Responsive support from the vendor or your Acumatica partner

10 Best Acumatica Integrations

1. ProjectManager

ProjectManager is the best Acumatica integration for project management. It’s award-winning project and portfolio management software with Gantt charts, kanban boards, resource management, timesheets and real-time dashboards. Its Acumatica integration connects project plans to your ERP, so project managers can plan and track work in ProjectManager while finance works in Acumatica.

Approved time goes to Acumatica ready to bill, and committed and actual costs come back onto the tasks that generated them, with your Acumatica cost codes attached. Task progress and status write straight to the Acumatica fields your team already uses. You choose which projects sync and set the schedule to daily, weekly, monthly or on demand. Plus, there’s a free 30-day trial.

Verdict: Best for project management

Pros & Key Features

• Two-way sync of time, costs, task progress and status with Acumatica
• Gantt charts with task dependencies, milestones, critical path and baselines
• Resource management with workload charts and team availability
• Timesheets linked to tasks, with approvals
• Real-time dashboards and one-click reports
• Choose which projects sync and how often

Cons & Limitations

• The integration is bundled with Acumatica’s Professional Services Edition but is a paid add-on for the Construction and Manufacturing Editions
• Teams new to Gantt charts may need a short ramp-up period

Pricing

• Team: $15 per user/month, billed annually
• Business: $28 per user/month, billed annually
• Enterprise: Custom quote
• Free 30-day trial, no credit card required

2. Avalara AvaTax

Avalara AvaTax is the leading sales tax automation integration for Acumatica. Transactions flow from Acumatica to AvaTax for real-time tax calculation, and accurate tax totals are returned automatically. It verifies addresses across more than 13,000 U.S. tax jurisdictions and keeps up with changing tax rules, holidays and product taxability.

Verdict: Best for sales tax compliance

Pros & Key Features

• Real-time sales and use tax calculation on Acumatica transactions
• Rooftop-level address validation
• Exemption certificate management linked to customer records
• Optional automated return filing and remittance with Avalara Returns
• Prebuilt connector with minimal IT involvement

Cons & Limitations

• Pricing is based on transaction volume and can rise quickly as you grow
• Return filing and certificate management are separate products
• Configuration of product tax codes takes upfront work

Pricing

• Custom quote based on transaction volume and products selected

3. Shopify

Acumatica’s native Shopify connector links Shopify, Shopify Plus and Shopify POS to Acumatica. Orders, customers, products, inventory levels and payments sync between the two systems, so online and in-store sales flow directly into your ERP without manual entry.

Verdict: Best for ecommerce

Pros & Key Features

• Native connector built and supported by Acumatica
• Syncs orders, products, customers, inventory and payments
• Supports Shopify POS for brick-and-mortar sales
• Supports B2B commerce on Shopify Plus
• Real-time inventory visibility across channels

Cons & Limitations

• Requires an Acumatica commerce license in addition to your Shopify plan
• Complex product catalogs may need careful mapping during setup
• Some advanced B2B features are limited to Shopify Plus

Pricing

• Shopify Basic: $29/month billed annually or $39 billed monthly
• Shopify Grow: $79/month billed annually or $105 billed monthly
• Shopify Advanced: $299/month billed annually or $399 billed monthly
• Shopify Plus: Starts at $2,300/month
• Acumatica connector licensing is quoted by your Acumatica partner

Related: Acumatica for Project Management: Key Features and Integrations

4. Salesforce

Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM platforms, and its Acumatica integration allows two-way data sharing between sales and operations. Sales teams can work in Salesforce while accounts, contacts, opportunities, quotes and orders sync with Acumatica, giving them visibility into pricing, inventory and order status.

Verdict: Best for enterprise CRM

Pros & Key Features

• Two-way sync of accounts, contacts, opportunities and orders
• Gives sales reps visibility into ERP data such as order history and inventory
• Advanced sales forecasting, pipeline management and automation
• Huge ecosystem of add-ons in the Salesforce AppExchange

Cons & Limitations

• Expensive, especially on higher tiers
• Acumatica already includes a built-in CRM, so some businesses may not need both
• Integration often requires a third-party connector or partner setup

Pricing

• Starter Suite: $25/user/month
• Pro Suite: $100/user/month
• Sales Cloud Core: $195/user/month, billed annually
• Sales Cloud Advanced: $395/user/month, billed annually
• Sales Cloud Max: $550/user/month, billed annually

5. HubSpot

HubSpot is a CRM platform with sales, marketing and customer service tools. Connecting HubSpot to Acumatica pairs marketing and sales activity with ERP data, so teams can see order history, invoices and payment status alongside customer records.

Verdict: Best for marketing and sales teams

Pros & Key Features

• Free CRM plan to get started
• Marketing automation, email campaigns and lead scoring
• Syncs customers, contacts, products and orders with Acumatica
• Easy-to-use interface with strong reporting

Cons & Limitations

• Integration relies on a third-party connector
• Costs rise quickly with advanced tiers and onboarding fees
• Overlaps with Acumatica’s built-in CRM

Pricing

• Free: Up to two users
• Sales Hub Starter: $20/seat/month billed monthly, with a discount for annual billing
• Sales Hub Professional: $90/seat/month billed annually or $100 billed monthly, plus a $1,500 onboarding fee
• Sales Hub Enterprise: From $150/seat/month, plus a $3,500 onboarding fee

6. Procore

Procore is a construction management platform used by general contractors, owners and specialty contractors. Its Acumatica connectors link Procore’s project financials, such as budgets, commitments, change orders and subcontractor invoices, with Acumatica’s construction accounting, so field and office teams work from the same numbers.

Verdict: Best for construction management

Pros & Key Features

• Syncs budgets, commitments, change orders and invoices with Acumatica
• Purpose-built for construction workflows
• Document management, drawings, RFIs and submittals
• Strong mobile apps for field teams

Cons & Limitations

• Built only for construction, so it’s not a fit for other industries
• Pricing is based on annual construction volume and can be expensive
• Setup requires aligning cost codes between both systems

Pricing

• Custom quote based on annual construction volume and products selected

7. SPS Commerce

SPS Commerce is a full-service electronic data interchange (EDI) solution embedded directly in Acumatica. It helps distributors, manufacturers and suppliers exchange purchase orders, invoices, advance ship notices and other documents with retail trading partners through a single integration.

Verdict: Best for EDI

Pros & Key Features

• Fully embedded in Acumatica for a streamlined user experience
• Prebuilt EDI documents, including purchase orders, invoices and advance ship notices
• Access to a retail network of more than 105,000 customers
• Full-service team manages changing trading partner requirements
• Processes EDI by exception with full automation

Cons & Limitations

• Most valuable for businesses that sell to large retailers
• Costs increase as you add trading partners
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote based on trading partners and document volume

8. Velixo

Velixo is an Excel-based reporting tool that pulls live Acumatica data into spreadsheets. Finance teams can build financial statements, budgets, forecasts and consolidated multi-entity reports in a tool they already know, then refresh them with real-time data.

Verdict: Best for financial reporting

Pros & Key Features

• Real-time Acumatica data in Excel
• Financial statements, budgets and forecasts
• Multi-entity consolidation reporting
• Write data back to Acumatica, such as budgets and journal entries
• Construction-specific reporting and forecasting options

Cons & Limitations

• Requires Excel skills to get the most out of it
• Focused on finance, not operational dashboards
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote based on number of users and edition

9. AvidXchange

AvidXchange automates accounts payable and vendor payments for midsize businesses. Its Acumatica integration captures invoices, routes them for approval and syncs payment data back to the ERP, reducing manual data entry and paper checks.

Verdict: Best for accounts payable automation

Pros & Key Features

• Automated invoice capture and data extraction
• Custom approval workflows
• Electronic payments to a large network of suppliers
• Syncs invoices and payment data with Acumatica
• Visibility into AP status and cash flow

Cons & Limitations

• Setup and approval workflows take time to configure
• Pricing isn’t published
• May be more than very small AP teams need

Pricing

• Custom quote based on invoice and payment volume

10. ShipHawk

ShipHawk is shipping and warehouse management software certified for Acumatica. It automates rate shopping across carriers, packing, label printing and fulfillment, then writes tracking and shipping costs back to Acumatica orders.

Verdict: Best for shipping and fulfillment

Pros & Key Features

• Multi-carrier rate shopping for parcel and freight
• Smart packing and label printing
• Warehouse management features, including picking and packing
• Tracking and shipping costs written back to Acumatica

Cons & Limitations

• Best suited to businesses with high shipping volume
• Implementation can take time for complex warehouses
• Pricing isn’t published

Pricing

• Custom quote based on shipping volume and features

Why ProjectManager Is the Best Acumatica Integration for Project Management

Acumatica’s project accounting tracks budgets, costs and billing, but it isn’t built for planning and scheduling work. ProjectManager fills that gap and keeps both systems in sync, so project managers and finance teams never have to reconcile two sets of numbers.

Plan and Schedule on Gantt Charts

Map every task on a timeline, link all four types of task dependencies, set milestones and filter for the critical path. Set a baseline to compare your planned schedule against actual progress, and let task progress write back to Acumatica automatically.

Balance Resources and Workloads

The workload chart shows how many tasks each team member has, so you can reallocate work in a few clicks. Set team availability, holidays and PTO to plan with the people you actually have.

Track Time and Costs in Real Time

Team members log hours on timesheets linked to their tasks. Once approved, time goes straight to Acumatica ready to bill, while committed and actual costs flow back onto the tasks with your Acumatica cost codes attached.

Monitor Progress With Dashboards and Reports

Real-time dashboards show time, costs, workload and progress at a glance. Generate one-click reports on project status, portfolio status and timesheets, then share them with stakeholders in seconds.

ProjectManager is online project management software that connects teams in the office, in the field and anywhere in between. With our Acumatica integration, you get powerful project planning and a single source of truth for project financials. Get started with ProjectManager today for free, no credit card required.

Related Acumatica Content

• Acumatica Construction Edition: Key Features and Integrations
• ProjectManager + Acumatica Integration
• Best Construction ERP Software
• Best Project Management Accounting Software

The post 10 Best Acumatica Integrations for 2026 appeared first on ProjectManager.

Choosing between Acumatica vs. NetSuite often comes down to how your business is structured and how it plans to grow. Acumatica is known for its unlimited-user pricing and industry-specific editions, while NetSuite, owned by Oracle, is one of the most widely used cloud ERP systems in the world, with a deep bench of modules. Either one is a major investment, so it pays to understand the trade-offs before you sign a multi-year contract.

Below, we’ll break down what each ERP system is, compare their features and pricing, weigh the pros and cons and help you decide which is right for you. We’ll also look at why many teams pair their ERP with dedicated project management software.

If you’re leaning toward Acumatica, you don’t have to choose between a powerful ERP and powerful project management. ProjectManager’s Acumatica integration connects our award-winning project management software directly to your ERP, so project managers can plan on Gantt charts, balance workloads and track progress while finance works in Acumatica. Approved time goes to Acumatica ready to bill, committed and actual costs flow back onto the tasks that generated them with your cost codes attached, and task progress writes straight to the Acumatica fields your team already uses. The integration is bundled with Acumatica’s Professional Services Edition and available as an add-on for the Construction and Manufacturing Editions. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

What Is Acumatica?

Acumatica is a cloud ERP system built for small and midsize businesses. It combines financial management, distribution, inventory, CRM, project accounting and more in one platform that can be accessed from any browser or mobile device.

What sets Acumatica apart is its licensing model. Instead of charging per user, Acumatica prices its software based on the resources and transaction volume a business uses, so most editions include unlimited users. It also offers industry-specific editions for manufacturing, distribution, construction, retail and professional services, along with a general business edition.

Acumatica is flexible in how it’s deployed. Businesses can run it as a SaaS subscription, in a private cloud or on their own servers. It’s sold and implemented through a network of value-added resellers (VARs), which means pricing and support vary by partner.

What Is NetSuite?

NetSuite is a cloud ERP system owned by Oracle. Originally launched in 1998 as one of the first cloud business applications, it’s now used by tens of thousands of businesses, from fast-growing startups to large enterprises with global operations.

NetSuite offers a unified suite that covers financials, accounting, inventory and order management, CRM, ecommerce, human resources and professional services automation. Its OneWorld module is popular with companies that manage multiple subsidiaries, currencies and tax jurisdictions.

Unlike Acumatica, NetSuite is available only as a cloud subscription hosted by Oracle. It’s priced with a base license plus a monthly fee for each user and add-on module, and it’s sold directly by Oracle as well as through solution partners.

Acumatica Features

Acumatica covers the core functions most growing businesses need, with extra depth for specific industries. Key features include:

• Financial management: General ledger, accounts payable and receivable, cash management, fixed assets and multi-entity accounting
• Industry editions: Purpose-built editions for manufacturing, distribution, construction, retail and professional services
• Inventory and distribution: Inventory tracking, purchasing, sales orders, warehouse management and fulfillment
• Project accounting: Track project budgets, costs, billing and revenue recognition
• Built-in CRM: Manage leads, opportunities, customers and marketing campaigns in the same system
• Unlimited users: Add employees, contractors and even customers without buying more licenses
• Flexible deployment: Choose SaaS, private cloud or on-premise hosting
• Open APIs and integrations: Connect Acumatica to other business tools through REST APIs and a marketplace of partner apps
• AI and automation: Built-in AI features and workflow automation to reduce manual data entry

NetSuite Features

NetSuite’s strength is the breadth of its suite. Businesses can start with core financials and add modules as they grow. Key features include:

• Financial management: General ledger, accounts payable and receivable, billing, revenue recognition and financial close tools
• NetSuite OneWorld: Manage multiple subsidiaries, currencies, languages and tax rules from one account
• Inventory and order management: Track inventory across locations, manage orders and automate fulfillment
• CRM: Sales force automation, customer service and marketing tools included with the platform
• Ecommerce: Run online storefronts with SuiteCommerce, connected directly to inventory and financials
• Professional services automation (PSA): Manage project resources, timesheets and billing for services businesses
• SuiteAnalytics: Real-time dashboards, saved searches and reports across the business
• SuiteCloud platform: Customize workflows, fields and scripts with SuiteFlow and SuiteScript
• NetSuite AI: AI-powered features built into the suite to automate tasks and surface insights

Related: Acumatica for Project Management: Key Features and Integrations

Acumatica Pricing

Acumatica doesn’t publish list prices. Instead, pricing is quoted by its partners based on the edition, modules, transaction volume and deployment option you choose.

• Pricing model: Based on resources and transaction volume rather than number of users
• Users: Unlimited users on most editions
• Licensing: SaaS subscription, private cloud or perpetual license
• Typical cost: Annual subscriptions start around $6,000 and often run $15,000 to $35,000 or more for midsize businesses
• Implementation: Typically quoted separately and can cost as much as or more than the first year’s subscription

NetSuite Pricing

NetSuite also doesn’t publish list prices. Businesses receive a custom quote based on their edition, number of users and modules.

• Pricing model: Annual subscription with a base license plus per-user fees
• Base license: Roughly $999 to $5,000+ per month, depending on edition
• Users: Roughly $129 to $199 per full user/month, with lower-cost self-service licenses available
• Modules: Add-ons such as advanced financials, manufacturing, warehouse management, ecommerce and PSA cost extra
• Implementation: A one-time cost that can range from $25,000 to $500,000+ depending on complexity

Acumatica vs. NetSuite: Key Differences

The biggest difference between Acumatica and NetSuite is how you pay. Acumatica’s resource-based pricing with unlimited users makes it attractive for companies with large or growing teams, while NetSuite’s per-user model and broad module library suit businesses that want a single, highly scalable suite.

Choose Acumatica if you have a lot of users, work in manufacturing, distribution or construction, or want the option to host the software yourself.

Choose NetSuite if you’re growing fast, manage multiple subsidiaries or countries, or want the largest ecosystem of partners and add-ons.

Either way, neither ERP is built for detailed project planning. Many teams pair their ERP with dedicated project management software to schedule work, manage resources and track progress.

Pros and Cons of Acumatica

Pros

• Unlimited users on most editions, so costs don’t climb as your team grows
• Industry-specific editions for manufacturing, distribution, construction and more
• Flexible deployment options, including SaaS, private cloud and on-premise
• Modern, browser-based interface that’s accessible on any device
• Open APIs make it easier to connect with other business tools

Cons

• Pricing isn’t published, and quotes vary from partner to partner
• Smaller ecosystem of third-party apps and consultants than NetSuite
• Reliance on VARs means the quality of implementation and support can vary
• Some users report slower performance with large data volumes or heavy customizations
• Reporting can require extra tools or technical know-how to set up
• Project management tools are focused on accounting rather than planning and scheduling

Pros and Cons of NetSuite

Pros

• Broad, mature suite that can scale from small businesses to global enterprises
• OneWorld makes multi-subsidiary, multi-currency management easier
• Large ecosystem of partners, consultants and SuiteApps
• Real-time dashboards and reporting across the business
• Highly customizable with SuiteCloud tools

Cons

• Per-user pricing gets expensive as headcount grows
• Many key features, such as advanced financials and PSA, are paid add-ons
• Cloud-only deployment with no on-premise option
• Complex implementation that can take months and require outside consultants
• Steep learning curve for new users
• Renewal price increases can be significant without a negotiated cap

ProjectManager Fills the Project Management Gap in Acumatica and NetSuite

Acumatica and NetSuite are powerful for running the back office, but their project tools are built around accounting, not planning. If you need to schedule tasks, balance workloads and see how projects are progressing in real time, you need more than project billing and cost codes. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that gives you the tools to plan, manage and track projects from start to finish. Try it free today.

Connect Directly to Acumatica

If you choose Acumatica, ProjectManager’s Acumatica integration links your project plans to your ERP. Approved time goes to Acumatica ready to bill, and committed and actual costs flow back onto the tasks that generated them, with your Acumatica cost codes attached. Task progress and status write straight to the Acumatica fields your team already uses, and you choose which projects sync and how often. The integration is bundled with Acumatica’s Professional Services Edition and available as an add-on for the Construction and Manufacturing Editions.

Plan Projects With Powerful Gantt Charts

Neither ERP offers a true project scheduling tool out of the box. ProjectManager’s Gantt charts let you map every task on a timeline, link all four types of task dependencies, set milestones and filter for the critical path. Set a baseline to compare your planned schedule against actual progress in real time.

Manage Resources and Workloads

Your ERP tracks costs, but it won’t tell you who’s overbooked next week. ProjectManager’s workload chart shows how many tasks each team member has, so you can reallocate work in a few clicks. Set team availability, holidays and PTO to plan with the people you actually have.

Track Time and Costs With Timesheets

ProjectManager’s timesheets are linked to tasks, so team members can log hours quickly and managers can approve them in one place. Track labor costs against your project budget as they’re incurred, then share the data with your finance team.

Monitor Progress With Real-Time Dashboards and Reports

Get a real-time view of time, costs, workload and progress on our live dashboards. Generate one-click reports on project status, portfolio status, timesheets and more, then filter and share them with stakeholders in seconds.

Give Every Team a View That Works

Switch between Gantt charts, kanban boards, task lists, sheets and calendars. Every view updates in real time, so project managers, team members and executives all work from the same data. Comment on tasks, attach files and set up workflow automation to keep projects moving.

ProjectManager is online project management software that connects teams in the office, in the field and anywhere in between. It works alongside your ERP so you can manage projects without a costly implementation. Get started with ProjectManager today for free, no credit card required.

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The post Acumatica vs. NetSuite: In-Depth Software Comparison appeared first on ProjectManager.

Choosing between Microsoft Planner vs. Trello usually comes down to your tech stack and how complex your projects are. Planner is built for teams already living in Microsoft 365, while Trello is a flexible, standalone kanban tool that works with just about anything. Neither, however, was designed to handle the full scope of project management.

Below, we’ll break down what each tool is, compare their features and pricing, weigh the pros and cons and help you decide which is right for you. We’ll also show why ProjectManager is a more powerful alternative for teams that need more than a to-do list.

If you’re open to trying something other than Microsoft Planner or Trello, and you need project management software that fosters collaboration and gives you the tools to plan, schedule and track projects so they’re delivered on time and within budget, then you want ProjectManager. Our award-winning software combines the simplicity of Trello’s kanban boards with more powerful planning tools than Planner, without the add-ons, extra licenses or steep learning curve. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

What Is Microsoft Planner?

Microsoft Planner is a task management app that’s part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. It lets teams create plans, organize tasks into buckets and track progress on a kanban-style board. Because it’s built into Microsoft 365, Planner connects directly with Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, OneNote and To Do.

In recent years, Microsoft has folded Microsoft To Do, Project for the web and Loop tasks into a single, unified Planner experience. The basic version is included with most Microsoft 365 business subscriptions. Premium plans add more advanced project management features such as timelines, sprints, baselines and portfolios, while a Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on brings AI assistance to plans.

Planner works best for small to midsize teams that already use Microsoft 365 and want a simple way to manage everyday tasks without adding another tool to their stack.

What Is Trello?

Trello is a visual collaboration and task management tool owned by Atlassian. It’s best known for its kanban boards, where work is organized into lists and cards that team members drag and drop as tasks move from one stage to the next.

Trello is intentionally simple. Anyone can start a board in minutes, and its free plan is generous enough for small teams and personal projects. For teams that need more, Trello offers Power-Ups, which are add-ons that connect it to other apps, and Butler, its built-in automation tool. Paid plans unlock additional views, such as timeline, calendar and table views.

Trello is popular with marketing teams, creative agencies, startups and anyone who wants a flexible, tool-agnostic way to visualize their workflow.

Microsoft Planner Features

Planner covers the basics of task management well, and its premium plans push it closer to a light project management tool. Key features include:

• Multiple views: Grid, board, schedule and chart views in the basic version, with timeline (Gantt), calendar and people views on premium plans
• Buckets and task cards: Group tasks into buckets and add checklists, labels, attachments, priorities and due dates
• Microsoft 365 integration: Create and manage plans directly in Teams, get task notifications in Outlook and store files in SharePoint
• Task dependencies and milestones: Link related tasks and mark key dates (dependencies are more advanced on higher tiers)
• Sprints and backlogs: Plan agile work in sprints on Planner Plan 1 and above
• Portfolios and baselines: Roll up multiple plans and track the critical path on Planner and Project Plan 3
• Copilot and the Project Manager agent: Generate plans, tasks and status reports with AI (requires a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license)

Trello Features

Trello’s strength is its simplicity. Its features are designed to make it easy to see work at a glance and customize boards to fit almost any workflow:

• Kanban boards: Organize work into lists and cards that move across stages
• Cards with details: Add assignees, due dates, checklists, attachments, labels and comments to each card
• Inbox and Planner: Capture to-dos from email, Slack and Teams, then schedule them on a synced calendar
• Butler automation: Set up rules, buttons and scheduled commands to automate repetitive work
• Power-Ups: Connect Trello to hundreds of apps, including Slack, Google Drive, Jira and Microsoft Teams
• Additional views: Timeline, calendar, table, dashboard and map views on the Premium plan and above
• Atlassian Intelligence: AI features that help summarize cards and generate content on paid plans
• Templates: Hundreds of board templates for marketing, sales, HR, product and more

Related: Best Microsoft Planner Alternatives

Microsoft Planner Pricing

• Planner in Microsoft 365: Included with Microsoft 365 business subscriptions
• Planner Plan 1: $10 per user/month, billed annually
• Planner and Project Plan 3: $30 per user/month, billed annually
• Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on: $30 per user/month, billed annually

Trello Pricing

• Free: $0 for up to 10 collaborators per workspace
• Standard: $5 per user/month billed annually, or $6 billed monthly
• Premium: $10 per user/month billed annually, or $12.50 billed monthly
• Enterprise: $17.50 per user/month, billed annually

Microsoft Planner vs. Trello: Key Differences

The biggest difference between Microsoft Planner and Trello is ecosystem. Planner is the natural choice if your organization already pays for Microsoft 365, while Trello is better for teams using a mix of tools that want a flexible, standalone board.

Choose Microsoft Planner if your team works in Teams and Outlook every day and needs a task tool that’s already included in your subscription.

Choose Trello if you want a simple, visual board that’s quick to set up, works with any tech stack and has a strong free plan.

Choose neither if you manage projects with detailed schedules, budgets, resources and reporting. Both tools are task managers at heart, and teams often outgrow them as projects become more complex.

Pros and Cons of Microsoft Planner

Pros

• Included at no extra cost with most Microsoft 365 business plans
• Deep integration with Teams, Outlook, SharePoint and the rest of Microsoft 365
• Familiar interface for anyone who already uses Microsoft products
• Premium plans add sprints, timelines, baselines and portfolio views
• Enterprise-grade security and admin controls through Microsoft 365

Cons

• The free version is limited to basic task management; timelines, sprints and advanced dependencies require a paid plan
• Limited value for teams that don’t use Microsoft 365
• Few integrations outside the Microsoft ecosystem compared to Trello
• Microsoft’s frequent product changes (merging To Do, Project for the web and Loop into Planner) can confuse users and admins
• No built-in timesheets, and cost tracking and resource management are basic
• AI features require a separate Copilot license that costs more than Planner Plan 1

Pros and Cons of Trello

Pros

• Extremely easy to learn and set up
• Generous free plan for small teams and personal use
• Hundreds of Power-Ups and integrations with popular apps
• Built-in automation with Butler on every plan
• Works on any platform, with strong mobile apps

Cons

• Built around kanban boards, so it’s not well-suited to complex, multi-phase projects
• Timeline, calendar and table views are locked behind the Premium plan
• Free plan caps workspaces at 10 collaborators and 10 boards
• Automation runs are limited on the Free and Standard plans
• No native timesheets, budgeting or resource management; these require Power-Ups or other tools
• Reporting is minimal, making it hard to track project performance at a high level

ProjectManager Is a Better Alternative to Microsoft Planner and Trello

If you like the simplicity of Microsoft Planner or Trello but need more than task lists and kanban boards, you’re not alone. Many teams outgrow these tools as soon as projects involve tight deadlines, shared resources and budgets. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that gives you the tools to plan, manage and track projects from start to finish, all in one place. Try it free today.

Plan Projects With Powerful Gantt Charts

In Planner and Trello, timelines are locked behind paid tiers and offer limited functionality. ProjectManager’s Gantt charts do far more than show a static schedule. Link all four types of task dependencies to avoid costly delays, set milestones, filter for the critical path and set a baseline to compare your planned progress against actual progress in real time.

Switch Between Multiple Project Views

Everyone on your team works differently. Our kanban boards give team members the same visual workflow they love in Trello, while managers can plan on the Gantt chart. Switch to the list, sheet or calendar views anytime. Every view is updated together in real time, so the whole team always works from the same data.

Manage Resources and Workloads

Neither Planner nor Trello offers real resource management. ProjectManager’s workload chart shows how many tasks each team member is assigned, so you can reallocate work in a few clicks and avoid burnout. Set team availability, holidays and PTO, and see who has capacity before you assign new tasks.

Track Time With Secure Timesheets

Planner and Trello don’t have built-in timesheets, which means adding another tool just to track hours. ProjectManager’s timesheets are linked to tasks, so team members can log time quickly and managers can approve timesheets and see labor costs as they’re incurred.

Monitor Progress With Real-Time Dashboards and Reports

Track project performance at a glance with real-time dashboards that show time, costs, workload and more. When stakeholders need an update, generate one-click reports on project status, portfolio status, timesheets, workload and more, then filter and share them in seconds.

Collaborate and Automate Workflows

Comment, tag teammates and attach files directly on tasks so conversations stay with the work. Set up workflow automation and task approvals to keep projects moving. ProjectManager also integrates with the tools your team already uses, including Microsoft 365, Teams, Google Workspace and Slack.

ProjectManager is online project management software that connects teams in the office, in the field and anywhere in between. Join teams at organizations of all sizes that use our software to plan, manage and track their work. Get started with ProjectManager today for free, no credit card required.

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The post Microsoft Planner vs. Trello: In-Depth Software Comparison appeared first on ProjectManager.

But for now, let’s focus on production scheduling. We’ll define both production scheduling and a production schedule and define what production scheduling is not. Then we’ll explain what to consider in production scheduling and how the process can benefit your projects.

What Is Production Scheduling?

A production schedule is a plan that helps facilitate the process of delivering products to customers and the marketplace. It’s part of the larger supply chain in manufacturing and includes everything from procurement of raw materials and labor and logistics to the costs involved and a production timeframe.

Manufacturers need to address production scheduling before they begin the manufacturing process. This might sound obvious, but production scheduling informs the costs involved in producing a product, such as the production itself and labor. Therefore, financial resources must be allocated for every step in your production cycle.

It’s essential to consider when to introduce your product to the marketplace. You want to do so quickly without negatively impacting quality, so many work backward from a deadline. That means understanding how long production will take and the timeline to transport finished goods to distributors. This requires balancing resources to have what you need when you need it.

That’s a lot of different pieces to coordinate. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software with robust Gantt charts to map your production schedule. Our Gantt charts allow you to manage your resources and costs in real time. All four task dependencies can be linked in the production schedule to avoid costly bottlenecks. Once you have your production scheduling planned, set a baseline to capture that plan. Now you can compare the planned schedule to the actual schedule when in production to help you stay on track. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Production Scheduling Process

To balance production orders with the availability of resources in a cost-effective manner, manufacturers apply the production scheduling process to their production facilities. It provides a better way to allocate resources, operations and processes when creating goods and services.

By following the steps below, manufacturers can adjust their production scheduling to reflect resource availability and client orders. However, your production schedule must be accurate in terms of the resources available to reap the benefits of production scheduling.

1. Production Planning

Everything rests on this step. Here, you’ll figure out the course of the entire production. Managers will look over production budgets, a demand plan, and the number of raw materials that will be required. There are two types of plans, static and dynamic, the former thinking that everything will follow the plan’s timeline and the latter believes everything can change. The dynamic plan is recommended as change is part of any execution of a plan.

2. Production Routing

Now with the plan done, you’ll want to determine the path the production will follow. This is routing. That is, how the raw materials are procured and then made into a finished product. The idea behind production routing is to determine the more economical sequence of operations in the production process.

3. Production Scheduling

This is when you determine the date and time that the production operation must be completed. There are three types of production scheduling, master scheduling (which defines the entire process from start to finish), manufacturing or operation scheduling (for routing raw materials) and retail operation scheduling (to get the finished product from the manufacturing facility to stores). You’ll want to include a contingency plan to respond to issues that negatively impact your schedule.

4. Dispatching & Execution

Once you’ve scheduled production, it’s time to share the plan with everyone involved. Assign the order of jobs, instructions and other production information that’s important for execution. Execution is when staff works together to ensure that the sequence of the production schedule is followed and deliverables meet deadlines. This means monitoring and removing bottlenecks that might delay production orders.

What Is a Production Schedule?

A production schedule is an integral part of production scheduling. The production schedule is a list of all the products that are to be manufactured. That list also notes where and when each product will be made.

The production schedule is very detailed and includes everything from raw materials to logistics and what processes will be used to run a smooth production line. Managers will also explore potential bottlenecks so they can avoid issues. The production schedule is reviewed throughout the manufacturing process and revised as needed to keep production running on time.

Sponsored

Production schedules are only as reliable as the inventory and manufacturing data behind them. Fishbowl is an inventory and manufacturing platform built for small and midsize businesses running QuickBooks or Xero, and it exists to keep that data trustworthy without asking a shop to take on a full enterprise resource planning (ERP) project.

On the operations side, Fishbowl tracks on-hand stock, bills of materials (BOMs), work orders (WOs) and manufacturing orders (MOs) in one place, so a schedule can be built against what is actually available rather than what a spreadsheet said last week. Procurement lead times, work-in-progress, and finished goods stay visible as orders move, which is where most scheduling assumptions quietly fall apart.

On the finance side, Fishbowl acts as the source of truth that syncs inventory and manufacturing activity into QuickBooks and Xero. That accounting-first design supports clean cost of goods sold (COGS), landed-cost allocation, and a faster monthly close, so the numbers a controller sees match the numbers a production manager is scheduling against.

The practical effect is that scheduling stops living in a silo. When capacity, materials and costs read from the same system, the production schedule reflects the real state of the business, and changes on the floor show up in the books without a separate reconciliation pass.

Related: Best Production Scheduling Software

Not only managers but sales teams benefit from a production schedule. Sales can use the production schedule to keep the manufacturing team updated on the demand for the product. And, of course, managers can keep sales aware of what product is available.

Get your free

Production Schedule Template

Use this free Production Schedule Template for Excel to manage your projects better.

Download Excel File

What Should Be Included In a Production Schedule?

When creating a production schedule these elements must be included to help the project be delivered on time: forecasted production volume, production timeline, lead times, resource requirements, production tasks and processes and estimated project costs. Let’s review each of these.

Forecasted Production Volume

This refers to the anticipated quantity of products or services that will be produced within a specific time. This metric is essential for planning and resource allocation to ensure production meets demand. It includes quantitative estimates, demand analysis, production capacity, schedule alignment and adjusting as necessary when monitoring and reviewing production.

Production Timeline

This detailed schedule outlines the sequences of tasks and milestones required to complete a project within a specified time. This roadmap helps teams understand what needs to be done and when it has to be completed. To do this, tasks have start and end dates, milestones are added to define important dates and help monitor progress.

Lead Times

Lead time in a production schedule can refer to a few different things. For example, there is procurement lead times, which refers to the time required to acquire materials or equipment. Production lead time is the time needed for each step in the production process. Finally, delivery lead times are the time needed to ship the finished product or deliver services.

Resource Requirements

When referring to resource requirements in a production schedule, this means anything that is needed to execute the tasks. Therefore, resource requirements run the gamut from materials, such as raw materials or inputs required for production, personnel, equipment and machinery to the budget.

Production Tasks & Processes

This encompasses all the activities and steps required to complete the project. Each step in the production process must be broken down into tasks and the sequence of those tasks defined. It can also include material sourcing, supplier coordination, equipment setup, workflow planning and more.

Estimated Production Costs

Ensure that all production costs are covered, including direct material costs, such as raw materials, direct labor costs, as in wages and manufacturing overhead costs that range from utilities, maintenance and other factory-related expenses. There are also variable costs that fluctuate with production volume and fixed costs that are constant.

Production Schedule Template

This free production schedule template for Excel helps you schedule production orders and keep track of their status and due dates for manufacturing and shipping. It also allows you to keep track of the starting and ending inventory of finished goods after each production order to help you maintain optimum inventory levels.

Who Should Participate in the Production Scheduling Process?

Many professionals are involved in the production scheduling process. They include the production managers, production scheduler, procurement team, inventory manager, production engineering team, marketing and sales team and maintenance team. We’ll briefly describe each below.

Production Manager

The production manager is responsible for overseeing the production process, including realistic timelines and coordinating resources. They establish objectives and create the schedule, monitoring and adjusting that schedule as needed, ensuring quality deliverables and reporting to make insightful analyses.

Production Scheduler

A production scheduler oversees the production scheduling process, managing production schedules and allocating resources strategically to ensure that his organization can respond to customer orders at any point. To do so, production schedulers must constantly collaborate with production managers, production planners and cross-functional teams to ensure the production process is as efficient as possible.

A production scheduler must demonstrate working knowledge in key areas of production management such as production planning, optimization and control but also managerial skills such as resource planning, workflow management, team management and project scheduling.

Procurement Team

The procurement team is involved in material sourcing, identifying suppliers and vendor management to ensure the necessary materials, components and services are acquired in a timely and cost-effective manner. They work closely with production planners and analyze production forecasts. Procurement teams are responsible for creating and managing purchase orders.

Inventory Manager

The inventory manager ensures that the necessary materials and components are available when needed. They do this through material planning, which involves demand forecasting and tracking stock levels to prevent stockouts. They also oversee work-in-progress and finished goods.

Production Engineering Team

This technical team provides expertise to ensure processes are designed, optimized and maintained for efficient production. They develop production processes and analyze workflows to minimize bottlenecks and improve efficiency. The team assesses the production capacity of equipment and resources to determine how much can be produced and identify constraints that could impact the schedule.

Marketing and Sales Team

The marketing and sales team provides insights related to customer demand, market trends and promotional strategies. They provide demand forecasting, schedule new product launches and collect customer feedback to gather insights and manage expectations.

Maintenance Team

The maintenance team ensures that equipment and materials are operating smoothly and efficiently. They plan preventive maintenance for equipment and schedule all maintenance activities. The maintenance team also monitors equipment performance, performs emergency repairs and collaborates with production managers to understand production schedules and identify critical periods when equipment must be operational.

Production Schedule vs. Production Plan

Production scheduling and production planning work together but they are separate processes. In fact, sometimes a manufacturer will use one instead of both depending on the type of production they’re doing.

There are differences between the two and it’s important to understand what those differences are. One way to look at it is that production planning is a general overview of when a product is made, but a production schedule is a far more detailed look into that process.

Production Schedule vs. Master Production Schedule (MPS)

A master production schedule (MPS) details what, when and how many products a manufacturer will produce in the long term across the entire organization, usually covering weeks, months or even quarters. It links the demand determined by sales to the capacity a company has to make multiple production runs for all its production lines. Therefore, the master production schedule helps create a realistic plan that avoids overstocking warehouses but maintains on-time delivery.

A production schedule shares many qualities with the MPS, but the main difference is that its scope is much more specific as it focuses on individual production runs or batches of products and is meant to be used at a shop floor level for guiding everyday production processes and activities.

How to Make a Production Schedule

Production schedules vary from one organization to another depending on the production scheduling tools you use, the level of detail you’d like to include and the specific characteristics of your manufacturing process. Having said that, here are five general steps any organization should follow when making a production schedule.

1. Estimate Customer Demand

Before you make a realistic production schedule, you’ll need to forecast the future customer demand for your product so you have a better idea of the ideal production volume your organization should manufacture to ensure there’s enough product supply for fulfilling customer orders.

Various demand planning techniques and business analytics tools can make an accurate sales forecast for your business. Sales forecasts can be made for various time frames such as quarterly, monthly or yearly.

2. Measure Your Production Capacity

Once you’ve created a sales forecast, you’ll then need to measure your production capacity, which refers to the organizational resources such as raw materials, labor and capital assets that your organization uses to manufacture goods and evaluate whether there are enough resources to meet customer demand and manufacture products on time.

If this isn’t the case, you should invest in your manufacturing facilities to expand your production capacity. If that’s not possible, try production optimization techniques such as re-thinking your shop floor or balancing the workload of assembly line stations.

3. Make a Production Budget

Based on your sales forecast and production capacity, you can now make a production budget, which is a document that allows you to estimate the ideal number of units that should be produced to meet customer demand and also maintain optimal product stock inventory levels.

4. Optimize Production Routing

Production routing consists of defining the route that materials, parts and components will take across the production floor as they’re transformed into final products by production workers. The main objective of the production routing process is to identify the most efficient route in terms of time, effort and cost. By defining the production route, you can also accurately measure how long it’ll take to make your products.

5. Schedule Production Activities

At this point, you should clearly understand the quantity of product that needs to be manufactured, how much it’ll cost and how long it’ll take. Now, you’re finally ready to schedule production orders to meet the production budget you’ve defined.

Production Schedule Example

Various tools can make a production schedule, from a simple spreadsheet or task list with production order details and due dates to more advanced production scheduling tools such as Gantt charts.

Here’s an example of what a Gantt chart production schedule looks like. On the left side, you can list the major stages of your production process, which in this case are “design,” “prototyping” and “pre-production” among others. To complete these production processes, the team must execute many smaller tasks, such as 3D rendering, CNC machining and durability testing.

As you can see in our production schedule example image, a Gantt chart allows you to enter details about these tasks such as their due dates, duration, costs and more. On the right-hand side, there’s a visual timeline that shows bars to represent the duration of tasks over a calendar and allows you to track their percentage of completion and identify any dependencies between them.

If you prefer, use the visual timeline bars to represent each of your production orders to create a high-level view Gantt chart production schedule that allows you to check their progress and due dates at a glance. Or if you’re not ready for Gantt charts yet, you can use a manufacturing template for Excel to keep track of production orders.

Production Scheduling Techniques

Various production scheduling techniques can help you streamline your manufacturing process and efficiently use organizational resources. Here’s a quick overview of some of the most commonly used methods to make a production schedule.

Forward Scheduling

This production scheduling technique consists of manufacturing orders as soon as they’re received, or whenever resources become available. This ensures your production workers and capital assets have a high resource utilization rate but might make it difficult for your organization to accommodate new orders as production capacity is always limited.

Backward Scheduling

As its name suggests, this production scheduling method works in the exact opposite manner as forward scheduling. In a backward scheduling approach, manufacturers wait until the last day of the lead time to manufacture production orders. While it might seem counterintuitive, this allows them to use their production capacity strategically to take as many orders as possible.

Make-to-Order Production Scheduling

In a make-to-order production scheduling approach, manufacturers don’t keep an inventory of product stock so they only make the exact number of product units to meet customer orders.

Make-to-Stock

This production scheduling method is used by manufacturers who sell their products through physical distribution channels such as brick-and-mortar retail shops that hold inventories of product stock for sale. In a make-to-stock manufacturing approach, manufacturers constantly check stock inventory levels and schedule production orders to replenish them.

Finite Capacity Scheduling (FCS)

In a finite capacity production scheduling model, manufacturers schedule production orders based on their available production capacity. This conservative production scheduling approach helps ensure that organizations don’t take customer orders they can’t complete on time which is ideal for small to medium-sized manufacturing companies with limited resources.

Infinite Capacity Planning

The opposite of finite capacity scheduling, this method ignores production capacity constraints and consists of scheduling production orders based on their lead time but ignores resource constraints, which is a preferred method for larger organizations.

In this production method, resources utilized for a production order might be reallocated from one to another based on their lead time and due dates.

Key Factors to Consider In Production Scheduling

Because production scheduling is such a large job, it can seem overwhelming. It’s best to look at it as a collection of many smaller jobs or factors that contribute to production. Let’s look at some things you’ll need to consider when production scheduling.

• Production capacity: The most output measured in units of output per period.
• Production forecasting: Projection of the number of finished products or subassemblies that’ll be produced in a specific period to meet forecasted sales.
• Production inventory: Everything that’s used in the manufacturing process.
• Required raw materials & components: Specific items in production inventory.
• Supply chain: A series of processes in the production and distribution of a product.
• Available equipment: Metric to measure the percentage of time a piece of equipment can operate.
• Operations management: The production schedule must stay up-to-date on what’s going on with the organization.
• Plant layout: This is important as the time it takes to transport materials and process them is part of the larger production schedule.
• Real-time data integration: Schedules increasingly draw on live inventory, work order and shop floor data rather than a static forecast, so they can flex the moment materials, capacity or demand change instead of days or weeks later.
• Workforce and skills: Experienced production schedulers and planners can be hard to find and retain, which is one reason manufacturers are turning to automation and AI-driven scheduling to fill the gap rather than replace the role entirely.

Common Production Scheduling Challenges

Even a well-built production schedule runs into the same handful of problems. Knowing what typically goes wrong makes it easier to design a schedule and pick tools that hold up in practice.

• Data silos: Scheduling, inventory and accounting often live in separate systems, so the schedule reflects what a spreadsheet said last week rather than current stock, work orders or costs.
• Demand volatility: A late customer order, a rush request or a sudden dip in demand can invalidate a schedule that was accurate when it was built, especially in make-to-order environments.
• Resource and capacity conflicts: When multiple orders compete for the same equipment, labor or materials, schedules can look fine on paper but fall apart the moment two jobs need the same resource at once.
• Static, manual planning: Schedules built and maintained in spreadsheets go stale quickly and are slow to update when something changes, which is part of why real-time data integration and AI-driven scheduling have become more common.
• Thin scheduling bench strength: With experienced schedulers in short supply, schedules can end up too dependent on one person’s knowledge, making it harder to adjust quickly when that person is unavailable.

The common thread across all of these is visibility: the schedule needs to reflect what’s actually happening on the floor, in the warehouse and in the books, which is exactly what software is meant to solve.

Production Scheduling Software

Production scheduling software helps manufacturers better schedule their production lines, including equipment and resources. It can automate certain activities to streamline work and define employees’ availability to make it easier to assign them to jobs.

It monitors and tracks the schedule to help managers catch issues and respond to them quickly to avoid any slowdown or delay or delivery. It can address customer demand and reduce lead time getting products into retail shops or eCommerce. Production scheduling software can help with workflows, timesheets and much more.

Choosing software to manage your production scheduling process can be difficult, which is why we’ve reviewed the best free and paid production scheduling software in our blog to help you make an informed decision.

ProjectManager Has Powerful Production Scheduling Tools

ProjectManager is award-winning scheduling software that helps managers plan, manage and track their jobs in real time. Live dashboards and customizable reporting tools allow managers to have transparency into the production line, whether getting a high-level view of costs, time and more or digging deeper into status reports, variance and other reports that can be shared with stakeholders to keep them updated.

Make Detailed Production Schedules with Gantt Charts

You can use ProjectManager’s Gantt chart to map all your production orders in one place and visualize their duration and due dates at a glance. In addition, you can zoom into the activities that need to be completed to transform your raw materials, parts and components into final products. You can track their percentage of completion, costs, task dependencies, priority and much more.

Create Production Workflows With Kanban Boards

Creating custom workflows allows production to move from one activity to the next. You can even automate workflows by adding triggers that will change the status, assignee and more. To ensure that only quality moves forward on the production line, set task approvals and designate someone with authority to review and approve. Our software has multiple project views so the production scheduling of the Gantt chart is the same when you toggle over the kanban board, which makes it easy to visualize the workflow.

Track Resource Utilization With Timesheets and Workload Charts

Keeping track of your resources is essential to staying on a production schedule. Our software has resource management tools that can keep your production line working more efficiently. There are tools, such as secure timesheets, which do more than streamline payroll. They also show you a real-time picture of how complete each team member’s job is. You can set the availability of team members’ PTO, vacations and global holidays, which makes it easier to assign them work. Then our color-coded workload chart makes it easy to see who is overallocated. You can balance their workload from that chart to keep production on track.

As mentioned above, production scheduling must be flexible and adjust to changes. Our risk management features make it easier to identify risk and track issues in real time to ensure that there’s as little disruption as possible. Our collaborative platform makes it easy for everyone to share files, comment and more whether they’re on the production line or in the office. Manufacturers can benefit from all the features of our software.

Related Content

• Best Production Scheduling Software Rankings
• Best Production Planning Software Rankings
• Best Production Tracking Software
• Production Management: A Quick Guide
• Production Planning in Manufacturing: Best Practices
• Production Schedule Template
• How to Create a Master Production Schedule (MPS)
• Programación de producción: Cómo crear un cronograma de producción
• Planification du calendrier de production : les bases
• Produktionsplanung Grundlagen: Einen Produktionsplan erstellen

ProjectManager is online scheduling software that builds schedules and helps you execute them more efficiently. Use tools to plan, assign, track and report on all aspects of your production. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

The post Production Scheduling Basics: Creating a Production Schedule appeared first on ProjectManager.

Allocating resources helps to complete tasks on time and keeps the project on budget. While project management software is the best solution for managing project time, templates can also help. That’s why we’ve collected seven free time management templates to help deliver successful projects.

Why Use Time Management Templates?

Time management templates help deliver successful projects. That’s because time management is a key part of project management for many reasons. Time management templates help prioritize work, which allows teams to manage their time better. This leads to greater productivity.

Time management templates can also help with making important decisions. It allows managers and team members alike to make decisions quickly thanks to tasks and activities having deadlines and priorities. This also relieves the stress that comes from procrastination, which can lead to waiting until the last minute to complete work and that can lead to shoddy quality.

The only reason not to use time management templates is that they’re static documents that don’t foster collaboration and pull users away from their work to manually update them. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has time management features, such as secure timesheets that can easily track time spent on tasks as well as the associated labor costs. Users can log hours anywhere to streamline payroll and save money with accurate project time management. Archiving timesheets gives managers historical data on labor costs that can help better estimate time and costs for future projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Best Time Management Templates for Excel

For those who aren’t ready to upgrade to project management software, these free time management templates for Excel can help them manage their projects and teams better. They can’t deliver the efficiency of a software solution, but they do a good job of creating timesheets, work schedules, project calendars and much more.

1. Daily Schedule Template

A daily schedule template helps individuals and teams map out their hours before the day begins, turning vague intentions into a structured plan. By assigning time blocks to specific tasks, it reduces the mental overhead of deciding what to work on next and keeps priorities front and center throughout the workday.

Using a daily schedule template consistently builds a habit of proactive time management rather than reactive task-switching. It also creates a record of how time was actually spent, which is useful for spotting patterns, adjusting workloads and improving personal productivity over time.

2. Weekly Schedule Template

A weekly schedule template gives teams a bird’s-eye view of the full week ahead, making it easier to balance workloads, prepare for meetings and anticipate deadlines before they arrive. Planning at the weekly level reduces the risk of last-minute rushes by surfacing conflicts and gaps while there’s still time to act.

With a weekly schedule template, managers can distribute work more evenly across the team while individuals can align their daily priorities to broader weekly goals. Reviewing and updating the schedule at the start of each week is one of the simplest habits that consistently improves how time gets used across a project.

3. Work Schedule Template

This work schedule is a time management template to plan and control the human resources of an organization or project. It lists all employees, their location, working times and responsibilities over a specific period. That period can be a day, week or month. It’s a way to ensure that employees and teams are productive and work as efficiently as possible. Use this free work schedule template for Excel to track resource utilization, streamline work scheduling processes and help meet deadlines.

Use this free time management template as a weekly work schedule, which is especially useful for businesses with variable workloads, which plan their schedules based on customer demand forecasts. It can be a monthly work schedule for longer projects with clearly defined tasks and deliverables. The time management template can also be a daily work schedule where employee performance is monitored daily. It can also be used for a work shift schedule, flexible work schedule and part-time or full-time work schedules.

4. Project Calendar Template

Another time management template is a project calendar template for Excel. This free template makes it easy to see assignments on a monthly grid, with deadlines and more. It’s a great tool for planning schedules, executing tasks and managing work throughout a project’s life cycle. Not only is it a time management template, but it is also a to-do list to help teams get their work done promptly. Therefore, it also acts as a task management tool, can help with team collaboration and communicate changes in workflow.

Project managers can use this time management template to chart the regular hours of their team, which makes it easier for them to see the availability of those team members when making assignments. The free calendar template can also be used to avoid scheduling delays by noting holidays, vacations and PTO of the team members. There are also resource management advantages to using this time management template as it helps schedule resources beyond human resources. It’s also a communication tool to keep everyone aware of their work and important dates.

5. Project Timeline Template

A project timeline is used in planning to add project tasks, due dates and milestones. Most timelines are made with Gantt charts, which are divided into two parts: a spreadsheet with the data collected on the left and a timeline showing the entire project on the right. This time management template is the first step to managing the project schedule and delivering that project on time.

Download the free project timeline template for Excel to create a project schedule. It can also be used to share the project schedule with the team and stakeholders to manage their expectations. This time management template collects all the project tasks, start and end dates, plus duration on the left-hand spreadsheet. The right-hand timeline is then automatically populated with this data. The timeline taskbars, which represent the duration of specific tasks, can then be color-coded to differentiate the different phases of the project to make the time management template easier to read.

6. Workload Analysis Template

Workload analysis is used when managing a workforce. Its goal is to evenly distribute the workload across all team members to keep them working at capacity without risking burnout and eroding morale. This time management template is also a productivity tool and delivers better work quality while increasing team member satisfaction. The free workload analysis template for Excel identifies, measures and evaluates the amount of work each team member needs to do and how to balance that to avoid over-allocation.

This workload management tool will help managers get the most out of their workforce and help to produce high-quality deliverables. It can also help with resource identification and getting an accurate picture of the resources available for the project. Analyzing things like seasonality and potential disruptions to the workforce leads to a more strategic plan that helps managers better prepare for the unexpected.

7. Meeting Agenda Template

A meeting agenda template ensures every meeting starts with a clear purpose and a structured list of topics, preventing the unfocused discussions that make meetings feel like a waste of time. By distributing the agenda in advance, participants arrive prepared, which shortens meetings and produces better decisions.

Poor meeting management is one of the most common sources of lost time in the workplace. A meeting agenda template forces organizers to think through what needs to be decided before the meeting starts, making it easier to stay on track and end on time. It also creates a reference document for following up on action items after the meeting concludes.

8. 30-60-90 Day Plan Template

A 30-60-90 day plan template breaks a longer planning horizon into three focused phases, making large goals easier to sequence and execute. Commonly used for onboarding new hires or launching initiatives, it helps define what needs to be learned, contributed and led within the first three months.

Beyond onboarding, a 30-60-90 day plan template is useful any time a team needs to structure progress toward a milestone over a medium-term window. By setting expectations for each phase, it creates accountability checkpoints that keep work moving without requiring constant check-ins from management.

Pros and Cons of Using Excel for Time Management

Excel templates are only going to be helpful to a point. They serve a purpose, but eventually hit a wall and will be more frustrating than useful. That doesn’t mean Excel templates for time management are without merit. Here’s a short list of their pros and cons.

Pros of Excel for Time Management

• Easy to use
• Cost-effective
• Organize data

Cons of Excel for Time Management

• Needs technical expertise to get the most out of Excel templates, such as knowing formulas, conditional formatting and filtering
• Poor collaborative tool, as templates are static documents
• Risk of data loss or corruption
• Manual updates are time-consuming

Go Beyond Excel Time Management Worksheets With ProjectManager

It’s clear to see time management templates have their uses, but they fall short of project management software. Their limitations will frustrate managers who want to track time to ensure that teams are working efficiently and keeping to their schedule. To get the most out of time management and other project management techniques use ProjectManager, award-winning project and portfolio management software that uses multiple project views to plan, manage and track time throughout the project’s life cycle. For example, our Gantt charts schedule tasks and resources and filter for the critical path. Use timesheets to track time and labor costs or leverage other tools to monitor progress and more.

Track Time With Dashboard and Reports

Monitoring the team’s progress with real-time project and portfolio dashboards is easy. They offer a high-level overview of the project, collecting live data and displaying it on easy-to-read graphs and charts that show time, but also costs, workload and more. Use this tool as an instant status report to spot issues and keep projects running on schedule. For more detail, toggle over to the customizable reports that can be generated with a keystroke and filtered to show details for managers and more general data to keep stakeholders informed. For example, timesheet reports can show the hours teams have submitted, get time estimates and streamline payroll.

Use Calendars and Resource Management Features

One of the multiple project views accessible with our software is the calendar. It can help managers plan availability for their team, which can be set when onboarding the team. The calendar can show if there are vacations, PTO or even global holidays. Managers can use the color-coded workload charts to easily see who is overallocated and then balance the workload right from that chart. This keeps teams working at capacity without burning them out.

Related Time Management Content

For those looking to explore time management beyond the time management template, there are many opportunities to do so on our site. We published weekly blogs, guides, eBooks and free templates on all aspects of project management as it relates to various industries. Here are some of the recent posts we’ve published on time management.

• Project Time Management Software
• 15 Excel Spreadsheet Templates for Tracking Tasks, Costs & Time
• Time Estimation in Project Management: Tips & Techniques
• Project Time Management: Strategies, Tips & Tools
• A Quick Guide to Time Blocking
• Time and Materials Contract (T&M): When to Use One

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office, out in the field or anywhere else in the world. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay up to date with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

The post 8 Free Time Management Templates for Excel and Word appeared first on ProjectManager.

In this roundup, we’ve gathered a collection of free workflow templates that support project planning, execution and monitoring. From a work plan and critical path to a PERT chart and work instruction templates, all are designed to simplify complex workflows and improve collaboration. Each template serves a specific purpose and can be customized to fit your project needs, giving your team a strong starting point without having to build everything from scratch.

1. Workflow Template

A workflow template is a predefined framework that outlines the steps required to complete a business process. It maps the sequence of tasks, who is responsible for each step and how work moves from one phase to another. By visualizing each stage of a process, teams can quickly understand their roles, deadlines and dependencies.

Workflow templates are useful across a range of industries and departments—whether you’re managing a content approval process, onboarding new clients or handling procurement. With a consistent structure in place, organizations can improve efficiency, ensure accountability and reduce delays by eliminating guesswork and clarifying expectations from the start.

Workflow templates are especially beneficial for teams managing complex or repetitive tasks. They not only speed up execution but also help identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies over time. These templates can be adapted for one-off projects or daily operations and scaled depending on the size of the team or scope of the workflow. For project managers, workflow templates reduce the risk of missing steps or duplicating efforts, making it easier to deliver results on time.

ProjectManager’s Gantt chart goes far beyond what a static workflow template can offer by providing an interactive, real-time view of your project’s tasks, timelines and dependencies. Instead of manually updating a static document, our Gantt chart automatically adjusts when changes are made, allowing for easy drag-and-drop task scheduling, dynamic dependency linking and milestone tracking.

You can assign tasks to team members, set start and end dates, view baselines to measure progress against your original plan and track the percentage complete—all from one intuitive interface. Color-coded phases make workflows easier to scan, and integrated file attachments and comment threads keep communication centralized. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

2. Kanban Board Template

A kanban board template visualizes work in progress using cards and columns, helping teams better manage task flow and workload. Each card typically represents a task, while the columns denote stages such as “To Do,” “In Progress” and “Done.” This setup makes it easy to spot bottlenecks, allocate resources and ensure no task falls through the cracks.

The kanban methodology is ideal for agile project management because it emphasizes continuous delivery and transparency. A kanban board template offers a ready-made format to start tracking and managing your team’s workflow without building a board from scratch.

With a kanban board template, you can customize columns based on your team’s unique process and label tasks with priorities, deadlines and responsible parties. This helps keep teams aligned and ensures timely updates as work progresses.

Because it provides a snapshot of work at any given moment, it’s an effective communication tool for daily standups, sprint reviews or client reporting. Teams using kanban board templates are better equipped to manage capacity and respond to changes quickly. This type of template encourages accountability and streamlines workflows across projects of any size.

3. SIPOC Template

A SIPOC template (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers) is a high-level tool used to document a business process from start to finish. It gives teams a structured way to define the scope of a process improvement initiative by identifying all the elements involved in delivering a product or service.

SIPOC templates are commonly used in Six Sigma and lean management to clarify process boundaries and ensure stakeholder alignment. By listing suppliers and inputs on one end and customers and outputs on the other, the SIPOC framework helps teams focus on what matters most to deliver quality outcomes.

The beauty of a SIPOC template lies in its simplicity. It doesn’t require detailed process mapping but instead serves as a quick reference for understanding how value flows through a system. This helps in client reporting by illustrating the key contributors and outputs in a clear and concise format. SIPOC templates are especially useful in the early stages of a project when scoping or redesigning processes.

They promote cross-functional collaboration and help prevent miscommunication by aligning everyone around a shared understanding. With a SIPOC template, teams can more easily uncover inefficiencies, standardize procedures and ultimately improve service delivery and customer satisfaction.

4. Process Map Template

A process map template provides a visual representation of the steps, decision points and people involved in completing a task or workflow. Unlike a simple task list, a process map shows how activities connect and where handoffs occur, making it easier to identify inefficiencies and redundancies in any operation.

Process mapping is widely used in business process improvement, onboarding documentation and compliance workflows. By laying out each step visually, teams can quickly communicate how work gets done and pinpoint where delays or errors commonly occur.

Using a process map template, teams can document current-state workflows and compare them to desired future-state processes. This is especially valuable when redesigning operations, training new employees or seeking stakeholder approval for process changes. A well-documented process map reduces ambiguity and creates a shared understanding across departments, helping teams execute more consistently and improve over time.

5. Swimlane Diagram Template

A swimlane diagram template organizes workflow steps into horizontal or vertical lanes, each representing a team, role or department. This layout makes it immediately clear who is responsible for each task and how work moves between people or groups, reducing confusion in cross-functional processes.

Swimlane diagrams are particularly effective for documenting complex workflows where multiple teams collaborate, such as approval chains, customer service escalations or product launch sequences. The visual separation of responsibilities helps identify delays caused by unclear handoffs between teams.

With a swimlane diagram template, project managers can present complex interdependencies in a format that anyone on the team can follow. By mapping responsibilities side-by-side, teams can quickly spot bottlenecks, clarify ownership and streamline how work flows from one stage to the next, making it a powerful tool for both process design and stakeholder communication.

6. Flowchart Template

A flowchart template uses standardized symbols to map out the steps in a process, including decisions, actions and outcomes. This visual structure makes it easy to understand complex workflows at a glance and ensures everyone follows the same steps when executing a repeated process.

Flowcharts are used across virtually every industry for documenting procedures, troubleshooting problems and designing new processes. Whether you’re mapping a customer support workflow, an IT ticket resolution process or a product approval chain, a flowchart template provides a consistent, shareable format.

Using a flowchart template removes the need to start from scratch when documenting workflows. Teams can quickly adapt the template to fit their specific process, then share it across departments to ensure consistent execution. Flowcharts are also useful for onboarding, helping new team members understand how things work without relying solely on verbal instructions.

7. Work Instruction Template

A work instruction template is a document that provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for performing a specific task or process. It’s more granular than a workflow or work plan template and is commonly used in manufacturing, engineering or technical settings where accuracy and consistency are critical.

A work instruction outlines exactly what needs to be done, how to do it and what tools or materials are required. This eliminates ambiguity and ensures uniformity in task execution, especially when training new employees or standardizing procedures across teams or departments.

Using a work instruction template can dramatically improve quality control, reduce errors and enhance safety. It also supports knowledge transfer by documenting institutional processes that might otherwise be lost. In client reporting, these templates help demonstrate compliance and process rigor, particularly in regulated industries.

A well-designed work instruction can include images, diagrams or links to supplemental documentation. It makes complex tasks accessible to both new and experienced workers alike. For project managers, having a library of work instructions streamlines operations, reduces downtime and improves stakeholder confidence by showing that procedures are clearly defined and reliably executed.

ProjectManager Helps With Workflow Management

Project management software is far more powerful than basic workflow templates because it offers dynamic, connected tools rather than static documents. For example, our resource management features provide a critical foundation for building and maintaining smooth workflows. With our real-time workload chart, you can instantly see who is overloaded and who’s underutilized, helping you reassign tasks before bottlenecks form.

The color-coded chart updates automatically as work progresses, so you can adjust plans without delays. Our team page offers a centralized view of every team member’s availability, skill set and assignments, ensuring the right people are working on the right tasks. Users can also allocate resources directly within the task window, so project leads can monitor both progress and capacity in one place. These capabilities prevent over-allocation, reduce idle time and align your workflow to actual team bandwidth.

Learn more about our workflow automation software and how it can help streamline your projects and portfolios.

Use Multiple Project Views to Match Workflow Needs

While many turn to Gantt charts for visual planning, we offer multiple project views that support every kind of workflow. The kanban view is ideal for agile workflows, helping teams manage backlogs and visualize progress through customizable columns. The calendar view is perfect for deadline-driven projects, letting you quickly spot schedule conflicts and plan upcoming sprints.

The sheet view is best for users familiar with spreadsheets but needing more automation and integration. The list view provides a structured, task-focused layout where users can organize, prioritize and group work by assignee, phase or status. This view is especially useful for workflow-heavy operations because it offers powerful filtering, grouping and drag-and-drop organization while staying visually clean and focused.

Track Workflow Performance in Real Time

ProjectManager’s tracking features are essential to workflow management because they allow teams to respond to real-time data, not assumptions. The project and portfolio dashboards offer live status updates on task progress, overdue items and upcoming milestones, all pulled from actual team activity. You can track progress through visual charts, KPIs and health indicators, and drill down into specific tasks or projects for deeper insights.

Customizable reports allow managers to generate detailed views of workflows across teams and periods, highlighting what’s working and what needs attention. Secure timesheets make it easy to track hours worked, ensuring accountability and accurate forecasting. These tools close the loop between planning and execution, helping project managers identify inefficiencies early, adjust workloads and keep workflows on target from kickoff to delivery.

Related Workflow Management Content

Workflow templates are a great introduction to workflow management. For those who care to learn more, check out the links below. They lead to articles that show how to create a workflow diagram, explain the workflow process and much more.

• How to Create a Workflow Diagram: Examples & Free Templates
• Workflow Management Process: Workflow Examples, Tips and Tools
• How to Make an Ideal Kanban Workflow for Your Team
• How to Define a Workflow Process
• What Is Workflow Automation? A Quick Guide
• How to Make an Agile Workflow for Your Team

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams, whether they’re in the office or out in the field. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestles and Siemens who are using our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

The post 7 Free Workflow Templates for Excel and Word appeared first on ProjectManager.

In this roundup, we’ve gathered roadmap templates designed to support different functions and project types – from high-level strategic and IT roadmaps to product and program planning. We’ve also included a milestone chart template to bridge the gap between a roadmap’s big-picture view and the specific dated checkpoints teams need to track progress. These free templates provide structure while remaining flexible enough to adapt to your unique planning needs.

Why Use a Roadmap Template?

Using a roadmap template streamlines the process of planning and visualizing a project or strategic initiative. Instead of starting from scratch, teams can rely on a structured format that ensures all critical elements-such as goals, milestones, timelines and resource needs-are included. This helps reduce planning errors, saves time and ensures consistency across different projects or departments.

A roadmap template also improves communication and alignment. Whether you’re presenting to executives, stakeholders or team members, a clear and well-organized roadmap makes it easier to convey progress, upcoming initiatives and strategic priorities. It supports transparency and helps manage expectations by showing how short-term tasks tie into long-term goals.

Moreover, roadmap templates can be customized to suit specific methodologies or industries, from IT and product development to marketing and operations. This adaptability makes them a practical tool for guiding teams, tracking execution and adjusting plans based on feedback or changing circumstances-all without losing the strategic big picture.

That doesn’t mean a template is ideal. There are limitations to using a static document to manage something as dynamic as project planning. Templates can’t provide real-time data. Everything must be manually updated, which means the information is always at least a step behind. Templates are also poor collaboration tools. However, there’s a solution: use project management software.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with powerful roadmaps with automated updates, drag-and-drop editing and seamless integration with tasks, timeline and resources. Unlike templates, our roadmaps can link all four types of task dependencies to avoid cost overruns, filter for the critical path to identify essential tasks and slack, plus set a baseline to track progress in real time. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

1. Roadmap Template for Excel

Download this free roadmap template for Excel to help teams plan, visualize and communicate project goals, timelines and milestones over a specific period. It includes rows for tasks, start and end dates. This structure allows users to map out project phases and deadlines in a linear, visual format.

Excel’s native features like conditional formatting, color coding and cell merging make it relatively easy to customize a roadmap to reflect priorities, statuses, and team responsibilities. These templates are particularly useful for high-level planning across departments or for presenting strategic overviews to stakeholders.

While Excel roadmap templates are popular for their accessibility and familiarity, they also have limitations. As noted above, they are static by nature and require manual updates, which can be time-consuming and prone to human error, especially as project details evolve.

Collaboration is also limited in Excel unless used in an online platform like OneDrive or Google Sheets, and even then, version control, which is included in ProjectManager, can become a challenge. Despite these drawbacks, Excel roadmap templates remain a widely used solution for teams that need a quick, straightforward way to organize and present project or product plans without specialized software.

2. Product Roadmap Template

This free product roadmap template for Excel is a strategic planning tool used to visually outline the development and evolution of a product over time. It typically includes key elements such as product goals, features, releases, timelines and responsible teams or stakeholders.

By organizing this information in a clear, linear format-often segmented by quarters or development phases-product managers and cross-functional teams can align their efforts around shared objectives. A roadmap template provides a high-level overview that helps prioritize features, communicate progress and coordinate tasks across departments like engineering, marketing, sales and customer support.

Product roadmap templates are valuable for both internal planning and external communication. Internally, they serve as a reference point to keep development teams focused on short-term deliverables while working toward long-term product vision. Externally, they can be shared with leadership, customers or partners to provide visibility into the product’s future direction.

Our free roadmap templates are also highly customizable, allowing teams to tailor them to specific methodologies, such as agile, scrum or waterfall, or to categorize by themes, epics or customer segments. With a well-structured product roadmap template, organizations can ensure alignment between business goals and development priorities, making it easier to deliver a cohesive and value-driven product experience.

3. Strategic Roadmap Template

This free strategic roadmap template for Excel is a planning tool designed to outline an organization’s long-term vision and the key initiatives required to achieve it. Unlike project or product roadmaps that focus on deliverables and timelines, a strategic roadmap provides a high-level overview of business objectives, priorities and the phased actions necessary to meet those goals. It often spans multiple years and is divided into major categories like operations, marketing, technology, finance or customer experience, helping stakeholders see how efforts align across departments.

This roadmap template includes a timeline segmented into quarters, along with strategic goals, key initiatives, responsible teams and performance indicators. A strategic roadmap template helps leadership communicate direction clearly, maintain alignment across the organization and track progress toward long-term objectives. Strategic roadmap templates are especially useful during annual planning, business transformation or when launching new corporate strategies, providing a structured yet flexible format to visualize and adjust strategy execution over time.

4. Program Roadmap Template

Download this free program roadmap template for Excel to outline the strategy, schedule and key deliverables of a program that consists of multiple related projects. It helps program managers coordinate efforts across different teams and initiatives by clearly mapping out timelines, milestones and high-level goals. Unlike a project roadmap that focuses on a single initiative, a program roadmap captures the broader view, aligning several projects under one strategic umbrella to ensure they collectively contribute to organizational objectives.

This template includes time-based sections in months, rows for individual projects or workstreams and visual markers for major milestones and phases. It allows stakeholders to see how various projects interrelate, when critical deliverables are expected and how resources are allocated across the program.

A program roadmap template is particularly useful for long-term initiatives such as digital transformation, product portfolios or cross-functional strategic goals. It facilitates communication, risk identification and alignment across departments, making it easier to adjust plans as priorities evolve.

5. IT Roadmap Template

Use this free IT roadmap template for Excel to visually outline the direction, priorities and development phases of an organization’s information technology initiatives. It helps IT leaders align technology investments and projects with broader business goals by mapping out plans across categories like infrastructure upgrades, system integrations, cybersecurity enhancements, application development and digital transformation.

Organized by a monthly timeline, an IT roadmap template gives stakeholders a clear view of what’s coming, what’s in progress and how technology will support organizational growth.

The IT roadmap template includes key sections for strategic objectives, current and future initiatives, milestones, responsible teams, budgets and resource requirements. It’s especially useful for managing complex IT portfolios where coordination across multiple teams and systems is essential.

By using an IT roadmap template, organizations can ensure better alignment between IT and business units, prioritize critical projects, reduce duplication of efforts and anticipate infrastructure or security needs. Whether you’re planning cloud migrations, enterprise software rollouts or IT governance enhancements, a well-structured IT roadmap brings clarity and focus to your technology strategy.

6. Milestone Chart Template for Excel

A roadmap sets the direction, but milestones mark the moments that confirm you are on track. A milestone chart template translates the high-level goals of a roadmap into specific, dated checkpoints that teams and stakeholders can rally around, making it easier to measure progress and communicate where the project stands at any given point.

This milestone chart template for Excel plots key deliverables and deadlines along a horizontal timeline, with completion indicators that make progress easy to read at a glance. Teams can use it alongside any roadmap to give stakeholders a focused, date-anchored view of what is coming next without the full detail of a Gantt chart.

ProjectManager Is Better Than a Roadmap Template

We’ve already listed why a roadmap template is a poor tool for planning and visualizing a project or strategic initiative. While anyone can download these free roadmap templates and try them out, they’ll quickly conclude that a more interactive planning tool that goes beyond the basic visualization of a roadmap template is in order.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with robust roadmaps that are live and collaborative. There are also other project views, such as Gantt charts, kanban boards, sheet, task and calendar views, all of which track progress, adjust timeline and reallocate resources as priorities shift.

Stay Productive With Resource Management Features

Use our resource planning and tracking tools to keep teams working at capacity, but avoiding burnout. This begins by scheduling resources on the roadmap and then onboarding the team, where their availability can be set to ensure resources are allocated efficiently. Use the color-coded workload chart to track allocation. See who is overallocated or underutilized and balance their workload without leaving the chart.

There’s also a team page that offers a daily or weekly summary of their activities. It can be filtered by progress and priority and users can update tasks from the same page.

Track Progress and More With Real-Time Dashboards and Reports

Resources are only one metric that needs to be monitored. For a high-level overview of key project metrics, toggle to the real-time project or portfolio dashboards. They don’t require any setup and automatically collect live data that’s displayed on easy-to-read graphs and charts showing time, cost, workload and more.

One-click reports go deeper into the data and can be filtered to also provide a more general view of progress that can be shared with stakeholders. Secure timesheets streamline payroll, but also track labor costs to help keep on budget.

Related Roadmap Content

• How to Create a Project Roadmap (Example Included)
• How to Create a Product Roadmap: Examples & Templates Included
• What Is a Program Roadmap (Example & Template Included)

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office or out in the field. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay up to date with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who are using our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

The post 6 Roadmap Templates appeared first on ProjectManager.

Use these free 15 business report templates to create a project dashboard, progress report and workload analysis to make a strategy map, cost-benefit and balanced scorecard.

1. Project Dashboard Business Report Template

A project dashboard is a high-level overview of the project. It captures various key performance indicators (KPIs). It gives managers an instant status report to see if the project is progressing as planned, if costs are aligned with the budget and other metrics to help stay on track.

This free project dashboard template for Excel monitors tasks, workload, task lengths and costs. It does this with easy-to-read graphs and charts. The only problem is that the template must be manually updated, taking time away from the project and the data is already old by the time it’s been inputted.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has real-time project and portfolio software that don’t require any lengthy or complicated setup as with lightweight software alternatives. Unlike a template, users get live data and can view one project, a program or a portfolio of projects in real time. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

2. KPI Dashboard Template

KPIs give executives and project managers a way to measure what matters most, but raw data spread across multiple reports makes it hard to see the full picture at a glance. A KPI dashboard template consolidates key performance indicators into a single visual display, making it faster to identify trends, spot issues and communicate performance to stakeholders.

This KPI dashboard template for Excel tracks performance metrics across multiple business areas, with charts and summary tables that update as data is entered. Teams can customize the indicators to reflect their own goals and use the dashboard in regular reporting cycles to compare current performance against targets and support data-informed decisions.

3. Sales Dashboard Template

Tracking sales performance across products, regions and team members without a centralized view leads to missed trends and reactive decision-making. A sales dashboard template brings together revenue data, conversion rates, pipeline value and quota attainment so managers can quickly assess where the team stands and where attention is needed.

This sales dashboard template for Excel organizes key sales KPIs and metrics into visual charts and summary tables that make performance easy to read and present. Managers can use it in weekly team reviews, monthly leadership reports or quarterly business reviews to show progress, flag underperforming areas and align the team around shared targets.

4. Progress Report Template

One of the most common business report templates is the progress report. It captures a snapshot of the project over a specific period, providing an overview of all the activities and tasks that have taken place during that time. It highlights milestones and performance metrics such as risks, issues, changes and more.

The free progress report template for Word captures all that data and more. It helps project managers understand if they’re on schedule and can be shared with stakeholders to keep them updated. Reviewing the progress report can open up discussions between the project manager and the stakeholder earlier when they can be dealt with easier than later when the issue is more embedded and harder to resolve.

5. Project Status Report Template

A project status report is different from a progress report. Managers and stakeholders use them to stay updated on the project’s progress, but they differ in focus and scope. The status report is a broad overview of an entire project compared to its plan, while a progress report focuses more on specific tasks and milestones.

Use this free business report template to capture the project’s status and improve communication with key stakeholders. A free status report template for Excel has project information, a summary of the project’s status and health and a risk management overview. It offers recommendations moving forward.

6. Marketing Report Template

Marketing teams run campaigns across multiple channels simultaneously, making it easy to lose track of what is working and what is not. A marketing report template brings together performance data across campaigns including reach, engagement, conversions and spend so teams can evaluate results and make informed decisions about where to invest next.

This marketing report template for Excel captures key campaign metrics including audience data, channel performance, budget utilization and goal attainment in a structured format that is easy to present to stakeholders. Teams can use it for monthly performance reviews, end-of-campaign summaries or budget planning discussions where a clear view of results is needed.

7. After Action Report Template

Teams that do not formally review what happened after a project or campaign concludes are likely to repeat the same mistakes. An after action report template structures that review, capturing what was planned, what actually occurred, what worked and what should be done differently, turning hindsight into a practical guide for the next effort.

This after action report template for Word walks teams through a systematic post-event analysis covering objectives, results, key successes and lessons learned. Project managers and team leads can use it immediately after project close or a major initiative to document findings while details are fresh and make those insights available across the organization.

8. SWOT Analysis Business Report Template

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This free SWOT Analysis template for Word is a tool to assess a business’s competitive position, both internally and externally. It is a key technique in developing a strategic plan. It’s a business report template that gathers data to help make more insightful decisions.

A SWOT analysis template is divided into four parts. These quadrants are labeled strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The vertical left-hand axis is divided into external and internal, while the top is broken down into positive and negative. Managers then add to each of these quadrants to get a better picture of the business and its competitive position.

9. Balanced Scorecard Business Report Template

A balanced scorecard is a document that looks at strategic measures and more traditional financial measures. This provides a more balanced perspective and holistic approach to managing a business’s strategy. This free balanced scorecard template for Excel is a strategic performance metric that businesses use to improve internal operations and external outcomes.

To use this business report template, first set strategic objectives, plan initiatives and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and expected targets. Next, group strategic objectives using the four balanced scorecard perspectives: financial, customer, business process and learning and growth.

10. Gap Analysis Business Report Template

Use this free gap analysis template for Excel to take a business from its current state to the desired future state. It focuses on areas of improvement, a gap percentage, a timeline, resource requirements and much more. This business report template can be used for project management, business process improvement and product management.

To use this free template, begin by losing the focus areas, such as a business process that needs improvement or a human resource gap. Then determine the current and future state of the focus area. Next, estimate the gap percentage and, finally, list the action items that will close that gap. There’s also space to list the responsible parties and the status of the work.

11. Cost Benefit Analysis Template

Using this free cost-benefit analysis template for Excel will determine the return on investment (ROI) for a project. Use it before approving a project to understand if the project is viable from a financial perspective. It’s a business report template that can help companies avoid investing in lost leaders.

The free template works by capturing quantitative costs, indirect, intangible and opportunity. Then there’s a place to list the types of costs and the quantitative benefits. The cost-benefits analysis then compares the costs of doing the project compared to its financial benefits. This is an essential decision-making tool.

12. Root Cause Analysis Template

A root cause analysis, also called a fishbone diagram, is used to figure out what went wrong so it can be fixed rather than just patched up. This business report template is used to identify the cause of a process not conforming to its planned output. This is part of the larger total quality management process.

The root cause analysis template uses a fishbone diagram, which captures the cause-and-effect relationship in the process to uncover any imperfections, variations, defects or failures. This is used in product development to ensure that the product they’re working on will resonate with customers and work as planned.

13. Workload Analysis Business Report Template

Businesses use workload analysis to manage their workforce. The goal of workload analysis is balancing tasks across all project teams to ensure that no one is overallocated or underutilized, which slows down productivity and threatens to erode morale or create burnout. None of those should be acceptable to a business.

The free workload analysis template for Excel lists team members’ names and hourly rates. Managers enter their total available work hours per month. Then allocate work hours to each team member and monitor resource utilization rates and costs. This business report template helps keep everyone working at capacity.

14. Operating Budget Business Report Template

This business report template applies to any industry that uses an operating budget to forecast revenue and expenses over a period of time. The free operating budget template for Excel is an essential tool for coming up with an accurate budget for a company’s quarter or even the full coming year.

An operating budget is more than a picture of the financial dimensions of a business going forward. It can help set realistic business goals and determine if the results of the quarter or year match the forecast of the operating budget template. There could be unexpected expenses and the annual balance might need to be adjusted.

15. Inventory Business Report Template

Use this free inventory template for Excel to record the level of stock and track turnover. This business report template lists all of a company’s inventory used in its daily operations and gives managers quick access to volume, price and more. There’s also a place to note when a reorder is needed and how long it will take to replenish that stock.

This business report template serves manufacturers and retailers alike. But it can also track tools or materials used to get work done. This prevents not having what is needed, which will slow down production and impact a business’s bottom line. Being able to track inventory keeps work moving smoothly.

ProjectManager Creates Better Reports Than Templates

Business report templates are fine, but they’re not ideal reporting tools. For one, these are static documents that don’t capture live data and, therefore, provide a dated picture of the project. Business report templates also must be manually updated, which takes time away from actually managing and executing the project. For those looking for a more effective alternative to Excel spreadsheets, there’s project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that delivers live data to help make more insightful decisions whether managing one project, a program or a portfolio of projects.

Use Customizable Reports for Easy Analysis

Unlike with business report templates, there’s no manual inputting of data with our reports. They’re automatically collecting real-time data and turning complex information into helpful reports. There are status reports, portfolio reports and reports on variance, workload, timesheets and more. All reports can be created with a keystroke and shared with stakeholders and teams. They can also be filtered to drill down into projects for actionable data on particular team members or tasks. Use reports on progress, costs, time and more to better manage projects.

Collect All Project Data on One Powerful Project Portfolio Roadmap

Use project portfolio roadmaps to view all projects in one Gantt chart-like timeline. This allows managers to better understand resource management and how to allocate limited resources across projects to work more efficiently and effectively. They can also track time and manage tasks. The portfolio roadmap can be filtered by assignee, project manager or customer to make forecasts, view which projects are open and who’s assigned to tasks as well as highlight key metrics for stakeholders.

Related Template Content

There’s more to templates than business report templates. For those not ready to upgrade to project management software, there are over 100 free project management templates that can be downloaded immediately from our site. They cover every phase of managing a project across multiple industries. Here are a few round-up blog posts that offer many free templates.

• Free Excel Templates for Business (Plus 10 Word Templates)
• Free Project Planning Templates for Excel and Word
• Must-Have Project Management Excel Templates and Spreadsheets

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office or out in the field. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

The post 15 Must-Have Business Report Templates appeared first on ProjectManager.