The success of business relationships as an IT service provider is largely affected by how well client projects are managed. Many of today’s IT service providers, small and large, use Microsoft Project as their tool of choice, simply because they see no other alternative and it comes free with their Microsoft Partner Action Pack.

If you are managing multiple projects with teams of less than 10 people there are better tools which more closely follow the 7 Guidelines to Successful Project Management. There are several sophisticated project management tools available on the market today. Microsoft Project is one of them and is specifically designed to manage large, complex projects involving a wide variety of resources, but is likely overkill if your project team is 10 people and less and not taking multiple months to finish.

Regardless of which tool you choose to use, here are 7 Guidelines to Successful Project Management to make sure you are putting your attention on the right things to make managing multiple IT projects across your client portfolio.

1. Estimate level of effort in terms of time and cost to clients

2. Give attention and focus on the right client priorities

3. Give real-time visibility to clients on progress before they ask for it

4. Manage work dependencies to make the project run smoothly

5. Have a process for managing a change in client priorities and workload

6. Make sure the right resources (yours and your clients’) are performing appropriate work

7. Integrate schedules for all the project resources to keep everyone

The main objective is to complete projects on-time, within budget and leave the client satisfied with the results produced from the project. As an IT service provider there is likely never going to be a time when you are managing just one project for one client. It is important that you are efficient with your time managing all your client projects at once.

Project management tools like Microsoft Project are very powerful, but can create complexity and more work when it is not necessary. There are also some limitations on how much real-time visibility Microsoft Project allows you to give to your clients.

Managing multiple projects with several different clients is hard enough, make your life easier. Be sure to work smarter with a project management system that is designed for the type of projects you are managing, is easy to use, provides real-time client visibility and integrates into your regular service delivery processes – you will do more with less work!