Social Project Management for the Social Enterprise

Introducing ProjExec for HCL Connections (formerly IBM Connections), the first and only social business application that seamlessly integrates rigorous project processes directly with HCL Connections on-premises – the industry leading social platform that empowers business professionals to develop, nurture and connect with a network of colleagues; easily identify expertise in their network; and discuss and refine new creative ideas with communities of coworkers, partners and customers. The integration of powerful project management tools with social software designed for business makes ProjExec for HCL Connections true Social Project Management.

Find Qualified and Available Resources Fast

ProjExec for HCL Connections provides fast access to potential project resources. Search HCL Connections Profiles directly in the context of the project in ProjExec to get the right project team and the expertise you need. Quickly find the qualified resources needed to staff projects and know when resources are available.

Learn from and collaborate with experts; leverage Connections Profiles to make connections with subject matter experts and staff your projects with the key people who will insure project success.

Modern Tools for the Social Project Manager

SocialGanttProjExec for HCL Connections features the Social Gantt, the first of its kind socially-enabled project planning and tracking tool that also facilitates social interactions in context for the social project manager. The Social Gantt ensures round trip compatibility with MS Project and other project planning tools enabling project managers to hit the ground running with existing schedules, thereby immediately leveraging the Social Gantt for project communications about the work at hand. The web-based Social Gantt is accessible directly from within the HCL Connections environment, eliminating the need for desktop-based project management software and costly MS Project licenses.

Activity Streams for Increased Productivity

In ProjExec for HCL Connections, project participants use the Project Wall, a project-centric activity stream to interact in the context of the projects that they are participating to. Project activities roll up into the Community activity stream and the Home page activity stream in HCL Connections. ProjExec posts to the HCL Connections activity stream fully supports the open social embedded experience standard, enabling project participants to interact without the need to pivot into the ProjExec application.

CommunityActivityStreamActivity streams are a superior paradigm to email when it comes to project communications. It is an elective form of communication that keeps project participants informed without the need to address them specifically. As a result, participants are aware at all times of important project events, issues and status. Indeed, compared to discrete status meetings, the project community is engaged in a kind of permanent virtual meeting session, which effectively compresses the idle time between different tasks or issues. The productivity gains that can be achieved as a result of adopting an enterprise social platform and activity streams for project communications are very significant. In fact, the more complex a project is and the more gains can be achieved in terms of time and cost.

Great Teams Work Together

ProjExec for HCL Connections extends the rigor of the project management process to include the flexibility and social sharing of Connections Activities. Create and track Connections Activities directly from ProjExec to collaborate on project tasks and issues. Start with a task, issue or change request in ProjExec and create Activities to help organize the task, plan next steps, and execute faster.

Seamless integration with Connections Activities gives ProjExec users the ability to collaborate, organize and share the way they choose. Enjoy the benefit of a bottom-up approach where individuals control activities coupled with top-down oversight as Project Managers track team activities related to each task, issue or work item. ProjExec for HCL Connections lets project team members use Connections Activities to collaborate with anyone across the social network – even if the other person is not an assigned project resource or project team member.

Social Software Matters

ProjExec for HCL Connections integrates the social sharing capabilities of HCL Connections in the project context.

  • Use HCL Connections Files to share project documents and information
  • Use HCL Connections Communities to network across projects and organizations with people who share your interests or skills
  • Use HCL Connections Activities to collaborate with external users without including them as part of the project
  • Updates from HCL Connections Blog, Wiki, Bookmarks and Profiles as well as project events from the ProjExec Project Wall feed automatically into the HCL Connections Activity Stream and support Open Social Embedded Experiences