Planview ChangePoint vs. Workzone

Changepoint is well-suited for consulting firms and other companies that charge clients for their time and have a need for significant project-management capabilities along with reporting and invoicing. It is not well-suited for companies that want a more basic solution to time reporting and expense reimbursement. The key questions to ask during the selection process revolve around this basic question: how are you going to use this software? Though it has a lot of functionality, the learning curve is steep and basic functionality is not as easy as one would expect.

WorkZone would be a great tool for a company that develops content/ideas and has to share them with multiple people/clients. It allows for easy sharing and commenting. For a company that creates content for web, radio or television and would like to store them for presentation purposes- then you might want to look elsewhere. WorkZone was everything we needed and wanted until we started to expand. We've recommended WorkZone to a few companies and two of them are using it today. One of those clients does construction. They use WorkZone to share building schematics and ideas throughout their company and on the job site. We are working with them on a job that they are constructing and they've added us as a 'client user' to access items that are beneficial towards the ads we're creating.

• There are lots of reporting options. Once you figure out how to work the parameters of a report, the system is able to provide detailed and accurate compilations of data. There are also many custom reports than can be setup, as well. In my experience, we have told Changepoint PSA administrators what kind of report we were needed and they set it up for us, available in a 'custom reports' folder.
• You can have several things open at once -- 'portals'. These are up at the top of the screen, much like how Google Chrome has tabs at the top. This is useful.

• Unless you have the resources to create a proprietary project management software WorkZone was the best "off the shelf" software that I could find. It is also web based so it was easy to implement.
• It is easy to use and easy to train users on how to utilize the software.
• I was specifically looking for Project Management software for marketing purposes. Many of the software that is out there has been built for larger construction and software projects that may have a lot of dependencies. These types of software are too cumbersome for marketing projects and aren't user friendly. Although you could use WorkZone for these types of projects if you wanted too.
• Like BaseCamp you have the ability to share documents and post messages but in addition, you have easy to use timeline capabilities. It was also important to be able to build different types of reports for campaigns, projects and resources.

• The site could become slow with high volumes of traffic. This may have been due to the way that our infrastructure was setup.
• Analytic reporting was not available in the version that we used. We created external reports to slice and dice the data and view it as the business demanded.

• If a project is put on hold by the client, Workzone sends me notifications that I am approaching a deadline that is no longer applicable. There needs to be a "on hold" button.
• Sometimes it is hard to forecast a few months out with projects, so I can only use the program for weekly projections.
• In my industry, there are daily fires we have to put out per say, that were not accounted for in the program. At that point I dont have time to update the schedule, because it is a moving target.

Incentivized

Sometimes the decision to renew boils down to an old adage "if it isn't broken don't fix it". Previous to moving to Changepoint, it was obvious that we needed a better project management tool. Projects we completed on time but the time zone difference between the teams and several iterations of back and forth caused a number of communication issues with projects. The difference is night and day.

Because of time constraints, our team hasn't been able to fully implement and change our existing processes. If we can get our templates set up and maybe some better export options figured out, I think it'll be a no-brainer to renew, but until then it maybe be difficult to financially justify something we're only partially using.

It could be more intuitive and user friendly.

All the features of this software have been enhanced to meet all requirements of the modern software. For instance, the security of data handled by software has been a major concern in many organizations. Also, the effectiveness of the task accomplished using certain software has been a major concern. Both have been enhanced with Workzone.

Incentivized

Throughout the use of the WorkZone software, we never had a issue with it being unavailable. This is important, considering we wanted to access our projects and see our progress at any moment. WorkZone was always available and made constant supervision of tasks and goals easy; no excuses for not checking in on the status of a project.

I have zero complaints about the performance of WorkZone; for our organization's needs, it was a perfect tool for keeping track of various responsibilities and tasks. We never experienced a lag or down-time when using the software, and the simple interface made things exactly that from our end...simple. WorkZone is a fantastic tool for work management that never fails to perform, in my experience.

The team at WorkZone is incredibly helpful and very willing to lend support when they can. Our team was constantly growing, and our new team members needed training every time someone cam on board. The WorkZone support staff was more than willing to ensure our new team members were completely comfortable using the software and set up for success.

The WorkZone trainers are wonderful! They offered us unlimited over-the-phone and online support, and the trainings were always informative. The WorkZone support team was willing to answer multiple questions and review sections of the training if need be. They were always accommodating, and trainings were scheduled very quickly for when our team needed them!

Implementation of WorkZone was very easy. We simply log into a portal online and begin to set up our projects. Access codes were sent very quickly to our team, so there was practically no delay once we signed the contract for our subscription. Training was scheduled quickly and was very helpful, especially as new team members joined our organization.

The system predates me as I was not working for the company when the solution was chosen - I understand this may have been an 'overpromise, underdeliver' scenario. However, we are now moving towards replacing it with Supportworks - and having seen Supportworks in action I genuinely cannot wait to switch from Changepoint and move on...

Incentivized

Workzone uses project templates and project request forms to standardize workflows and it is easy for teams to adopt. Every team member is more productive on this centralized workspace since it keeps everyone on the same page. The customer support is very responsive when it comes to solving issues or providing training to their users.

Incentivized

We are a small organization, so the need to expand our use of WorkZone was limited. I only rate it below a 10 simply because I do not have much experience with the scaleability of the product. From the previews and training sessions, it does seem that the software can easily be adjusted to accommodate a growing workload; something we may use in future, just not at this point in our organization's development.

• Our ability to maintain a global IS Scorecard helped us to maintain a focus on completing projects on time and within budget.
• Having a single instance of Changepoint with projects aligned to specific portfolios helps senior management to maintain a focus on the investment of IS resources. It is foundational to our governance processes.

• It increased employee efficiency by giving us a singular semi-automated system to keep schedules and documents.
• Our HR team did find it difficult to gather a good sense of time spent on projects to help project for future scopes of work.

Incentivized